Page 45 of Playing With Danger

“Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun,” he muttered and walked away.

He wasn’t wrong.

This was going to be hella fun.

It was just that the real fun was going to happen later.

I offered my hand and when she took it and those small fingers wrapped tight I was reminded how perfectly her hand fit in mine.

“Tell me, Mr…” Sophie paused and looked up at me. “I don’t know your last name.”

“Malone.”

“Valentine Malone.” My name rolled off her tongue. I had yet to recover from the heat that hit my chest when she went on. “Tell me, Mr. Malone. Are you up for making a wager?”

I tugged her to a stop and spun her around. My arm darted around her middle and I yanked her close.

“Absolutely. But you should know, Matt wasn’t lying. I can run a table, Soph.”

I should’ve known I was screwed when her lips quirked up and she shrugged while admitting, “I’m not horrible.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“If I win you take me home.”

“I wasn’t going to let you Uber?—”

“To your bed.”

Straight up, no bullshit, pure Sophie.

“If I win,” I started, then leaned forward brushing my lips across her cheek to her ear. I paused to fully take in her shiver before I whispered, “I get you in my bed, at my command.”

“So win or lose I still win,” she mused.

“When I win, I get you in my bed naked, spread out, and at my mercy.”

“So I win.”

“No, baby, that’d be you giving me the gift of you so I’d win. But I promise you won’t regret giving it.”

I didn’t let myself process her tiny jolt. Nor did I allow myself to ponder why she scared the hell out of me. Further from that, I didn’t think about the small detail that once I had her in bed I wasn’t giving her up.

Nope.

I shoved that all aside and led her to a table.

An hour later I learned she’d lied.

She wasn’t horrible.

The woman was a goddamned hustler.

12

All I could do was feel.

No, that wasn’t true. I could feel and smell and taste.

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