Page 69 of Snow Balled

“I wish it could be,” he murmured. “You look so damn incredible that you should be dancing in the arms of a prince at a ball.”

“Or on the arm of 007 at a casino in Monte Carlo,” Carter added.

“Yes, let’s do that,” I said excitedly.

Drew laughed. “We can’t even get to Denver, let alone Europe.”

“But we could pretend we’re in a glamorous casino. Has anyone got a deck of cards?” I insisted.

“There’s some on the bookcase back by the laundry room,” Tristan said. “But I thought you wanted this night to be special.”

“It will be. We’re all dressed up. We’re drinking wine. Sounds like a sophisticated way to spend the evening to me.”

“Not if we play strip poker,” Carter commented.

Tristan laughed. “Not what we were going for, but yeah, that would be pretty damn memorable.”

I nodded. “It would.”

Drew, who had gone to get the cards, came to a halt in front of me. “You’re not serious.”

“That it would be memorable? Seems like a fairly uncontroversial statement to me.”

“Don’t get too excited, son,” Carter told him. “She’s not saying she’ll do it, she’s just saying that it would be memorable if we did.”

“If you say so. So what’s the game then? Cribbage? Hearts? Go Fish?”

“Sounds like you’re looking for something less tame than that,” Carter said. I had to twist my head to look up at him because he was still quite close.

“If so, that’s the wine talking,” Drew insisted.

“She can speak for herself,” Carter said, and I smiled up at him.

Drew deserved a smile, too. He thought he was saving me from a decision fueled by wine, but he was wrong. It was a decision fueled by the fact that I’d spent years playing poker on various sets. There was a lot of downtime between shoots, and while I didn’t always get along with my costars, the crew was often made up of the nicest people you’d ever meet.

Plus, there was something else. My poker face was world-class, and bluffing was as easy as breathing for me.

“I tell you what. I’ll go find some more wine. While I’m gone, why don’t you all choose the game.” When I walked to the kitchen, I could feel three pairs of eyes watching me leave.

There was another bottle of wine on the counter, but I waited an extra minute or two before gathering up our glasses and heading back into the living room. The men had their heads together in a huddle, but they broke away when they spotted me.

Drew poured the wine while the others filled me in.

“If you’re sure you want to do this, then we’ve got to make it fair,” Tristan said, sounding almost accusing. “We’re each wearing seven items of clothing—two socks, two shoes, pants, shirt, and underwear.”

“I’m not wearing underwear,” Carter said.

“That’s your own damn fault.” Tristan turned back to me. “I would assume you’ve got five items on—two shoes, the dress, bra, and panties, right?”

“Right.” I didn’t tell him that the bra was a balconette bra that barely covered my nipples because I didn’t intend to lose any of my clothes tonight.

“We’ll take off our shoes so that we all start with a level playing field.”

“Sounds good.” I smiled at my marks. “Let’s play.”

23

SIERRA

---