by Lying Eyes
“Yeah?” He smirked then and the old Max Reynolds came roaring back. His expression alone punched her in the gut. “Well, then that one was a freebie. Don’t expect any others.”
Her lips felt dry and cracked so she moistened them and she made damn sure he watched her tongue move across them. She moved her lips a little closer to his before going for his ear with a saucy whisper. “Ditto baby. You had your free one last night. Tonight if you need one, don’t knock on my door.”
Before he said anything, she turned around and decided with a scene already made, she needed to play for better positioning and return her focus to Texas Hold’em. Forget Max and forget men altogether. She didn’t need a man to help her win the World Series of Poker and she didn’t want Max Reynolds to take her virginity. Truth be told, she worried far too much about him before she made the trip to Vegas with intent to win it all. Now, it was time to forget him.
She sat down and looked at her cards. Two-seven off suit. Damn. She tossed them in and waited for the next hand and as luck would have it—the same cards, different suit. She discarded them again. Her morning proceeded as it started. Bad cards and bad company, and it was about to get much, much worse.
* * * *
“How in the hell did you end up at my table again?” No acting necessary. The woman wasn’t glad to see him.
Pulled strings. He laughed because he wanted to say it but he didn’t dare. She didn’t look like she was in the mood for his humor. What the hell. After mulling over her insults, he didn’t care. “I know people.”
“Lucky for me.”
He flashed the other men at the table a smile and winked at Audra. “I agree.”
“Yeah, well we’ll see soon enough, won’t we?”
“I hope so.”
The others at the table paid close attention to the sparks flying around a pending war zone. It wasn’t a hidden secret Max Reynolds found Audra Alexander attractive but most of the speculation in the circuit seemed to hold the same general opinion. He was too old for her and she had yet to give him his chance. Now, with the few short remarks, they gave away lover’s tells. In poker, the tells often divided the winners from the losers when a player couldn’t hide their inner animosities. When it got personal, well, some believed it got ugly, too. Max quickly glanced around the table and realized everyone there summed up their advantage and they did it with a group smile to boot.
Two of the older players exchanged glances, like they acknowledged the ripe possibility of losers before them. If Max was off his game and Audra helped the fact, they both certainly brought undeniable charms with them when they joined the table. In fact, they could damn near destroy each other. Max caught it and decided to regroup. Audra hurt his ego earlier when she whispered bitter nothings in his ear. Now, he needed to bring out some of her charm, for both their sakes.
“Call.” He tossed in his first bet. Pocket rockets. Come to daddy.
An Ace of Diamonds and two tens—one Spade and one Club—were on the flop and the turn card brought a six of Spades. Audra looked up at him and studied him for a good ninety seconds. She made a flat fist and tapped the table twice.
She checked.
He raised.
She called.
Everyone else folded. Apparently the players there weren’t tremendously eager to participate in the spinning madness.
The river card, the fifth and final card, brought another Ace. He had the set. He owned the hand.
She glanced up at him and he warned her with the same words he heard her use with Caroline.
“Careful Audra. Remember, you’re the last woman standing. None of us will be too sad to see you go home but then again, we’ll miss the eye candy.”
“You’re bluffing.” She didn’t smile. He saw the hurt in her eyes and if he wanted to be honest with himself, not that he really did, it was the only reason he gave her a fair enough warning.
“I didn’t bluff last night, and I’m not bluffing now.”
“Damn you.” She tossed in a hundred thousand raise.
Fuck! She took his words the wrong way and of course, the men sitting around enjoying a team chuckle, did too. His anger got the best of him. He raised her three hundred thousand. “Audra, don’t make the fucking call.”
“Max, man. Are you trying to land a woman or a bracelet?” One of the younger poker stars stepped up to note the obvious.
“Both.” He gave a truthful answer.
She swallowed hard and set her jaw. Determination seethed through her eyes.
“Don’t,” he enunciated the first word and added two more with as much vocal inflection as he could muster, “call me.”
Her words were loaded with lots of defiant meaning. “No worries. I won’t.”
She did.
Turn ‘em up. The dealer looked at Max and shrugged.
“Ladies first. I can’t wait to see what beats four aces.” He didn’t smile. He wasn’t a damn bit happy.
She had the sixes full of tens for a full house.
“Not enough.”
“Not enough,” she agreed and sat back glaring at him.
He took a long drag from his beer and then moved the rim in an effort to direct it pointedly toward her. “Tilt.”
“Tilt hell and you know it.”
Fortunately for them, a break was called because all players remaining now were in the money. Sambo made the announcement as they all scattered for a quick recess.
Apparently, she was going to run and he didn’t have to guess who she was sprinting away from as she quickly headed for the elevators. Her long legs carried her in stride before she broke into a mess of tears. He missed her by a split second, maybe two.
Waiting for another one scorched his nerves but he managed. By the time he rode to the ninth floor, she was back in the hallway headed toward him.
