Page 44 of His One True Wish

He bit his lip while he dealt, drawing my eyes to his mouth. His lower lip was full, and I knew from our kiss that he was quite good at using it. I took another sip of my hot toddy and forced myself to watch his hands as he dealt.

“Texas Hold’em?” he asked.

“Always,” I said.

His hands were large and strong. Looking at them, my mind wandered right back to the hallway and the moment his arms slid around my lower back. He pulled me close as if my body belonged pressed against him.

“You know the rules?” he asked, skepticism dancing in his sparkling green eyes.

I rolled my eyes. “Just deal.”

“Before we start,” he said, hand poised to pass out the first card. “We should agree that what happens in Smoke River stays in Smoke River.”

“Like Vegas?” I asked, taking another sip of my tea.

“Yeah, like Vegas.”

“What happens in Smoke River stays in Smoke River,” I said. Our eyes locked. His mouth fell open, and I felt something like heat pass between us.

“What are the stakes?” I said, clearing my throat to cover mynerves. His eyes hadn’t left mine. I felt vulnerable and exposed. “Please don’t tell me you want to play strip poker?”

He laughed and set the cards down, lifting up a tray of chips.

“I am a gentleman,” he said, taking a stack of chips out and putting them in front of me. “How about we play for the lease?”

“The lease,” I said, swallowing.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I win, you don’t convince Louise to break my lease.”

I shifted my legs, pulling them to my chest. “Why do you think I’m going to convince her to break your lease?” I said, my voice neutral. We’d danced around this topic, and here he was, cornering me. I didn’t blame him. I was trapped here, a captive audience.

“I know you aren’t comfortable with me being here,” he said, dealing the cards.

“I’m getting more used to it.”

“Well, hopefully you’ve seen that I mean no harm,” he paused and looked up at me, his smile crinkling the corner of his eyes, “and I’d like to stay through my lease.”

“Okay, so we play for that? I win, you agree to leaveifI decide, I mean Gran decides, she doesn’t want you here.”

“Agreed,” Axl said.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” I said. Picking up my cards, I racked them on the table. “Finish dealing.”

We were evenly matched, and I had to admit that playing cards was a fun way to pass the time. Chips were worth one dollar, five dollars, and twenty dollars. It was make-believe money. The real pot was gaining control of the situation.

I won the first hand with a pair of aces. Axl won the next with a pair of kings. The stack of chips moved back and forth between us. Was I really going to push Mom to kick him out of the cabin? He’d made the barn better, and he’d rescued me from the snow. Still, the cabin at Smoke River belonged to Gran, Mom, and me. I wanted to beat him mostly to prove to him that I wasn’t an incompetent city girl without a clue. I also figured that having the upper hand wouldn’t feel terrible.

It was my turn to deal. I had four kings in hand and a two. I couldn’t believe my luck. I felt great about my four-of-a-kind, but wanted a higher card in case I needed it. I eyed that river, wondering if I should draw out this hand and see if I could do better. The risk was, of course, that Axl would find a better card, too.

Axl laughed, catching me looking at the river. “Looks like somebody wants to go fishing,” he said, pushing two stacks of chips forward. “I’ll bet and raise.”

“Ha. Ha,” I said, pushing two stacks of chip forward to match. My cards were incredibly good, but I didn’t want to come off as overly confident.

Axl trilled his fingers on the table. “I’ll hold.” He drew a card from the river. I watched his face, looking for any indication of the strength of his cards.

“And I’ll draw and raise,” I said, drawing a card. It was a queen. This was a great card, so much better than the two.

Axl’s lips pursed, he clucked his tongue and looked at me. “Okay, okay,” he said, matching my raise.

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