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“Pretty great girl you’ve got there, Ash,” Ethan said, throwing in his chip.
“Well aware,” I said as Ethan dealt the next hand. If she was just a little less great, I wouldn’t be so fucking distracted. I was borderline obsessed with the woman. She was a walking contradiction to what I thought I wanted in every way.
Cash blinds went in.
“Where is that damned waitress?” Doyle grumbled from his seat between Crossland and me, looking down the same hall Daisy had just taken.
“I’m sure she’ll be back at any second,” I said, aiming a look at Weston. He was my best friend, and it wasn’t like I wasn’t going to have his back, but fuck, he’d let a viper into our happy little game. Doyle was a class A prick and spending the last couple of hours with him had only driven that point home.
“Get me another drink, Serenity,” Doyle snapped at his daughter, who was sitting behind him.
“Sure thing.” The pretty little blonde was a demure thing, dressed in a sheath dress that would have made Jackie O proud, and a simple strand of pearls. Her hair was long, falling nearly to her waist, and that was what tripped her up as she scurried to do her father’s bidding, catching on the buttons of Gareth’s sleeve as he stretched and she turned quickly back to her father.
“What do you want, Daddy—ouch!” she exclaimed, falling toward Gareth as his arm swept back to his side—pulling her with him.
“Shit.” He pivoted in his seat, catching her head with his left hand. “Fuck. Sorry. That’s my fault.”
“Damn it, girl!” Doyle hissed, pushing back from the table.
Two bodyguards rushed toward Serenity, but Gareth leveled a stare on them that had them stepping back.
“I’m so sorry!” she whimpered.
“Need—” Crossland started.
“I got it,” Gareth said. “Have your balance?” he asked Serenity.
“Yes,” she said quietly, careful not to nod her head.
Gareth steadied her on her heels, then quickly untangled her hair from the buttons of his cuff. It hadn’t gone unnoticed that he’d worn long sleeves both this morning and to today’s game. If I had to guess, he had some kind of ink that he didn’t want Doyle seeing, but it wasn’t like either of them was talking about their connections. “There you go. All free.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, quickly standing upright.
Doyle glared at the girl, as though she’d done it on purpose. “Gin and tonic.”
She nodded and scurried off to the bar, followed closely by one of the two bodyguards. For fuck’s sake, he could have just sent the guard to begin with.
“Fucking women.” Doyle shook his head.
“She seems like a lovely girl,” Ethan said, narrowing his eyes at Doyle.
“You don’t know her. She’s only obedient when it serves her, trust me.” He shook his head.
I made it through one more hand, winning my chip back for a last-minute vacation, but my train of concentration was shot as I looked at Daisy’s handwriting. For the first time since starting this game years ago, I had somewhere better to be.
“I’m going to…sit this one out,” I said, stacking my chips, both earned and blank, and pushing away from the table. “You know, just cash me out. I’m…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Weston gave me a shit-eating grin. “We get it.”
I grasped the box of chips and took off without another word or excuse, because that would be exactly what it was—an excuse.
It took me almost no time to get back to our room. I unlocked the door and walked in, the scent of her hitting me like an aphrodisiac. “I’m back,” I called out so I didn’t spook her.
“Oh good, just in time to see me throw my laptop!” she called out from the sitting area.
“I can never tell if you’re kidding or not when you say things like that.” I said, putting my chips on the nightstand.
“Oh, I’m deadly serious.” She rolled her neck and glared at her laptop screen. “I’ve got these two through the fight scene and now they’re in make-up territory and I’m just not feeling it. Just distracted, I guess.”
“Is there anything I can do to help? Or is this one of those listen-and-don't-try-to-fix kind of moments?” Even I could admit that I tended to try to jump in and fix things, which wasn’t the right approach with most women unless they were directly looking for me to fix it.
She shrugged and stood, stretching up on her tiptoes. “I just have to be in a certain mood, you know? And I just keep looking up at the view and…” She shrugged again. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Can’t blame you. The view is pretty gorgeous.” Tropical flowers bloomed outside the deck, and the shimmering water beyond begged to be explored. “Why don’t you read me what you’ve got?” I kicked off my shoes.
“I. Could…never.” She flushed bright red from her hairline to her collarbone. “I mean, I’m not embarrassed about writing steamy scenes, but reading them aloud? No thank you. Some words should only be typed.”
