Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Forcing a smile to her lips, she nodded as she slipped to the side and walked away from him. “I have some things to get done.”
“Emma.” Her name was a beg.
“I’ll see you later.” She ensured her smile didn’t slip as she walked by Tully who watched her with understanding in his gaze.
“Bye, Emma,” he said.
“Tully.”
Out of his office, she got busy behind the counter, figuring when they left, she would head in and take care of what she needed to. There was something she wasn’t sure she wanted to pop the top on. But if it was for the betterment of this place, she would risk his wrath. Or disappointment.
Chapter Nine
“Oh, come on!” Emma’s wail had him lifting the beer bottle to his lips in order to hide his laugh. She stomped her foot, her rented shoes making her look all the more adorable in his eyes. “There’s something wrong with my balls.”
He snorted. Emma whipped around, her hair flying out to settle once more about her heart-shaped face. The pale pink gloss she had on her lips sparkled in the horrible lighting but only added to the pull she had on him.
Linc put the beer down and held out his hands. “Sorry, that was rude of me.”
She tapped her foot and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Ohh, Linc’s gonna get it. His girlfriend is mad at him.” The taunt came from two lanes over. A group of high schoolers were at a nearby lane, paying more attention to him and Emma than to their own game. Spare, the bowling alley, was a popular place.
She snapped her gaze to them and the boys who’d teased blanched and took several steps back.
Hell yeah, sexy teacher she could nail.
He bit the inside of his cheek, knowing better than to let her see how much this amused him.
“Come on, baby. Let me help you. You’re just releasing at the wrong point, and that makes it a gutter ball.”
“Every time?”
Opting on the side of caution, he neglected to answer that and just stepped down to where she was and captured her hand, tugging her toward him.
“Let me help.”
He drew her close, put his head down by hers, and began swaying with her as above them “Vuelve” by Ricky Martin played over the speakers. Splaying his hand along her lower back, he left no space between them. It wasn’t easy to hear the music over the sounds of children screaming, pins crashing, and the thunk of the ball return. But he could. Hell, even if he couldn’t, he had the opportunity to hold her near and he wasn’t losing out on that chance.
“You do realize you’re dancing with me in the middle of a bowling alley?”
He lifted his head at her question. “I’m aware.” Putting his forehead against hers, he closed his eyes once more. “Is that a problem?”
“Only if you’re going to help me with the balls.”
“I can’t wait.”
She smacked him in the chest and he stumbled, smiling at her. Linc was grateful she wasn’t upset by the way he’d snapped at her earlier. Tully reamed him for that but he’d not apologized for it yet. However, Emma hadn’t mentioned it.
“Fine, I was talking about those balls.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you were.”
When she walked away, he snagged the back of her shirt and tugged her until she was against his chest. She fit him perfectly.
“Four steps,” he murmured in her ear, dragging his hand down her arm, up, and then down once more, this last time only using his index finger. She shivered but didn’t pull away. “Most people use a four-step delivery method. As in you take four on your approach.”
He covered her much smaller hand in his. Linc walked them to where he thought would be the most helpful with the length of her legs and her stride—let’s face it, he had been paying a lot of attention to her ass, erm, stride—and positioned them before the foul line.
“You’re going to want your motion to be free swinging.”
This time she snorted before holding up her free hand. “Sorry.”
Linc wouldn’t follow that line of thought or he was going to be written up for public indecency. He was falling for this woman fast and it wasn’t like they’d spent a ton of time together, but it was natural. She was the flower and he was the bee, drawn to her on all levels. Again, how she was with Greer and making sure she wanted for nothing, only heightened his attraction.
“Not a discussion we will be having around high school children and parents who are paying a lot of attention to what we’re doing.” And he wasn’t lying, almost everyone inside the bowling alley watched them, and they weren’t being subtle about any of it.
Her head brushed against his chest as she turned to peer at him, amusement sparkling in her large eyes. “All I’m doing is sending those things into the gutter. I haven’t even knocked down a single pin.”