––––––––
Jordan finished his second can and brought a bottle out of his back pocket. He needed to go easy on the drink, but having Loretta with him was making him nervous. Another one to keep the edge off wouldn’t hurt.
He rounded the corner and took her up to the door. This place had more nooks and crannies than you could keep straight in your head. Pretty handy in the event of a raid.
“After you.”
He followed her inside, admiring the view. That was the difference between women and girls. Women knew how to show off their assets. You wouldn’t catch a twenty year-old in a knee-length dress, but Loretta’s outfit clung to all the right body-parts and she looked hotter than ninety-nine per cent of the girls out there that night.
“Cards?”
He slipped in behind her, putting his hands round her waist. “Poker.” There were three tables laid out with games going on at all of them.
“I take it this isn’t legal,” she whispered.
“Not exactly.”
She shook her head and he felt her laugh.
“Do you mind if I play?”
“You don’t need my permission.”
He wasn’t entirely sure if that meant she was okay with it or not. He’d soon find out.
“What rules are they playing?”
“Five card draw.”
“I’m more used to Texas Hold’em.”
“You play?”
“Not as much as I used to.”
She was full of surprises. Not a bad quality in a woman. “I can stake you if you want to play.”
He felt the tension in her body. When she looked round at him, she was wearing the same expression she’d had when he asked her on the date.
“I’ll just watch.”
The games were in full swing with the table nearest the door set aside for the real high stakes. They settled in to watch the play.
Loretta moved round to stand next to him. She tugged on his arm for him to lean down so she could whisper in his ear. “See the guy with the crazy shirt?”
“Uh-huh.” He must have been wearing the paisley to put the other players off. Nobody would put that on as a fashion statement.
“He’s got a really obvious tell.”
Jordan watched him for a few hands. She was right. Sometimes he would look from player to player before he threw into the pot. When he did that, he turned out to be bluffing enough times for it to be more than likely he was bluffing every time.
“Jesus. This is supposed to be the good table.”
“Having big stakes to play with doesn’t make you a good player.” Reaching up under his jacket, she drew a line down the back of his shirt with a fingernail and he shivered.
He’d been hoping to win some money to impress her, but now he wasn’t so sure. She knew her stuff. He might embarrass himself. “You should play.” From the look in her eye, she was obviously tempted.
“You want to throw your money away?”
He put an arm around her waist and got close enough to whisper. Was that sweet smell her shampoo or her perfume? It didn’t matter. He licked his lips and weighed up his chances of getting her into bed that night. “Wait here.”
The cashier was in the far corner of the room. Jordan put down five hundred and gathered up his chips.
When he walked back across the room, he brought Loretta’s hands together and emptied their stake into them.
She looked up at him. “What if I lose it all?”
“Just enjoy it.”
The smile that spread across her face lit her up like the sun. “I’m not playing at this table, though.”
“Those aren’t enough chips for this table.” The game at the far end was winding up, so they headed over there.
There was a changeover of players and Loretta took a seat with four guys of varying levels of toughness. It wasn’t too surprising when they looked her up and down. They were either taking the chance to get an eyeful or trying to psyche her out.
He had a moment of worry that they might get to her, but then he caught her pulling down her dress for maximum cleavage and messing with her hair.
He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to concentrate playing against all that femininity. Good on her for using all the weapons she had.
The dealer laid out the rules, then dished out the cards. Everyone picked up their hand. Jordan had chosen a spot where he could see her face rather than what she was holding. Now the curiosity was starting to get to him.
Chips went into the pot. The bets went around the circle, with Loretta going last. Everyone stayed nice and conservative – no raises – and no-one folded. Like most of them, Loretta didn’t trade any cards. The betting went round again with a couple of raises this time. The guy with the rimless glasses and a fat cigar threw in his hand. And then the real game began.
Loretta was on the dealer’s right, so she’d be last to show what she had. The guy with the ponytail smirked and put down four tens and a king. Next was an older gentleman with the biggest grey eyebrows Jordan had ever seen. He put down a flush without any hint of emotion. The guy in the baseball cap showed four nines and looked like he was going to cry.
Which just left Loretta.
