Amar inclined his head. “But that’s what life is all about, and I intend to live life to the fullest. And Rylee Hart is part of that package.”
“Rylee was not interested in your advances, Amar.”
“I think the lady doth protest too much, and I intend to call her out on it later at the Taste of the Derby event.”
Sharif shrugged. It is Amar’s funeral.
“Why were you having drinks with Amar Bishop?” Jeremy asked once he, Rylee and Camryn were in the limousine being driven to Freedom Hall for the Taste of the Derby. He was sitting directly across from Rylee and could gauge whether she was being truthful about her connection to the billionaire playboy.
It was a fair question, but Rylee didn’t particularly want to have this discussion, especially with Jeremy, but she answered honestly, “Because he asked me.”
“And I tagged along for moral support.” Camryn patted Rylee’s thigh.
Jeremy’s eye immediately zeroed in on where Camryn’s hand had landed. Rylee’s thighs were sexily accentuated by her mini-dress. He was receiving a tantalizing expanse of leg as he sat back against the cushions of the leather seat. It was unusual for Rylee to wear something so revealing, and he could sense her uneasiness. So why is she wearing it? No doubt for Amar’s benefit and thanks to Camryn’s coaxing.
“Fair enough,” Jeremy responded eventually. “But Amar does have a reputation as a ladies man. You would do well to steer clear of him.”
“Duly noted,” Rylee replied. “But I can assure you Amar isn’t the first ladies man I’ve encountered. I can handle him.” A mental picture of Shelton Gray instantly sprung to Rylee’s mind, reminding her of what a supreme idiot she’d been falling for a married man. She wouldn’t make the same mistake with Amar Bishop.
Jeremy smiled. “Glad to hear it. And it looks like we’re here.” The limo came to a stop, and he quickly jumped out of the vehicle and came around to open the door for Rylee and Camryn. “Ladies.”
Rylee looked up at the Freedom Hall sign as Jeremy escorted them from the limo. The Taste of the Derby was already underway, and they walked toward a red-swagged tent with Taste of the Derby in bold letters across the top with a giant rose. They walked the red carpet, pausing long enough for photographers to snap photos. Jeremy stepped away when one of the photographers yelled he wanted a picture of the ladies in their cocktail dresses. As she and Camryn posed for the cameras, Rylee was glad she had listened to Camryn and bought a new dress. She had no idea there would be so much press.
Eventually, they rejoined Jeremy and walked into the Hall’s north lobby, which had been transformed into a grand spectacle with multicolored lights and Chinese lanterns. A dozen food stations were on hand to accommodate the celebrity chefs cooking and lending their support to the event. “Where are the proceeds for tonight’s Taste going?” Rylee asked.
“AIDS research,” Camryn answered before Jeremy could get a word out.
“That’s great.” Rylee glanced around because the well-dressed, well-coifed and well-manicured people in this room could easily feed a small nation. Rylee came from a family that was one of the biggest supporters of its local community. Considering giving back was so close to her heart and experience, Rylee was glad the proceeds would benefit a charity.
“Well, let’s dig in,” Jeremy said. “Everything smells delicious.”
It didn’t take long for Rylee, Camryn and Jeremy to start tasting the sample entrées, appetizers and amuse-bouches the celebrity chefs had prepared. Rylee even saw a few chefs she recognized from Top Chef.
“This risotto cake with wild mushrooms and pancetta is wonderful,” Rylee commented after they’d sampled several dishes.
“I’m trying not to moan in ecstasy,” Camryn replied from beside her.
Jeremy laughed at Camryn’s unabashed response. “That’s what I like about you, Cam. You always speak your mind.”
“No other way to be,” Camryn said. “So how about you get us something to wash this down with?”
Jeremy grinned. “Absolutely. I’ll be right back.”
When he left, Camryn turned to Rylee. “C’mon, what’s wrong with Jeremy? He’s a good-looking, upstanding guy. You should be all over that.”
Rylee shrugged as she popped the last of the risotto cake into her mouth and wiped it with her napkin. “I dunno. I just don’t feel that way toward him.”
