Best Of My Love

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“Assuming you have time for your new business venture,” Felicia said. “What with your love life heating up.”

Everyone turned to Shelby, who was busy gaping at Felicia.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, just as Taryn murmured, “That would be my question.”

“You’re seeing someone?” Madeline asked, sounding hurt.

Shelby shook her head. “I’m not. There’s no one.”

“I heard you were out with Aidan over the weekend,” Felicia said. “I’m sure my source is very reliable.”

“Oh, that.” Shelby shook her head. “No romance. Our relationship is strictly as friends.” While Madeline knew the details of her past and Shelby was fairly sure there were plenty of rumors, she wasn’t one to discuss her problems in a crowd.

“I don’t have any guy friends,” she said by way of edging around the truth. “Aidan doesn’t have any female friends. We thought hanging out would be good for us.”

Madeline relaxed, but everyone else stared at her as if she had grown a second and possibly third head.

“Why?” Isabel asked. “You have us.”

“It’s different. A male perspective is nice.”

“She’s right,” Taryn added. “I love my boys very much. While their advice is always different than yours, sometimes it’s helpful to hear it. I think all women should have male friends.”

Taryn’s “boys” were three retired football players who were also her business partners at Score PR, but Shelby still appreciated the support.

“See? It’s not weird.”

“It’s kind of weird,” Destiny said, “but good for you. Just don’t go falling for him romantically. From all I’ve heard, he’s not the long-term-relationship type. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

“It’s not romantic,” Shelby assured her, knowing in that statement she was being completely honest. Aidan was a great guy. She’d enjoyed their afternoon together. And sure, he was good-looking and funny, but they were friends. Nothing more. She had a plan and nothing was going to stand in the way of success.

* * *

ONE OF THE advantages of being part owner of a business was having access to it during off-hours. So while The Man Cave was technically closed, Aidan had a key, which explained why he and Shelby were playing pool at ten o’clock on a Saturday morning.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but Shelby had admitted she’d never played pool before, so he’d explained about striped versus solid balls and the basic rules of the game. Now Shelby was practicing how to use her cue stick to hit the cue ball. It wasn’t going well.

“I think it’s moving,” she said as her stick sailed past the cue ball and she stumbled forward.

Aidan held in a grin. “It’s not moving. You have to line up your stick with the ball.”

“But what about where I want it to go?”

“Let’s get you to where you can hit the cue ball consistently, then we’ll worry about direction.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “You sound very patient, but I know you’re laughing at me on the inside.”

“Just a little.”

She wore jeans and a blue sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wasn’t wearing much makeup. But when she smiled at him, her whole face lit up.

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “Tell me again what I’m doing wrong.”

Aidan moved toward her. “Better yet, I’ll show you.”

He positioned the cue ball about a foot from the center pocket, then gently pushed her forward. “Stand with your feet a little bit more than shoulder-width apart. Place your left hand on the table. Bend your fingers like I taught you and rest the cue on your fingers.”

She did as he instructed, then moved her right arm back and forth. The cue stick moved with her.

“Now move with a little more force.”

He watched as she drew back the stick, then thrust it forward. It barely grazed the cue ball. The white ball jumped a little to the left and came to a stop. Shelby groaned, but Aidan saw what she’d been doing wrong.

“You’re moving smoothly in practice, but as soon as you try to put some force behind the movement, you pull up the end.”

“And that’s supposed to make sense to me?”

He chuckled. “I’ll show you.”

He moved behind her so he could hold the cue stick with her. He rested his left hand by her left hand and put his right on top of hers.

“This is your practice movement.” He slowly moved the stick back and forth, keeping it even. “This is what you do when you’re trying to shoot.”

He raised the back of the stick as he brought it forward. “You need to be consistent. There’s no pressure.”

“That’s so geeky,” she muttered. “Okay, let’s try this again.”

She completed the smooth practice shot, then went for the ball. This time she managed to keep the stick level and the white cue ball rolled across the table.

“I did it!”

Aidan straightened. “You did. Now try it again.”

Shelby hurried around to the other side of the table. She got in position. “Is this right?”

He nodded because speaking suddenly seemed difficult. Something was wrong with him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was a tension inside him. Almost a tightness.

He shook off the feeling and circled around the table to watch Shelby get into position. He checked out her arm extension and how she held the cue, then found his gaze dropping to her butt as she bent over the table.

Her jeans pulled tight over perfect curves. Funny how he’d never noticed her ass before now and—