All Grown Up by Janice Maynard Page A

literally took his breath away. He cleared his throat. “Don’t you have work to do?”
    She came down two rungs. “Are you chicken?”
    His eyes narrowed. He knew when he as being hustled. But he had a competitive streak a mile wide, and he wasn’t going to let Annalise get the best of him. “I assume you’re going to put your money where your mouth is?”
    She cocked her head. “I hate to take your cash.”
    “A thousand dollars.”
    That made her blink. But in an instant she was back on track, projecting disdain in her deliberately bored expression. “Ten thousand dollars. To be donated to the new school.”
    “And if I win? When I win,” he amended hastily.
    “What do you want?”
    Suddenly, every cell in his body hummed with sexual energy. You . It was a shocking truth. And one he decided not to give voice to. He rocked back on his heels, hands braced in the door frame. “I want to take you to dinner. Somewhere nice. Linen tablecloths. Roses in crystal vases. Soft lighting.”
    Suspicion etched her delicate features. “I told you I don’t like romantic stuff.”
    “No romance,” he said quietly, trying to gauge her mood. “Just a civilized meal between friends.”
    “Not in Charlottesville.”
    “Why?”
    “You know why. I don’t want anyone to see us together and get the wrong idea.”
    “Then where?”
    “D.C.?”
    “We’d have to spend the night.”
    Her cheeks flushed. “Okay, so Roanoke, maybe.”
    “We’re both grown-ups, Annalise. If we want to have a secretive tryst, it’s our business.”
    She nibbled her lower lip, her gaze moody. “Again with the romance. I said no.”
    “Every woman likes romance. But the point is, it’s up to her partner to decide what that means. If I decide to romance you, darlin’, you’ll never see it coming. Subtlety is my middle name.”
    She snorted. “You’re about as subtle as a Mack truck. In that case, wager accepted. But dinner only. No funny business.”
    He held up his hands. “You wound me. I’d never try to seduce you without your permission.”
    “My permission? That will be a cold day in Hades.”
    His body tightened. Annalise had the heart of a tease. And she played the game well. The problem was, he was pretty sure it was all instinctive. He doubted she knew what her sass and smart mouth did to him.
    Without waiting for an invitation, she started pulling balls out of pockets and setting them on the table, the movements of her hands both graceful and efficient.
    “Who gets to break?” he asked.
    “We’ll flip a coin.”
    Before he could comment, she pulled a dime out of her pocket, shot it in the air and caught it on her forearm, covering it with her free hand. “You call it.”
    “Heads.”
    She showed him the result. Tails. Of course. He sighed audibly.
    Annalise smirked. “Too bad.”
    He slouched against the wall as she gathered the balls, racked them and carefully removed the plastic triangle. When she leaned over the table, he recognized his basic handicap. Watching Annalise Wolff shoot pool was guaranteed to turn his brain to mush and make other parts of him, well…not mush.
    She moved with a confidence that was beautiful to watch. Sam had played pool with other women. Most of them either refused to break or did so with such a weak shot that the balls remained clumped together. It should have come as no surprise to him that Annalise was not like other women.
    Ignoring him completely, she chalked her cue, lined up her shot and sent the cue ball slamming into the tightly packed stripes and solids. A trio of the latter slid into three pockets with a precision that made his jaw drop.
    She paused to give him one sly, taunting smile over her shoulder before returning to her game and running the table. When nothing remained on the felt but a single white ball, she wiggled her shoulders, stretched her hands over her head and lifted an eyebrow. “Your turn, Mr. Ely.”
    Muttering beneath his breath, he picked out his own cue