Learning the Ropes Read Free Page B

Mac wasn’t paying too much attention as her head was already at The Lucky Stripe with her new love, and Brianna seemed able to tune her out easily enough. But Rory heard Celeste’s voice in her head all the way home.
    Maybe it was time for her to step outside of her box and take a walk on the wild side. Noah clearly wasn’t an acceptable choice, but she could afford to be a little less picky if the whole purpose of the relationship was sex. That basically meant the man had to be clean, good in bed, and attractive to her. Attracted to her wouldn’t hurt either. And she supposed he’d have to be a somewhat nice and normal person. She wasn’t in the market for a stalker. But smart, funny, good job—all the things that were so necessary in an actual boyfriend were not needed at all in a fling.
    She was still considering the idea when she got home and was able to unload her lunch box, purse, and bag. Clenched in her hand was her copy of the quiz with her fat F on the top. Celeste had even drawn a frowny face. Rory had to admit her grade wasn’t exactly gold-star material. She surveyed it with a sigh and moved to throw it away, but at the last minute she changed her mind. She used her favorite quote magnet—”Well-behaved women rarely make history”—to affix it to the refrigerator door where she wouldn’t be able to forget it. Maybe it would spur her on to make some changes in her life.
    Rory took one last look at it before grabbing her bag and heading to the dining table to grade some tests. Hopefully her students would fare better than she had.

Chapter Two
    If ever there was a girl who looked like she was about to encounter a problem, it was Rory Puckett.
    Sitting on the other side of the bar from where Noah Sellig was shooting pool alone, Rory was definitely heading for trouble. While Noah was enjoying a relatively solitary evening in his darkened corner of the bar, Rory was holding court with a couple of very interested guys who were keeping her supplied with a steady stream of liquor. As usual, he had resisted the urge to go over to her since she had walked in earlier. He had learned some time ago that where Rory was concerned he was better off keeping a good distance between them, despite the fact that distance was the last thing he wanted from her.
    But, to keep the peace, he stayed away and watched as she had entered alone and promptly been deluged with drink offers from men hoping to take her home at the end of the night. He’d tried to ignore as she had accepted drink after drink and begun to lean more heavily on the table in front of her. It had taken all of his willpower to stay away when she had engaged in a sexy slow dance with one of the bar regulars. But now it seemed that the last two guys sitting at her table were making their final bids to be the lucky guy to leave with her. Which was strange because, as many times as Noah had seen Rory at The Lucky Stripe, he had never seen her leave with anyone other than her date or her girlfriends.
    Noah tightened his grip on the pool stick in his hand and tried to concentrate on his next shot. A shot that was totally wasted when a voice from behind startled him.
    “This is really some of the worst pool I’ve ever seen in this bar.”
    Noah turned around to see John Tolman leaning against the side of the pool table next to his, smirking and shaking his head. “Maybe if some people didn’t feel the need to sneak up on unsuspecting players, it wouldn’t be such a problem.” Noah straightened up from his table and clapped his friend on the back. “I didn’t think I’d see you here tonight. I thought you’d still be in lockdown with Mac,” he teased.
    John didn’t rise to the bait; instead he smiled in the contented way of a man getting laid on a regular basis. “I’m not here voluntarily. I got kicked out for a couple of hours while Mac finishes up some grading that I’ve been diligently distracting her from. I was just heading home from running a