She opened her bag of chips and let a smile curl her lips. The Captain always seemed to be between marriages. She’d lost count at six. Her one marriage was too much for her to handle. “I’ll try. I’m worried about Gordon Barker, though. I’ve heard rumors he doesn’t play a fair game. I’d hate to get bumped out because he’s dirty.”
The Captain shook his head and took a bite of his sandwich. “You don’t need to worry about Gordon. He’s been clean for years. Had a brush with the law that was a little too close for comfort a while back and he straightened right out.”
“Oh,” Annie said. Well, at least the conversation was getting her somewhere and Gabe couldn’t accuse her of not doing her job. She was hoping to string Gordon along as an option for a while longer, but now she could focus on the rest of her game instead of him. “That’s a relief.”
“You’ll want to watch out for Eddie Walker, though.”
Annie stopped, her bottle of water hovering in midair. She hadn’t expected this at all, but she should’ve known the Captain would want to look out for her. He’d been the closest thing she’d had to a father over the years. “He’s not at my table today.”
“Well, the problem with Eddie is that he works with a circle of players and dealers. It’s actually better if he’s at your table because he always keeps his own game clean. He’s a tricky bastard. I wish to God someone would catch him so we wouldn’t have to deal with the scrutiny. It messes with my game to know how many security people are circling around and watching my every play.”
She immediately felt guilty for talking with him while wearing a wire. “I’m surprised no one has caught him yet, given how many people know about it.”
“He’s careful. And smart. There’s one main player they try to push through to the final table and a good ten or more in the tournament just to help them along. You never know who’s in on it. I heard he’s got a new partner working with him this year. I haven’t seen her myself,” he continued. “But I heard she’s—”
She? Annie sucked a sip of her bottled water into her lungs accidentally, launching into a mad coughing fit. The Captain immediately stopped talking and patted her on the back, watching with concern as she wheezed and viciously hacked.
“Are you okay?” he asked when several minutes had passed and the bright red faded from her face.
“Yes, I’m sorry.” She nodded. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll run to the ladies’ room.”
“Of course.”
At that, Annie dashed away to the safety of the restroom and hoped Gabe’s security goons had the good sense to stop listening in.
* * *
With the way the tournament play fell, Annie was scheduled Saturday so she had Sunday off. They had a record number of registrations, so the breakup allowed everyone to participate. The numbers dwindled exponentially after that point, so the top players from Saturday and Sunday would then combine to continue on Monday.
In theory, Nate should’ve been down on the casino floor making sure everything was going as planned, but he just couldn’t make himself do it. Saturday had been agony. He’d watched Annie play from a distance all afternoon, unable to touch her the way he ached to. His fists had been curled tight in his pockets for hours, a fake smile plastered onto his face.
When she finished for the day, victorious, he’d whisked Annie away to the suite. She’d barely been able to bask in the glory of her poker domination before she was naked and writhing under him again. They’d spent the entire evening holed up in the suite, ordering room service and making love on every piece of furniture he owned.
As the sunlight began pouring in the windows Sunday morning, Nate rolled onto his side and stared down at her. She looked as though he had thoroughly exhausted her. The long strands of her dark hair were messy and sprawled across the pillow, her eyes dancing under her lids with dreaming.
Throwing back the covers, he disappeared silently down the hallway. By the time he reached his desk, he could hear the chattering music of his smartphone. It was Gabe’s ringtone. He hadn’t spoken to him since the end of tournament play yesterday. He was certain his head of security had been anticipating a daily debrief with Annie, but Nate hadn’t felt like sharing her last night.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Gabe said dryly. “We need to talk about something that happened yesterday.”
Nate frowned and settled into his desk chair. “What?”
“I was down on the floor watching Eddie as you directed, but one of my guys, Stuart, was doing surveillance and listening to Annie’s conversations.”
He didn’t really want to know what his friend would say next. It would ruin his sex buzz. “And?” he said reluctantly.