“Alright then, there are plenty other fish in the sea,” Camryn said. “And I see one that has just caught my interest.” She inclined her head ninety degrees to a tall, dark-skinned man standing on the sidelines drinking a beer. “I’ll be right back.”
“Go get ‘em.” Rylee whistled.
“Finally, you’re alone,” a male voice said from behind her. “I thought I’d never get the opportunity.”
Rylee knew the owner of that smooth-as-silk baritone. She spun on her heel to face Amar. “Were you watching me?”
Amar’s dark eyes focused on hers. “Would it embarrass you to know that I was?”
“No,” Rylee said and leaned past him to throw her small plate into a nearby trash can. When she did, she caught a whiff of his spicy cologne. It smelled exactly as she envisioned a man as dangerous as Amar would smell. She retreated backward. “No, it wouldn’t. You’re welcome to look.”
Amar’s brow rose at the implied reference. “But not touch?”
“Take it any way you like.” She turned to walk away, but Amar’s hand circled her waist and before she knew what was happening, he’d whisked her away from the crowd into a quiet area of the hall.
“Why do you persist in acting so unaffected by me,” Amar whispered huskily, “when I know that’s not the case?”
Rylee leaned against a nearby exposed column. “Amar, I’m not interested in being your next conquest. The only thing I can offer you is my friendship.”
Amar leaned in closer toward her. Heat suffused throughout Rylee’s body, and she tried her best to suppress it by lowering her eyes, but there was no use; Amar was right. There was something between them.
“What if I want more than friendship?” Amar’s lips were inches from hers. “What if I want us to be lovers?”
Rylee made the mistake of looking up, and when she did, she got lost in Amar’s magnetic dark eyes. He had her. She felt one of his hands encircle her waist seconds before his lips laid claim to hers. It wasn’t a sweet, tender kiss like the one Jeremy might have planted on her. This was one of hunger and lust, balled into one.
Amar pushed her backward against the column and plundered her mouth. His tongue teased at its seams until she had no choice but to succumb. He didn’t pause before delving inside and discovering every crevice. He devoured her as if he were trying to unleash everything she’d tried so long to keep under wraps.
When his tongue touched hers, a fire sparked deep within her belly, and when it dueled with hers for supremacy, she gave up the fight and let Amar take the lead. And he did, teasing, tasting and nibbling every inch of her lips. When he finally lifted his head, Rylee knew she’d been thoroughly kissed.
“Finally,” Amar whispered, brushing his thumb back and forth on her sensitized lips. “I get to taste you, and you taste like the nectar from an orange.”
Rylee tried to swallow to get air into her lungs, but her heart was beating so fast, she thought she might expire right then and there. The effect Amar had on her with one kiss had her weak at the knees and had robbed her of speech.
“And I want more,” Amar said. “Much more.” He reached for her again, but Rylee laid her hand on his chest. “Rylee, let’s not play games. That kiss told me you want me.”
Rylee couldn’t think. She turned away and faced the column. She needed a few minutes to gather her wits about her, but Amar was relentless.
He brushed away the hair at her nape and placed feather-light kisses across the back of her neck as on
e of his hands wrapped around her to caress her stomach in the skintight red dress she wore. “Don’t deny yourself. Don’t deny us what comes naturally.”
“St-stop, y-you’re trying to seduce me, confuse me.”
“Seduce you, yes, but I don’t want you to be confused,” Amar whispered, turning her around to face him and grasping her face with both his hands. He tipped her head, forcing her to look at him. “Make no mistake, I want to go to bed with you, Rylee, but I want you to be sure.”
“This” — she pointed back and forth between them as she shook her head — “confuses me. This is not me. I don’t make out with strange men I just met in public.” She glanced around. Even though they were in the back of the hall, they were still in plain view of partygoers. Anyone could see them.
Amar smiled. “There’s a first time for everything, and I’m glad I can bring out your passionate nature.”
