Authors: Mia Grandy
Drake pulled up in front of the hotel and parked his SUV. Before he climbed out of the vehicle, he sat there for a moment, leaning back against the headrest as he tried to gather his thoughts. He’d never been around a woman before who could cause his thoughts to be in such disarray. Even right now as he was waiting to pick her up to go practice, he could think of little else besides the curve of her hips and the way she chewed on the side of her thumb when she was nervous or worried.
Taking a deep breath, he turned to grab the door handle and had a sudden start when he looked through the window and realized he was face to face with Randa. Her eyes peered through the
tint, assessing him and the situation with a sense of caution.
He was not sure what had damaged her so heavily in her life before now to make her so wary, but he did know that when she looked like that he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his protective embrace and show her how good the world could actually be.
Flicking the button on the inside of the door, the window rolled down and he was greeted with a blast of hot summer air.
“Where you just going to hang out here all day in front of the hotel?” she asked, a smile on her face that never quite reached up into her eyes. She may have been pretending to joke around, but he knew that she had been a little burdened to just find him sitting out here in the parking lot.
“Nah. I was just resting for a moment. I didn’t sleep that well last night, and since I got here a little early I figured I would take a break until you were ready.”
“I see. Well, I’m ready now if you are,” she told him before heading around the back of the vehicle and going to the passenger side door. “I’ve been starving since breakfast.”
“What, you didn’t eat lunch?” he asked, putting the SUV into gear and pulling out of the parking lot.
“I wasn’t that hungry after breakfast, so I figured that it would be cheaper to just wait until dinner.”
She didn’t say anything else, and when Drake looked over at her slim frame, he realized that skipping meals was probably an ingrained way of life for her. Being from a family that never had to want for anything, the idea of not eating in order to save money was a foreign concept to him.
“Well then, since you are obviously the more hungry of the pair, you should pick where we eat.” He decided against taking her out to the nice restaurant he had originally planned on taking her to. Drake knew that she would be too proud to let him buy her lunch, but she didn’t have enough money to cover a good restaurant.
She stared out of the window for a moment and fiddled with a pendant that was hanging around her neck. The silver caught a beam of light and sent out a brief flare before she clenched it tight in her fist. Then, as quickly as the medallion had appeared she dropped it down into her shirt and it was gone again.
Originally, Drake had noticed the necklace last night. At first he had been curious, but he had not been able to get close enough to see what it was.
Now his curiosity was even greater, but he did not want to pry.
“I would really like a good burger,” she finally said. “Not one of those fast food burgers, but a real thick, juicy burger with a bun that has been toasted on the grill. Old school style.”
As she spoke her tongue flicked out and licked at the corner of her lips. Drake had to take a deep breath to keep himself from getting too aroused; as it was he could already feel his erection straining against his pants.
“A girl with an appetite,” he said as he turned on his blinker and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road. “Don’t worry. I think I know the perfect place.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything for the rest of the drive, not even when they pulled up to a small, red, ramshackle looking building on the outskirts of the city. There were a few other cars in the gravel parking lot, but there was little else to draw attention to it.
“Where are we?” she asked when he parked and started to climb out.
“Phil and Pat’s,” he answered. “Home of the best burger in town.”
“I bet I’ve been by this place like fifty times and never even realized it was here. I probably never would have thought to stop,” she said, sliding down out of the SUV. She walked around the front of the vehicle and looked up at the building, her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. “Not to mention the fact that I’m not sure how much longer it will be standing.”
“Don’t worry. It’s stronger than it looks,” he said, laughing as he held open the door.
She chuckled and walked in, ducking under his arm and smiling up at him. He turned and went in behind her, and watched as the outside shack turned into a small paradise. When Randa’s face lit up, Drake found that he felt happier than he had in a long time.
“This…this is pretty awesome,” she said, turning around in a slow circle to take in all of the interesting little details. There was an original poster from when Jimi Hendrix had played Noble field in Norman back in 1969 next to a T-shirt that had been signed by all of the members of the Black Eyed Peas. In the back of the bar there was an entire section dedicated to country music memorabilia, and on the opposite side there were several different movie references like iconic posters, signed pictures, action figures, etc.
It truly was a dive that catered to one’s inner child, and it was somewhere Drake felt
comfortable in his own skin. His family had known both Phil and Pat since he was very young and even though their children ran it now, it was still a place that felt like home.
He walked over to his favorite booth in the corner of the room. Randa followed him, and he could feel her eyes taking in the room. Could feel her gaze on his back, and he found himself fighting back arousal again.
Drake sat down and watched her slowly walk across the room, examining the different artifacts on the wall and smiled. For the first time in years he found himself feeling happy again.
*
Randa was so thrilled with the décor at the hamburger place that her eyes continuously scanned the walls as they ate. Even now, as they were loading up into his vehicle, she was fighting off the urge to go back inside and look for any small detail she might have missed before. For the first time in years, she found herself forgetting about her worries and truly just enjoying the moment.
She’d thought that nothing would be able to top that experience, but if she had laid money on it, she would have been wrong.