“She was talking to the Captain and having a fairly blunt conversation about Walker. He indicated that he’d heard Walker had recruited a new woman to work with him. Just when he was about to elaborate, Annie went into a mad coughing fit and immediately dismissed herself.”
That wasn’t good. Knowing the accomplice was a woman reduced the suspect list dramatically. Knowing Annie had abruptly ended the conversation, hadn’t followed up and hadn’t passed any information on to him or Gabe narrowed it to a party of one. Was it possible that Tessa was more than just Eddie’s girlfriend? Could she be involved in the cheating, as well, or was the Captain just misinformed? He needed to get Annie away from the casino and all the intrusions.
“I think I’m going to take Annie to the house today. We both know Eddie is up to something, possibly Tessa, as well, but I’m not sure about what Annie knows. I was thinking I could get more information out of her if we’re away from the casino.”
“Make sure you don’t get played. You don’t know how involved she is with all this. For all we know, she’s the ringleader and using her relationship with you as a diversion.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” At that, Nate hit the button to disconnect the call. He didn’t like thinking about Annie like that. He would do what was smart, but he hesitated to be instantly suspicious of her like Gabe.
Flipping through his address book, he punched in a name and within seconds had his housekeeper, Ella, on the phone. The older woman was in her late fifties and lived exclusively at Nate’s house. She kept the place clean and organized. If he decided to do something at the house, Ella would make sure everything was taken care of.
He explained his plans and she was all too eager to prepare everything for their arrival. Honestly, he hadn’t been back to the house in more than a month. The poor woman was probably bored to tears and suddenly all atwitter as she readied the house.
“Nate?” Annie’s sleepy voice called to him from the bedroom.
Nate switched off his phone and headed back to her. “Good, you’re up,” he said and sat on the edge of the bed. “Get dressed.”
“You mean you’re going to keep your hands to yourself long enough for me to put clothes on?” Annie sat up in bed, the navy sheets clutched to her bare chest.
Nate eyed her for a moment—the sexy mess of her hair over her shoulders, the smooth length of her leg peeking out from beneath the covers, the full swell of her breasts pressed against her arms. That was a very good question. He was considering having her again before they left. The only thing stopping him was the opportunity to make love to her someplace new.
“Only if you hurry.” He grinned and disappeared into the closet.
They did hurry, hopping into his convertible Mercedes as the valet pulled it around. Within minutes, they left the bustle of the Strip behind and settled into the sprawling suburbia that surrounded it. He’d told Annie to dress casually and bring a swimsuit. He expected her to ask questions, but she seemed content to watch the scenery go by.
It took about twenty minutes to get to his subdivision. The two-story Spanish-style house was typical for the
area, with the sand-colored stucco walls and red clay tile roof. The yard was well landscaped but lacked any sort of personality. It could’ve been anyone’s house. Were it not at the very end of the cul-de-sac, it might’ve been hard for even Nate to pick it out from the others.
Nate hit the button to open the garage and pulled in beside the empty spot where Ella’s green Buick normally parked. He felt bad about the sudden plans, so he’d sweetened the deal with the offer of an afternoon of pampering at the Sapphire Spa. She deserved it. It also got her out from underfoot. Ella didn’t know about his marriage to Annie and he wanted it to stay that way.
Nate sighed and opened the door. “I’d give you the tour, but I’m a little rusty on it myself.”
Annie chuckled, scooping her purse off the floor and climbing out of the car. “You really need to focus on some work-life balance, Nate.”
He held his arms out wide. “I’m here, aren’t I?” He fished the keys out of his khaki shorts and unlocked the door. “Besides, I’m not taking any criticisms from a woman that lives out of her suitcase.”
“Touché.” She smiled, slipping past him into the dark, empty house.
