Authors: Cat Phoenix
Oh,
woe is me.
I
was a big girl, and I knew I could just simply take the chance that he wouldn't
push me away or freak out if I made a move on him. I mean, he might not think
it was a mistake. He might not tell me he '
didn't see me that way
' like
I was sure he would. But the thing was, I wanted him to actually
want
me,
not just say, '
hey we're bored, let's make out
.' I didn't want to be
the toy he played with in his downtime and then dropped as soon as he was free
to be exactly where he wanted without running from bad dudes. I needed him to
need me like my dad needed my mom. They were basically my only example of true
love, and I was probably over-romanticizing their relationship in the memory of
an eleven year old, but I didn't think so. I wanted that and I wasn't settling
for less, even for a walking sex god like Ethan. I had to ignore Little Alex
and think to the future, where I would surely meet a man and fall madly in love
with him. I didn't want any kids right then, but I might change my mind later
and pop a few out when I was older and there weren't any bullets whizzing past
my head.
I
saw that future easily, but with one minor problem. The guy had Ethan's face
and the kids had Ethan's eyes.
Shit.
I was not in love with him. No way.
The
door popped open again and he froze at the sight of me. I realized that I was
gripping one of my knives and it was protruding from the desk. I'd stabbed the
desk during my inner rant and didn't fully realize it. Well, that was
comforting and not at all disturbing.
I
yanked it out of the wood and he asked, "What were you thinking
about?"
I
willed myself not to look at his still half-naked form and mumbled,
"Mystery Man Fletcher."
He
tossed a bag of cheesy crackers on the table in front of me and fell onto the
foot of the bed.
"I
want to stab him, too," he said.
He
was totally relaxed and it made me want to lie on top of him and absorb his
effortlessly cool attitude. If I were paired with any of the others instead of
Ethan, I'd wonder about him incessantly, but at least I wouldn't be this
conflicted about simply being near him. I had thought I could do this, but
this was a touch more difficult than I imagined.
We
both piddled around doing not much of anything for hours. He turned on the TV
and flipped through the movie channels, landing on something halfway decent
occasionally. We didn't leave the room and I was never more than ten feet from
him. If I moved to the other side of the room, he would eventually either
engage me in conversation or pace around the room restlessly, bringing him
within touching distance and always on the forefront of my mind.
The
sun was beginning to set and I was getting hungry again.
"I
don't think it was such a good idea to take two very physically active people
and cram them into a hotel room with nothing to do," I said miserably.
"I'll
be right back," he said suddenly.
"Where
are you going?"
I
wanted out of this suffocating room, too! He finally, finally put a shirt and
boots on.
"Gift
shop. Stay here."
When
he returned, he dropped a pack of playing cards in front of me on the table and
hovered beside of me until I looked up at him.
"I
saw you clear out that card table yesterday," I said, hinting that I
wasn't going to even try and play against him.
"Scared?"
he taunted.
I
knew he was manipulating me, and I'd play either way so I narrowed my eyes on
him. "Sit your ass down."
He
smiled victoriously and we started a game of Texas Hold 'Em. We didn't have
chips and our money was pretty much like a joint bank account, so we bet with
chocolate candies and kept count of wins on a sheet of paper. Winner got to
take point on our next con with the loser at their total mercy. Meaning if I
won, I could make Ethan strip down to his skivvies and use him as a
distraction, or bait, or just for his embarrassment. Meaning if he won, he
could do the same to me.
We
were pretty evenly matched. I couldn't find any discernible tells he had, and
I doubted he could find any on me, either. Brooks was an excellent teacher and
mixed with our natural skill, we were pretty damn good. Together, we made a
formidable team who usually met every objective, but pit us against each other
and it was anyone's guess who would win.
We
were shooting for who won ten hands first. He had eight and I had seven.
"Should
have made this strip poker," he said.
My
eyes snapped from my straight flush to his face. What? He wanted to get naked
with me? His eyes were sharp on mine and his finger was lightly tapping his
cards. Waiting for my reaction.
Wait.
"Did
you really think that would work?" I asked as I held his stare and raised
the pot.
"What
do you mean?" he asked innocently.
"You
can't make me uncomfortable enough to weaken my game."
He
called my raise and shuffled his cards. "You think I'm trying to make you
uncomfortable?"
"Mmhmm,"
I said nonchalantly. "Either that, or you're trying to change the prize
because you would rather get naked here in front of me than when I make you
strip in public," I taunted him.
His
eyes flashed and he leaned toward me slightly. "You wouldn't."
I
smiled innocently and fanned my cards out on the table. "I really
would."
He
narrowed his eyes and relaxed in his seat again as he ran his eyes over my
winning hand and tossed his cards to the side. I marked another tally by my
name, so we were tied, and he shuffled the cards. I kept my eyes sharp on his
hands, because while I trusted him, that didn't mean I was totally immune to
falling for one of his tricks. He was the best con I knew, and though he
didn't know it, he was also a weak spot for me. If anyone else had mentioned
getting naked, I wouldn't even bat an eyelash but with Ethan, I had to take a
moment to breathe through the possibilities before I saw through the ploy and
dismiss it altogether.
I
hated that he made me do that.
"You're
pretty good at this," he said as he dealt out our new cards.
