Page 37 of Devil in the Details

Even if she had agreed to have drinks with him tomorrow night.

“So I guess these were the ‘plans’ you mentioned?” he continued, then glanced down at his watch.

The meaning was clear enough. She’d declined a date that probably wouldn’t have started until six-thirty at the very earliest, but this round of the tournament would be over long before then.

“Yes,” Delia said calmly. Even though she knew she didn’t owe Aaron any explanations, she figured it couldn’t hurt to add, “We’d already decided to go out to eat after today’s rounds were over.”

To her relief, he didn’t challenge her on the comment. “Makes sense,” he said.

A round of clapping interrupted them, and she looked over to see another player getting up from Caleb’s table. Now it was just him and an intense-looking woman with gray hair in a pixie cut that wouldn’t have worked on most people, but perfectly complemented her high cheekbones and strong brows. She sort of reminded Delia of her junior high P.E. teacher, and she wondered with some amusement if the woman would pull out a whistle and blow hard on it if Caleb made a move she didn’t like.

Nothing like that happened, of course. No, the piles of chips in front of both players grew incrementally taller, and even though what Delia knew about Texas Hold ’Em could probably fit in her shoe, she got the feeling that both competitors were pretty evenly matched. In the past, Caleb probably would have employed some of his demonic abilities to ensure a win, but he’d sworn he wasn’t going to rely on anything except his brains in this competition.

He was smart, but he hadn’t been playing poker for very long. Would his sharp mind and good instincts be enough to squeak out a win?

Apparently, they were, because about five minutes later, the woman called, and Caleb revealed a flush, easily beating her three of a kind. She reached across the table to shake his hand, and he smiled at her, murmuring something that Delia couldn’t possibly hear over all the applause.

Some sort of congratulations, she assumed.

But a few minutes later — after he’d shaken hands with the others who’d made it through this round of the competition and would soon be his direct opponents — he came over to the spot where Delia was standing next to Aaron. Caleb’s smile slipped just a little as he seemed to realize she wasn’t alone, but it was back full force when he stopped near them.

“Hi, there,” he said as he extended a hand. “I’m Caleb Lowe.”

“Aaron Sanchez,” Aaron replied easily. “I’m a friend of Delia’s — a fellow real estate agent.”

Those words seemed to make Caleb relax a little…or at least, he appeared to be glad that Aaron and Delia were work colleagues in a way, and that he wasn’t just some rando who’d approached her in the crowd because he thought she was attractive.

“Big into poker?” Caleb inquired, and at once, Aaron shook his head.

“Not really. I’m just here to provide moral support.” He paused there and looked past Delia, toward the table where he’d said his friend had been playing. “It looks like Bryce is going on to the next round, too, so I think I need to go offer my congratulations. Nice meeting you, Caleb.” Another hesitation, one so small, she almost missed it. “And I’ll see you tomorrow night, Delia.”

And then he was off, weaving his way through the crowd so he could go meet his friend.

As soon as Aaron was out of eyeshot, Caleb’s smile abruptly faded. “‘Tomorrow night’?” he echoed.

A flush heated Delia’s cheeks, and she found herself devoutly hoping that the lighting in the casino was dim enough that Caleb wouldn’t be able to see it.

“We’re meeting for drinks,” she said lightly. “He wanted to take me to see Cirque du Soleil tonight, but I told him I already had plans.” She stopped there and gave her companion a piercing look. While Caleb wasn’t quite as impassive as he’d been while he was playing poker, she still got the feeling that he was doing whatever he could to hide what was going on in his head. “At least, I assumed we did. Or was it wrong to think you’d want to go out to eat after you were done here?”

At once, the blank expression vanished, and Caleb sent her one of his signature smiles. “Oh, sure,” he replied at once. “Playing poker can really work up an appetite. Just give me a minute to check in with the competition officials, and then we can get out of here.”

“Sounds good.”

He wove his way through the crowd and paused to speak to a woman with highlighted hair who could have been anything between forty-five and sixty-five, thanks to her obvious Botox and plumped lips. But he was back soon enough, saying, “Okay, I have my marching orders for next week, so I guess now all I need to do now is go out and have some fun.”

That sounded like a great idea to Delia. Nothing crazy, of course, but something about the air in the casino felt almost oppressive, as if it was carrying the burden of too many people hoping for a big win and couldn’t quite let it vent.

“Yes,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Ten

While they were walking back to the car, Caleb’s thoughts roiled. Should he say something to Delia, let her know that her friend…fellow realtor…whatever…might be connected to some bad guys?

Or had he totally misinterpreted what he’d seen pass between Aaron Sanchez and Paul Reeves, and they weren’t working together at all?

Even if they were, maybe it had everything to do with real estate and nothing else. For all he knew, Paul had been counting on a big win in the tournament to help him put a down payment on a property or something.

That didn’t make much sense, though. The tournament wouldn’t even be over until a week from today, so it wasn’t as if Paul Reeves would have gotten a payout on the spot or anything close to it.

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