Page 6 of Not Before Game Night
I looked to him. I actually almost forgot he was here. Now I felt bad because like the good cousin he was who’d always taken care of me, he was here tonight for me.
“I’ll go,” Mia said, taking her shot.
My sister didn’t even try to hide the fact that she didn’t have a clue as to what she was doing. She leaned over the pool table and instead of levelling the cue stick to take her shot, she hit the balls in a similar fashion to how you would play golf. Except as she hit the ball, it flicked up in the air, bounced across the table, and went down the hole.
“Yesss, I got one.” Mia clapped her hands and pumped her fists in the air,
I couldn’t even laugh because Gage didn’t find it funny. He looked at her like he was going to breathe fire.
“Mia, Jesus Christ.” Gage narrowed his gaze on her, crude and hard. “I really don’t know how we’re related.”
Mia answered by hitting him with her stick. “You pompous asshole. What the hell is that supposed to mean? You talk to me like I’m the one with the problem. You can’t stand it that I’m better than you at this game.”
Those two had always been like that. No love between cousins when it came to them. For me though, yes.
They were both worried about me. That was why they were here. It was why they’d suggested this place. Mia wouldn’t have normally come here without Eric, and this was the best place Gage knew for pool, although I knew it wasn’t his scene. Plus, I was sure he would have preferred to just see me and not Mia. The way he was looking at her now made me grateful he couldn’t breathe fire.
They were both here for me because of my bad dating spell that had left me down in the dumps since Tony.
“Mia, you can’t play pool for shit,” Gage informed her. “Nobody plays pool like you.”
“I was good. I got a hole in one.”
“That is golf talk, Mia.”
“A hole’s a hole whether it’s golf or pool. They both have holes. Now shut up,” she argued.
“Damn it, girl, you are pushing my buttons.” He bared his teeth at her.
“You too,” Mia shot back.
“Guys, please,” I cut in. I couldn’t believe them sometimes. They argued like that because they were the same age. Twenty-eight now, nearly two years older than me.
Gage was CEO of the property development side of the business, and I was sure no one would believe he could argue with Mia like they were still children. She wasn’t joking when she called him a pompous asshole. Much as I loved him, it was actually true.
They both looked at me when I cleared my throat with insistence, and whatever magic that made them come together for my benefit kicked in. The tension receded from their faces, and Mia gave me a little smile.
“Can’t we just play and have a nice night?” I asked, trying to sound like I was okay. Honestly, I would rather be at home watchingFashion Police, but since we were here, I figured I’d make the most of the time with them. Even with Cole looming over the place like a shadow.
“Sorry,” Mia said. “Your turn, Vanessa.”
“Thank you.” I bent over to take my shot.
I just wished that when I did, I didn’t feel the devil’s eyes all over my ass. The gaze was so intense it lulled me to look behind me at the man I’d been trying so hard to avoid.
And there he was checking out my ass and not doing anything about it when he’d been caught, besides smiling. Smiling a wicked, sinful smile that I seriously wished had no effect on me.
It was the same thing as high school. Ten years had passed, and I hadn’t learned. I still couldn’t figure him out either. Never knew if him smiling meant he was ready to taunt me, or if like a normal person he was being nice. Chances were with my knowledge of him, it wouldn’t be the latter.
Regardless of what the smile meant one thing was annoyingly clear, I was still a slave to the front of his charm and his looks. Except ten years on Coleridge Buchanan was not like ten years on the ordinary person.
People got older. I’d seen most look old even in their mid- to late twenties like we were. Too much drinking and all manner of crap could do that.
Ten years on him, however, made him look better than the Greek god he’d been back in high school. It turned him into a masterpiece. A mingle of beauty and temptation, sin. That was what he was. The poster boy for sin.
While he’d still worn his dark blond locks longish so it brushed the edge of his shoulders, the rest of him had changed. His body was muscle on muscle, and height, like the perfect specimen of an athlete. Powerful shoulders along with bulging biceps were on display in his fitted t-shirt, and his face all angles and planes. Sharper and manlier. That was what his boyish good looks had turned into.
“Vanessa?” Mia came closer to whisper into my ear. “You know, instead of just staring, you could go talk to him. It’s not like you don’t know him, and damn, he’s gotten hotter over the years.”