That’s exactly what scared Rylee. She wasn’t a virgin by any means. She’d had her share of lovers, but it was usually on her terms, and she hadn’t felt this way since perhaps her experience with Dr. Gray. And maybe not even then. That didn’t compare to the emotion she’d felt just now with Amar.
“I have to go.” She started to move away, but Amar blocked her path.
“You can’t just ignore what happened between us.”
“Why not?” Rylee said. “Unlike you, I didn’t come here to have a fling. I came here to help a friend go for a shot at a Derby win. You’re a distraction.”
“A distraction or a complication to the neat plan you’d laid out for yourself this weekend.”
“Does it matter?” Rylee said. “I don’t need or want either.”
Amar chuckled. “Rylee, you’re such a contradiction. Your words say one thing, but your body, your mouth say quite another.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing. I use my brains to direct my actions. Good night, Amar.” Rylee sidestepped him and quickly walked back toward the crowd milling throughout the hall. She ran into Jeremy, who was holding a mint julep he’d bought for her.
“There you are,” Jeremy said. “I was looking all over for you. I found Camryn sidelined next to a famous basketball star, but you were MIA.”
“Sorry.” Rylee smiled half-heartedly. “I had a slight distraction.
His brows drew together in a frown and searched her face. “Anything you need my help with?”
Rylee shook her head. “No, no. I handled it.”
“Okay, well, then you have to come with me to try this mint julep. It’s the best.” He lightly touched her waist and led her toward the front of the lobby.
Rylee looked backward and when she did, she saw Amar staring hungrily after her.
Chapter 4
“What’s next?” Camryn asked as the limo pulled away from Freedom Hall.
“Well, you ladies are headed back to the hotel,” Jeremy replied.
“And where are you going after you drop us off?” asked Rylee.
“Male business.”
“How sexist of you!” Rylee exclaimed with a smile.
“I doubt my activity would interest you.”
“How would you know if you didn’t ask us?” Rylee said, folding her arms across her chest with a feigned pout.
Jeremy hated for Rylee to be upset with him. “If you must know, I’m going to a poker game.”
“We wanna come,” Camryn said.
“The invitation said men only.”
“So?” Rylee didn’t see why that would be a problem. Men brought their women to those sorts of things all the time. “We’ll be your backup to cheer you on.”
“I don’t know …”
“C’mon, Jeremy,” Camryn pleaded and gave her best puppy dog eyes.
“Alright, alright, you can come, but you have to be quiet,” Jeremy replied. “No gesturing or talking, because it may tip my hand or be a tell. Not to mention it would be emasculating in front of the other men.”
“What’s a tell?” Camryn asked.
“That’s when you show the other players how strong or weak your hand is, and I can’t have that. So not a peep out of the two of you, ya hear?” He pointed his fingers at each of them.
“Promise.” Both women crossed their hearts.
The poker game was held in a private room at a gentleman’s club in Louisville. When they arrived, they were ushered past several uniformed waiters and were brought into the cellar of the club. The room was filled with several older Caucasian men, two distinguished looking African-American men and Amar. Several of the men were smoking cigars and drinking Scotch.
Rylee’s heart started in her chest to see Amar so soon after their heated encounter at the Taste. She tried not to look at him, but she could feel his eyes on her.
She had been right in her assessment that she and Camryn wouldn’t be the only women there, because several other women of various ages and sizes stood behind their respective men draped in jewels and furs. Rylee just knew PETA would have a field day here!
“Are you okay?” Camryn asked, noting Rylee’s fidgeting.
“Not really,” Rylee whispered at her side. “Amar is here.”
Camryn glanced his way and noticed his eyes were firmly planted on Rylee. “I can see why. He’s staring at you.”
“I know,” Rylee said, smiling at Jeremy as he made his way around the room making introductions.
Camryn glanced sideways at Rylee. “Something happened tonight, didn’t it?”
“Men, take your places,” the dealer said. “We’ll get started in five minutes.”
