Read Online Breaking the Bachelor (Entangled Lovestruck) (Smart Cupid) by Maggie Kelley - Free Book Online Page B

all double cool with ice. “Just go on with your date and pretend I’m not here.”
    Yeah, right. She looked too damned good to ignore, all five-feet-sexy-something poured onto the barstool, wrapped up like an invitation in her white button-down and dark jeans, her sleek black coat thrown casually across the back of the chair. She leaned over the bar to nab the extra cherry for her drink, and inadvertently offered him a view of her cleavage that was so fantastic, Charlie thought he’d died and gone to Victoria’s Secret.
    He took a pull from his beer to cool down. “And here I was thinking you’d shown up for a round of pool.”
    “No, but I’m sure Summer is enjoying your talent for running the table,” she said, peering around his shoulder to scan the crowd. “Speaking of which, where is Summer?”
    The über-casual, offhand smile she’d plastered on her pretty face didn’t fool him. Either she was in some serious denial regarding her feelings about his date or she’d suddenly developed an acute interest in pool-playing skills. Odds were even.
    “Summer got a call she had to take, and she also wanted to touch up her lipstick. Most of it came off when she devoured my hot…” He deliberately let the reply trail away and glanced toward the back of the bar as if his date might stroll out of the ladies room any minute, all dolled up and ready to let him take her home. Jane craned her neck to see past him.
    “While she devoured your…what?” she prompted, and tilted so far, she almost fell off the barstool.
    The new server, Aaron, dropped off a plate piled high with honey-barbeque wings as she gamely righted herself. Then, he delivered the fries.
    “While she devoured my hot wings.”
    She raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, please. Did this hot wings and hockey routine ever really work for you?”
    “I seem to remember it working for you once upon a time.” That’s why he’d ordered her the plate of wings. And the basket of extra crispy fries.
    The eyebrow slammed down and her face settled into the give-nothing-away expression she’d inherited from the gambling branch of her family tree. Very convincing, except her gaze kept darting to the plates in front of her. A silent moment passed while she tried to pretend wings and fries didn’t seduce her as effectively as champagne and caviar did some women. One long inhale and her cool facade evaporated. She dove into the plate.
    A smile got the best of him, but Charlie wasn’t ready to forfeit his hand. He leaned closer and whispered into the slim space between them, “Between you and me, angel, that dating matrix of yours is genius.”
    Jane licked the honey-barbeque sauce from her fingers, having already worked her way through two drumsticks. “Genius?”
    “Total genius.” For emphasis, he tapped the cotton candy colored folder sitting on the bar, the one labeled, The Cupid Report. “At first I wasn’t convinced. She was sweet and a little shy, but then we played a couple rounds of Nine Ball.” He let go a low whistle as she added a stack of fries to her plate. “A game of pool is always a nice, easy way to get up close and personal.”
    “Up close and personal?”
    Tilting back his bottle, he took a sip of his beer and continued, “Not too many better ways to get know each other, maybe enjoy a little playful competition.”
    “Playful competition?” An adorable indentation formed between her brows as she glanced toward the back of the bar one more time.
    He kept his voice low and quiet, like a secret, and said, “Figured I’d get behind her and teach her how to hold a stick. Turns out she’s got natural talent.”
    Eyes wide, she pushed the appetizers to the side and pulled a toffee-nut bar out of the hidden compartment inside that wallet-type thing she carried. He fought back a grin. He’d barely started and she was already breaking into her emergency sugar stash.
    “I love a woman with a slow, sexy pullback. Especially when she knows how