by Jill Monroe
A powerful rush of satisfaction washed over her and cascaded through her body. She clutched him within her. Hard. Eric must have been waiting for that second orgasm of hers because he lost his careful strokes. Moving above her, within her, until all the powerful muscles of his back stiffened, he all but shouted her name. A fulfillment like nothing she’d ever felt before took her over.
Her whole body felt languid and sated. She collapsed against his chest, smiling into his neck. After a few moments, Danni lowered her legs, taking her weight off Eric. When her feet found the soft carpet of the floor, she looked up into his eyes.
The muscles along his chest and neck were still tense, but when he opened his eyes he visibly relaxed. He gave her a slow sexy smile that had her immediately thinking of round two.
“Teach me how to count cards, Danni,” he said. And she wouldn’t have been more surprised if he’d asked her to knock over a convenience store.
10
“WHAT, I DON’T GET room service first?” Danni asked once they were in the bed and under the covers. Eric didn’t laugh. She shifted onto her elbows to get a better look into his eyes. “You’re serious. Why do you want to know?”
His fingers drew lazy patterns against her hip. “When you were pointing out that gambler downstairs, the thought occurred to me that maybe you could show me a few things.”
“You always think business after you come?”
Eric’s hand tightened on her hip, drawing her closer to his body. “I thought it could be something we’d do together. I have a lot of things in mind for us to do together,” he told her, evoking all kinds of wicked thoughts in her mind.
“So, am I going to be the Bonnie to your Elliot Ness?”
“I think we work pretty great as a team,” he said as his fingers moved along her bare thigh.
And she had the aftershocks to prove it.
Eric’s face grew more serious. “Blackjack is the only beatable game in the casino. If I want to defeat someone who is trying to win by counting cards, then I need to learn how to do it.”
“Makes a lot of sense.” She gave him a dubious glance. “Am I just expected to hand over hard won Flynn Family secrets?”
Eric managed to look chagrined. “That was the general idea.”
Danni made a tsking sound. “That’s not the way it goes down. You have to earn it. Work for it.”
His hand slid to her hip, sending a shocking thrill through her system.
“And not like that, although I like where your head’s at,” she told him with a smile.
“But you do know how to do it?” he asked, though it didn’t sound like a question.
“Sure, my dad taught me when I was twelve. He’d give me ice cream when I won.”
Eric shook his head. “My dad was coaching my baseball team when I was twelve.” A tad judgmental perhaps.
“Actually, counting cards teaches valuable math skills.” She spotted the free deck of cards the casino provided on his nightstand. She sat up and reached for them, opening the package. “Observe,” she said as she laid the cards out on the bed before him. The sheet slipped down below her breasts, and she yanked the material higher before continuing. “Aces, tens and face cards you give a value of negative one. Two through six, positive one. Everything else is a zero. When you get a pair, you do the math.”
“Seems easy enough,” he said, tugging at the sheet. Her nipples hardened, clearly visible in spite of the bunched-up expensive cotton.
“Do you want me to teach you or not?” she asked, her voice firm, but a smile in her eyes.
He didn’t answer right away, his eyes watchful as he brought the sheet lower.
“I’m thinking,” he said after a moment.
“Learning the technique is always easy.”
His eyes told her he found a double meaning in her words. “Do you want to learn this or practice your…technique?”
“I want to learn this and practice my technique.” He raised the sheet, effectively hiding her breasts once more. “We’ll practice afterwards.”
Even when he teased her, this man left her breathless. She forced herself to be serious. “Learning the technique is easy…putting it into practice, that’s where the effort, art and patience come in. Effort because you have to memorize every possible card combination. Art because you got to look like you’re not doing it. Patience because it can take a long time to get to the winning combination and you can only bet on plus two or higher. Even with the count in your favor, you won’t always win.”
“I plan to win,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.
Her insides got all quivery. “That’s the perfect con attitude. Don’t forget that the casino is going to try and distract you. Get you drunk. Draw your attention to the waitresses with huge boobs.”
“Noted. Hire women with big racks.”
Danni laughed and lightly punched Eric in the shoulder. “What I’m saying is, be steady. Be focused.”
“I think I got it. You ready to play?”
“I’m always ready to play. Care to make it interesting?” she asked. There she went again. Would that phrase ever leave her, or was it just ingrained into her DNA?
He arched a brow. “How interesting are we talking?”
“Well, you won’t have much of an edge playing here with me with nothing to lose. You’re a man who likes to be in control. How about this—you lose, I tie you up and do all kinds of things to your body.”
His hesitation was her answer. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so lighthearted. “You trust me, don’t you, Eric?” she asked, hating that touch of vulnerability in her voice.
A wicked grin formed on his lips. “I tie you up if I win.”
“Done,” she said, excitement already leaping within her.
CASSIE OPENED HER OFFICE after lunch and scanned her list of appointments. She had a full afternoon. Good. She’d need them to keep her mind off Dirk. What had she been thinking? Why would she stay and talk to him in her backyard?
Now she was beginning to crave second helpings. Leftovers only caused indigestion. She’d written that at some point. Hadn’t she?
