What the Gambler Risks

by Kristina Knight

  “I’m going to go clean up the kitchen,” Callie said, but when she stood, Gage drew her back to his chair. She giggled. “I have a pan caked with meat loaf that needs to start soaking before it totally congeals.”

  Gage kissed her hand. “Let’s go for a walk instead.”

  “I can get the water started for the pans,” Sabrina offered. Callie shot her a grateful glance.

  “Thank you, but you don’t need to do that. You’re our guest.” She wore skinny jeans with a lightweight sweater and UGG boots on her feet.

  “My mother and I had a rule,” Sabrina said, “the one who cooked got to skip clean-up duty. You cooked, you get to skip.” She didn’t add that Melinda usually skipped out on both tasks.

  “I like this rule.” Callie looked into Gage’s eyes. “We’re adopting this rule. You might want to take some notes on proper kitchen maintenance.”

  “I just renovated an entire dude ranch. I think I can take care of a few messy pots and pans,” Gage retorted, feigning outrage.

  Connor laughed, a loud crackling sound that made Sabrina smile. “You may have hired the crews, but I doubt you got those soft hands dirty, Pretty Boy.”

  Gage grimaced. “I thought we were on the same team.” He hitched his thumb toward Jase, who was lounging beside Sabrina in the swing. “Against Mr. Binion.”

  Sabrina blushed. “They’re never going to let me forget that, are they?” she asked him quietly.

  Jase shook his head. “Not until someone else does something panicky. In their defense, they don’t mean to pick on you.” He cleared his throat. “And in her defense, she was an only child. No sibling rivalry, no fisticuffs over the last egg roll, and no late nights watching classic movies.”

  Gage and Callie stood. He offered his hand to Sabrina. “We’re glad you’re here. You guys sticking around for dinner?”

  Jase shot her a questioning glance. Sabrina nodded. “I have to pack eventually, but I’m not in a hurry.”

  Gage and Callie wandered off the porch, going in the general direction of the lake Jase had said was on the back side of the property. Jase seemed content to push his foot against the porch floor, setting the swing into a gentle rocking motion. After Callie’s amazing lunch, Sabrina thought she might fall asleep, so she got up to start on the pots and pans.

  Miranda followed her into the kitchen. She reached under the sink, pulling out a couple of pairs of rubber gloves. In her black trousers and satin blouse, she didn’t look cut out for kitchen work, but she went at the job like she’d been cleaning kitchens all her life. Sabrina started the water in the sink and then began collecting dishes and pots and pans.

  “For what it’s worth,” Miranda said, “I think Jase is a great guy. The three of them make a pretty good unit.”

  Sabrina had to agree. She’d only seen them together a couple of times, but the closeness between the three of them was palpable. Even when it was two against one.

  “Do you have siblings?” she asked.

  Miranda shook her head. “Only child. Callie, too, and you make three. I guess only children are drawn to bigger families.”

  She had always dreamed of having a big family. Brothers to play with, sisters to confide in. A mother and a father and aunts and uncles and grandparents. She and Jase hadn’t talked about the future, but she could see herself as part of this six-person family unit. Maybe a little too easily.

  “What’s the Binion thing?” Miranda asked after a moment.

  Sabrina rolled her eyes. “I panicked at the office one day. I was looking for Jase’s name on the Reeves Brothers directory, but it wasn’t there. Connor asked who I was there to meet. I didn’t have an appointment, and I needed to talk to Jase about something personal, so I pretended to be lost and looking for Binion’s.”

  Miranda chuckled. “Nice. They’re never going to let that go, doesn’t matter what new happening sparks their interest for a little while.”

  “I figured.” In truth, she didn’t really mind. She’d caught on to their use of movie quotes and the little barbs the three of them exchanged. It was kind of nice to have a place in that. It made this feel a little more safe, a little more secure. A lot more permanent, as if Sabrina had finally found the place where she belonged.

