Good with His Hands by Tanya Michaels Page B

waitresses?”
    â€œNo.” He couldn’t even say with certainty whether the woman who’d brought them their drinks had been a blonde, a brunette or a redhead. He’d been too busy glancing toward the entrance, fingers mentally crossed.
    â€œSo what gives? You were distracted on the site today, too.”
    Distraction and power tools were a bad combination. Most of his duties these days were supervisory and administrative, but, still, his crew deserved better from him. He just needed to find a way to stop obsessing over Dani. She was like a splinter under his thumb he couldn’t reach. Or a song stuck in his head. He fell asleep with the tune playing on a loop and woke up with it still there. It had been a long time since a woman had gotten to him like this.
    Was his extreme reaction because of guilt? He recalled the way she’d moaned when he was inside her, the way she’d arched against him, unashamedly craving his touch. Nope, guilt was definitely not the only reason he couldn’t stop thinking about her. “Ever have a woman you couldn’t get off your mind?”
    Alex stilled, his expression disbelieving. “Is this about that high-maintenance blonde you were dating?”
    â€œTara? Hell, no. She’s out of my life for good.” More or less. He’d see her in passing next weekend. She’d wheedled a favor out of him before they broke up, and since it was for a good cause, he’d decided to honor the obligation. But aside from their paths crossing that one last time, he doubted he’d run into her again. She spent about as much time in his favorite bars as he did buying designer clothes at Lenox Square. “I was talking about someone different.”
    Different
was accurate on many levels. Dani’s mannerisms were unlike many of the women he’d dated. No other one-night stand had ever affected him like this.
    â€œSo you’re hung up on a new lady,” Alex surmised. “Have you told her? Women dig that, makes you seem vulnerable. You could get very lucky.”
    â€œShe knows.” It was almost cringe-worthy, the way he’d opened up to her yesterday and been shot down. “And she’s not interested.”
    Alex whistled. “Failing with women
and
at pool? Damn. Well, if she isn’t interested, you know the saying. Best way to get over someone is under someone else.”
    Far from convincing him to seek out another woman’s attention, the statement only reminded him of meeting Dani.
“My fiancé eloped last weekend with the woman he was seeing on the side... I need to have a really good time and forget the whole mess... Want to help generate a little amnesia?”
She’d been incredibly, disarmingly candid.
    Too bad he hadn’t returned the favor.
    With that sour thought, he resolved to focus on the game. He could count on one hand the number of times Alex had beat him at pool, and he didn’t intend to simply hand him another victory. Several turns later, when Alex lifted his cue a fraction too soon after a draw shot, Sean saw his opportunity to pull ahead. But then he heard a man upstairs call out, “Hey, Danny,” and he knocked the cue ball off the table. When he turned around, he saw that the guy had been greeting another man. Not Danica.
    Alex won the game handily, his grin mocking when he asked, “Play again?”
    â€œNah. We have an early morning.”
    â€œPlus, you can’t play for crap tonight.”
    â€œThat, too.”
    They paid their tab and headed for the exit. On the way out, a curvy redhead grinned in Sean’s direction. He tried to muster an answering smile, but the effort was so weak Alex cocked an eyebrow at him.
    â€œWhoever this new woman is,” Alex said in the parking lot, “you must really be hung up on her.”
    â€œSeems like.” The question was, how did he win her forgiveness? On the surface, Sean might not be as overtly