As promised, the tour was short. They made a pit stop in the master suite to christen the king-size bed, then slipped into their swimsuits and took a dip in the cool turquoise pool in the backyard. Like children, they splashed each other and roughhoused in the water, then ambitiously napped in lounge chairs until the rumbling of their empty stomachs distracted them.
Without room service to call on, they wandered into the kitchen to see what Ella had left for them. An ivory note card on the counter informed them about the fixings for homemade pizza in the refrigerator.
“Do you think we can handle this?” Annie looked dubiously at the ball of dough on the counter.
“Oh, come on,” Nate prodded, scooping an armful of food off the shelf. “Certainly we can manage a pizza. Ella’s already done most of the work. It will be fun to try, at least. If it’s a disaster, we can order something later. Here.” He slid a few tomatoes and a pouch of fresh basil across the granite countertop. “You get the toppings for the pizza ready while I work on the dough.”
Nate assembled the pizza, ladling Ella’s homemade sauce and spreading fresh mozzarella slices on the crust. He watched Annie out of the corner of his eye as she worked busily, cutting tomatoes. She looked really beautiful today. Yes, she looked sexy almost all of the time, but most definitely beautiful now. The pool had washed away all traces of her makeup. Her long dark hair was still damp, the thick, corded strands running down her bare back. Her golden skin seemed even darker against the stark white of her bikini. She’d wrapped a colorful cotton fabric around her waist, tying it in a knot slung low at her hip bone. It hid the tiny white string bikini bottoms she’d pressed against him in the pool.
She caught him watching her and she smiled, giggling in a girlish way that made his chest ache unexpectedly. Annie away from the casino was like a new person. She didn’t just look different, she acted different. In only a few hours’ time, he’d gotten to see a more casual, easygoing version of her. He liked this Annie even more than his superconfident but guarded card shark.
But that wasn’t all of it. There was something familiar and soothing about the banality of their actions. Making lunch together in his house away from the casino...it was more significant a moment than he’d expected.
Yes, making love to her again had been great, but this kind of experience seemed important in a different way. They’d never had any real domestic moments together. Suddenly that bothered him more than he wanted it to. They’d never had a real marriage. They’d just had some fantasy honeymoon that existed only within the walls of his hotel. His work quickly became her prison. Making lunch, watching television, even grocery shopping were things they’d never experienced together and it made him sad. Perhaps they would’ve had a shot if they’d done this three years ago.
This week was supposed to be about making Annie miserable and finally being able to put her out of his mind for good, but he wasn’t getting over Annie as he’d planned. The more he had her, the more he wanted of her. He should’ve just signed the divorce papers instead of luring her back here.
“You have sauce on your cheek.”
Nate looked up, his thoughts disturbed. “What?”
Annie reached out and wiped a dab of renegade marinara off his face. She licked it off her finger and smiled. “Ella makes wonderful tomato sauce.”
“She does. It makes me want to stay at the house more often so she can cook for me all the time.”
“Why don’t you?”
Nate shrugged, scooping a few tomato slices off the counter and scattering them on the pizza. The answer was that there was really nothing to come home to. Work always needed him. This empty house, not so much. If he’d had a family, it would be a different story. “No real reason to be here, I suppose.”
“Then why do you have a house?”
“I bought it when the market was low, so it’s a good investment. Someplace to go when I need to get away from work. And...” He hesitated before completing the thought. “I’d hoped that I’d get married one day and have a family here.” He looked up at Annie with a playful grin. “That hasn’t quite panned out for me yet.”
Annie uneasily matched his grin, quickly turning back to slicing the last of the tomato and starting on the basil. “So if you never come here, Nate, why exactly did we make this little field trip today?”
Nate stilled over the pizza. He’d been waiting for the right moment, enjoying his afternoon with Annie too much to ruin it. But she’d opened the door. It was time. “I wanted to bring you here to ask you something.”
Annie frowned slightly. “Sounds ominous.”
