by Opal Carew
April lost track of what was going on as the dice rounded the table.
She glanced around as someone stepped up beside her. It was Quinn.
“What’s going on? I expected to find you at your favorite table,” he said to Austin.
“I decided to go for a change,” Austin said, placing another bet.
“But this table … you haven’t had great luck here.”
“No one has, but I believe that’s about to change.”
“Are you up?”
Austin shook his head. “No, down about a third. But I’ve got a feeling.”
“It’s your money,” Quinn said with a good-natured smile as he settled in beside April.
After a few more rolls, Quinn started betting, too. Finally, the dice wound up in front of Austin. Austin’s stack of chips had gone down a little more. He picked up the dice, then turned to April.
“I want you to roll. You’re going to bring me luck.” He smiled encouragingly as he placed the white dice in her hand.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she protested.
Austin placed six red chips on the pass line. Quinn also set several chips down, as did other players.
“You don’t have to. Just throw the dice so they bounce off the other side of the table. That’s it.”
She bit her lip, aware of everyone watching her. She tossed the dice and watched them hit the side, then bounce back across the table. They rolled to a stop. Six and five.
Murmurs of approval rippled around the table, and everyone who had chips on the pass line received more chips. Austin got his original five reds plus five more reds.
He tightened his arm around her and smiled. “You’re doing great.”
He pushed all ten reds back in place. Quinn also kept all his chips, including winnings, on the table.
“Roll again,” Quinn said.
She picked up the dice and tossed them again. They bounced to a stop with a three and a six. The staffer behind her slid a white disc labeled On to the nine in the strip of numbers at the top of the table.
“April, pick a number from those ones at the top. Other than the nine.”
“Um … eight,” she said.
Austin pushed a stack of chips onto the eight. Her stomach fluttered at the thought he could lose all that if she’d picked a bad number. Quinn placed chips on eight, and also on five and six. Other players placed chips on various places on the table.
She rolled the dice, praying for an eight to come up. But instead a four and a one appeared. She glanced at Austin, stricken.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t lose anything. And Quinn won.”
Quinn slid his arm around her waist above Austin’s and squeezed her lightly.
“Thanks, baby,” Quinn said with a smile, then drew his arm away again.
He pushed his winnings onto ten. Other players added bets.
No one had called for a new shooter, so she picked up the dice and tossed them again. She had to admit, this was kind of fun.
The dice rolled to a stop. Two fours.
She watched wide-eyed as a big stack of chips was pushed Austin’s way. Quinn also won quite a bit.
“Nice, sweetheart,” Austin said. He pushed all his chips onto eight again.
Quinn pushed a tall stack of blues onto it, too. Several other players also jumped in.
She rolled again, worried that everyone would lose because of her. This time, a six and a four came up. Quinn was a winner again. He grinned and leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. The light pressure of his lips on her skin sent quivers dancing down her spine. He then turned back to the table.
“You know, I’m feeling really lucky,” Austin said.
To April’s horror, Austin pushed all his chips onto eight. Quinn laughed, then pushed all his chips there, too. There were a few whispers around the table, but as if everyone’s confidence in her was boosted by Austin’s bold gesture, several more stacks of chips were pushed into place on the eight.
April’s hand was trembling as she picked up the dice. She tossed them across the table, holding her breath as she watched. After the seemingly endless rolling of the small cubes, they landed in double ones, which she knew were called snake eyes. That couldn’t be good.
She glanced around the table in trepidation, but everyone just sat calmly.
She leaned in to Quinn. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she whispered to him.
He gazed at her and squeezed her hand.
“It’s okay, baby. You keep rolling until you roll a seven. If you roll any of the numbers along the top there, that number wins. If you roll an eight, we win big.”
“So don’t roll a seven. I can keep rolling as long as I don’t roll a seven.” She kept repeating the words under her breath as she tossed the dice again.
The dice rolled and rolled. One landed as a four.
Please, please be a four.
But her gut clenched, fearing it would be a three. The extra seconds it took for the second die to stop seemed to take an eternity.
Then it came up two.
April sucked in a breath, staring at the huge pile of chips on eight.
“I don’t think I can do this,” she murmured to Quinn, her lip trembling.
He turned to her, his gaze warm and reassuring. “Baby, no matter what happens, it’ll be fine.”
She bit her lip. It was nice of him to say that. And, of course, he wanted her to be confident. But it wouldn’t be all right. If they lost all that money, she would feel responsible.
She shook the dice in her hand, the feel of the cool cubes jostling against her skin strangely soothing. Then she drew back her hand and tossed them hard. They bounced and ricocheted in opposite directions across the table in a lively dance.
One die turned up as a five. She jerked her head around to catch sight of the other die, but people were already gasping. Her stomach clenched.
Then a whoop went up, and she realized …
Oh, God! She’d actually rolled an eight!
Austin, with his face beaming, grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, lifting her off her feet. Elated, she clung to him, a smile spreading across her face. He squeezed her tightly, then spun around in a circle. She began to laugh in sheer exhilaration.