Her cell phone rang, and she fished it out of her purse. The device was reserved for urgent matters with her patients. “Hello.”
“Wanted to make sure you got there safe.”
Her heartbeat quickened at the sound of Dirk’s voice, but for a different reason. “Why would you care?”
“I protect what’s mine.”
“Then you’ve wasted your time because I am not yours, Mr. Archaic.” There’d been a time she would have cherished his words.
“Oh, you’ve always been mine, Cassie. Even when I was stupid. And if it makes you feel better, I’m yours. You can be archaic right along with me.”
A possessiveness returned that she’d not felt in a long time, but she forced herself to laugh. “I’m liking the stupid part. Everything else…meh.”
“What are you doing right now?” he asked, his voice pitched low. A bedroom voice.
“Hanging up.”
“No, that doesn’t work. You’re too eager to hear what I’m going to say next.”
She sucked in a breath and bit her lip to keep from screaming. Cassie hated it when this man was right. He was supposed to be wrong. All the time wrong.
“Slip your hand under your blouse. When we were sitting at the table last night, all I could think about this morning were your breasts.”
“That must be why you didn’t make any sense.”
“Tell me how soft your skin feels. Touch your nipples.”
The nipples in question hardened.
For one tempting moment, she gave in to the thrill of her body responding. “You’re supposed to be conducting an investigation of the tape, not trying to seduce me.”
“Why can’t I do both? I want to see you again,” he murmured. Memories of the first time he’d asked her on a date surfaced. The man on the phone was a very different person from the shy boy who’d met her outside her lock
er.
“Maybe we can go out sometime?” the boy from her past had asked.
“Maybe what I want to do is smack you on the ass,” the woman of the present told him.
“Maybe I’m into that.”
And despite herself…she laughed. In the face of wanting to hate this man more than any person who walked the earth—and drive him away—she felt a tiny chink of the iron she’d encased her heart in break away.
Then images of her sex tape flashed through her mind. Did she want a new little audio to go right next to the download button? “I am on my cell phone. This is not going to happen. I am not about to have phone sex on an easily recordable cell phone at the same time my sex tape can be had online twenty-four seven.”
“Phone sex? Is that what you’re suggesting? The thought never entered my mind. Cassie, you’ve grown so wicked.” His tone was the epitome of shocked innocence. “I like it,” he said.
Cassie closed her eyes and shook her head to clear it of desire. “You know you were aiming for a little phone sex.”
“So you’d be up for it after the tape is off the Internet?” he asked.
Cassie sucked in a calming breath. “Not with you,” she replied between clenched teeth. “How did you get my cell number anyway?”
“Your mother.”
What part of emergency did Mom not understand?
“Don’t call me again. Not unless it’s to tell me you know who stole our tape,” she said, deciding at that moment that she believed him when he said he wasn’t involved in their tape being on the Internet.
“Then I’ll be calling soon.”
Did he already know something? “What? Tell me,” she urged.
“Not until I have a name.”
Cassie could literally hear the laughter in his voice as Dirk hung up the phone. What happened to the nice, sweet boy who lived next door?
Oh, yeah, that’s right. He grew up and became a man. Cassie frowned. She was not a man hater. Just a one-man hater, and he was still bothering her.
DANNI’S CELL CHIRPED as Eric lost another round. “You’re really terrible at cheating,” she told him as she scrambled for her phone.
Eric didn’t seem fazed by her taunt. “Maybe it’s the teacher.”
She made a face at him as she answered the phone. “Hello.”
“It’s Cassie. I could really use a drink. Not coffee,” she said all at once.
Danni pulled the sheet higher across her breasts as Eric dealt the next round. “Uh, I’m trying to tie up some loose ends right now.” Yeah, he’d be tied up before long.
“Tomorrow, then. Dirk’s called me.”
“Really?” Now this was starting to get interesting. Not as interesting as the lazy circles Eric was tracing along her thigh. Normally she’d congratulate him on devising a strategy that might help him win a hand or two. He made an awesome diversion.
“It’s a date. I can’t wait to hear all about it,” Danni said as she hung up.
“You already making another date while here with me?” Eric asked, looking sexy and rumpled with the sheets twisted around him.
“A gal’s got to keep all her options open,” she said. “That was Cassie, she’s back here in Reno. We were setting up a time to gab.” She stroked his chest, loving the play of his muscles under her fingers. “I need a bit more fodder about you before I see her tomorrow.”
He lifted an eyebrow, bunching the pillow under his head. “What’s this about tying up loose ends?”
“You have any ties stashed around here?” she asked. Her corporate lover dressed business casual. No ties in sight. He looked relaxed now…
Eric angled his head toward a closet. “In there. Why?”
Danni made a point to look at the stack of cards on the bed. “Because you’re losing, and it’s time to pay up.”
“There’s still a fourth of the cards left in the stack,” he said.
Danni nodded. “True. But even if you magically developed the skill to count the remaining cards, believe me when I tell you, statistically you’re not going to win. All the high cards are gone. I’m thinking four ties should do it.”