When Rylee didn’t answer, Camryn said, “No need to confirm it. Your guilty expression and the way Amar is looking at you as if you’re a bowl of soup he’d like to sop up tells me enough.”
Across the room, Amar was pleased with the twists and turns the evening had taken. Earlier, he’d finally pierced through the wall Rylee had held up and forced her to confront their mutual attraction. Of course, she’d run away like a scared schoolgirl, but that wouldn’t deter him. Then Sharif, who’d been keeping tabs on the illustrious Mr. Wright, had told him Jeremy would be attending a poker game after the event, so Sharif had gotten him a place at the table. How could Amar have known that Rylee would choose to accompany Jeremy and see his downfall? It would be the icing on the cake.
“Why are you grinning like a Cheshire cat?” Sharif whispered in Amar’s ear.
“Because this evening couldn’t have gone any better if I’d planned it.”
Sharif glanced across at the object of Amar’s affection. “A twist of fate she would attend this evening, that’s for sure.”
Amar nodded. “And the opportunity to show her once and for all that Wright is not the man for her.”
Sharif knew Amar to be an excellent poker player. “You’re going to annihilate him, aren’t you?”
Amar shrugged. He was a take-no-prisoners kind of man, and he would bring Jeremy to his knees.
Rylee watched the dealer give Jeremy one hundred thousand in chips and was stunned that he would play with that kind of money, but given the company of the men he was with tonight, she supposed it was probably on the low side. She noticed that not to be outdone, Amar had a half a million in chips, five times what Jeremy had. the dealer distributes the cards face down starting with the player to his or her immediate left and continuing clockwise, one card at a time, until everyone has five cards. The deck is placed in the middle of the table. the dealer distributes the cards face down starting with the player to his or her immediate left and continuing clockwise, one card at a time, until everyone has five cards. The deck is placed in the middle of the table.
After shuffling, the dealer distributed the cards facedown and handed each player five cards and placed the deck in the middle of the table. Rylee noticed that one player started breathing a little heavier and another was avoiding eye c
ontact. Were these the “tell” signs she’d heard of? Jeremy was stone-cold and was holding his poker face, as was Amar.
The Caucasian man to the dealer’s left placed the first bet. “One thousand dollars.”
Since Jeremy was immediately next to him, he saw his one thousand. Rylee took that as a good sign that Jeremy had a good hand. She watched as others around the table placed their bets. Then it was Amar’s turn.
“I’ll see your one thousand and raise you five thousand,” Amar stated. He noticed Jeremy’s brow furrow. He could see he only had one hundred thousand to play with. This was child’s play with this group of bankers and CEOs, but if he wanted to play with the big boys, he was about to learn his lesson.
“I’ll see your five thousand,” Jeremy added when the dealer turned to him again. He threw a chip into the pot and looked at Amar as if challenging him to say something.
Amar was surprised he had the balls to increase his bet with such a pittance of chips in front of him. He felt sorry for the poor schmuck because he was about to be had tonight.
An hour later, Rylee watched in horror when the pot rose to fifty thousand dollars and Jeremy still hadn’t folded. What the hell is wrong with him? He didn’t have this kind of money to blow on a poker game. His father would kill Jeremy if he knew how shamefully he was throwing money around as if it grew on trees.
She wanted to stop Jeremy to prevent a travesty, but she’d promised him she wouldn’t say a word. How could she stand by while he blew his future, his trust fund? The pot was steadily growing and was now up to one hundred thousand, the exact amount Jeremy had in chips. The last of two Caucasian men who’d been holding on folded until it was just Amar and Jeremy remaining.
Rylee knew the root cause of why Jeremy wouldn’t fold: He refused to allow Amar to win. But it was a poker game, for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t like they were fighting over her. Or were they? Is that what this is all about? Jeremy refused to concede because he wouldn’t let Amar win her? Didn’t Jeremy get that there would never be anything between them except friendship. Probably not, because she’d given him mixed messages. Agreeing to date him to please her father and coming on this trip had been a mistake, but she couldn’t change those things. She could only affect the here and now.
Harts of Arizona Series Page 40