Page 263 of A Vicious Love

I turned my head. He looked down at me, eyes dark with a promise he should not have made in my father’s salon.

I faced forward very quickly.

Jamison lit another cigar, but only after I sat back in his lap. By the third time I won, I understood why.

I had a full house, and when I looked at Jamison, he did not explain it first. He waited while I counted the cards under my breath and slowly pieced it together.

“Three sevens,” I whispered. “Two kings.”

His hand stilled at my waist.

I looked up, barely daring to smile. “Full house?”

His expression changed.

Pride, I realized.

“Yes.”

I beamed.

This time I did not apologize for it.

“Now make Julian pay for seeing the river.” Jamison kissed my temple and kept his mouth there a little longer than necessary.

Julian sighed. “I preferred her before the education.”

I won.

Sabine smiled at me, while Henri whispered something against her hair that made her laugh. My father studied the table, then Jamison, then me with an expression I could not read.

I gathered my chips badly, dropping two.

Jamison caught one before it rolled off the table.

“Still clumsy.”

“I won.”

“You did.”

“Say it nicely.”

The request escaped before I could stop it. I stiffened immediately, expecting the room to punish me for wanting too much. Jamison’s hand tightened around my waist. His mouth came to my ear, so close his lips brushed the shell of it.

“You played well, baby.”

My throat went tight. The room had narrowed to his voice and the warmth of his hand under the edge of my dress.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

His lips touched my temple again.

“You’re welcome.”

The final hands passed in a blur of small victories. I still forgot whether a flush meant matching suits or matching numbers. Kept queens away from ugly cards because some instincts could not be educated out in one evening. But I folded two losing hands without mourning them aloud, called one bluff, and even managed to avoid smiling when an ace arrived.

By that time my father called an end to the night.