  As if, no matter what happened with the press once she was on the book tour, things would turn out okay. Her readers and her publisher and the general public would understand that Jase wasn’t the playboy gambler he’d been made out to be in the tabloids.

  There was much more to him than Texas hold ’em, anteing up, and folding when the cards were against him.

  Jase was a savvy businessperson, too, or he wouldn’t have been able to build the empire of Reeves Brothers Entertainment with Gage and Connor. There would be no investments in charter services like the one in Mexico, no online casino games, no Vegas Nightly, and no Holliday Spas.

  Somehow she needed to find a way to show the rest of the world the whole of Jase Reeves and not just the caricature he had been using until that night in Atlantic City.

  Soapy water filled the sink, and Sabrina put the big meat loaf pan into it to soak. She made room for the smaller pan that had held cheesy mixed vegetables.

  “Can I ask you something?” It probably wasn’t a good question to ask the woman who was obviously in love with Jase’s brother, but she wanted to know.

  “Sure.”

  “When did you know, about … ” She waved her soapy hand between the woman wearing a silk blouse and rubber cleaning gloves and the man wearing old jeans and a T-shirt still on the porch. “About things?” she finished, not able to say the word love even when it had nothing to do with her or Jase.

  God, but she wanted love to be in their equation somewhere.

  “That I loved Connor?” Sabrina nodded, and Miranda crossed the kitchen to the sink. She snapped off the rubber gloves, put them under the sink, and then said, “It happened in little bits and pieces. He took me to a taco truck for lunch, kissed me silly in his office a couple of times.” She leaned her hips against the counter. “I was supposed to be using the job with him to prove to my father that I could do more than fundraise, and I kept getting distracted watching his hands as he sketched out a new layout for Vegas Nightly.” Miranda paused. “There wasn’t one moment that changed things between us; there were a hundred little ones.”

  Like when Sabrina finally realized Jase’s tell was his complete lack of emotion. It was during the partner-play tournament. She could tell he liked the cards from the draw because he would sit a bit straighter, but liking cards didn’t mean he had a good hand. Somewhere around the third round she realized he would go completely still when the cards were going his way. No emotion in his eyes, no movement in his hands. Complete attention on the cards in his hands and on the table. That meant he was about to win.

  “When did you know?” Miranda turned the question around on Sabrina.

  She shook her head. “I don’t … It isn’t that.” Sabrina swallowed. “Is it?”

  Miranda squeezed Sabrina’s soapy, gloved hand in hers. “It always is,” she said.

  Miranda left the kitchen, and Sabrina stood there for a long moment alone, thinking about what she’d said. A hundred small moments. Was that what was happening here?

  She couldn’t think of one big thing Jase had done to make her fall in love with him, and yet that was the only explanation for what she felt toward him. Hot attraction. Tenderness. Comfort when she lay in his arms, and indescribable tension when she wasn’t near him. He listened to her, talked with her.

  Flirted with her over poker in Atlantic City. Drew her out of herself on the plane back to Vegas. Played the hero by chartering that plane for her mother after Lorenzo dumped her. Kept her mom out of the poker room that night.

  The thought of packing, of not seeing him for a week gave her anxiety like she had never felt before. She had to go, it was her work, but she wondered if she could make a couple of quick pit stops back in Vegas during the tour.

 
Jase poked his head inside the door. “Want to go for a walk?”

  “Sure,” she said and rinsed her hands. She dried her hands on the plaid kitchen towel hanging on the oven rack. The pots were soaking, there was nothing else she could do here, at least for a little while.

  Jase toured her around the main house and barns. He pointed down a gravel track. “Gage and Callie are probably at the lake down this road.”

  “And Connor and Miranda?”

  “Left to go back into Vegas. Connor’s not as comfortable here as Gage is.”

  “And what about you?”

  Jase paused on the back side of the sprawling ranch house. The area was shaded, and the sun was beginning to go down in the desert. The sharp scent of lily of the valley caught Sabrina’s attention. Along the wall, under the windows, was an ugly, weedy area with lilies reaching toward the sky.