He cursed and didn’t give a damn who heard him, as long as she did. “Surely to outer-fucking-space and back, it didn’t take me that long to get up here.” He snarled as he picked up his pace. He never even noticed the people he passed but he realized there were several. Someone said hello before he saw a flash of blue from a woman’s blouse, then a red spot moved by him too before the smell of white roses filled his senses. He never saw the person wearing the fragrance, only one woman walked toward him—the only one who mattered.
“Some people are just slow, I suppose,” she noted with indifference. “Old age does that to a man, among other things from what I hear.” With her index finger pointed straight up in the air, she immediately bent it to emulate somewhat of an example for an even truer translation.
It was a low blow. She had to see him headed her way because he marched—oh hell, did he ever stomp—straight for her.
She moved to the other side of the hall, giving him ample space to pass without major consequence, but it didn’t work. He moved by her and grabbed her around the waist at the same time. He was known for his quick hands and he never missed the element of surprise in her expression.
“Let me go!” She tried to wiggle free but he wouldn’t let her budge.
“Not on your life, or mine.” He moved swiftly down the hall with a firm grip, he kept her far too close for a possible escape. He nearly pulled her arm out of socket tugging her inside behind his closed door.
He grabbed the naughty little finger she’d only just sported in the hallway. “I think I’ve proven to you, in more than one way, gaining and keeping an erection is not a problem!” The same forefinger was now between his lips and he sucked it up and down in a damn-right unforgivable gesture as if he punished her for ever thinking she’d get by with such a childish act.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She yelled at him and yanked her hand away from him at the same time. Puffy eyes were hard to miss. Damn her for crying.
He unhooked his belt—for show, of course. Then, he spat the words back at her. “You think you want to fuck me? That’s what you’re pissed about? So if you want to screw now honey, let’
s get it on and get it over with so you can get your head back in the game downstairs.” His zipper fell and he would’ve dropped his pants if her eyes didn’t tell the truer tell.
He still went in with a killer swing and all but hissed the words right into her ear. “You’ve played your little virgin act on the wrong man, darlin’. I’m here to show you just how quick I’ll slide right on in and claim that sweet little cherry because I’m willing to bet, it doesn’t even exist.”
“You sorry bastard!” She tried to raise her hand, for a slap no doubt, but he held her tighter.
“Not today, you don’t. It’s bad enough that I have to walk around with a hard-on because of your sweet little ass. I’m not wearing your palm print, too.” He sneered.
“Get off me.” The words barely formed through her tightly clenched teeth.
“Ah, now baby, come on, you surely don’t think I’m buying the purity bull-shit after the way you’ve acted. You didn’t get laid and you’re pissed?” He kissed her neck and allowed his breathing to labor here or there for the best effect possible. “Audra, I’m not an expert on virgins, as you might of guessed, but I know enough about women to know a woman who is untouched would never act like this.”
Her gaze locked with his and he watched her closer, just for a minute, and that’s when he saw it. Shit! Yeah, a virgin would, if she was in love with the man she wanted in her bed.
“Damn it to hell!” He was agonized by what he saw. It was worse than he ever imagined.
In an instant, she was terrified by his behavior. Her eyes crystallized with the tears forming over confused coffee eyes. “You’re an ass.” She put her hand on the door and started to open it.
She managed to crack it and he managed to slam it shut.
Her back was to him now and he pressed against her backside. His cock twitched against her bottom and if material didn’t separate them, he would’ve fucked her then. Self-control forever damned, it was always over-rated to a fault.
His mouth covered her ear. “I’m an ass?” He didn’t know why but he was shocked she thought of him as such. If anything, he’d been a gentleman. Okay, so getting a blow job in the midst of room service didn’t quite make him man of the year, but he didn’t take her purity. He walked away, and it truly killed him to do it.
“Yes.” Her palm was against the door and she refused to face him or buck against him. Her rigid body showcased the stubbornness he expected.
“What if you’re right, Audra?” His hand moved slowly down her back before creeping right back up her spine. He roughly moved her hair out of the way and dragged his lips over the base of her neck as his hands slipped down her waist and hips. “What if I’m the biggest jerk in the world? What then?” He rolled his hips and thrust into her.
Her breathing hitched when his mouth moved over the nape of her neck. His body moved harder against hers in a made-to-order move designed especially for her. No doubt about it, he wanted her to feel his arousal, the disturbance she caused and uninhibited disorder she initiated. His hand went to the front of her shirt where he finally touched and squeezed her breasts. Hell’s fury, what he would willingly pay in ransom if he could just taste one of those perky little nipples.
Tears streamed down her face. “Don’t.” It wasn’t just a request but rather a heart-wrenching cry of emotion. Her forehead pressed into the surface confining her, holding her there against him.
Shocked, he stopped himself. Gripping her waist, he made her turn around and immediately framed her face once she did. The pads of his thumbs swiped one tear after the next. Damn it all, he was going to love her for the rest of his life. He wasn’t just going to trip but he was going to fall hard into a maddening kind of romantic love. She was the one woman hell bent on changing his life. His life as he once knew it was now over. In that very second, there was no more denying what he felt for her.
Swollen eyes and puckered lips never looked so enticing and even though she was hurt and angry, he kissed her forehead. She looked appalled, like he gave her a friend’s kiss rather than a lover’s.
