Page 10 of Getting Lucky

“Won’t he get lonely?” Jack asked. “Should we bring Chaco out there too?”

Was he worried Chaco would sit in the corner watching them while they got down to business? It bothered some guys, having dogs around.

But no. There was a look in his eyes that said he was earnest, and she felt a kind of burgeoning fondness.

“Good idea. You can follow me. She’s not going to run off.”

Because she didn’t quite trust Einstein not to harass Jack, she kept him wrapped up in her arms like she used to carry him around when he was younger—in that wounded time when they’d healed each other—and led the way to the clubhouse.

Jack whistled as they approached it. “Looks like a second house.”

“I guess it was, back in the day. The people who lived here before us used it as a guest suite. There’s even a bathroom. Not that I’d recommend using it.”

“Noted.”

She opened the door, letting out a musty odor with a strong hint of dog, and switched on the light.

“No perfume could cover that smell,” she said. But she wasn’t embarrassed. She’d told him what he was getting into.

“Doesn’t bother me,” he said. “It’s an honest smell. I’d rather smell dog than some of the things I ran into at the bar.”

She scrunched her nose. “I’ll bet.”

Chaco raced past her, heading straight for her favorite cushion and the koala bear chew toy she loved so much Maisie had bought her two, one for out here and one for inside. Yeah, she was a sucker when it came to them.

Ein whined a little in Maisie’s arms. She gave him a little squeeze and an admonishing look and set him down. He threw a final grumpy stare Jack’s way, seasoned by a low growl, then headed for his favorite bed. Chaco abandoned her perch to curl up at his feet.

Maisie shot Jack a look. But there was no hint of I-told-you-so in his expression. There was only heat. He held out a hand. “Shall we?”

Even though it was her house, and part of her was tempted to remind him of it, she shut the door to the clubhouse and took his hand.

They walked back to the house like that, hand in hand, almost like they were a couple instead of…well, whatever this was. It had no business feeling this nice. So Maisie turned to him with a wicked glint in her eyes.

“Want to play strip poker?”

He grinned back. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Chapter Four

Jack had played strip poker once at a wild after-hours work party, back when he was busing tables at a chain restaurant his senior year of high school. No good had come out of it. He’d gotten drunk off his ass and lost everything but his underwear. But this was a different situation. Best-case scenario, he’d watch Maisie take her clothes off piece by piece, although, to be fair, there weren’t many pieces. Worst-case scenario, he lost all of his. He couldn’t think of a downside.

“You know how to play poker, right?” she asked with a sly grin as she climbed the porch steps. She started to reach for the door, but he stretched out his longer arm and opened it.

“I’m a man of many talents.”

Turning around to face him, she took a backward step into the house. “And a gentleman too. Let’s hope you’re not so gentlemanly between the sheets.”

When had he ever had this much fun with a woman? Okay, a woman who wasn’t related to him, because Adalia could probably make a monk laugh in the middle of a week-long silent meditation retreat. “I can pretty much guarantee I’m not.”

She sucked in a breath and he loved that he’d gotten the better of her, even if he was sure it wouldn’t last longer than a second or two, three at most.

“Does that guarantee come with a return policy?”

He grinned. There it was. God, she was fun. “Satisfaction guaranteed.”

“Promises, promises.” She continued walking backward into the living room. The furnishings were older and well-worn, but the place was neat and orderly, with the exception of a few dog toys scattered around.

“You got a deck of cards?” he asked.

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