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I tapped my index finger on my cards, still face-down. I had a mediocre hand, yet I could wait for the fifth card, see if I could catch it on the river, but it was a risk. Normally, in a poker room, I’d fold and wait for the next round. However, Theo was putting my goals on the line with this game. Wagered my sole purpose in life, now that it had so sorely changed since I’d—
Something brushed against my ankle.
My cheek spasmed at the contact. Studying Theo, I decided it couldn’t be him, due to the sheer fact that he was doing everything he could to get awayfrom me. Nor could it be Kai, since he was standing at the edge of the table.
A dock rat, perhaps? Did those exist?
It happened again. A light caress that sent the chiffon of my gown brushing against my bare calf, blooming goosebumps over my skin like the blossoming petals of a rose.
“Check.” Theo interrupted my inner monologue.
Rodents should not be adept at sexual come-ons. I glanced down.
Nothing, except for the black lacquer of Theo’s shoe.
“Scarlet?” Kai prompted.
I straightened while sending a threatening throat-clearing in Theo’s direction. For appearance’s sake, I studied the corners of my cards again. Fine, whatever. I pushed in $2,000. We’d each been given $15,000 in chips, so the first hand would not choose my fate.
“Call,” Theo responded.
Kai dealt the river, a three of spades. Meaningless.
“Do you fold?” Theo asked.
We had no chips, nothing to bet but ourselves. I flashed back to Neri’s game, but intended manipulation wouldn’t work here, not with Theo. I could pretend to be a damsel all I wanted, even throw in a lower lip tremble. He’d tip me off this dock and ask for the real Scarlet.
“No,” I responded. Simply.
“I missed you.”
I responded to Theo without missing a beat, “No, you didn’t.”
He put his elbows on the table. “You can’t know that.”
“But I do,” I said, glancing up from my cards. “Considering the last thing I remember is seeing your back leaving my hospital room in the dead of night.”
The tip of his shoe hit my leg again, and I sucked in a breath, because it stayed there, touching me. Even though leather separated us, the thick make of the shoe preventing Theo from feeling anything at the proximity, the contact conducted an electric shock. Theo’s eyelids lowered.
“Perhaps I should give you two a moment … or another five,” Kai said from above. “Are you two ready to ride the river?” Kai flipped over the last card.
“Check,” Theo uttered, once again leaving the decision to me.
“Check.” I wasn’t going to push my luck.
“Show your cards.”
“Show me yours first.”
I flipped them over with a jerk of my thumb.
Without breaking eye contact, Theo turned his. A ten and a Jack.
I won, but that meant nothing. “Your playing was piss-poor,” I said.
“You won the hand, and you’re unhappy?”
“Considering the Sax I remember from before, you went easy on me.”
