Page 47 of Possessive Park Avenue Prince

“For this to work, I’m gonna need you to play along,” I said. “Whatever I say, just go with it.”

“Do I look like someone who follows?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you lead in other ways.”

It wasn’t often I surprised Daire, but I saw the quick flare of his nostrils, and there it was again. The heat between us sparking, but not yet igniting.

He took a long swig of his beer, barely masking his disgust, and then nodded toward the tables. “Let’s go fuck with these assholes.”

I grinned and tapped my bottle against his, and then let him lead us to the table.

“You two almost done?” Daire said to the guys as one called out the left corner pocket to make his final shot.

“No,” the one bent over the table said, and then aimed true, pocketing the eightball. He stood up and looked us over with an assessing gaze. “You can join the next round if you’ve got the cash.”

Pretending to frown, I tugged on Daire’s arm and said loud enough for them to hear, “What does that mean? We have to play for money?”

“You’re catching on.” The guy smirked, adjusting his backward ball cap. “That a problem?”

“We were hoping for our own table,” Daire said coolly, crossing his arms as I fidgeted with the sleeve of my shirt.

“That’s too bad. Not a free table around here for the rest of the night.”

Daire looked down at me, and I made a show of biting down on my lower lip nervously.

“I want to play, but—” I started, and Daire cut me off.

“Then we’re in,” he told the guy, who was grinning like he’d just won the lottery.

“Good. We’ll start at”—he glanced at his friend, who leaned in to whisper something in his ear—“five hundred.”

I blanched, playing my part. “Dollars?”

The guy shrugged. “If you can’t handle it?—”

“We can handle it,” Daire said, and I wanted to laugh at how easily they were falling into our trap. Five hundred bucks for what we were going to sweep in a matter of minutes? Hell yes.

After peeling off a few bills and slapping them on the edge of the table, Daire grabbed a couple of cue sticks off the wall. He handed one to me, and I followed his lead by chalking up the tip.

After introductions—the guy in the hat was Dale, and his friend was something I couldn’t pronounce and decided to rename as Chip in my head—Dale racked up the balls.

“Tell you what,” he said, “we’ll let you break first.”

“You can do that,” I muttered, sticking close to Daire’s side.

He shook his head and pushed me toward the head of the table. “You have to learn sometime.”

“But—”

“Just do it like I showed you.” Daire moved in beside me, so close I could feel the heat of his body through his clothes and had to suppress a shiver. He moved one of my hands up the cue and reached around me to position the other near the bottom.

Holy shit.I’d never been sosurroundedby him before, not even when he’d kissed me. It was all I could do to keep playing my part when all Iwantedto do was sink into him.

“Now bend over.” His breath was warm on my neck as I followed along and tried not to take his words out of the context he meant them in. “Aim hard and fast.”

I nodded, and the warmth of him left me as he moved aside to let me break. I centered the cue ball, letting my hand slip so it rolled out of my grasp.

Chip and Dale didn’t bother hiding their chuckles as I scrambled to grab the ball and put it back in place. Glancing over my shoulder at Daire like I needed the support, he winked at me—fuckingwinkedat me—and I turned off the role I’d been playing and easily slipped into one I knew I did well.

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