Page 21 of Elijah's Hope
It shouldn’t have made me feel good. It should have been another warning that she was getting attached too quickly. Instead, it made me feel like a king.
“What about you?” I asked, doing that thing I needed to do to keep some distance between us. “What are you looking for in a husband?”
Because it sure as hell wasn’t me.
She smiled sadly then and nearly broke my heart. “I don’t know, Eli. A husband seems like a far less thing to want when I’ve already had an angel.”
She walked on in front of me and I paused before I followed her. I needed to tell her again that this wasn’t serious. I needed her to know, now, that anything sexual that happened between us—because I was certain I was no longer strong enough not to try and get in her pants—would be just that. Sex and nothing else.
I didn’t. I didn’t say a damn thing.
* * *
Later that night
Eli
“Do you play poker?” I asked her as we made our way to Bud’s. The guys were coming into town and I thought it might be good to hang out with them. Give her a little break from just my company.
She paused. “A little.”
“Do you shoot pool?”
Another pause. “A little.”
I stopped and gave her a side-eye glance. “Why do I have the feeling you’re lying?”
Her jaw dropped. “How dare you accuse me of lying? You take that back right now, Eli.”
“Okay, okay.”
Fifteen minutes later with us all sitting around a table, beers next to us, along with an even stack of chips, I handed her the deck of cards to shuffle. I knew in a second I had been right about her lying. She shuffled like a pro.
Ark groaned. “Oh, here we go.”
“Why do I think we’re about to get hustled?” Cal asked me.
“She said she played a little,” I growled. “Knew in my gut she was lying.”
She flashed me an innocent smile. “I said a little. However, I didn’t necessarily define whata littlemeant. I mean, compared to a professional poker player, I knowa little.You needed to be more specific in your question, I think.”
“Yep,” I muttered teasingly. “We’re about to get shaken down. So what else are you lying about?”
“Yeah, Shelby,’” Jackson piped up. “What else are you lying about?”
I glared at him. I didn’t know if he was trying to be funny or not, but since nothing was funny with Jackson, ever, it came off sounding rude.
“Well, let’s see. There are several things I lied about on the dating profile I filled out for this contest,” Shelby said openly.
“Like what?” I asked, surprised. I wouldn’t have thought a person as open as Shelby could lie about anything. She was the type of person who wore every emotion on her sleeve and said whatever was on her mind.
“I lied about my weight. Silly boys, asking women to fill out their weight on a dating profile. As if any woman would ever cop to that. This blonde is only mostly my natural color. What God didn’t see fit to give me, Madame L’Oreal did. Then there is my ability to cook. I have none. I think I lied about that, too. Hello…I filled out a dating profile! Do you honestly think anyone tells the truth on those things?”
The guys and I laughed. Except for Jackson, of course, who never laughed.
In the end, she took us for fifty-two dollars and only Jackson walked away unscathed.
“Who wants to shoot pool?” she asked as the guys started to get up.
