Hold Onto the Stars by Tracy Broemmer

Chapter 5

CJ triedto keep her eyes off him. After all, he was Violet’s date. Never mind the fact that he was the best-looking guy in the bar, the most interesting thing to happen in Oak Bend since Sherry brought in the Fifty Shades of Grey series to their little local library, and currently leaning over the pool table, putting some prime all-American male on display. CJ let her eyes roam over his arms, the way his shirt bunched up a bit over his biceps. One of his hands rested on the green felt, propping the pool cue, while the other held the cue loosely as he eyed his shot.

Cheeks hot, she dragged her eyes over his backside—she liked a man who filled out his jeans the way he did—and glanced at Violet, ready to beg for forgiveness. But Violet had her back to the table, talking to a few guys they had gone to school with. CJ looked back at Peyton when she heard the clack of the cue ball. She watched two solids drop into the corner pocket, totally unprepared when he looked up and hit her with that intense gaze.

“Lucky shot,” he said around a sheepish grin.

CJ simply smiled and watched him study the table for his next shot. When he did finally step closer to the table and lean over, she let out a quiet groan. Embarrassed, she bit her lip when he straightened and looked at her in askance.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head.

“C’mon.” He turned to her and tipped his head. “What’re you thinking?”

“That’s not your best shot,” she mumbled.

“No?” He looked back at the table with a frown.

“You’re not at a good angle.”

Uncomfortable under his intense scrutiny when he shifted his gaze back to her, CJ grabbed her beer and drained it.

“The two ball is less than an inch off the corner pocket,” he told her.

And that less than an inch would mean he would miss the shot, but she simply shrugged and nodded to the table. With her beer gone, Violet still engaged in conversation, and nothing to do with her hands, CJ folded her arms over her chest and watched Peyton take the shot. It wasn’t pretty, but after a second of bumping around, it dropped into the pocket.

“What shot would you have taken?” he asked her as he eyed the table again.

“The five at the side,” she answered without hesitation. He swung his gaze to the five and shrugged, but he nodded. The last shot had left him with nothing good this time, so CJ’s eyes wandered over his backside again.

“You’re dry.”

CJ stared at him blankly when he joined her at the high-top table. Watching the fluid motion of his body moving around the table had been entertaining, and while her panties hadn’t melted, she was aroused enough to feel flustered by his comment.

She tried to speak but her mouth was definitely dry, and his blazing eyes were making heat climb inside her again.

“Want another one?” He rescued her with a tip of his head at her empty glass. Of course, that’s what he meant. He wasn’t here to flirt with her. He was here with her best friend. CJ shot a quick peek at Violet, wishing her friend would ditch the other guys and talk to her date. “I’ll get Violet’s too.”

“Um.” She nodded, hoping if Peyton noticed the red in her cheeks, he would chalk it up to the crowd and the heat or even the beer. Not her reaction to him. “Yeah, thanks.”

CJ watched him move easily through the small crowd around the bar. Too bad he was a Sox fan. Too bad he was dating Violet. CJ hadn’t been out on a date in well over a year. She liked the guys around here, but not enough to commit to anything with them, let alone a lifetime. And she was at the age that she and her contemporaries were shifting into that mode. Dating was more about finding Mr. Right and settling down in a two-story house with two kids, a dog, and a picket fence instead of beer pong, making out in the balcony seats at the Flickhouse, and exchanging class rings.

“What do you think?” Violet suddenly appeared at her side, pulling her out of her thoughts.

CJ cleared her throat. She and Violet had been best friends since second grade. They had fought over a pink jeweled barrette in fourth grade, the goalie position on the school soccer team in seventh grade, and Evan Happekotte in ninth grade. But they had always come back to their friendship as the most important thing to both of them.

Still, she felt guilty for wishing even for a second that she had met Peyton before Violet did. Besides, Leslie had set the two of them up based on what she knew about them. Leslie was an excellent judge of character, so she had to be right about the match between Peyton and Violet.

“Of what?” CJ watched with feigned interest when the back door swung open, and a couple of guys carried in guitars.

“Peyton Quinn.” Violet sounded exasperated.

“Mmm.” CJ turned to her friend with a big smile. “He’s hot.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Violet sounded a little uncertain. CJ flicked her eyes over Violet’s shoulder to the guy in question, standing at the bar now and talking to someone as if he had known the guy forever.

“You don’t think so?” CJ met Violet’s eyes and drew back in surprise.

“Mmm.” Violet shrugged. “Yeah. He’s hot. But…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know.” Violet shivered and hugged herself, rubbing her hands over her bare arms. “He’s hot. He’s nice. He seems fun. But…I’m not sure.”

“This is your first date,” CJ reminded her. “Give it some time.”

Violet opened her mouth to answer, but CJ nudged her quickly. Peyton reappeared and doled out the drinks.

“It’s your shot,” he told Violet as she sipped from her beer.

“Mm.” She nodded. “Okay. Sorry, I got distracted. Tate Jones’s wife had their baby, CJ.”

“I heard that,” CJ mumbled. She was happy for Tate and Dana, but she wasn’t a girl to melt at the sight of a baby. In fact, if anything, babies made her nervous.

Violet grabbed her cue, set her beer down, and moseyed over to the table. CJ watched her for a second and then turned her attention back to Peyton. She ignored the little stab of jealousy when the two of them leaned their heads together to confer; she even managed a smile when Peyton caught her eye as Violet lined up her shot. But when Violet giggled and pulled Peyton’s attention back to her, when he eased up close to her and put his arm around her to help her with her shot, the little stab of jealousy turned to a mean jolt that scared CJ.

She loved Violet like a sister. Her friend wanted nothing more than to find the one and get married and have babies. If the fact that Peyton was a teacher said anything about how he felt about kids, they were perfect for each other. CJ was thrilled at the possibility for Violet.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t wish she could find a little piece of that for herself. She tipped her beer up and turned away from the lovebirds at the pool table in search of a distraction. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much other than watching the band setup, and even though Violet seemed fine with her date, CJ had ridden with her so she was at her mercy as to when she could leave.

Instead of drooling over her best friend’s date, she carried her beer closer to the stage to watch the band and struck up a conversation with the drummer. She wasn’t interested in musicians, certainly not musicians who were just passing through and playing a date for pay but talking to the drummer seemed more harmless than watching Violet and her date.