Reaching for the Moon by ThePekingNoodle

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Chapter 8: Behind the Eight Ball

Our hero teaches our heroine how to play pool and learns a lesson of his own in the process…

About fifteen minutes after Nathan had left, one of the servants came to the salon and asked Logan to come with him. Logan wondered where Max was, but he complied and followed the man down a hallway to a room he had not yet been in. The man opened the door and ushered Logan in, and then closed the door behind him as he left.

Logan looked around to see that he was in an elegantly appointed poolroom. The walls were paneled in a rich dark wood and the pool table sat pristine in the center of the room, a set of balls already racked for play.

A bar ran the length of the back wall of the room. Logan walked over to it and saw that there was a large platter of sandwiches on it, along with various hors d'oeuvres and finger foods.  He helped himself to a piece of cheese as he wondered what was up. As he walked over to look out of the windows which made up an entire wall of the room, he heard the door open and close softly. He turned and caught his breath at the sight that met his eyes.

Max stood in front of the door, looking both shy and defiant at the same time. Instead of one of her usual demure dresses, she was wearing a pair of tight black jeans and a black T-shirt that rode up to display an inch or two of golden skin above the low cut waistband of her jeans. To complete the outfit she had on a pair of boots and a black leather jacket.

Logan just stared at her, for once caught without words. Max looked far older than her fifteen years. Not only that, she looked like anything but a sheltered young miss. She looked dark and dangerous and…hot.

Max looked back at him, and then took a deep breath and walked forward.

"Max?" Logan finally managed to get out.

Max giggled. "I don't have the motorcycle yet but I wanted to wear my outfit tonight. I'm tired of always dressing up. Are you upset at me?"

Logan laughed, "Not at all, Max. I was just surprised." He told himself that she was just a little girl playing dress up and that she really had no idea of the effect of her attire on him.

"You won't tell will you? I wanted to have a night to do something kids my own age do. You know, the ones in the real world. I hope you don't mind that dinner isn't formal?"

"I don't mind at all." Logan smiled at her. He reached over and placed a sandwich on a small plate and handed it to her. 

Max beamed back at him confidingly. "This is my night to be a bad girl. Would you do something for me, Logan? There's something I was hoping you'd teach me."

Logan almost choked on a mouthful of food, as her words brought images to his mind of what exactly she wanted him to teach her. He drew a breath, and told himself that as the adult he was the one to keep things under control.

"What exactly did you want me to teach you?" he asked warily.

"To play pool. Papa won't let me learn – he says it isn't something ladies do."

Logan couldn't help laughing out loud in relief that Max's idea of being a bad girl was to learn to play pool. "Max, I will be more than happy to teach you to play pool. Finish your food and we'll get started."

When they finished eating, Max took off her jacket as Logan explained the rules of eight ball to her. He walked to the wall and picked out a cue for himself and one for her, and the lesson began.

A short time later Logan wondered why he had ever thought teaching Max to play pool would be harmless. She was a good pupil with a natural ability, but the teaching was harder than he would have thought.  In order to show her how to hold the stick and shoot, he stood behind her and put his arms around her, hands over hers, as he showed her the correct way to hold the stick. He tried to keep his mind on what he was doing, but his unruly body had other ideas, reacting strongly to Max's close proximity.

Logan had taught girls to shoot pool in the past, but other games had also been part of the object and they had known that. Max was different, and he quickly stepped back away from her as soon as she had her hands in the right place on the pool cue.

Max turned and shot him a look which he could have sworn was annoyance but he passed it off. Until she seemed unable to hold the stick properly for the next few shots, thus forcing him to once again stand with her and show her. The third time it happened, he swore she giggled as he stepped up to her, and he knew he was right when he stepped away and caught her with a smug smile on her face.

Max caught him looking at her and looked a bit abashed, but she proceeded to hold the stick properly after that as she made her shots. She got better and better and soon Logan decided it was time for a real game. 

Once the game started, Logan's natural competitiveness took over and he found himself trying to hold back so as not to beat Max too badly.  He won the first game by a few shots and they took a short break for drinks, a beer for Logan and a coke for Max, before starting a new game.

Logan let Max break and she made a few shots before it was his turn. She sent him a mock pout. "Now you're going to run the table aren't you?"

Logan could have easily done so, but he deliberately missed a shot to give her another chance. Max shot him a look and then proceeded to throw in a new trick. She deliberately chose a shot that required her to come around in front of where Logan was standing. The cue ball was in the middle of the table and Max leaned over the table as she stretched out to reach it.

Logan gulped, as her tight jeans seemed to get even tighter, revealing every curve of her backside as she leaned across the table.  He didn't even notice when she made the shot until she turned around and shot him a triumphant grin.

He almost felt like he was blushing as she slanted him a knowing look and then swept her eyes up and down his body. Logan gritted his teeth as he told himself that she was only fifteen and couldn't possibly have any idea of what she was doing to him.

"Logan?"

He looked up to see that Max was standing and waiting. "I missed. Aren't you going to shoot?" Her hands were on her hips as she struck a pose that drew his eyes to her tiny T-shirt and what was contained in it. 

Logan swore to himself as he went to the table and proceeded to miss an easy shot.

Max shot him a look as she sauntered over and made her last few shots to win the game.  Bad girl pose suddenly forgotten, she turned to him and threw her arms around him, hugging him as she celebrated her win.  Logan's hands came up to her waist automatically, and he found himself staring down into a pair of dark brown eyes.

There was a sudden silence in the room as their eyes met and Logan started to lower his head to hers. His lips brushed hers, but as they did, he recalled where he was and who she was, and he pulled back abruptly dropping his hands and stepping away from her.

"Good night, Max." His voice was harsh and without giving her a chance to answer, he turned and strode from the room leaving Max staring after him, her hand on her lips where his had so briefly touched.

End of Chapter Eight…TBC…