“Oh, so it’s like dessert?”
Ryan’s eyebrow rose slightly, making him look equal parts rugged and dangerous. “You could say that. If you like your desserts potent.”
Lisa’s mouth went as dry as if she, herself, had indulged in a glass of whisky, neat. She grabbed the stem of the martini glass and took a long sip of the Cosmo as she counted to herself.
One hippopotamus.
Two hippopotamus.
Three hippopotamus.
Slowly, the potami helped her remember to breathe and her equilibrium righted itself. She put the glass back on the napkin.
“So, back to the earlier conversation. You decided to leave New York because you were lonely?”
She looked away for a second, seeing in her mind’s eye the subway ride and the moment it all clicked for her.
“No, not lonely. Just unfulfilled. A friend had gone back to school to get her teaching certificate and was loving working with kids. I thought back on the biggest influences in my life, and aside from Nana, they’d been my teachers. They’d taught me to dream and they’d helped prepare me for the world. I knew I wanted to be that kind of influence on someone.” She paused and took another sip of her drink. “So, I bought a one-way ticket home.”
“And have you ever regretted it?” Ryan’s blue eyes focused on Lisa with laser-like precision.
She could feel the weight of his stare. It was as though he was challenging her to drop all the games they’d played since the moment they’d met and to be completely honest with him. She felt like this was an answer he’d been searching his own heart and mind for.
“Not for one second,” Lisa answered honestly. “Well, not until I realized today I couldn’t buy a dress in that boutique. Teaching does have some drawbacks.”
She tried to smile and make the words seem like more of a joke. She didn’t want to be too serious.
“I don’t need money. I just need to find something that has a purpose. You’ve found that. I’d like to do the same.”
He sounded sincere. However, Lisa had already learned one thing—Ryan McBride was a professional gambler. He could conceal his real thoughts and move situations to his advantage. He’d kiss a near-stranger on TV and pass her off as his fiancée if it gave him an edge.
But something in the tone of his voice made Lisa turn and look at him more closely, to see if this was just another game to him, or something more.
“Why don’t you?”
“Teach?” She could hear the laugh behind his words over the buzz of the crowd.
Clearly, she’d judged him correctly the first time. She kicked herself for not keeping her mouth shut.
She almost didn’t know how to respond. She decided to do what she thought Ryan would do in this situation—deflect and move on. “Never mind.”
He picked up the cut crystal and swirled the brown liquid around the melting ice cubes. “It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t know what I’d teach or where I’d go. It’s not like Mensa is recruiting me.”
“I teach theatre, remember, not nuclear physics. Kids have all types of interests, and they need all types of teachers.”
Ryan took a neat sip from the glass. “True. But I doubt there are many parents wanting their kids to learn from a card shark.”
“Do you have a college degree?”
“Of course I do. Do you think Pops would have it any other way?” His blue eyes sparkled in a way similar to his grandfather’s. “It’s in accounting, actually. Math is easy for me. I think it’s what’s made me a good card player. People think it’s all about luck, but really, that’s just short-term variance. It comes down to statistics. There are pot odds and implied odds, and you need to know your expected value. If I’m staring someone down during a game, I’m really not looking at them. I’m running all the numbers and scenarios in my head. The best competitive advantage I have isn’t that I can read people or keep them from reading me. It’s that I’m good at math and I can do fairly detailed calculations in my head during the downtime.”
Lisa finished off her Cosmopolitan with a dainty sip. “So, could you teach kids about statistics?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I could.”
“I have a co-worker who is one of the curriculum leads for our district’s new STEM Academy. It’s a school dedicated to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. There are ways for you to get a teaching certificate without having an education degree. That’s how I did it. You might even qualify for an emergency certificate, depending on how pressed they are for the right skill set. Good math teachers are really hard to find.”
“You’re serious?” His eyebrow cocked gently again, as though he couldn’t quite believe what Lisa was saying.
She nodded. “Of course I am.”
Two men walked out on the stage at the front of the room. As they took their places beside their respective pianos, the crowd broke out in wild applause.
Lisa couldn’t quite hear what Ryan said in reply, and as the performers began to speak and explain how the dueling piano show worked, there wasn’t really a way for her to ask him to repeat himself.
So, she settled back in the tufted booth and tried to focus on the show and not Ryan McBride. It only took a few minutes to realize she wasn’t making good on that goal.
She’d thought they’d had nothing in common—the underpaid teacher and the man who tossed the exclusive credit card around without hesitation. But she knew the struggle he was going through, felt it in her veins. She’d lived coming face-to-face with the realization that your life-long dream wasn’t enough to make it in real life. She’d walked away from the lights and the stage in search of fulfillment and life’s work that would make a difference—without losing the passion she’d loved since childhood.
Ryan was trying to navigate his way through that reality now, staring the unknown in the face and trying to make sense of it. Beyond that, they were both obviously devoted to their respective grandparents and wanted to protect them and care for them.
She tried to turn her head as unobtrusively as possible and look at Ryan’s profile. Rich brown hair that was almost raven-black in most light, perfectly styled with just a little bit of bad-boy tousle. Straight nose, strong jawline covered in short stubble that would have been perfect on a motorcycle-riding hero on the big screen.