With a wink, Eric shoved the cards onto the floor and reclined against the pillows.
Her system instantly reacted to his open invitation for her to handle his body. “Now wait a minute. This is supposed to be your punishment. Don’t look so excited.”
“I have a hot, sexy woman who is going to do all kinds of things to me. I only have to be here and enjoy it. I don’t even have to put forth the effort of foreplay. I’m thinking I won.”
Danni placed her hands on her hips. “Now you’re taking liberties, and ruining my fun.”
Eric imitated the face of someone who was bored. “Please. Don’t hurt me,” he pleaded, his voice monotone, but laughter shone in his eyes.
Danni yanked the ties off the hanger and stalked to the bed. She’d show him. He wouldn’t enjoy this. Much. Her body hummed with excitement.
Grabbing his right arm, she secured one end of the tie around his wrist, and the other to the headboard. She did the same to his left arm. His feet were a little more tricky as there was no footboard, but she improvised with the bed frame.
“Bed manufacturers are just making it more and more complicated to tie someone up these days,” she said, straightening.
“Done this a lot, have you?”
“No, but luckily I was a Scout, so I know my way around a knot. Honestly, you’re my first time, so you’ll have to forgive me if I make any wrong moves.”
“You haven’t made one yet.”
Danni lightly ran her fingers along his skin, loving his hot-blooded reaction to her touch. Danni scooted onto the bed and straddled him, and their gazes locked. This was going to be amazing.
AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER, they were both dressed in robes and sitting cross-legged on the bed, eating a late-night snack courtesy of room service.
“There at the end, before you had your way with me, I was getting the hang of card counting,” he said.
“It takes practice. It still didn’t make sense for you to make a bet over it. There are rules about betting, too. I should teach you the Kelly formula,” she offered as she tucked a chip into her mouth.
“The Reynolds formula is that I don’t bet anything that I’m not prepared to lose.”
Her breath hitched at the knowledge that Eric liked the idea of her tying him up.
“Card counting is a dying art, at least in casino play. With shoes that hold up to six decks at a time, there’s no way a person can calculate everything in their head now.”
“We evil security chiefs.”
Danni’s back straightened as a thought occurred to her. “Unless we steal a shoe.”
Eric shuddered. “Couldn’t happen.”
“Ah, but you don’t know the stories some tell around the campfire,” she said and grinned from ear to ear. “The skill is still important. I can spot trends in the cards by using it, and that makes learning the technique worth your while.”
“So, do you really know some sleight-of-hand tricks?” he asked between bites of his sandwich.
She nodded and took a drink of water. “I’ll show you the very first thing my father ever taught me. It’ll be good for you to know here at the casino. See that white packet of sugar on the tray the waiter brought? Pretend that’s a betting chip. Hand me one of those blue packets. Now watch.”
She tucked the blue packet into her palm. “If I think I should change the bet, I do something like this.” With a quick wave, the blue packet was now where the white packet had been. The white packet was gone.
“And see…I can do the reverse. Or add a packet so I have both chips.”
Eric whistled. “That was quick.”
“This is a trick an advantage gambler would use when the pit boss is somewhere else. A tired, bored and inattentive dealer is an advantage gambler’s best friend. I could also palm weighted or magnetized dice at the craps table with a sleight-of-hand move. Work
s even better if you have someone who can provide a distraction.”
“You provide a distraction. I’ll never see that wall by my door the same way again.”
Danni almost giggled. Gawd. What had she turned into? She shifted to instruction mode to keep herself focused. “You know, there’s a phrase about a wall in conning. Playing someone against the wall is when you take a mark into a real setting. Like a bank, or hotel room.”
Eric grew absolutely still. “Oh, yeah? Any others I should know?” he asked.
She nodded, clearly into the topic. “There’s also giving the convincer. That’s when you give in to your mark a bit, so they think they’re on to a good thing.”
Her face heated. Eric had slipped her a great convincer. Her glance cut to his face. His lips were twisting as if he’d read her mind and knew where her dirty thoughts had headed.
She made a play of fanning herself. “Didn’t realize how sexual these phrases could sound,” she said, donning her Southern accent.
“Good accent.”
Danni couldn’t hide her rueful smile. “I know a lot.”
The telephone beside the bed began to ring. He glanced at the caller ID. His expression grew dim. “I’ve got to take this.”
“No problem,” she said as she scooted off the bed. Danni walked toward the large window so Eric would have some privacy. Eric’s suite was on one of the highest floors, and it gave a great view of the mountains surrounding Reno. The day had been practically cloudless and tonight’s view was outstanding. She didn’t take great views for granted.
She smiled, thinking of the great views Eric provided. Not just of his sexy body, but of a future. How she’d longed to have a normal relationship with someone she liked and respected and could be completely honest with. Eric was interested in her, not judgmental of her past, and cared about her. Plus, he made her laugh. He was a man she could easily fall for. Daydream about. Become a sap for.
Her heart wasn’t playing around here. This was serious. The breath caught in her chest, but these new realizations didn’t scare her. Nor did she have some weird desire to mess it all up so she wouldn’t look like a sucker in the end.