  “Oh my God, they grow wild?” She picked a bloom and inhaled the sharp scent.

  “My father planted it. It was Helena’s favorite. We hated that plant, thought it smelled like death. After he died, Connor and Gage dug it up, but they must not have gotten to the roots because it comes back every spring.”

  “That’s romantic.”

  Jase raised an eyebrow at her. “A plant that smells like death is romantic?”

  “It’s like your father is making sure it’s still here for your mother.” She inhaled again. “And lilies of the valley don’t smell like death.” She twirled the stem in her hand. “Do you want to come with me?”

  Jase watched her for a long moment. “On your book tour?”

  She nodded. “I’m going to have a bit of downtime, and I could maybe get back here, but if you came along with me … ”

  He was already shaking his head. “I’d like to, but the charity tournament is coming up, and I’ve got a game launching in three of the big casinos at the end of the week. I need to be here.”

  She’d figured as much, but it was worth a try. “I’ll come to you, then.”

  “No, do your tour. Meet your readers and sign a few thousand books.”

  Sabrina started to interrupt him, but Jase put his finger on her lips, not letting her speak.

  “I’ll be here when you get back.” Her heart beat a little faster at the words. Jase took the flower from her hands and sniffed. He grimaced. “I could name a thousand flowers that smell better than that.”

  “I’ll bet they aren’t as pretty.”

  He seemed to consider. “Maybe.”

  She reached up on her toes, put her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his. “I’m glad we came out today. Your brothers are funny, and I like Callie and Miranda.”

  “The four of them have become a kind of unit over the past few months,” he said and took her hand in his as he started walking. “Gage and Callie are mostly living out here now, but she has a way of getting Connor out here. Hell, she has a way of getting all three of us out here. And Miranda’s liking ranch life, too.”

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, watching the sky turn a thousand shades of pink and orange as the sun sank behind the mountains.

  “Not as beautiful as you,” he said.

  Sabrina leaned her head against his shoulder as they continued to walk along the fencerow that divided the ranch yard from the pasture.

  It had to be love.

  • • •

  “What we’re saying is this may not be the best time for you to be changing your image.”

  Sabrina watched the video feed on her computer screen for a long minute. She’d checked in to her Reno hotel only an hour before and, in another thirty minutes, was supposed to be happy and cheerful and engaging to a group of readers in the main ballroom of the casino.

  And her publisher was telling her to break up with her boyfriend.

  She felt like she was in a bad after-school special in which the parents ordered their daughter not to go to prom with the boy who rides a motorcycle.

  Only Sabrina didn’t want to go to prom with Jase. She thought she might want to spend her life with him. That was a scary enough thought without adding her work and his reputation into the mix. She knew he wasn’t the playboy gambler the tabloids made him out to be, just as he knew she wasn’t the frigid Vegas Virgin the tabloids made her out to be. That didn’t mean the two of them didn’t have their own baggage to deal with.

  Her mother and his.

  His childhood and hers.

  Their memory landmines lurked around them, and it was a miracle they hadn’t stepped on any up to this point.

  “Dating Jase Reeves isn’t changing my image, it’s having a life.”

  Her publisher, a white-haired man with a handlebar mustache, grimaced. “But he is the antithesis of everything your books tell women to look for. He has an unprofessional job, an unreliable reputation—”

  “He’s actually a very talented game developer, and if you look at Silicon Valley, you’ll see that gaming is one of the fastest-growing verticals in the online world. Grandparents are becoming gamers, toddlers are gaming. It’s everywhere.”

  “Yes, but he designs games for casinos. That isn’t exactly family friendly.”

  “Since when are my readers only ultra-conservatives? The last time I checked, the women who come to the readings and book signings are from all walks of life,” Sabrina said, feeling a bit of righteous indignation fire in her belly. “You approved the Gamble on Yourself title. You approved the link with the casinos at the book signings and meet-and-greets. My having a life can’t be a surprise to you.”