“I guess it depends on your answer.” He shrugged. “I wanted to get you away from the casino, the tournament and the wires recording your every word in the hopes I could get an honest answer out of you.”
Nate laid the last of the tomato slices onto the pizza. “I’m worried about the conversation you had with the Captain about Eddie. If Eddie really is working with a woman, the list of partners dwindles significantly. You can imagine what my concern is.” He paused, watching her look down at the herbs to avoid his gaze. “Hit me with some basil.”
Annie’s expression was neutral as she sprinkled the leaves across the pizza and dusted her hands together to brush the remaining bits into the sink. “You think Tessa might be more than just his flavor of the month?”
“It’s a scenario we have to consider. She is registered in the tournament.”
“And you’re worried I won’t cooperate in convicting my own sister.”
Leave it to Annie to cut to the chase. “I hope it doesn’t come down to that, but yes. Gabe is concerned that you can’t be trusted to bring us information if it might implicate her. Or even that you might try to use our relationship as a distraction to protect Tessa.”
“And you? Are you suspicious of me, too?”
Nate turned and looked her directly in the eye. “Yes. It would be stupid not to at least consider it as a possibility.” A flicker of emotion ran across Annie’s face, but it was too quick for Nate to detect whether it was guilt, pain or irritation.
“Let me ease a couple of your concerns,” she began. “First, you came to me with this arrangement, so you can hardly accuse me of manipulating the situation to protect or distract attention from Tessa. Two, my sister and I aren’t very close. She doesn’t confide in me, so if you think I have any inside knowledge into what she’s doing, you’re wrong. If I had any evidence of her or anyone else cheating, I’d turn it over so I could focus on my game and stop wearing that itchy damn wire.
“And finally,” she said, reaching a hand up to cup his cheek and looking him directly in the eyes, “I’m sleeping with you because I want to. You’re the sexiest
man I’ve ever encountered and I can’t help but want you.”
Nate’s chest tightened. He didn’t know if it was her brutally honest answers or the way she looked at him when she said how badly she wanted him. Before he could reach out to her, she pulled away to scoop up the pizza stone and carry it to the oven. Annie slid the pizza stone inside and shut the heavy stainless-steel door. “How long does it bake for?”
Nate examined the card Ella had left for them. “She says about fifteen to twenty minutes but that we should watch for the crust to brown.”
She set the digital clock for twenty minutes. “Okay, that’s done, so I’m going to hop in the shower.”
With that, she turned and sauntered out of the kitchen, the colorful wrap falling seductively from her hips to the tile floor.
* * *
Annie hadn’t been surprised by Nate’s questions. She’d been caught off guard by the Captain’s words at lunch the day before, which was why she’d choked, but her fears about it being true were why she hadn’t returned to follow up. She didn’t want to turn in Tessa. And she would go to great lengths to avoid uncovering her sister’s involvement. But at this moment, she had absolutely no evidence of anything but her sister’s poor choices in men and no problem telling Nate as much.
Her answers seemed to satisfy him. For now.
When she got out of the shower, Nate had taken the pizza and a pitcher of iced tea out onto the covered patio. They dined, then moved to the poolside chairs. Annie lay out on her stomach and was very nearly asleep when she felt Nate’s gaze on her. She opened one eye toward him, wincing at the sunlight despite her fashionably oversized sunglasses.
He was openly appraising her body, his jaw hard set in restraint as he took in the dark expanse of her skin. When he realized she was watching him, he smiled sheepishly. “Your body should be bare and sun-kissed more often. It belongs on the white sand beaches of the Caribbean. Not in a dark, smoke-filled casino.”
Although Nate hadn’t specifically said it, Annie’s brain immediately went to being on that beach with him. Being here with Nate had been an eye-opening experience, to say the least. She’d been given a glimpse, however small, of what life with him could be like. Life away from the casino. Just him and her living their lives together the way they’d first envisioned.
BACK IN HER HUSBAND'S BED Page 9