Dark Secrets: A Mafia Romantic Suspense Novel (Callahan Syndicate Book 4) by Meaghan Pierce

Author:Meaghan Pierce [Pierce, Meaghan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pierced Soul Publishing
Published: 2022-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Delaney reset the balls with the triangular frame. Asking James to play pool had been an impulse, but she was grateful for the buffer. She still needed to tell him her final decision, and she’d do it better, gauge his reaction better, if her hands were busy.

She heard him coming down the hall and hung the frame on a peg on the wall. The black t-shirt he’d changed into exposed the bottom of a tattoo on the inside of his left bicep, and her fingers itched to explore it.

She loved tattoos. The artistry and the permanence of inking something important to you onto your skin. She had a small tattoo on her hip she’d gotten in college. After being forced to cover it up with makeup for so many years, she was afraid she’d grow to hate it. In the end, the tattoo and its memory had helped her escape.

“House shoots first?”

James shook his head as he dusted the tip of his cue. “Ladies first.”

Moving around to the head of the table, Delaney placed the cue ball and considered her shot. “Should we make a wager?”

“Loser makes dinner?” He raised a brow when she grinned. “Unless you can’t cook, in which case I’ve got ten bucks.”

She laughed. “It’s been a while, but I can cook. Dinner it is.”

Bending at the waist, she lined up her shot and sent the white ball careening into the colorful triangle. She loved the heavy cracks as the balls crashed into each other and zigzagged around the table. She sank one stripe and two solids and quickly glanced up at his face to check his mood. He was smiling.

“Woman. You could have fleeced me for cash.”

Delaney laughed and circled the table to find her next shot. “But you’re a surprisingly good cook, so this works out for me too.”

She felt his eyes on her as she bent and sent the yellow ball into the corner pocket. This was going to be fun. She’d forgotten what it was like to have actual fun with a man without spending the entire night wondering what casual comment or gesture he might be upset about later.

She missed her next shot, the red ball ricocheting off the side pocket and bouncing off the opposite edge. She straightened, leaning against her pool cue. James bent over the table to line up his blue striped ball to the far corner, and his smooth shot was at odds with the electricity that sizzled through her when he spoke.

“I like knowing you’ll still be here at dinnertime.”

She barely registered his ball finding its pocket because she couldn’t take her eyes off him. There was something utterly mesmerizing about his light blue eyes and dark brown hair, the permanent shadow of stubble on his jaw. She’d allowed herself to wonder more than once what that stubble would feel like as it trailed across her skin.

“I guess I owe you an answer. I tried to wait up for you last night, but I was exhausted.”

“I was way later than I intended.

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