“Audra, I am an ass and that’s why I didn’t buy what you were all but selling, no I take that back—what you wanted to give to me without conditions.” He nuzzled her hair once more before he released her, but then he drew her to him again and repeated the process only this time with more intensity. It physically hurt him to release her. His hands locked around the base of her neck with the strands knotted through his fingers and he inhaled her—truly breathed her in.
“Forgive me.” He shuddered to think what he had done to her.
A tortured sigh soared throughout the room before he dropped his hand down to her waist and pulled her closer to him. “I wanted to—God help me I wanted you—but I walked away because sweetheart, you can only ante up once with what you’ve got. If you decide you want to sell out to me, I don’t think I can be a better man and walk away but I want you to think about it long and hard before you go all-in with the wrong son-of-a-bitch.”
Her eyes swelled again with tears.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She shook her head up and down before looking away from him. She rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek and dabbed at another fallen tear.
“It might be different with me.” She whispered what he already fully accepted. A truer statement was never spoken.
It would be different with her.
Stuttering over her words, she told him her secrets too. “I…I really wanted…,” she stalled. “Max, I…I’ve dreamed about you for two years.”
Thank God she admitted it. Now maybe they could move forward.
“It would be different with me, Max.” She tried to reassure him again.
“I can’t find out unless you know what’s at risk and you’re still willing to play for high stakes anyway.” He kissed her forehead, cheek and neck before he reached for a tissue on the nearby vanity.
She took it from him and blew her nose.
Max didn’t like to see a woman cry but this woman broke his heart into a zillion shards. “Now, I want you to go downstairs and play poker like I’ve watched you play again and again.”
Her brow arched and she started to question his statement. “You’ve watched me play a lot?”
“I’ve watched a few televised tournaments whenever I didn’t have a hotter date waiting on me, so yeah, I’ve watched…some.”
“Why?” she asked, as if she didn’t know.
“Audra, our break is over. We’re going to see some cash but I want to win it all. I didn’t come here just to get my entry fee and spending money for the week. We can’t do this right now.” He avoided the question. If he told her how he felt right now, they’d spend the rest of the week in bed or worse—on a tropical island somewhere.
“You like me, admit it.” She dabbed her eyes as her breathing continued to hitch like she’d been crying for hours on end.
“Like you? Hell, I like you so much, I’m afraid I could even fall in love with ya, and that’s where we have a problem.” He made light of the situation by slapping her ass in a playful gesture. “I’m not the lovin’ type, if you know what I mean.” With a sly grin, he quickly added. “Now, let’s get down there and win some money.”
He grabbed a washcloth and dampened it under cool water. He watched her dab at her face before she gave it back to him. It was a surreal moment actually, because she didn’t bother to check herself out in the mirror. Instead, she looked at him with trusting eyes and asked him a simple question, just for reassurance.
“How do I look?”
“Like an angel.” And she did. Not only did she look like one then, but that’s when it really hit him the hardest. She was going to save him from himself even if the timing was off. She was going to change the world—or at least the one he lived in.
Before he made the mistake of voicing everything he wanted to tell her in a moment of what he perceived as weakness, he scooted her out the door. They quickly walked side by
side in silence. He sure as hell couldn’t speak because he wanted to grant himself a royal cursing first.
Of all the things to say, he just had to throw in the four-letter word developed for the sole purpose of damning a single man. Fuck. He was a dead duck before he even had the opportunity to dip in for a swim. He deserved to lose this tournament. He didn’t know how to play the game now much less the players. Damn! He messed up.
It hit her about as hard as it hit him because when the elevator closed them up in the empty compartment, she watched him from the opposite side and her revealing eyes said everything she didn’t quite know how to voice.
“You’re frowning.”
Yes, most definitely, he was frowning. Did she expect him to smile at a time like this? In less than twenty minutes, he realized he was in love, true love, and she wanted him to grin and bear it? No, not yet. He still had time to rationalize and think about things. A few hours at least, maybe a day or two, at the most, because once he had her, God help him, he was going to fall hard and fast for an everlasting kind of maddening love.
She read his mind. Little dimples formed in her cheeks to prove it. “Max? Is something wrong?”
Maybe he responded with a grunt. He didn’t know. It was kind of hard when a man looked at a woman and all he thought about was how fast he could get her pregnant with his first born child. Yeah, he was over the single life. He was so done with poker. He had enough of the one-night-stands and far too many women to ever remember their individual names. It was all over now. Yeah, he was burnt toast.
To make matters worse, she was going to love him right into the fall. In a matter of a few short hours they’d both be well on their way. He took his time to lead them to the cliff and now her devious little mind churned with ideas as she studied him closer than he ever noticed before.
No, it wouldn’t be long now before she’d give him an extra push, the shove he had avoided for most of his life. The one he really didn’t even need for an adrenaline rush. She provided enough of it when she allowed him a simple touch and her kiss sent him into a private hell, and even though heaven was waiting on the other side, he reserved the right to be scared too death.