Then as he slowed and set her on her feet again, she became intensely conscious of her breasts pressed tightly against his hard chest and his thick, muscular arms tight around her.
Austin released her, but their gazes caught, and she saw heat blazing in his teal eyes. Her cheeks flushed, and she turned to the table again.
Then she realized Quinn was watching her, his expression unreadable.
“I won, too, you know,” he murmured, then pulled her into his arms in a hug that was less energetic, but far more intense. In his embrace, she felt completely owned by him. And not in a bad way.
Her heart stammered, and all she could think of was him kissing her. Taking her lips with his confident, possessive mouth. Then him dragging her to his bed and stripping off her clothes …
He drew back, and she eased away, tugging her gaze from his before he could see the need in her eyes.
Then it landed straight on Sarah Piner’s, who was standing in the crowd watching the excitement around their table. Her disapproving stare cut right through April. April’s cheeks blazed with a fiery heat.
She felt Austin’s hand rest on her lower back, then he leaned in close.
“Don’t worry about her,” Austin murmured. “Just finish rolling, and we’ll get out of here.”
April nodded and lifted the dice, tearing her gaze from Sarah’s. April rolled three more times before getting a seven, then the dice moved to someone else.
“What’s going on?” Quinn asked as Austin led April from the table.
“Just an old friend of her fiancé’s that has her spooked.” Austin led her to the bar along the side of the room and ordered her a drink.
Quinn glanced around. “We saw that wo
man after we left the manager’s office this afternoon.”
April grasped the drink the bartender handed her and took a deep sip. She hadn’t realized Quinn had even noticed.
The crowd dispersed from around the table they’d just left, and Sarah was nowhere to be seen. April sucked in a deep breath, then took another sip of her drink. She didn’t know what it was, but it was cold, fruity … and strong. Just what she needed.
Austin guided her to some armchairs circling a round table, and the three of them sat down.
“Why does this woman have you so agitated?” Quinn asked.
“It’s just … her husband is Maurice’s best friend, and I know that she’ll tell Maurice everything she saw.”
“So what? The guy cheated on you,” Quinn said. “What do you care what she tells him?”
“She’ll also tell all my friends and…” She shook her head as she stared at the glittering droplets of condensation on the side of her glass, misery seeping through every part of her.
Austin rested his hand on her arm. “Forget about it, sweetheart. None of that matters. You’re moving on.”
She nodded, but it was hard to hold back the tears threatening to spill.
She set down her drink. “It looks like there’s an outdoor patio over there,” she said, spotting a glass door leading outside. “I’m going out to get a breath of fresh air.”
* * *
Quinn watched April walk away, her delightful ass swaying.
“I’m going with her,” he said. “She’s pretty shaky right now.”
“That’s a good idea,” Austin agreed.
Quinn stood up and followed her to the door. As he stepped out into the warm night air, he glanced around to see where April had gone. There were several people outside, but the foliage from the large flowering plants offered a level of privacy to the sitting areas scattered around the outdoor garden.
He caught sight of April’s back as she strolled to the far corner. He followed. As he approached, he saw her sit in one of the comfortable upholstered chairs.
“Did you see that slut?” a woman said, her voice carrying from beyond the thick plants beside April.
April’s eyes widened, and she turned her head in the direction of the voice. She must have seen him approashing, but she didn’t acknowledge it.
“She was throwing herself at not one but two men. And I saw her with one of them earlier today, too.”
“I was a little surprised,” said another woman, “when Maurice told us that the wedding was off. And it was because she cheated on him. And on the night before their wedding. That’s so awful.”
Quinn stopped dead. What the hell?
April had said the asshole had cheated on her, but was she lying?
That would explain why the guy was being so vindictive. If Quinn caught the woman he loved cheating on him, especially right before their wedding, his heart would be torn in two. He didn’t agree with the guy’s ruthless actions, but he could understand him lashing out at her.
“I know. But now … well, I always thought she was a gold digger, and now it’s very clear she is. Jon recognized one of the men as Austin Wright. He’s from big money. And it seems he just made a huge fortune with crypto-something-or-other, so now he’s got to be the wealthiest man in the country. It seems clear that she’s going after bigger fish.”
At that moment, April’s gaze shifted and locked onto Quinn’s. He was standing only a few feet away from her. Her jaw tensed, and her cheeks blossomed crimson. She stood up, her arms stiff at her sides, and marched past him. He turned and followed her, not wanting to start a conversation here where those women could overhear. He was sure April had the same idea.
She pulled open the glass door and strode back into the casino, then turned right and continued marching toward the exit. Quinn followed. Austin stood up from the table, watching what was going on, then headed toward them.
April had stepped into the atrium before Quinn could catch up to her.
“April, wait.”
She ignored him and kept walking.
“Where are you going? You don’t have a key card for the suite.”
A few people glanced around at them, but he ignored them as he kept moving. April slowed, and he finally caught up to her. He moved to face her.
