And her curves.
Fuck. Ash couldn’t keep his eyes off her curves.
But instead of reacting to his smile, the young woman simply nodded. She hiked her leg up and sat on the barstool, her thigh splaying along the seat. Ash leaned against the bar and flexed his arms, hoping to catch the young woman’s attention. Johnny’s blues guitar playing had everyone in the bar turned toward him, and Ash bit back a groan. The woman with the seafoam eyes, however, didn’t turn to look at the guitar that was being strummed.
In fact, she didn’t really look to be watching much of anything.
“Care for a drink?” Ash asked.
“Sure,” the woman said.
“Would you like to be a little more specific?” he asked, flashing that signature white smile of his.
But all the woman did was shrug.
His eyes locked onto her, gazing into her unfocused stare. There was a hint of sorrow there. Something deep-seated and harsh. Normally, Ash avoided those kinds of women. Too much emotional baggage and always wanted to talk after sex. But the woman sitting in front of him was closed off. Tightly. Like a pinched nerve that would rather risk a constant dull pain than the idea of being released into something more palatable. Her eyes panned slowly over to Ash’s and he watched the sorrow grow, until nothing but the darkness of her hurt shrouded her face.
Interesting.
“Care for a little game?” he asked.
“Is that a drink?” the woman asked.
With a grin, Ash picked up a Ping-Pong ball from off the floor at his feet. The resort Johnny worked alongside had plenty of beer pong tables and most of them were centered around the Cabana. Easy access to the daily beer tap with multiple games ending in a lot of drunken, rowdy rich dicks running into the ocean to half-drown themselves. Ash set the ball on the counter and placed a red plastic cup over it, then put two more at either side.
“Watch carefully,” Ash said. “Don’t take your eyes off it. Not even for a second.”
He moved the cups around, swirling them and switching them before her very eyes. What she didn’t know, however, was that Ash had placed two other Ping-Pong balls in the bottom of the other two cups. No matter which this downtrodden woman chose, she would always win.
And she looked as if she could use a little bit of winning in her life.
“Now. Where’s the ball?” Ash asked.
He watched the young woman point to the one on the left and he lifted up, revealing a Ping-Pong ball. The woman didn’t crack a smile, but he did watch a bit of the darkness fall from her eyes. He covered the ball and moved them around again. A little faster as he watched her eyes follow the cup. The crashing of the waves against the shore ebbed and flowed with Johnny’s guitar playing, but try as he might, he couldn’t get the young woman Ash was entertaining to look at him.
Served Johnny right.
“Where’s the ball now?” Ash asked.
“The middle?” the woman asked.
Such a sweet voice. Full of breath and tenderness and light. His eyes whipped up to hers and he picked up the cup, revealing the Ping-Pong ball underneath. That time, he watched the young woman crack the faintest smile and it made his heart thump against his chest.
“One more time,” Ash said. “Ready?”
Ash kicked a bottle at his feet over into the corner and the sound distracted the woman long enough to slip something underneath that same cup. He quickly removed the Ping-Pong ball and replaced it with Herman, Johnny’s pet hermit crab. He was the mascot of the bar and the only pet Johnny was allowed to have in the bullshit apartment the man rented. But Ash knew this would make the woman smile.
Herman had a yellow smiley face painted on his shell, and he always made the patrons smile.
“Keep your eyes on it closely,” Ash said. “Don’t let it out of your sight. Not even for a second.”
He traced the cups slowly and the woman rolled her eyes. Ash paused his movements so her eyes could keep up, then he settled the cups all back into place. The woman shot him a look before picking up her finger and flicking the cup to the right away, but underneath wasn’t the Ping-Pong ball she was expecting.
It was Herman.
And she smiled before a beautiful giggle fell from her lips.
“That’s more like it,” Ash said. “A beautiful sound for a beautiful girl.”