Page 16 of Call Me Sir

I fiddle with my jogger strings, wishing I had ordered another beer before venturing over here. The mood is a little more stiff than I like.

Sal leans across the table to make a corner pocket shot and the striped ball literally bounces off the pocket and hits a few solid balls away. I’m not really watching the ball though. More so staring at his muscles flexing under his white tee.

“Damn,” his partner mutters.

Sal straightens and I lower my gaze to the ground.

I’m surprised when he steps over and leans against the bar beside me.

“How was the smoothie?”

He asks so quietly I almost ask him to repeat it.

“Good.”

“And the boyfriend?”

Boyfriend?

Realization dawns on me that he must have seen Danny pick me up or drop me off. When I got back his office looked vacant. I figured that’s where he changed into this sexy, casual outfit.

“Not my boyfriend,” I say firmly, but quietly so no one else hears. “In fact I’m trying to figure out how to tell him that when he shows up here soon.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket and dread burrows into my chest.

The way Sal’s head tilts and those dark eyes stare into my soul, I can’t tell if I’m intimidated or turned on.

Yeah, both.

His olive hands tighten around the cue stick and I swallow hard trying to focus on what’s happening.

“Can we go chat at the bar for a minute?” Sal’s face warms with a hint of a smile and I’m scared I might swoon.

He’s still looking at me, and soon all the guys are.

“Um, yeah.”

“We’re gonna go get refills. Play my turn,” he says to his partner.

The other three carry on and we shuffle over to the bar. We both take seats.

Sal is next to me and instantly I feel enveloped in his presence and the center of the world.

He throws his arm around the back of my chair.

I don’t owe this man an explanation or anything. Even so, I find myself spewing.

“Danny showed up unannounced. I didn’t know what to say to him. I told him to meet me here because we had tentative plans but he wanted to blow them anyway and spend all weekend…”

Blowing me.

I keep that last part to myself, though with the lift of his brow I see he gets the implication.

He sighs. He’s annoyed, isn’t he?

“And if you don’t spend the weekend with Danny, what will you be doing?”

I bite my bottom lip. What would I be doing?

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