  She might have her fears about a long-term relationship with Jase, but she didn’t need her publisher making those fears even bigger.

  Her publicist joined the conversation through the open telephone line. “I don’t think Mr. Lambert is saying you can’t date Jase Reeves. He’s saying that we can’t guarantee there won’t be backlash at some point if you continue dating the man.”

  “I’m willing to take that chance.” Sabrina straightened her shoulders. “He might gamble in a few tournaments every year, but he’s also a smart businessperson. He doesn’t lie or cheat or steal. He has a solid business outside of card playing; his family is respected in Las Vegas. A few tabloids use him to sell extra copies of their newspapers—”

  “You may be willing to risk your reputation and future earnings on a romantic fling, but we aren’t,” Mr. Lambert said over her. “The tour has already been scheduled and paid for, but if we see sales sliding, we will have to reevaluate how we promote your titles.”

  Sabrina swallowed. If her publisher didn’t support her, her book would die a slow death. Placement in the stores would change, advertising rotations would change.

  And all because of Jase.

  Scratch that.

  Because of her. She hadn’t been looking for a man like Jase when she was in Atlantic City. She hadn’t been looking for a man at all; she’d merely wanted to confront her old aversion to casinos and crowds. That quote she’d told Melinda echoed in her mind. When you stop looking for what you need, you’ll find the thing you’ve always wanted.

  She’d found Jase Reeves, and she wasn’t about to let him go.

  “You have to do what you feel is right for the house, I understand that. I need you to understand that I’m upholding my end of the bargain. I wrote the book, I am on the tour, and I am making connections with readers. I’m not sure what more I can do.”

  Mr. Lambert frowned over the video screen. “We’ll talk again after these first three stops.”

  An hour later, Sabrina didn’t have time to wonder what might happen if Mr. Lambert decided not to support her books. The line leading up to her signing table had at least a hundred people in it, and she was supposed to have begun the reading ten minutes before.

  The publicist, Molly, from the initial tour, kept motioning her to hurry up, but there was nothing Sabrina could do. She insisted on chatting with the women in line, but she didn’t want to skip the reading in favor of just signing books, either.
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br />   “I can’t wait to read your book,” the woman currently waiting for her to sign said. “Your first two books helped me take control of my personal life, and I feel like this is going to push everything one step further.”

  “I hope it does. What did you want me to write?”

  “My name is Esther, and whatever you usually sign. I’m getting married in a few weeks, and I’m up for a promotion at work—to make sales presentations for the laboratory where I work. I can’t believe how everything is coming together.”

  “I’m so glad, Esther,” Sabrina said and scribbled her name on the title page. “Would you be willing to help me out?”

  “Definitely, what did you need?”

  Sabrina stepped onto the stage and tapped the microphone at the podium. “Can I have your attention, please?” All eyes in the room turned to her, and the quiet conversation lessened even more. “Our normal schedule for these events is to sign for a while, do the reading, and then sign some more. But as those of you in the back of the line will agree, the line doesn’t seem to be shrinking at all.” She motioned Esther onto the stage. “This is my new friend Esther.” Esther waved to the crowd, and several of them waved back. “Esther is getting married in a few weeks.” There was a smattering of applause from the audience. “And she is in line for a big promotion that will include speaking engagements, and I’m hoping she won’t mind using us as a bit of a training ground.” More people clapped for Esther, who blushed, but stood straight and tall before the large crowd. “I’m going to keep signing, and Esther is going to read for me, and once we’re through this crazy-long line, I’ll open the floor to a Q&A. Okay?”

  More people clapped, and several of those waiting cheered. Sabrina handed Esther the book with the marked passage and hurried back to her seat. It seemed to take hours for the line to end, and Sabrina’s hand was cramping by the time the event was over. On the plus side, she’d signed every book and talked to every person, and no one seemed to care that she was dating a gambler instead of a respectable, boring businessman.