Page 9 of Hooking the Captain
Ford missed his shot, and I moved in for mine, only to miss too. During his next turn, I kept my stare on him. Right before he hit the cue ball, he looked up and met my gaze from across the table, his blue eyes holding mine as he pulled his stick back without looking. I licked my lips, but then quickly cleared my throat, suddenly feeling a bit flustered.
He missed the shot and I had to wonder if he was affected by me licking my lips or maybe it was because he didn’t take his eyes off of me as he hit the ball. Was that him being cocky or was he into me?
I focused on the game, taking my shot and sinking the ten-ball. “I was expecting you to run the table.”
Ford shrugged, a playful glint in his eye. “Maybe I’m just warming up.”
And I quickly learned that was true because, for the next several minutes, he didn’t take it easy on me. Before I realized it, he was lining up to hit the eight-ball.
“Guess it’s good we didn’t bet money on this.” I snorted a laugh.
“I’m not sure money is what I would have bet, anyway.” He winked, called his shot, and then sank the eight-ball with a triumphant smile. “Looks like I won.”
I chuckled as I leaned my hip on the pool table. “You got me. Good game.”
He stepped closer, the distance between us suddenly feeling charged with electricity. “Thanks for the game, Coop. I had a great time.”
“Me too,” I replied, my voice huskier than I intended.
Ford’s gaze lingered on mine as he took another step closer, leaving nowhere for me to go but to press into the table. “I’d love to see more of the area. Maybe you could show me around sometime.”
My eyes moved to his lips and then back up to his stare. Was he flirting with me? He had no way to know I was gay, and while I would have normally tried to get out of the awkward situation for fear someone would find out, I didn’t see any harm in saying, “I’d like that, Ford.”
Could he be the first guy for me to kiss? To fool around with? Maybe more?
“Can I give you my number?” he asked.
I nodded and handed him my phone. He took it before taking a step back, and then put his number in before giving it back.
“Do you hike?” I inquired.
He tilted his head to the side slightly. “Hike?”
“Yeah. You said you wanted to see more of the area and other than touring Dartmouth—which, I can do that too—I figured we could hike Moose Mountain.”
It would also be a way to hang out without raising suspicion, which would make me feel a little more comfortable until I figured out what was happening between us.
“Yeah, hiking sounds good.”
“Great.” I moved away from the table. “I’ll text you in the morning.”
We gathered the balls and put them back on the tray, and then I gave them back to Harvey.
“Catch you later,” I called out to the bartender and placed cash on the bar top to pay for my beers.
“See ya, Coop,” Harvey said back.
Ford put some money down too and then we headed toward the front of the bar and walked out the door. I was back to feeling awkward. We had made plans to meet up, but what did we do now? It wasn’t like hiking meant we were going on a date. Maybe he thought it was just two bros working out.
“Walk me to my car?” he asked, and my eyes flicked to his.
“I … ah … yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck.
We walked across the small parking lot to his red BMW. “I want you to know that the last few months have been shitty for me, but I had fun tonight.”
“I had fun too,” I admitted, but didn’t press him about his last few months since I didn’t know him.
“And I’m getting the impressionthisisn’t something you normally do.”