“I don’t want to talk about this here,” she murmured, her voice swelling with emotion.
“What’s going on?” Austin said as he hurried to them.
April stared at him, her chest rising and falling with her agitated breathing.
“April overheard that woman talking about her. It was the same woman, wasn’t it, April?”
She nodded in one curt movement of her head.
“Nothing good, I take it?” Austin said.
April’s hands were balled into fists, and Quinn knew she wasn’t upset just because of what the two women had said. She was also upset because she’d seen Quinn’s face and the doubt that had lingered there.
“Please. I just want to go up to the suite,” April said through gritted teeth.
Quinn glanced at his watch. “The poker game starts in a few minutes, so we don’t have time. We’ll just put this on hold for now.”
Her blue eyes were like acid, but she didn’t argue. He’d already made it very clear that he expected her to attend the game. He knew it would ruin it for Austin if she went and hid out in the room. As much as Austin had looked forward to the game, he’d give it up rather than leave her alone and depressed. That’s the kind of guy he was.
Austin had glanced from one to the other of them. Quinn knew his perceptive friend could tell how upset she was and that he understood that something new had been unleashed into the mix. The anger rippling through April was obvious, but Austin would see past that to the deeper pain within.
Quinn wished he had his friend’s keen instincts about people, because he couldn’t tell if April was angry because the woman had exposed the truth about their breakup, or if it was a lie and she was upset and hurt because she had seen in Quinn’s eyes that he might believe it.
And, fuck, right now he had no idea what he actually believed about April.
Austin rested his hand on April’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, if you want to go back to the penthouse, that’s fine. If you want to talk, or if you’d rather be alone, that’s all fine.” He squeezed lightly. “But you’ve had such a rough day, why not kick loose and put it all behind you? At least for tonight. I say, let’s forget about that stuffy poker game and do something wild and fun? Totally take your mind off your troubles.”
April frowned. “But I thought you really wanted to play poker.”
Austin grinned. “Okay, I tell you what. How about we start with a private poker game? Just the three of us.”
Quinn gazed at April, whose cheeks were flushing. He could think of a lot of interesting possibilities.
“I think that’s a marvelous idea,” Quinn agreed.
8
April found it hard to breathe as Quinn called the concierge and arranged a private poker suite for the three of them.
The insinuation of a poker game—a private one—made her imagine stripping off her clothes in front of these two men as she lost each hand. Then once her clothes were gone, the two of them demanding special favors at each loss.
But it was Austin who’d suggested the game, not Quinn. She couldn’t believe that’s what Austin had in mind.
She ran her hand through her hair, knowing she wasn’t quite thinking straight. She’d downed that last drink a little fast, and on top of the wine at dinner, her head was a little fuzzy.
Quinn shoved his phone back in his pocket.
“It’s all set. They didn’t have anything available here in the hotel, but they arranged something at a place a few doors down.”
She drew in a deep breath as she followed the two men. It was only a short walk to the other hotel, and soon they were in an elevator gliding upward. When the doors whooshed open, they stepped out to see a man in a
tuxedo waiting for them.
“Mr. Taylor. My name is Alan Bellamy. I’m here to take you to your private poker suite.”
As they followed him down the wide hallway, several staff hurried out of a room, a couple pushing empty carts. That was the door Mr. Bellamy led them to.
“We have everything set up for you,” he said as he opened the door. “There’s a full bar and a selection of food if you’re hungry. If you’d like something more substantial, just dial zero and you’ll be put straight through to me.”
April stepped into the room and glanced around. The walls of the suite were paneled with dark-stained wood, and it wasn’t just a room with a table for playing cards. It was a huge suite with a large sitting area on one side, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street below.
Along one wall was a bar glittering with different types of glasses neatly arranged on a tray on the mahogany counter. Behind that, liquor and wine bottles were on display on a shelf, and several fancy bottles sat on the counter beside the glasses.
On a table near the window was a layout of food—appetizers, small fancy sandwiches, and desserts. The poker table was on the other side of the room, set up with several decks of cards and three stacks of chips all ready for them to sit down and start playing.
“Would you like staff to manage the bar and food service?” Mr. Bellamy asked. “Or a dealer to oversee the game? Or anything else at all?”
“No, we’re fine,” Quinn said.
“Very good, sir. Enjoy your game.” Mr. Bellamy walked to the door, then closed it behind him.
As soon as the door clicked shut, April’s stomach clenched. She was alone with the two of them, and she wasn’t quite sure what Quinn had in mind. Would he tell Austin about their arrangement right here and now?
She and Austin walked to the food, and she admired the decadent-looking desserts—tall chocolate mousse cake, thick New York cheesecake, blueberry tarts, and many other tempting treats. The small sandwiches, cut into crustless triangles, were arranged beautifully on a plate right beside a cheese and pâté platter. She picked up one and nibbled. Smoked salmon with dill. She finished the tiny sandwich in two bites, then grabbed another.