She let her gaze trace back up. And those eyes. A shred of light from the candle in front of them reflected the deep blue back at her.
She didn’t know the full history of that Lucky Charm nickname, but to say that he was charming to look at was probably a solid understatement.
The player on the left piano finished the rendition of “Crocodile Rock” with a resounding crash and a zip of fingers down the full length of the keyboard and back.
“It’s always fun to play for a crowd like this, but part of the way we keep the show fun is to bring up people from the audience to join us,” the player, who’d earlier introduced himself as Einstein, said to the full house.
His co-performer, a woman who’d introduced herself as Marie, nodded. “Sometimes we take volunteers. Sometimes we pick on people. Tonight, we’re picking on people.”
Einstein pounded out the theme from Jaws. The overhead spotlights began to swirl around the crowd.
“And tonight...we’re picking on a man who’s creating a little bit of a buzz around town. Ryan McBride, the most decorated winner in Global Poker Challenge history, announced tonight that he’s retiring from the tour.” Marie’s smile was more of a leer. She pointed at Ryan with both fingers in a pow-pow motion. “Come on, Lucky Charm, it’s time to do your swan song.”
Ryan sat up a little straighter and Lisa noticed the tension coming back in his shoulders. He waved his hands in a crossing fashion. “No, no, that’s okay. I’m just here to enjoy the show.”
Even sitting next to him, Lisa had a hard time hearing his denial, so she was certain Marie hadn’t heard it up on the elevated stage area. But clearly, she’d picked up the g
ist of the message.
She slid off her bench and walked with determination in sky-high black patent heels down the center stairs. The bright lights overhead swept down the path between the tables and landed squarely on the curved booth where Lisa and Ryan had both been comfortably incognito only moments before.
“Every single time,” Ryan muttered, and this time, Lisa heard the words clearly as he spat them out under his breath.
Marie stretched out her hand. “I think we also all owe you congratulations on your upcoming wedding. When’s the big day?”
Lisa kept her eyes on Ryan, studying his reaction. He looked...exhausted wasn’t quite the right word, but it was close. There was a hollowness that crept over his features with every step closer of Marie’s.
“We haven’t decided.” Lisa jumped in. Ryan had brought her here as a nice gesture to her, to keep her out of the way of the real engaged couple in both their lives. Deflecting some of the spotlight’s glare was the least she could do.
He reached over, protected from Marie’s eyes by the overhang of the table, and gave Lisa’s hand a small squeeze. The simple gesture surprised Lisa. When he didn’t pull his hand away, it surprised Lisa even more that the lingering contact didn’t bother her.
“Well, it’s Vegas! No planning necessary. There’s a chapel on every corner.” Marie turned and looked at the audience knowingly. “Raise your hand, folks. Who’s gotten married in Vegas?”
A number of hands raised. Einstein played an up-tempo version of the traditional bridal chorus.
“How many of you are still married to that person?” Marie chuckled as she asked. A few of the hands lowered.
“See? It’s not that hard, Lucky Charm. Einstein’s even got a copy of the marriage license form over there. We keep them for special occasions. The Bureau is still open. You could make an honest woman of her tonight. All you need is sixty dollars in cash to get this processed.”
Einstein picked up a form out of a basket on the table next to him and waved it to emphasize the point, then went back to playing Mendelssohn’s best-known tune.
“Marie.” Ryan bit out the words, not wanting to play along any further. “I don’t carry cash.”
The dueling piano diva was undeterred. She’d hooked herself a prize and wanted to continue riding this as long as she could. The audience was eating her banter up, much to Lisa’s chagrin. She hoped her cheeks weren’t starting to flush.
“Pass the bucket, Einstein!” Marie waved in her partner’s direction and shouted. “We do this all the time. No worries at all, Lucky Charm. We’ve got you covered.”
Ryan leaned forward, his posture clearly becoming more defensive as people began tossing dollars in the cheap plastic bucket Einstein had tossed into the crowd. “Marie, I’m sure these people came here for a musical show, not a matrimonial one. Let’s get back to the music, shall we?”
He spoke with a razor-sharp edge that left little room for contradicting him. Marie shrugged.
“Well, there is one way to get me to stop being your wedding planner.”
“Name it.” There was steel in each syllable.
“Come on stage and sing.” Marie turned back to the crowd and waved her handheld microphone.
“I don’t sing.” Ryan tugged on Lisa’s hand and moved out of the booth. “Come on, Lisa. It’s time to find something else to do.”
Marie paused, apparently thinking of some retort. Lisa cringed. She didn’t want this comedy routine at Ryan’s expense to continue. But she also didn’t think leaving was the right answer. If he walked out now, he’d look like a bad sport. And he was well-known enough around here that word would spread like wildfire. Look how many people thought he was engaged.
She figured that Ryan probably wouldn’t care if people talked about him. But tomorrow started the last tournament of his career. She remembered leaving New York abruptly and hearing the rumors others started about her.
Lisa had never regretted leaving the bright lights and the big city, but she had regretted how people in her circle reacted to her decision.
