Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

like lavender. "Pete Alcott. He's part of their theater group. He moves a lot of scenery."
    "I can understand that. He looks really strong."
    "Not that strong."
    "He's built very well."
    "He can't play pool worth a damn. No position play at all. Fixates on whatever ball is in front of him." Phin looked down to see her frowning at him. "Sorry. Of course you don't know pool. Amateurs just knock the balls in one at a time. Pros use position play which means they always know not only how they're going to play the ball in front of them, but how they're going to play the next two or three balls, too. That way every shot they take positions them for the next one."
    "And Pete Whatsis takes it one ball at a time." Sophie nodded at him, her eyes wide. "That's very Page 52
    interesting. Thank you."
    She smiled at him, full wattage, and every political instinct he had went on alert. He looked down into her big brown eyes and said, "What are you up to?"
    "Nothing." She nodded over to where Frank stood at the bar with his back to his wife and his front to Clea. "How's Frank play?"
    "He likes trick shots," Phin said, still wary. "Bank shots, combination shots. Frank plays in the moment. He thinks pool is a performance. And he loses a lot."
    "How about Rob?"
    Sophie pointed over to the neon blue jukebox where Rob was arguing with Rachel.
    "Rob tries to think ahead, but he never practices the basics. So he plans ahead four balls and then miscues on the second one and that throws him off so much that he panics and just starts banging balls around."
    "You play with Stephen Garvey?" Sophie asked.
    "Why are you so interested?" Phin said.
    "Because I never thought about pool like this." She sounded sincere. "It's so smart of you to figure this out. That you could tell what kind of person somebody is by the way he plays pool. I'd never have thought of that."
    "That's because you can't," Phin said. "Some people are very sharp, but they never learned to play the game right. So they screw up, but it's not a function of personality."
    "But Rob and Frank learned right?"
    Phin nodded. "My dad taught all of us. And Ed Yarnell plays us, too. Good training."
    "So how does Stephen Garvey play?" Sophie said, smiling at him, lush and warm and round in the dim light, and Phin gave up trying to figure out what she was up to.
    "He plays position, but he hits the ball too hard. The harder you hit the ball, the smaller the pocket gets, so it's easier to miss. He thinks it's macho to slam the cue into the ball which is why he loses a lot."
    "But not always," Sophie said thoughtfully.
    Phin shrugged. "Sometimes you have to hit the ball hard. In those cases, he wins."
    "Sophie!"Georgiaslid in beside her and jammed her into Phin.
    "Sorry," Sophie said to him. "Easy,Georgia, we're a little clamped here." She shifted to make more room, and Phin could feel the warm length of her thigh against his. Thank you , Georgia. Not that he intended to do anything about it, that would be dumb, but having Sophie pressed up against him even briefly was a pleasure. He let his arm fall along the back of the booth. Page 53
    "Amy showed me some of the tape today,"Georgiawas saying as she beamed across the table at Amy.
    "I was so impressed. There I was, right there on the television. You have to come back from Cincinnati to tape our theater productions from now on."
    "I'm not staying in Cincinnati ," Amy said, and Phin winced at the look on Wes's face. "I'm going to drive to L.A. as soon as I have the tape edited." She leaned across the table to Sophie. "I forgot to ask. Can I take the car? To L.A. , I mean?"
    "Oh." Sophie looked taken aback. "Sure."
    And what are you going to use for transportation?Phin wanted to say, but the last time he'd suggested she think about herself, she'd gotten hostile.
    "Well, you have to come back here to visit,"Georgiawas saying to Sophie. "We just really like you a lot."
    "That's very sweet of you, Georgia. I like you all a lot, too." Sophie looked up at