Something changes about her as she makes her way through the casino. It’s so subtle that I wouldn’t have noticed unless I’d spotted her the second she walked in, but it’s there. Her hips sway with an almost hypnotic rhythm, and she loses some of the purpose in her step. No, she doesn’t lose it-- she drops it. She casts a glance around at some of the men in the casino, and I see a bat of her eyelashes that lasts only long enough to make them turn their heads as she walks by.
Everything about her body is enticing people around her to look at it. But I’m no lovesick teenager, and I’ve seen so many beautiful people walk through this casino that I’m numb to it all by now. There is something different about her, something...measured. She knows what she’s doing, I realize.
I crack a smile as I see her head over to the poker tables.
She sidles up along with the rest of the spectators, and they make room for her. Her presence commands attention, even from some of the players. And that’s especially impressive, because I know that table to be full of some of the more experienced regulars. I wonder if she did her homework beforehand, if her man is at the table, or if she just has a nose for the real skill in the house. All three options are intriguing.
I follow at a safe distance, pretending to be keeping an eye on the floor around the poker tables while actually keeping my eye on her.
Her body language confirms what I suspected when she walked in. She only tucks a lock of stray hair or adjusts her legs when one of the players is glancing away from the table, and when they do, it’s usually at her. I notice her smile at one of them when they make eye contact. Her every move is measured, calculated.
I respect that.
First chance she gets, I watch her buy in, and she takes a seat with the high-rollers, right next to the guy who just won the last hand. She smiles at him, and suddenly, she’s a little more animated than before-- but not too much so. She can’t seem too interested. I feel like I’m getting into this woman’s head, and I have to admit, I can see why she looks like she’s having fun.
The player she’s sitting next to takes to it warmly, but he’s not a total sucker. Once the game gets started, things get serious and reserved again, but I see how often the other players glance over at her. How could they not? They’re as interested as I was when I first saw her. She encourages them in subtle ways, usually with brief eye contact, just enough to keep them thirsty for more. They’re utterly taken by her.
So taken that she wins her first hand.
I see the smiles on the faces of some of the older men. I can practically hear the words “beginner’s luck” on the tips of their tongues. They think it’s cute that she trounced them the first time around. It even interests them a little. Men like them like girls who can impress them, but not threaten them.
That amusement starts to fade a little when she wins a second time.
By the third hand, the smiles have started to fade from the men’s faces, but they’re getting challenged. Some of them look like they’re ready to get serious, while others look like they’re about ready to get up and leave. All the while, the crimson lady hasn’t changed. She has a mildly amused, surprised look on her face. I’m pretty sure I saw the actual words “beginner’s luck” on those ruby-red lips at one point.
She says what the men are thinking, and that puts them at ease and keeps them going a little while longer. She’s clever. Very clever.
But just before she pushes the men too far, I see her cash out, and she gives them all a flirty, ditzy wave before leaving them behind and heading to the bar. The men she left in the dust look at each other with mild surprise, but not anger. She didn’t totally wipe them out, but she left the table with far more than any of them could have expected, leaving them with just enough to keep playing instead of complaining to me and trying to chase her down.
They played right into her hand.
I never saw her cheating. The dealer didn’t catch on either, if she was. We have subtle signals we can give each other when we see someone cheating at the tables, and as stunning as this girl is, I wouldn’t hesitate to do my job if she’d been trying something dirty. But if she was, she was better at keeping it hidden than I was at spotting it.
That is rare.
She didn’t fail to pick up some attention on her way out. Some of the guests murmur to each other and nod in her direction, and some of them let their eyes linger on her longer than that. Usually, someone winning that big and drawing that much attention was a big red flag. She managed to skirt around that suspicion, just barely. I have no reason to step in and intervene yet.
But I want to.
I’d be a liar if I tried to pretend I haven’t been sizing her up the whole time. Even without the act she’s putting on, there’s no question that she’s a knockout. She’s making all the things she was blessed with work overtime for her. And that stride, that confidence, that cunning...it’s enticing.
I’m not the kind of man to flatter myself, but I’ve never had any trouble getting any woman I’m interested. I don’t usually do that kind of thing on the job, but I have a little more cause to follow this lead through. There’s something just under that sexy surface, and I’m interested in knowing what it is.
She’s calculating, but so am I.
Almost as soon as she makes it to the bar Tony is working, I follow her, striding up with every bit of confidence and poise that she does, and I lean in next to her.
“You play a good hand,” I open with, letting my eyes rove up and down her body. “Better than those regulars expected. I don’t see that much, and I see a lot around here.” I crack a shadow of a smile. “Well done.”
Buy Betting on Love
Also by Alexis Abbott
Romantic Suspense:
Hitmen Series:
Owned by the Hitman
Sold to the Hitman
Saved by the Hitman
Captive of the Hitman
Stolen from the Hitman
Hostage of the Hitman
Taken by the Hitman
The Hitman’s Masquerade (Short Story)
The Killer Trilogy:
Book 1: Killer for Hire
Book 2: Killer Desire
Book 3: Killer on Fire
Sexy SEALs
Sweetheart for the SEAL
Sights on the SEAL
Hostages:
Stealing Her
Killing For Her
Abducted
Stepbrothers:
Ruthless
Criminal
Standalones:
Betting on Love
Hunter’s Baby
The Assassin’s Heart
I Hired A Hitman
Vegas Boss
Rock Hard Bodyguard
Innocence For Sale: Jane
Redeeming Viktor
Romance:
Falling for her Boss (Novella)
Most Wanted: Lilly (Novella)
Bound as the World Burns (SFF)
Erotic Thriller:
The Dangerous Men Series:
The Narrow Path
Strayed from the Path
Path to Ruin
About the Author
Alexis Abbott is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author who writes about bad boys protecting their girls! Pick up her books today if you can’t resist a bad boy who is a good man, and find yourself transported with super steamy sex, gritty suspense, and lots of romance.
She lives in beautiful St. John's, NL, Canada with her amazing husband.
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Stealing Her Page 18