Hot In Here (Ashton Heights Fire # 3) (3 page)

Blair walked down to her end of the table
and stood beside her. The electricity of his nearness made Ally’s
skin tingle as they both watched Leo pocket the eight practically
one handed. “You realize you just lost your own bet.”

“
I’m not a sore
loser.”

“
I can be.”

“
Somehow, I’m not
surprised.”

Ally angled her head to look at him. He was
already looking at her, as though he had been studying her profile.
The notion made Ally’s pulse leap, and the intense focus of his
ice-blue eyes kept it high.

They eyed each other for a
drawn-out moment. Ally was determined not to shy away from the open
appraisal and interest in Blair’s gaze. At long last, he said, “Saw
you on the phone earlier. Is your date late?”

Ally hesitated over
admitting her date was her brother. Perhaps because the idea of
giving Blair Bowman such an obvious green light didn’t seem exactly
safe. But she wasn’t going to put him off
entirely
. “Actually, he’s not
coming.”

“
You were stood
up?”

It was Leo’s voice, filled with a mixture of
shock and anger. Ally turned her attention toward him and saw his
brow furrowed with displeasure. His reaction filled her with a
warmth that sank all the way to her toes before traveling back up
again.

If she had been stood up for a romantic
date, she’d bet Leo Chatfield would be the type of guy to provide
the best possible comfort. Perhaps in the form of ice-cream and a
corny movie, followed by a gentle hug that would turn into a few
sweet and steamy kisses that would melt her body faster than the
ice cream would melt in the tub…

Then he’d bend you over the couch and fuck
you like a jackrabbit in heat.

Shut your trap, Satan!

“
It’s no big deal,” Ally
said, trying to recapture the conversational thread.

“
Like hell it’s not,” Leo
said. “I hope you’re not going to give the loser another
chance.”

Was this his way of trying to find out if
she was in an ongoing relationship? Ally felt him watching her
carefully and thought perhaps it was. Her stomach flipped because
he wanted to know. The heat of Blair’s gaze on her profile told her
he might be equally as invested in her answer.

Were they both interested in her? Oh, boy.
Wasn’t that going to cause a problem when she had to decide who she
wanted to hook up with—if indeed she wanted to hook up with either
of them?

Oh, Ally, you know you
want to hook up. The problem is you like them both.

That
was the real issue. She couldn’t decide which one of her pool
players she found more appealing. What would happen if she told
them she didn’t want to choose?

Ally’s mouth dried out. Oh, the scenarios
that flickered through her mind. She wasn’t sexually reticent by
any means. Years as a single woman living in cosmopolitan cities
had given her enough chances to gain the confidence and experience
she’d need to take on two men at once, but it wasn’t something
she’d ever done. She’d never before met two men who appealed to her
so equally.

Leo and Blair were obviously good friends.
Was a threesome something they would indulge in?

Was she out of her mind to
even entertain the idea? Cripes. She hardly knew these
guys.

“
Excuse me, I think I’ll
get those drinks now. Three more of the same?”

Ally didn’t wait for their
answer before heading toward the bar. She needed space, a few
moments to herself to shake off their destabilizing effect on her.
She was actually contemplating suggesting three-way sex with two
guys she’d met not twenty minutes ago. It was insane. She could
practically hear Corey hitting the roof if he ever found
out.

Not that if she’d ever tell him if she did
decide to do the insane thing. Ally shuddered at the very thought
of her brother knowing intimate details of her sex life.

But he won’t find out,
will he, Ally?

Four years overseas—out of sight and reach
of her protective family—and she chose her first week back in
Ashton Heights to consider doing something completely debauched.
She was out of her mind.

And turned-on like nobody’s business. Ally
glanced back over to the pool table. Blair and Leo were deep in
conversation, but they were watching her.

Both of them.

Ally turned back to the bar so they wouldn’t
see her smile or the aroused flush in her cheeks. She had a feeling
her little devil was going to get her way tonight. And Ally
couldn’t muster the decency to be upset about it.

Nothing turned Blair Bowman on more than a
woman who drank beer straight from the bottle and knew how to play
pool. Except maybe a woman with all the above and a penchant for
wearing brightly colored lingerie.

Most men liked the black. A
lot of other guys didn’t care for the lingerie as long as it was
easy to take off. But for some reason, Blair liked a woman who wore
vivid colors under her regular clothes. It bespoke a boldness he
respected in a sexual partner.

He’d noticed earlier that
the beer-drinking pool shark named Ally wore a bra that was bright
pink.

Now, he barely managed to
stifle a curse when she bent over the pool table to line up a shot.
She was playing against Leo and totally transfixing Blair in the
process. That little denim skirt was driving him mad. It was short
enough to give him an excellent view of her supple upper thighs but
not short enough to allow him a peak at her underwear. He’d love to
know if her knickers matched the bra. If they did, he’d decided he
was going to do everything in his power to take this woman home and
have his way with her.

Hell. He’d be willing to
take her home if she were wearing granny panties. The brief
conversation he’d had with Leo while Ally was at the bar had
confirmed his friend felt the same way. If Ally was in to the idea,
it was all systems go as far as Blair was concerned.

“
Wish I’d known what I was
getting into when I agreed to this game.” The twitch of Leo’s lips
told Blair his comment wasn’t a genuine complaint. The man was
clearly having the time of his life facing off with Ally. “I would
have insisted on a handicap.”

Ally sank the red ball in the side pocket
with ease and stood. She flipped her long dark hair over her
shoulder and arched a brow at Leo. “There you go, selling yourself
short again. Are you always so humble?”