It was too much to hope she’d win her first hand, but Jordan’s fingernails were digging little crescents in his palms. Another beer would have gone down a treat, but then he wouldn’t be able to drive them home.
She laid out a full house with a smile. Ponytail gathered up the chips and the whole thing started over again.
Jordan exhaled. He could handle negotiations with wiseguys and walking into a bank with a gun, but watching Loretta play poker was shredding his nerves. It was a while before he figured out why – he had no clue how she’d take it if she lost.
The next hand got dealt and Loretta folded. She seemed to be enjoying herself, but she might have just been a good actress. He didn’t know her well enough to be sure. Backing her for this game didn’t seem like such a great idea any more. If she lost it all and got in a bad mood, he’d never get anywhere with her.
Round three. Ponytail folded, but a few raises made for a nice big pot. Eyebrows put down a straight flush – six to ten of hearts. Baseball cap had four sevens. He managed to look less heartsick this time. Cigar should have folded, his two pairs was never going to win that hand. Loretta placed the eight to queen of spades on the table and scooped up her winnings.
The hands went on and people started playing like their maiden aunt who was afraid to lose the gas money. Baseball cap dropped out. It was a relief to see him go before he had a nervous breakdown.
Ponytail was winning, but Loretta and Eyebrows were creeping up on him.
The dealer handed out some more cards. The pot grew.
And that’s when Jordan clocked Loretta’s tell. She glanced up at him and looked down at her cards. The last time she’d done that had been just before her four of a kind took a hand.
If he’d noticed, he wouldn’t have been the only one.
Now he really started to sweat. She might be okay for this round, but it would catch up with her.
Eyebrows took the pot and they dealt again.
Another hand to Ponytail and Cigar called it a night.
Raises came back into fashion. The next pot was the biggest that game had seen. He tried to catch Loretta’s eye, hoping to tell her to bow out after this one. She didn’t look at him. So, he couldn’t tell her cut her losses and she probably had a bad hand. Maybe it was for the best – it would be dangerous to get accused of cheating if someone saw him trying to communicate with her.
The raises kept coming and the pot got even bigger.
She still didn’t look at him. Still no tell. He tried to think of something consoling to say when she lost. But that was a lot of money on the table.
All the raising finally came to an end and it was time for the players to drop their pants.
Jordan held his breath. Ponytail put down another straight flush. Seven to Jack. That was it – game over.
Eyebrows threw down his full house and sat back in his chair.
Loretta rearranged the cards she was holding. Everyone was looking at her. Why didn’t she just finish it?
With her face blank of emotion, she turned to the dealer. “Aces high, right?”
He gave her a look that said he’d never sat next to a dumber woman than her. He’d gone through all that before they started playing. “Yeah. Aces high.”
“Good.” She put down the eight of diamonds, the nine of diamonds, the ten – every diamond up to the ace. “I’m out.” She reached across the table with both hands and pulled all the chips in front of her.
It took Jordan a while to recover enough to help her with all those chips. “Oh my god. You’re a poker hustler.”
“Hardly. That was the baby table.”
They went to cash in and Jordan handed her a wad of notes. She put up her hands. “It was your money.”
“That you won with.”
She grinned at him. “I don’t have any pockets and that isn’t going to fit in my handbag.” When she held it up, he wondered what she did manage to fit in there.
“Okay. I’ll look after it for you.” But he couldn’t let her give it to him. She’d won it fair and square. “Where’d you learn to play like that?” He handed her the bottle of lager they’d both forgotten about.
“The guys on my degree course had a weekly poker night. I was the only woman who ever went.”
He could picture it. A room full of geeks and the hot finance student. She must have won every week. “How many games did you throw?”
She laughed. “You’re good.” She took a drink.
He watched her delicate throat move as she swallowed. She was giving him a thirst that alcohol wouldn’t quench.
“Enough to make sure they wanted me to come back.”
That was it. He was gone. He took her by the waist and pulled her into his body. Somehow, he’d stumbled into the perfect woman. He bent down and pressed his lips to hers. It was like plucking a ripe fruit. He wanted to devour her.
Fuck the bank and Ursino and Bill-fucking-Marcolini. Fuck Gina. He wanted Loretta and he was going to find a way to have her for more than one night.
“Come on, we’re leaving.”
