Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(18)
Author: A.L. Jackson

God, I loved that about her. How casual she was. Game for anything. Fun.

Even after all the shit I’d put her through, here we were, f**king enjoying ourselves because of Aly’s pure heart.

There was no stopping the grin pulling at my mouth when I stepped up and racked the balls, thinking back on all those days when Aly was a little girl and had done her best to keep up with Christopher and me, how f**king cute she was as a kid, and how she’d grown into the most amazing girl I’d ever met.

None were like her.

No one could touch her.

Christopher leaned over the end of the table to break. He pulled back his stick and hit the cue dead on. It spun as it sped, slamming straight into the one-ball with a loud crack. Balls shot around the table, bouncing off the cushions and setting up the game.

Christopher watched them dance around, scatter, then slowly spin to a stop. One solid ball teetered at the edge of the corner pocket before it found footing on the felt.

I laughed, all raucous and loud.

He didn’t sink one.

Christopher groaned and threw back his head, gripping a handful of unruly hair. “Ah, shit. Did you see that? I was robbed. I think you breathed on it,” he accused as he tried to hold in his laughter.

“Not looking so good there, Christopher,” I said, giving my condolences as I stepped up to take my shot.

“Come on, baby, you’ve got this,” Aly shouted from where she watched. She rested her back on a high round table, her elbows propping her up. At her ankles, one long leg crossed the other, and she rocked on the spike of her heel.

Damn.

Amusement danced all over her face, floated on her words. “Don’t let Christopher hustle you out of that twenty.”

Christopher’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me? After everything I’ve done for you, Aly Cat, you’re taking his side?” He shook his head. “Now you two are really ganging up on me. How is this fair?”

I tipped my beer to my mouth, chuckling as I swallowed. I leaned over the table, banked the cue to hit home on the same ball Christopher had left hugging the pocket.

“Oh, dude . . . not cool.”

I smirked at him and proceeded to drive in a couple more before I missed and Christopher stepped in to take his turn.

I glanced up. In the same second, my jaw ticked.

What the hell?

The guy who’d been playing next to us was standing there, chatting up my girl.

I turn my attention away for all of two minutes and someone decides to make a move.

Cocking my head to the side, I caught Aly’s eye as she looked at me from over the ass**le’s shoulder. She shrugged a little, all innocent, like she found it funny to see the instant shot of possessiveness that locked my hands into fists.

It wasn’t like he was all over her, or anything.

Or touching her.

But he was talking to her and I was thinking that was an automatic foul.

Like Christopher had said. Not cool.

I left Christopher to his turn and slipped around the guy talking to Aly. Sidling up to her, I slinked my arm around her waist. I cracked a smile.

And not exactly a welcoming one.

Disconcerted brown eyes jumped all over my face, like he was taken aback to find me standing there. He looked all of seventeen, though I doubted very much he would have made it through the front door if he really was. He fidgeted and took one nervous step back.

“What’s up, man?” I asked, lifting my chin. I slanted what was supposed to be an innocuous glance at Aly, though it was so obviously packed with something that looked a whole lot like jealousy. But shit . . . this was my girl and I was not okay with some ass**le making a move on her. “This a friend of yours, baby?”

One side of her mouth twitched, and that amusement was back in full force, though this time at my expense. “Oh, this is David.” Her eyes widened as she messed with me some. “We just met, so I guess you could call us friends.”

“Really?”

David shifted on his feet, no doubt feeling the lurking hostility that would be all too happy to break free if he didn’t get a clue and take his place.

But there was nothing aggressive about this guy. He looked more like he was about to piss his pants.

Couldn’t blame the poor kid. If I were him, I’d be itching to make a move on the knockout leaning up against the table, too.

Too bad she was coming home with me.

I tugged her a little closer and my toothy grin widened more. “Well, it was really nice to meet you, David.”

An uneasy smile wavered on his mouth. “Right, so I’m just going to . . .” He stepped away with an awkward wave. “See ya around.”

Quiet laughter rumbled deep in my chest as I watched him make his way back to his friends.

“Was that really necessary?” Aly asked at the side of my face. I didn’t look back at her until the kid disappeared into the crowd; then I turned to catch the irritated mirth flushing her sweet face.

“Uh, yeah, it most definitely was.” I turned to gather her in my arms, pressed a kiss to her pouty mouth. “You think I’m really just going to stand there while some kid makes a move on what’s mine?”

She laughed quietly, biting at her lip like she wanted to laugh and admonish me at the same time. “You could have done that without going all caveman on me.”

I scoffed, lowered my voice as I spoke against the sharp line of her jaw. “That wasn’t close to going caveman on you, baby. If I wanted to go caveman, I’d toss you over my shoulder and take you back to your bedroom . . . where you belong.” I growled the last as I jerked her against me.

It was all a tease. Of course, she didn’t come close to knowing how serious I was. I’d just about lost my cool when I found out about that ass**le Gabe texting her during the months I was gone. I knew she’d blown him off, was kind and good the way she always was, but she didn’t string him along. My girl’d been waiting for me. But hearing about it still felt like Aly was threading a needle through my skin.

Aly twisted her hand in my shirt, couldn’t keep back her smile, her words landing in a harsh, hot whisper on my face. “You are unbelievable.”

Then I hugged her. I mean, hugged her, my arms consuming as I pressed her warm body to mine because I really needed her to know. My voice dropped as I spoke in her ear, serious and severe. “Won’t let anyone or anything come between us, even if it’s some punk kid who’s trying his hand at his first pickup line.”

Aly burrowed into my chest and fingers dug a little deeper into my shirt. “I get it, Jared. You’re going to have to learn to trust me, too.”