Blair answered for Leo. “Pretty much. Leo
Chatfield, the humble hero.”

“
Hero?” Ally
prompted.

Leo gave him a look meant to shut him up,
but Blair ignored it. “Leo here—otherwise known as Chats—regularly
saves cats from trees and damsels from burning buildings.”

Blair saw the moment Ally put two and two
together. She turned back to Leo. “You’re a firefighter?”

Leo looked abashed. The way some women
reacted to his profession—making jokes about his hose and asking to
ride on his big red truck—tended to make him uncomfortable. Blair
considered it a perk of the job. “Yeah,” Leo said at last. “Blue
and I both are.”

Ally walked around the table to line up her
next shot, not appearing impressed in the least by their careers.
“Oh, that’s funny.”

“
Why is that funny?” Leo
asked.

She looked about to answer but then stopped
herself. Her brow furrowed. “Which station are you at?”

Leo answered for the both of them. “Ashton
Heights.”

“
Huh.”

There was no discernable change in her
expression, but Blair sensed there was something she wasn’t saying.
“Why do you ask?”

Ally flashed him a smile and went back to
lining up her shot. “No reason.”

There was a reason all right, but Blair
couldn’t begin to guess what it was. He let the lie go because
trying to figure out the inner workings of a woman’s mind was a
fool’s errand. Besides, he wasn’t interested in Ally for her mind.
Her body would do very nicely for his purposes.

Leo clearly felt the same
way. Blair would know it even if he hadn’t outright asked the man
only a minute ago. They had the same taste in women, which had
always worked very well for them. Lately, Blair had started to get
the impression Leo was losing interest in sharing, but he hadn’t
wanted to confirm his suspicions by asking Leo about it. He liked
the way things were—sexy, fun, uncomplicated. Truth be
told—although he’d never admit it to a soul—Blair did better with
women when Leo played wingman. Leo’s nice-guy vibe balanced out
Blair’s harsh exterior. On his own, his complete lack of
sensitivity tended to lose him a lot of points.

“
You’re killing me,” Leo
groaned.

Anyone else would have thought he was
referring to the fact Ally had sunk another ball. Blair noticed the
way Leo’s gaze was trained on the girl’s butt and knew the other
man was talking about the physical effect watching her bend over
the table was having on him.

Ally flashed Leo that
devastating grin. “Don’t worry. Your luck could change at any
moment.”

Ally’s gaze tracked over Leo’s form in open
appreciation, the same kind of look Blair had caught her giving him
once or twice while he’d been playing pool.

Jackpot.
The woman definitely wanted both of
them.

Ally turned her back on them quickly, as
though realizing how much she might have revealed. As she leaned
over the table, Blair remarked, “I don’t think Leo and I are
looking for anything to change. We get lucky often enough.”

The pool cue shot forward
and hit the white ball, but for once, Ally’s aim was off. It didn’t
even contact the ball she was aiming for, bouncing instead off the
side bumper. “Damn.”

Leo winked at her as he moved forward to
take the shot she’d missed. “That’s two for me.”

As Ally came to stand beside Blair, he
commented in a low murmur. “Don’t worry. Maybe you’ll get two
tonight as well.”

Even above the noisy
revelry of Friday night at the Sovereign, Blair could hear the way
her breath caught. She didn’t turn to look at him, instead watching
Leo sink two balls in succession. At length, she posed, “What makes
you think I want two of anything?”

Lips twitching, Blair replied, “Two is
better than one.”

“
Always?”

“
We haven’t had a
complaint yet.”

She lost her breath again. Her words fairly
wheezed out. “I see. You have comment cards?”

Blair liked that she was
cheeky even when she’d been pushed off-kilter. “Don’t need them.
There are ways of knowing when someone’s satisfied.”

“
Is that so?”

She still wasn’t looking at him, but Blair
didn’t buy the nonchalant demeanor. She was listening intently to
every word he said.

“
Usually it starts with the
way a woman sighs, those involuntary little exhalations that let
you know she likes what you’re doing. Then there’s the breathing.
It starts coming faster and faster, making her chest rise and fall,
making her feel like she’s losing oxygen…but she doesn’t want it
back. All she wants is for you to make her feel so good she can’t
help moaning with pleasure.”

Blair noted with satisfaction the way Ally’s
grip tightened on the pool cue. She hadn’t slapped him yet and she
was still listening, so he figured it was time to go in for the
kill.

“
I personally love it when
a woman twists her fingers in my hair and yanks me closer, holds my
head between her legs until her moans turn to helpless cries of
ecstasy. I love it when she thrashes beneath me as she comes and
comes and I taste her like honey on my tongue. And Leo…he likes to
watch. He reckons there’s nothing sexier than a woman’s face in the
throes of orgasm.”

Ally said nothing for a
long moment. She probably couldn’t speak, seeing as she was biting
down on her lip almost hard enough to draw blood. Her knuckles had
turned white on the pool cue and her chest was rising and falling
rapidly inside her blouse. Blair enjoyed speculating on how hard
her nipples might be inside that racy pink bra, and his mouth dried
up with the desire to taste her there, to feel the hard little nubs
against his tongue.

Fuck. He’d meant to pique
her interest with his little speech, had hoped to turn her on. He
hadn’t counted on turning himself on so damn much in the process.
His dick had been twitching since he’d first laid eyes on Ally, but
now it had solidified into a full-blown erection that was going to
be difficult to get rid of. At least in public.