When they had originally pulled up to the giant mansion, she thought that maybe he had made a wrong turn or that he was just trying to impress her. It had white stucco walls and green terracotta tile on the roof. There were meticulously groomed ivy vines carefully draping different sections of the house and a flowerbed out in front. The fence going around the property was brick and wrought iron, and the groomed ivy was growing across it as well. The entire thing had the look and feel of a Gothic mansion that would be more in tune with something on the Gulf coast rather than something in Oklahoma City.
It wasn’t until Drake pulled around to the back of the property, parked, and climbed out of his car that it sank in that this was truly their destination.
“What? Do you rent the pool house?” she asked, cutting her glance over to Drake as she spoke. This mysterious man who scouted pool halls in need of a partner but who lived in the lap of luxury seemed too good to be true.
“No” he said, turning away from her and heading toward the small cottage that matched the giant house behind them only in miniature form.
She stopped in the middle of the drive and crossed her arms, her mouth slightly agape. “Okay, that’s it. I’m not moving another step until you come clean. I mean, who hits up people for help with a tournament to win a little nothing lakeside piece of property when you could clearly buy something twice as big as that without batting an eye?”
Drake stopped, and although she was too far away to hear him, she could see his shoulders heave as he sighed. Then, he turned and walked back until he was leaning over her, his large form pressed into her body and he whispered in her ear.
“I will explain everything. I wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise. Please, just trust me.” His lips were close enough to her ear that each puff of breath sent tingles down her spine. He placed his hand on her shoulder while he spoke, but then when he turned to leave it slowly trailed down her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps.
It was all he said before turning back around and walking directly into the house. Randa stood
outside in disbelief as the sun seared her exposed shoulders. The heat was oppressive, but a moment ago when he had been so close to her, the air had nearly sizzled. She looked behind her and knew that it would not take much to walk back to main road and get a cab to the hotel.
She weighed her decision, but eventually her curiosity won out, and she followed him into the house.
The first thing she noticed when she crossed the threshold was that while the exterior of the house may have been old school gothic, the interior was very updated and modern. It was a nice contrast, and she felt herself at ease almost instantly. Drake was standing at the back of the hall, and when she walked in she saw him smile and motion her to follow him.
When she turned the corner, she found herself staring at a large open room with two pool tables
on either end. The furnishings in the other rooms might have been modern, but the tables were decidedly not. They were large, and made from a thick, hard wood and the felt tops were so pristine there weren’t even chalk marks on them.
It was not often that Randa felt herself intimidated, but these tables had her at a loss. She walked around each of them, her fingers trailing across the carved wood. These tables were old school masterpieces, and she would have laid money that each of them was carefully maintained and balanced by a team of professionals.
“So, you live here?” she asked.
“Yes. I grew up here, and I inherited the house when my parents passed away.”
She studied him. He couldn’t have been more than thirty. There were very few wrinkles on his face, no grey at his temples, and not even a hint of flab on his body. Either his parents passed away when he was very young or he was the best preserved man she had ever met.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you. It was a plane accident. My father used to fly a small airplane, and my mom loved to travel with him. She would say it was far safer than driving a car.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, stopping at the opposite end of the pool table from her. “Sad thing was she was right, it was statistically far safer to be in the plane. But I guess statistics don’t mean anything to fate. When it is your time, it is just your time.”
Randa remained quiet, watching him and waiting for him to finish his story. She knew from experience that people often did not get straight to the point. Often, if you were patient enough, and waited long enough without interrupting
them, you could gather a lot more information than if you started talking.
“That was several years ago. I was at college. For a number of years I did not come back. My grandfather was still around, and he saw to the house, the staff, and the business while I ran around the world trying to drink my fortune and my pain away. Somehow he made sure that didn’t happen. When he died he knew that the one thing I treasured most out of all of it was my father’s lake cabin. So, he left the property to the tribe with a set of very specific instructions on how the money raised was to be used and how the money was to be raised.”
“So, this pool tournament, it was set up by your grandfather, before he died? As in, it was in his will?” she asked, unable to believe the set of circumstances she now found herself in. This was not only outside of the realm of anything she could have imagined, it was also well outside of the comfort zone of what she was partnering up for.
“Yes, this is my chance to win back the cabin fair and square,” he said as he looked up at her. For the first time she saw the pain in the depth of his eyes and realized how badly he felt he had messed everything up. She knew that feeling all too well. “I’m sure I could try to buy it off the winner later, but for once in my life I want to try and win it outright.”
“Are you sure you want me as your partner? I mean, I’m pretty good at hustling low grade pool hall guys, but I don’t know if I would count on me in a tournament; especially not one where the stakes are so high. I don’t want to be responsible for you not winning back your family cabin, and there are professional players who would be a lot better at what you’re looking for.”
Drake crossed rounded the edge of the table and crossed the gap between them in just two short strides. “You may just think of yourself as a two bit hustler, but I watched you play last night for hours. You have skill, quite a bit more skill than you give yourself credit for. I wouldn’t want anyone else to stand with me. I don’t know you, and I don’t know your history or your life story, but I can tell a lot about you just by the way you hold yourself. When you are playing pool, you are the most confident person in the room.”
When she tried to duck her head, to look away from his gaze because she felt embarrassed at the praise he was showering her with, he tucked his hand under her chin and pushed it back up.