“Another King,” Gregory whistles, looking at all of us in turn to see our reactions.
“Well?” Brian prods him, eager and supremely confident.
Gregory chews on it for a while, then sighs mightily. “I fold, fuck you.”
Leonard laughs, and flips his brother off. “I raise!”
They look at me. I take a deep breath–
A knock at the door gets everyone’s attention, and we all turn to see a maid waiting by the exit to the hallway. I’m too distracted by the tall, dark suit hovering beside me in my peripheral to really pay much attention to her. Young-gi was standing closer than I expected.
“Dinner is served,” she bobs her head and hustles away.
“Read them andweep!” Leonard shouts and tosses his hand on the table, revealing that his cards, combined with the ones on the table, hold three of a kind–three tens.
“Sorry, boys,” Brian says smugly, interrupting Leonard’s victory cheers and Gregory’s pouting. He places his cards face up on the table, revealing a flush–five cards of the same diamond suit, although not the same rank or in sequential order.
“Aw, fuck you!” Leonard complains. The boys stand, and I stand with them. The parlor is emptying out, and I’m ready to turn around and meet Kira’s uncle already. But I want the boys to walk away first.
Brian pauses, seeming to realize something. He looks at me with lingering doubt and uncertainty in his eyes. He still isn’t sure if I’m a moron, or if I’m something more.
His eyes dart down to my cards, which still lay face down on the table.
The brothers hesitate, too, when they realize their leader isn’t with them. They look back at me. The moment stretches.
I can feel Kira and her uncle waiting for me, looming right behind me. There is a more important threat in the room than these boys. I have no more time to waste playing around with them. They’re small fishes.
I give them an embarrassed smile and a shrug. “I guess beginners’ luck wasn’t with me this time. Good game.”
Reassured, Brian relaxes and sneers at me, puffing his chest. Janessa is clinging to his shoulder, congratulating his win and looking up at him through her siren-like lashes. He grabs her ass as they walk to the exit, lewd and aggressive.
I shake my head and turn to Kira.
And I probably do the most obvious double-take of my life.
Because holy shit.
Kira’s uncle is a smoke show of the highest order. He’s tall and lean and strong and wearing the fuck out of a suit that fits him just right. He’s paired a designer watch and gold cufflinks with unstyled dark hair that isn’t quite long enough to look messy; nor is it long enough to cover those intense, slanted dark eyes set in a flawlessly pale face of angles and sharp edges. His wide brow and strong nose resemble Kira’s Russian heritage, but his cheekbones, mouth, and eyes hint at his mixed ancestry.
He looks like he’s in his mid to upper thirties, but I’ve always enjoyed maturity in a partner–yeah, it’s fucked up, considering my childhood, but I can’t help it.
“Tommy,” Kira slides her little hand in mine, and I reflexively pull it up to kiss her knuckles, trying to center myself. Sheblushes. “This is my uncle, Young-gi Sokolov. Uncle Young-gi, this is my b-boyfriend, Tommy.”
“Tommy…” Young-gi trails off meaningfully, prodding me to give my last name. He has a startlingly blank face; besides the intensity of his stare, his expression is giving me nothing. No hints about his thoughts or feelings. His mouth is sexy but stern and flat and serious, and that immediately makes me want to see what those lips look like when he softens them, when he kisses with them. Sucks, licks, fucks. Et cetera.
My mouth goes dry, then salivates a little too much. I clear my throat so my voice won’t crack. “Claremont.”
“Hm.” He puts out a hand for me to shake.
I look at his calloused palm for perhaps a few seconds too long, then shake his hand belatedly. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Sokolov.”
He grasps my hand in his, and squeezes just a little too tightly. We meet stares again and I immediately know that the rumors are true. Whoever Young-gi is in his free time, he’s dangerous. He’s killed a man before, maybe lots of men. I see it in him as clearly as I see it in myself. But I doubt he can see it in me. I’m good at disguising it, and powerful men like Young-gi don’t bother with hiding.
“I can’t say I’ve heard of the Claremont family.”
“Um–” Kira tries to interject, but I’ve got a handle on things, so I answer for myself.
“To be fair, I can’t say I’d heard of the Sokolovs before meeting Kira.”
