Page 68 of A Lot Like Love
There were a few sniggers, but even Parker looked more relaxed.
“You got me those keys?” Parker asked, raising an eyebrow as he dealt out the cards. “And we’re playing straight poker here darlin’, not Texas Hold ’Em.”
Ryder took a slow sip of his drink, keeping his gaze firmly trained on the enemy. “Just getting a few things in order first.”
He was desperate to clench his fists and slam them into something, but instead he glanced at Chloe, returned her smile.
“Come on, let’s play poker,” Ryder said. “It’s time I showed this lady how to win a card game.”
Ryder was prepped to lose. Chloe had told him what to do if he ended up having to play, to distract the table by him losing an amount that’d make most people cringe.
The cards were dealt and Ryder took a peek. Nothing remarkable. He thumbed the edge of his stack of five, watching the others as they took a look at theirs. Chloe was grinning, glancing down at hers more often than any seasoned gambler would.
Parker looked to his right. “I’ll bet a grand to get things started.”
Ryder nodded. “Yep.” He pushed a wad of cash into the center of the table.
One of the guys folded and Chloe looked up, wide-eyed. “Um, me too. One thousand.”
Parker sniggered, then discarded two cards and dealt himself two. They did the rounds until they were back at Chloe again and she shook her head.
“Sweetheart, if you’re not happy with your hand, you remember what to do, right?” Ryder asked.
She laughed. “I might be blond but I’m not slow.”
The betting got to five thousand before Ryder folded, losing his money. Chloe folded and dropped her cards faceup so everyone could see them. A classic mistake and one she’d made deliberately.
Ryder groaned loudly, shaking his head. “Chloe, that was an okay hand.”
“You’re lucky she’s got money,” one of the guys grumbled. “This ain’t some learners table, King.”
He waved to the waitress for another two drinks. “Sorry, boys. She’ll get the hang of it this time around.”
Ryder winked at Chloe as she bent forward, her full breasts almost spilling from the low-cut dress she was wearing. A necklace dipped dangerously low into her cleavage, as good as swallowed up, and Ryder glanced at Parker and saw he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
“You wanna stop checking out my girl?” Ryder asked, slamming his hands down on the tabletop.
“Hey, you brought her here. There’s the door.”
Parker’s smarmy smile cut straight through Ryder. He knew exactly what Parker had in mind for Chloe, or would have had in mind if he had it his way. There were plenty of women who regretted getting into bed with the town’s local asshole, which was one of the reasons Ryder had wanted to knock him down a peg the last time he’d come up against him. Ryder might like bedding women, but he also loved the fairer sex—he’d never raise his fist to a woman, and he’d never take pleasure in sharing every intimate detail of what happened between him and any woman, either. He still remembered the last time he’d seen Parker humiliate a girl at a bar, and it made him sick.
Chloe’s dress was starting to stick to her, perspiration beading lightly across every inch of her skin. She wasn’t nervous, but the buzz of being back at the table and playing for big stakes was a thrill she couldn’t deny. It didn’t help that the men were a bunch of idiots, most of them drunker than they should have been to bet so much cash, but it was Parker she had her sights set on.
Her hand was good, and it killed her to act like she didn’t have half a brain. The men she’d played against in the past had known who they were up against, whose daughter she was and that she wasn’t a featherweight, but these men had no idea. And it was working to her advantage.Only now was she starting to play like normal, not giving anything away.
“I’ll raise to ten.”
Parker sniggered. “Dollars?”
“Grand,” she quipped straight back. Ryder was looking at her but she ignored him, slipping dangerously away from the persona she’d been playing and wishing she could take her words back. She cleared her throat. “Is that too much?”
“For me? Don’t fuck with me, little lady.”
Parker matched her bet and Ryder bowed out. He’d lost close on twenty thousand for the night, and she was sure he’d be sweating it by now. She’d lost her fair share too, but it was time to turn the game around.
She held her three queens. It wasn’t unbeatable by any means, but she’d been studying Parker long enough to be fairly confident that he was about to lose. Ryder had gotten cocky when he’d played him, had been drinking too much and only looking at the obvious signs, but she’d watched the man like a hawk, as well as the others. When he had a good hand he stared a little too long, and with this one he’d barely glanced at it. There was no change in his face regardless of what hand he had, except the smack he talked when he was trying to make out like he was about to win, but she knew what she’d seen and he definitely had a tell.
The rest of the table had folded; it was just the two of them now. Chloe waited, watched him, nauseous just acknowledging the way he looked at her, the way he licked his lips and glanced at her cleavage almost every few minutes.
