Unfiltered & Undressed (The Unfiltered Series) by Payge Galvin, Meg Chance

mouth dropped open, his expression stunned at first. And then his mouth stretched wide as he reached out and hauled me against him. It was the strangest hug I’d ever gotten.
    “You’re as good a friend as she says you are,” he said against the top of my head. He let me go then, and went back to watching Em. “I won’t hurt her. Promise.”
    Satisfied that he meant what he said, I went to the bar just as another song started. This wasn’t like The Dunes, where it was hard to get service…or noticed. The bartender spotted me right away, and eyed me in a way that made it clear there wouldn’t be any delays in my service tonight.
    “Red Bull and Vodka,” I stated, thinking what a strange place this was.
    Usually the bartender matched the bar—cowboy-types worked at honky-tonks, leather-wearing guys who could kick your ass worked at biker bars. Ex-surfers worked at beach bars.
    This guy didn’t fit much of anywhere. “I like your piercings,” I said, pointing at the studs in his bottom lip.
    He grinned, a look verging on a leer. “Snakebites,” he answered.
    I took my drink and hoped he didn’t think I’d been flirting with him.
    Zane and Emerson were back, and Zane slipped his hand around mine. “You girls play pool?”
    I gave Em a quick look. “I don’t know…” I hedged.
    But she was all over it. “Yes! Boys against girls!” She was already heading toward the one available table and scouring the racks for “the cutest stick” she could find.
    I went to work racking the balls while I let Zane pick out my pool cue for me. When he realized I was fumbling over the order of the balls, he used the opportunity to lean over my shoulder so he could rearrange them while he explained the alternating solids-and-stripes pattern to me. I pretended to be engrossed in his description, but all I could think about was how close he was.
    Emerson and I agreed to let Lucas break, and when he sank a ball on that first shot, he called dibs on stripes for the boys’ team, leaving solids for the girls. When it was my turn, I struggled to line up the blemished white ball with the shiny red one, and missed by a mile when I tried to send it across the table into the right corner pocket.
    Emerson played about as badly as I did until the guys had only two striped balls to our complete set of solids still remaining on the pool table. That was when Zane ordered yet another round of drinks and Emerson gave me the signal. Apparently, we were done messing around.
    “Here,” Zane offered, coming up behind me as I reached for my cue again, this time chalking the tip until the blue powder covered both the end of it and my fingers. “Let me show you.”
    I blew the residue away in a cloud of cobalt dust. “That’s okay.” I offered him a sly grin. “I got this.” I rounded the table and used my cue to point at the yellow ball. “Side pocket.” Zane’s eyes went wide when I called my shot, and he recognized my mistake. Their orange striped ball was in the path of our yellow one.
    “Lauren…” It was obvious from the way he said my name he was patronizing me, but that’s exactly the reaction I’d wanted. I liked that he doubted me. I liked that I was about to blow his mind.
    Ignoring his half-assed attempt to warn me, I leaned forward at the waist, keeping my legs straight as I concentrated on my shot. I used my hand to brace the tip of the cue as I elevated my back elbow so my aim would come down hard on the cue ball—because, yeah, I knew the white ball had a name.
    I held my breath and tucked my chin as I struck down on the cue ball . Just as I’d hoped, my aim was spot-on, and when the ball jumped, it cleared the boys’ striped ball and landed with a solid thunk against our yellow one.
    Our ball shot straight toward the side of the table and dropped like a rock into the pocket. I couldn’t have contained my smile if I’d tried. I went to work on the next ball, a far easier shot, and I sank it with barely a second