Hand in hand, they walked outside to his car.
She thought about stopping him. She even put the words together in her head. The problem came when she tried to say them. Her lips made the right shape, but nothing came out. It would have been easy to blame the drink or the rush of winning all that money, but that wasn’t it at all.
It was him.
It was the way he made her feel every time their lips touched and she tasted his raw, masculine energy. He wanted her so much it burned into her skin. She’d never felt that before. It was a huge turn-on.
Walking out to the front of the barn with him was an out-of-body experience. Her head was full of what would happen when they got where they were going. What he would do to her. She was already having the night of her life but she was sure it was about to get even better.
Pulling him to a stop, she pushed him against the wall and looked up into his eyes. It was too dark to see them properly, but she could remember the exact shade of blue. She tilted her face upwards and he took the hint, kissing her breathless.
Out of nowhere, an ear-splitting siren started up. She opened her eyes to flashing blue lights.
“Shit!” Jordan shouted and dragged her back the way they’d come.
Her heart went into spasms. The police. She was at an illegal rave-cum-poker game and the police had arrived.
The music cut out and the gap it left was soon filled with shouts and screams. They had to get out of there. If she got arrested...
Her heels kept getting stuck in the mud, so she kicked them off and left them behind. “Your car. They’ll find your car.” She couldn’t think straight. Had she left anything in it?
“Shh.” He dragged her out past the back of the barn and into the field. They rustled through the grass, but it wasn’t tall enough to offer them any cover.
He seemed to know where he was going, so she stayed silent and followed his lead. They moved in a crouching run. Whenever Loretta looked back, she couldn’t see anyone coming their way. Things at the barn had quietened down. The blue lights were still going, and she spotted people being led away in handcuffs.
Jesus. What had she let herself get dragged into?
Jordan brought them up to a fence and boosted her over it. Not the easiest manoeuvre in a tight dress. It got caught as she tried to climb down, but she was damned if she was going to let it get torn. She found the offending piece of wood and tugged herself free.
He dropped to his feet on the other side of the fence and helped her down. “You okay?”
She nodded, brushing herself off. Now they were out of the way, her fright subsided and she started to get angry. She wanted to blame him for taking her there, but she couldn’t. She turned the anger on herself. He’d told her it was illegal and she’d stayed anyway.
Stupid. She should never have let what Sean said get under her skin. She was nice and that was that. Making assistant manager by twenty-seven and buying her own house might not be much by his standards, but it was more than a lot of people managed.
And now she might lose all of it.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Get down.” He reached for her hand, but she snatched it away.
Grudgingly, she crouched down and peered through the fence.
“We’ll have to wait here for a while.”
“Great,” she muttered. Then what would they do? Even if the police didn’t tow his car, they’d probably clamp it and they’d definitely run the registration number. “Have you got a criminal record?”
“What?”
“You heard me.” It was getting a whole lot easier to be angry with him.
“Don’t worry about the car.”
“Oh my god! It’s stolen!”
“No, no. It’s not stolen.”
She glared at him. Like she was going to believe that.
“I borrowed it. Okay?”
“Is that the kind of borrowing where the owner doesn’t know about it?”
“No! I know this is a shitty situation, but it’s not my fault.”
She added some more fire to her glare. He’d brought her there. In a stolen car. Of course it was his fault.
“It wouldn’t have been any less illegal if the police hadn’t turned up, you know. You seemed to be enjoying yourself well enough before that happened.”
“I must have been out of my mind.”
He muttered something under his breath.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“No. Go on.”
“Fine. I said you couldn’t have been as crazy as I was to ask you out.”
“Oh!” She swung her hand out to slap him, but he caught it.
“You bitch!”
She shifted her weight and kicked him in the ankle.
“Ow!” He lost his balance and fell over, pulling her down on top of him.
“Let go!”
“You started it.”
God he was a terrible human being. She struggled to get loose.
And then he actually started to laugh. How dare he?
She tried for another slap.
He just leaned forward and kissed her.
She fought him for a second or two, but he was too damn good. Closing her eyes, she forgot about everything but his lips and his tongue. She kissed him so hard she couldn’t remember what they’d been fighting about.
They were still kissing when the police wandered over and shone a torch on them.