Ryan deserved to end his poker days on his terms at the table. Not with everyone whispering behind his back about what a bad sport he was and how he couldn’t take a joke.
The words leaped out of her mouth almost as soon as she realized she could take some of the pressure off him. “I can sing.”
“What?” Ryan’s voice sounded harsh as gravel and his eyes narrowed as they locked on hers.
“I can sing. I’m classically trained. I was in the cast of several large musicals on Broadway. This is my thing.”
“Lisa, we can just go.” Ryan lowered his voice and the rough sound smoothed out.
He’d bought her this dress so she could go to her beloved great-grandmother’s engagement dinner. He’d set up that engagement dinner and picked up the tab even when he suspected that she and Nana were just here to take advantage of the grandfather that he loved dearly. And he’d done it all, in spite of believing the wedding shouldn’t even happen.
When he spoke, he was blunt. When he was silent, he had an uncanny ability to conceal his thoughts. When he thought someone was being a fool, he didn’t suffer them lightly.
And when she’d seen a glimpse of the passions that drove him and the heart he had for his family, they’d been as limitless as that high-end credit card in his back pocket.
As soon as she met him, Lisa Fleming had figured out that Ryan McBride was infuriating.
But she’d also seen that he had a heart of gold. And because of that, she wanted to do something in return for him.
“Come on.” She put out her hand and waited, holding her breath, until Ryan laid his hand across her palm. “It’ll be fun.”
Chapter Five
Ryan had sat on a barstool for thirty minutes, mesmerized by the way Lisa handled the crowd. She was a seasoned professional. He could also clearly see that the confident, sexy woman who’d walked out of the honeymoon suite bathroom and down to dinner with him earlier was some enhanced version of Lisa.
Not enhanced in a fake or off-putting way, but amplified. It was as though when she stepped on a stage, she plugged in, like a sparkling strand of twinkle lights at Christmas. Being in front of an audience made her come alive.
Once Marie and Einstein found out which shows she’d been in on Broadway, they started cueing up show tunes, one after another. Lisa belted them out with polished precision and Ryan found himself content to sit on the edge and just watch her weave her spell.
Normally, he worked so hard to control a situation, to analyze the odds and work the scenarios in his favor.
For once in his life, he was able to slow down and just be.
For once in his life, he wasn’t wishing for more.
For once in his life, all eyes weren’t on him. But his eyes were locked on Lisa.
Anya had tiptoed on stage a few minutes ago and handed him a refill. Ryan sipped the unique scotch thoughtfully. The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban would surprise any scotch drinker. In a glass, it looked like any other scotch whisky, clear and the color of burnished honey—the same color of Lisa Fleming’s eyes and the curls that escaped the neat twist of her formal occasion hairstyle.
But one sip of the Quinta Ruban, with the light, sweet notes aged into it, would tell even the most casual of scotch drinkers that it was out of the ordinary.
Much like how one evening with Lisa had changed the opinion he’d formed right off the bat in the baggage claim at the airport. Ryan wasn’t necessarily used to being wrong. But for some reason, this time, it felt right to stand corrected.
“Let’s hear it for Broadway’s own Lisa Fleming!” Marie pushed back the piano bench as she leaped to her feet.
Lisa beamed, but tried to wave off the rolling wave of applause that had brought several members of the audience to their feet as well.
The smile on her face glowed brighter than the spotlight that shone above her. Ryan stood up and joined in the applause. Not just in recognition of the
performance she’d given along with Einstein and Marie, but in approval of the real Lisa who was shining through.
She was animated, in charge, and in that lace and feathered number, enough to make him wish she’d kissed him back during that TV stunt earlier—so he wouldn’t have any hesitation about doing it again.
But she’d made it clear where she’d stood on that issue, and no matter how much this moment made her come alive—or how looking at her in that dress, listening to her clear, strong voice made certain aspects of his awareness come alive—Ryan had no choice but to respect her on that.
As they stepped off the stage, Ryan leaned close to Lisa and caught a whiff of light floral perfume he hadn’t noticed before. “Do you want to stay for the rest of the show, or go somewhere else?”
Lisa raised her arm and looked at the dainty watch circling her wrist. “It’s getting late. I wonder if Nana and Bill are finished yet.”
Ryan placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her toward the door. “Pops usually has several hours of snoring in a recliner to his credit by this point in any given night. I can’t see how he could possibly still be awake.”
They wound through the halls and walkways of the Renaissance Grand, toward the main bank of elevators to the rooms. “Do you want me to walk you back to your suite?”
Lisa smoothed at the feathers that floated a few inches above her knee. “I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way. You’ve already done a lot for me today.”
“Do you have your keycard? I’ll need to swipe it once we get in the elevator.” He punched the up button on the dedicated suite elevator. “It’s no trouble, I promise. It’s a big hotel. I’d hate for you to get lost.”
What he’d hate even more, Ryan realized as he took the shiny red card Lisa handed him, was seeing this evening come to an end. For too long, he’d treated this hotel like an office building and the places he had to be seen and events he had to show up to as meetings. The last few hours with Lisa had felt different. For a short, but memorable period, he’d had the chance to see the city as so many tourists did.
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