Page 96 of Newly Tied

“That’s a little scary,” I commented to Lang.

“Yeah, it is.”

Talia took a seat across from Ian, and when she beat him at the first hand, instead of being a jerk—like I thought he would be—he was really pleased and gave her a fist bump. Apparently, he liked playing with people who were good, not donkeys—whatever that meant—who got lucky on the river. As I was not a gambler, I stayed away and instead took my turn at Tekken, since I had number eight at home.

“What the hell was that?” Cherry asked me when I beat her in three moves.

“That’s Jin. He’s my favorite.”

“You don’t just push buttons?” Bon asked me.

“No. You hafta learn all the moves.”

“Oh, dear God, no.” Cherry was horrified.

“You have to practice.”

No one wanted to play with me after that, so I surrendered my controller to Lopez. Sharpe met me in the kitchen as I was looking for some dessert.

“Aren’t you playin’ cards?” I asked him.

“Uh, no. The woman I’m enamored of put me all in and took my money.”

I snickered.

“It’s not funny. She didn’t even care when she did it.”

“There’s no friends in poker,” I reminded him.

“Hey, babe?” Talia called over to Sharpe. “Can you get me a glass of chianti?”

He looked at me and threw up his hands.

“C’mon now, do you want her or not? Because she’s already takin’ for granted that you’re a grown-up and don’t care about cards, which is pretty good.”

“You’re saying she’s thinking I’m a man, and not a boy who cares about losing to a girl.”

“Yessir, that’s what I’m sayin’.”

“That’s exactly what I want her thinking, because that’s how it is,” he said, nodding. “Excuse me while I pour her some wine.”

I was quite hopeful for the two of them.

As promised, when Aruna and her husband, Liam, who she introduced me to, were about to leave, she came to say goodbye. We ended up trading numbers. I got a hug from her, a handshake from him, and that was nice. I loved expanding my circle with nice people. But who didn’t?

Watching Lang play from where I was in the kitchen was fun. He did well, even won a few hands, but I could tell he was distracted. Normally he had much more of a killer instinct. Even Talia noticed and shot him a look of concern. He announced he was done a couple minutes later and had Dorsey cash him out.

“What’s with you?” I asked when he came into the kitchen with me.

“I want to go home and be alone with you.”

“You want to go home so I can ride you in your bed,” I said flatly.

“Yes, please.”

I smiled at him.

“But honestly, even more than that, I have the overwhelming urge to just lie on my back and have you on top of me, sleeping, while I flip channels on my TV.”