“It keeps being true.”Her voice came out rougher than she intended.She reached for her drink to cover it.
“Your humility is inspiring.”
“Humility is for people who lose.”She grinned at him—Kit's grin, sharp and cocky.The cap was still pulled low on her brow, but beneath the table, her hands were trembling.“Deal again?”
The hours slipped past.Louis grew drunker, his commentary more outrageous with each round.
“You're letting a boy half your size fleece you,” Louis said to Wesley after Kit won another hand.“It's embarrassing.”
“Then play for yourself and show us all how it’s done.”
Louis had stopped playing several hands ago.“And lose my own money?I'm not a fool.”
Max watched the table with quiet amusement, his gaze flicking between Wesley and Kit in a way that made Thea's skin prickle.She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she didn't like the attention.
But she still couldn’t leave.These times with Wesley had become the best part of the Season.
He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head.His coat pulled tight across his chest.Thea's gaze caught there, willing the buttons to pop off, before she forced herself to look at her cards.
This was dangerous.She was staring at him the way Thea would stare, not Kit.If he noticed—
“You've grown quiet.”Wesley was watching her, head tilted.“Finally out of insults and bravado?”
“I’m just saving them for your next loss.”
He smiled at her, and for a moment, she forgot she was supposed to be Kit.Forgot they were in a crowded gaming hell with his friends ten feet away.There was only Wesley, and how badly she wanted to climb into his lap and kiss him until neither of them could think.
“Kit?”Wesley's smile faltered.“You look—”
She dealt the next hand too fast, cards scattering.“I'm fine.And if you want to quit losing at cards, then do a better job at hiding the state of your hand.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“When you've got a good hand, you sit up straighter.It’s a dead giveaway.”
He blinked, then laughed again.
The awkward moment passed.The game continued.But Thea's heart was still racing, her skin too hot beneath her binding.She'd almost slipped.She'd allowed herself to look at him with the desire she felt, and he'd noticed something was off.He couldn’t realize who she was.
She needed to be more careful.She needed to stop coming here, stop torturing herself with the man she wanted, but would never have.
“Same time next week?”Wesley asked when he finally stood to leave, straightening his perfectly tailored coat.
Thea looked up at him.The candlelight caught the planes of his face, illuminating the strong line of his throat where his collar hung open.She wanted to press her mouth there.She wanted to peel off Kit's clothes, and show him who she really was and beg him to want her.
“If you've got more coin to lose,” she said instead.
He smiled at her and Thea's breath caught.
“I'll find some,” he said, and then he was gone.
Louis and Max followed him out, their voices fading into the night.Thea sat alone at the table, her winnings piled in front of her, her body still humming from two hours of watching Wesley be the man she'd always known was still in there.
She was still in love with him.
Thea gathered her coins and slipped out into the night.The cool air did nothing to settle the wanting that burned beneath her skin.
Her heart would never be whole.Wesley was the only man for her, even if nothing would ever come of it, and that was a problem.The kind that didn't have a solution, only a reckoning she wasn't ready to face.