I
cocked my head to the side curiously. "I don't remember you talking this
much last night at that card table."
"They
weren't as good as you are."
"Ah,
so you admit that you are trying to distract me. You're scared."
"I
don't get scared," he muttered.
"Public
nudity doesn't scare you?"
He
looked right at me with a warning in his eyes. "You make me do that,
babe, and there'll be consequences," he said softly. Ominously.
Why
did the way he say that make me
want
those consequences?
I
looked down at my hand and saw that I only had two of a kind, Queen high.
Well, I couldn't get a flush every time.
"I
went to high school not far from here," I said, purposely changing the
subject.
His
interest was piqued when he said, "Really? That bastard who cheated on
you still around?"
"Why?
You want to ride in on your white horse and shove him around a bit for
me?"
"No.
I thought maybe you could parade me around and show him you've moved on to
better and sexier things."
I
threw my head back and laughed out loud, wishing I really could do that. Did
that make me a bad person? I didn't really care.
"That's
so thoughtful of you," I said, still chuckling.
"Hey,
what are best friends for?" he asked.
Not
for getting naked with, that's for sure.
"That
was in college, anyway, in the town where I worked at the bookshop. He really
was a nice guy, I just think he had a problem with . . . temptation."
Ironic.
He
hummed his voice at me and threw another chocolate in the center pot. "I
never had a girlfriend cheat on me. I don't think."
"What
were you like when you were younger?" I asked.
"Younger
like a kid or like high school and college?"
"School."
He
shuffled his cards around and said, "You know how we didn't get along in
the beginning?" I nodded and he said, "I used to be like that with
just about everybody, except worse. I was an asshole with no really good
reason. My parents divorced when I was a freshman in high school and my
brother wasn't the best role model. I didn't handle it too well and took out
my frustration on everyone around me. I didn't get over it until I got away in
college, but by then it was who I was. I didn't really thaw out until Brooks
found me."
"And
then you met me," I said, feeling guilty at bringing that anger out in him
again.
"And
then I met you." He tilted his head to the side in consideration.
"But you have this ability to bring out the dark
and
the light in
me. I've never laughed so much in my life."
"Does
that mean I've also made you the angriest you've ever been?" That wasn't
great news.
"You
can be . . . challenging. You frustrate me sometimes, but I frustrate you,
too."
Oh,
he had
no idea.
"It'd
be boring any other way," I said lightly.
"Yeah
well, you aren't boring, that's for sure."
I
wanted to ask what that meant, but I also wanted to bring the focus back around
to him.
"So
if we were together right now and you were high school Ethan . . ."
His
eyelids lowered and he said, "We wouldn't be playing for chocolate."
I
clenched my teeth tightly and looked down at my cards. "What would we
play for?" I asked somewhat unwisely.
I
looked up when he didn't answer. He just stared at me with his eyes a shade of
midnight blue in the low lighting. His chin lowered as he purposely skimmed
lazy eyes over my face and chest before flicking them over my hair and back to
my eyes in a way that made me want to lick him all over. Oh. That
was
his
answer.
He
fanned his cards out in front of him. I looked down to see he had a three of a
kind.
I
put a tally by his name and he smirked. "You scared now?"
I
leaned against the back of my seat. "What do I have to be scared
of?"
He
smiled wickedly. "Me," he murmured darkly.
My
toes curled in on themselves and I could
feel
the effect he was having
on my body. I squeezed my thighs together and stared back into his piercing
blue stare, showing no weakness and willing myself not to flirt with him. I
knew he was only playing a game, toying with me. I refused to show him how
much I actually wanted him. Apparently we were so bored, we were conning each
other now.
I
drew another from the deck, luckily getting a card that completed the flush
that I wanted. I flicked my eyes back to his indifferently. This could very
well be his winning hand and I was starting to seriously regret putting the
idea of public nudity in his head
before
I won. He would make me do it
just to spite me.
He
exchanged one card for another and moved his hand to add chocolate to the pot
but froze and flicked his eyes to the door. "Oh by the way, I ordered a
pizza."
Knock, knock
. Dude had super hearing, I
swear.
Ethan
stood up and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. I watched him walk as I
moved out of line of sight from the door and palmed my gun cautiously.
Shit,
you know you're in trouble when you suspect pizza delivery guys of anything
other than dropping your pizza box and lying about it.
He
brought the box back to the table when the delivery guy didn't try to kill us,
which for the record, is a strange thing to have to say. He settled back in
his seat and we each grabbed a slice of pizza.
"So
this could be it," he said conversationally.
"Yeah."
"You
want to up the ante? Change the bet?"
"To
what?" I asked.
"Whoever
wins this hand automatically wins but instead of having the loser at their
total mercy during a con, change it so that it's a marker that the winner can
call
anytime.
"
"Meaning
the winner could make the loser do anything they wanted once, even if it has
nothing to do with a con?" He nodded. "What would you get out of
that?"
"Entertainment,"
he said.
I
brushed my fingers through the ends of my hair in contemplation. It was
risky. On one hand, I could win without having to win another hand against
him, and he would owe me one that I could use anytime, anywhere. On the other
hand . . . oh hell, I had a great hand and really, what could he make me do
that would embarrass me
that
much?