“It’s only about fifteen percent alcohol,” Dax said sarcastically. “And we’ve only had one, so you have plenty of time to catch up.”
I sipped at the drink with its hints of apple and melon while the three of them knocked theirs back. By the time dinner was over, the two females were lit enough to dance their way down the hallway to the billiard room as Dua Lipa bounced through the walls of the penthouse. With Jada’s grandma in Japan, Jada had no qualms about turning the ambiance of the apartment from classic 5th Avenue wealth to Meatpacking-District-style dance club. Even the lights in the billiard room turned club-like, flickering around the room. But the antique wood and green paneled walls were at odds with the atmosphere she was trying to achieve.
I racked the balls on the table and then handed a cue to Violet. She spun it around in her hand like a baton in a parade before saying, “I don’t know how to play.”
“Fine, you be on Dawson’s team,” Jada said. “Dax knows how to play but is shit at it. It’ll make the teams even.”
Dax put a hand to his heart. “Mon amour, you wound me.”
Jada rolled her eyes, shoving a cue against his chest. “Don’t try to charm me, Armaud. I know you too well.”
I broke and shot a couple of balls into the pockets before missing. Jada shot three in before it came back to Violet. She leaned over the table, putting her tightly clad, jean-covered ass almost in my face, and my entire body reacted. Chest stilling, balls filling, lips parting. Goddamn.
She missed horribly, sending balls careening in different directions, but she just laughed at herself. Dax wasn’t much better, but he succeeded in sinking a ball. We played for a few minutes until the song turned slow and sultry.
Jada’s mood changed as fast as the beat.
“I concede. You win, Dawson,” Jada said. She put her cue back in the stand, fiddled around in a box on the mantel, and then walked toward the French doors that led out onto the balcony. She glanced back at Dax. “I need a smoke. Coming, Armaud?”
Dax hated smoke. The cloves that Jada occasionally used weren’t any better in his mind, and I fully expected him to decline. But, to my surprise, he followed her out into the moonlight settling over the balcony. New York City was spread out beyond them, romantic in a way neither of them could admit.
“I guess we’re done. Probably for the best. I sucked anyway,” Violet said as she went to put the cue away. I stopped her with a hand to her wrist.
“Let’s finish. I’ll teach you,” I said as stupid chanted through my head for the hundredth time today.
It started screaming louder when I put my arms around her and straightened the cue in her grip. It got almost deafening when we both bent over the table, my body and my hand engulfing her. I adjusted her grip, and when I turned my head, her eyes were on my face instead of the cue. I could smell the sake on her, but I could smell the natural scent of her more. My body practically turned to stone, hands gripping reflexively, hips pushing into her curves.
Her eyes widened, and her tongue darted out of her mouth to lick her lips.
Fuck.
“It’s all geometry, Vi. You got this,” I barely managed to get out.
“I hated geometry,” she whispered. “Too many theorems and not enough action.”
Holy hell, she was going to kill me.
I talked through the angle of the shot before easing away. As her smell and heat left me, the ache in my veins demanded I return to her, and I was finding it harder and harder to resist. I was losing sight of the reasons why I should.
She took the shot, and it caused the balls to rocket in the opposite direction she’d intended. I chuckled, put the balls back in approximately the same place they’d been before, and said, “Try again.”
She leaned over, wiggled her butt several times as if she were winding up a pitch, and then took another shot. I groaned. At the wiggle. At the shot. At just being here with her. She straightened up and laughed. “Maybe you should stick to playing with Jada.”
She glanced out the window to where Dax and Jada were leaned up against the railing. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, appearing nonchalant, but he was