She lost the first hand on purpose just to see how they played. Rivers was aggressive and overconfident, but he did win enough that she knew it was skill and not luck.
Cannon was unreadable, which put him on her watchlist. And Rome was patient and methodical.
She won the second hand, and a groan rippled around the table as the guys pushed her winnings toward her.
As the hours drifted by, she finally felt herself really relax.
She was safe here, and for the first time since the whole nightmare started, that felt like enough.
She picked up the hand and let herself bask in the warm weight of her lover’s stare for one moment before she schooled her face into a neutral expression and raised the bet.
FIFTEEN
Rome led Stina through the dim hallways toward their rooms. It was hard to imagine that only days before, Townie occupied the room across the hall instead of the woman at his side.
He brushed his thumb across her slender fingers as he walked her to his bedroom. They paused, staring at each other. When he drew her inside and closed the door, she didn’t argue.
He stood in the dark and looked down at her, this woman who had slanted his life sideways without warning.
She belonged here.
Not in protective custody—buthere. With him.
The sight of her rocked him. Everything he knew about himself and gave up wanting years ago when he signed his life over to Blackout…was standing in this room right now looking at him like she had no idea what she was doing to him.
He backed her against the door and kissed her.
The simple press of his lips to hers went from zero to wild in the space of a breath.
He braced his hand on the door beside her head and kissed her the way he’d been thinking about kissing her all through dinner, poker and the long walk down the corridor, deep and thorough, delving his tongue into her mouth and claiming her soft little moans for his own.
They broke apart, breathing hard. He dropped his forehead to hers, studying the gold and green tumult in her eyes.
“You make me feel things,” he rasped out, low.
Her expression rippled with an emotion she didn’t manage to contain. It looked like want and fear in equal measure.
“Don’t.” Her voice came out quiet. “Don’t fall for me, Rome. I know about the rules. Blackout. What you gave up when you signed on.”
He drew back enough to study her closer.
“A lot of things are changing around here.” He watched her face. “Blackout is going in new directions outside of the parameters set for us.”
“I don’t understand how—”
“It means we fight for our country, but we refuse to be bound by rules made by men who’ve never bled for it.”
“Rome.”
He pushed on, holding her stare. “Monk has Jolie here. That opens doors to more possibilities than you think, Stina.”
She didn’t look away, but a flicker of caution in her eyes gave way to what looked like hope.
His heart leaped with it too and before she could talk herself out of the dream world he was building around them, he pressed his mouth to her throat.
She made a sound that ripped him apart and remade him in the small intake of air that followed.
He kissed down her throat, across her collarbone, already reaching for the hem of her top. He pulled it up and off in one motion and dropped it behind him, not giving a damn where it landed.
