Font Size:  

“Cards,” she blurted. “What can you play?”

“Nothing.”

“You don’t know how to play cards?”

“Oh, I know how. What do you think we did on digs when the torrential rains came?”

As if in answer to his question, raindrops began to patter against the canvas and the wind shook the tent just a little. But worse was coming. Gina could smell it.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Read a book?”

“That was my mother. I played cards with the workers.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’m really good at poker.”

Gina’s lips curved. “Not as good as me.”

“I’d love to prove you wrong, but I don’t have any cards.”

Crap. Neither did she. And she had no one to blame but herself, since she’d done the packing. Which just proved how out of it she’d been. Cards were usually one of the first things she tucked into the pack.

“Great.” Gina fell back onto her bedroll. Another sleepless night with nothing to do but think. Just what she needed.

A rustle drew her attention to Teo. He’d put on his glasses and now peered at a notebook he held in his hands.

“What’s that?”

“My mother’s translations.” He shrugged, appearing sheepish and very young. “Do you want to see?”

At her nod, Teo scooted over on the bedroll, making room for Gina to sit at his side. Which was probably a really bad idea.

“I promised not to jump you,” he said, surprising a laugh from her.

What was it about this man that made her want to like him, to trust him even though he’d proved he was both unlikable and untrustworthy?

Though it was probably a bad idea, nevertheless, Gina leaned forward, placing her palms on the ground; then she crossed, on her hands and knees, the few feet that separated them.

She hadn’t realized how suggestive the pose was until his breath caught, then his eyes flared, gaze lowering and fixing on something just below her neck. She glanced down and discovered that her shirt gaped, revealing the easy sway of her breasts beneath.

When she lifted her head, the expression on his face, the stark wanting, made her chest ache. No man had ever looked at her like that before.

Gina sat back on her heels and considered returning to her side of the tent.

“Sorry,” Teo murmured. “You’re just so lovely I can’t help myself.”

Her cheeks heated. Lovely. Such an old-man word, though the look in Teo’s eyes had been anything but old. Or maybe it had been ancient—the same look men had been giving women since the beginning of time. And since she now knew exactly what it felt like when he touched her, all he had to do was glance at her and she remembered his hands, his mouth, that taste.

She remembered, and she yearned.

“Stare all you want, but keep your hands off,” Gina muttered, even though that wasn’t what she wanted. Not really.

How pathetic. Lie, cheat, steal, attempt seduction under both a false name and false pretenses, yet still she wanted him.

“No touching,” Teo agreed. “Swear to God.”

“Which god?” Gina asked.

“Any god. All the gods. Whatever you want.”

She lifted a brow, but she scooted the few feet left to his bedroll in an odd, crab-like movement that kept her from flashing him again.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like