Page 264 of Love Bites

“You’re supposed to drink that, not sniff it.” Jeff leaned across the table and landed a stinging whack on my hunched back as I coughed up a lung.

“I’ll be …” a couple of more coughs erupted from my throat, my eyes watered, “right back …” I pointed toward the back of the room. “Bathroom.”

“Good idea. Your nose is pretty red and shiny. It could use some powdering.”

Nice of him to point out my resemblance to Rudolph while I was choking to death. It was no wonder his wife was leaving his sorry ass. Shouldering my purse, I stomped toward the pool tables, still coughing up Diet Coke.

Doc cued up for a break shot as I neared. “Swallow your tongue, Boots?”

Boots?I frowned down at my purple cowboy boots, then shrugged. I’d been called much worse just a short time ago. “What are you doing here?” I said for his ears only when I could breathe freely again.

“Shooting some pool.” The pool stick slid through his fingers, the white ball slamming into the nine racked balls with acrack. The one- and seven-balls dropped into the opposite corner pockets. “What about you?”

“You know damned well what I’m doing here.”

A smile hinting at the corners of his lips, Doc bent over and lined up another shot. “Making any progress?”

“Yes.” I lied, then regretted it. “No.” Then I remembered Jeff’s concern about what Kelly might have told me. “Maybe!”

Another clack of pool balls followed Doc’s shot. The two-ball dropped into the side pocket. His grin lazed on his lips. “You sure about that?”

“Oh, shut up.” These days, the only things I was sure of anymore were the sun, the moon, and Bugs Bunny. “Did you follow me here?”

Doc bumped me aside and aimed at the three-ball. “It’s a small world.”

“Not that small. Did Harvey put you up to this?”

“No.” He knocked the three-ball into the four-ball, sinking both of them in the same corner pocket. “I thought you might need some company.”

“I told you yesterday, I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but I’d rather make certain.”

Enough to go to the trouble of stalking me today? I could be wrong, and I often was these days, but that seemed a bit over the top for a guy who insisted on keeping a working-relationship-only wedge between us. “Why is that?”

Doc looked up from the table. His gaze traveled down the v-neck of my lavender blouse, following the buttons down to the waistband of my white pants before returning to my face. “Nice opal.”

I fingered the single opal hanging from my necklace, but refused to be sidetracked. “Why, Doc?”

He lined up for a shot at the five-ball. “Good Realtors are hard to come by in this town.”

“Yeah, right.” Teeth grinding, I shoved his pool stick as I pushed past him toward the bathroom and jarred him in mid-shot.

“Hey,” he complained to my back.

I kept walking, growling under my breath, frustrated with wanting something he wouldn’t give. He was lucky I didn’t break that pool stick over his stubborn head.

The bathroom hummed with florescent lights. Jeff had been right. My nose was red and shiny. Damn him. I powdered it back to a dull sheen and washed my hands, wringing my fingers in the cold water while I built up the nerve to return to the table.

When I stepped out from the Ladies’ Room, Doc was racking up another game of Nine-ball.

“Violet,” he said as I passed behind him.

The edgy tone in his voice made me turn. “Yes?”

“You need to change seats.”

I must have heard him wrong. “Come again?”

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