Page 101 of Square Deal

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How much do I have to pay you to keep this to yourself?”

Luca stroked the dark beard on his jaw. “Depends. Is the sneaking around his idea or yours?”

“Mine,” I hissed. “And we’ve done a pretty good job of not getting caught, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Luca snorted. “Be straight with me. Is he treating you right?”

I gave him a curious look. “Y’all strike me as the bros before hoes type. Shouldn’t you be siding with him?”

“I love the guy, but I’ve known him for a long time, which means I also know a lot more shit about him than you do. Is he treating you right?”

“Yes,” I snapped. I was just about done with this conversation. “Look, I’m going to tell everyone,” I said, pleading with him. “I just want to make sure this is real before I do.”

Something warm bumped into my back, and I realized that Isaac had walked up behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed gently. It was a comforting gesture, and the realization of just how much I craved his touch slammed into me like a freight train.

Luca looked over my head and gave him a warning look.

“If you fuck this up, I’m not the one you should worry about.”

I knew he was talking about the rest of the poker club. Part of me was really fucking nervous at the thought of asking if he could join poker night.

Isaac reached around me, extending his hand to Luca. It seemed awfully formal for two guys who had known each other for nearly twenty years. Luca’s jaw was set, but he reached out and shook Isaac’s hand. No words passed between them, but there was an understanding that I wasn’t privy to.

I shut the front door and let out a breath. “What the hell just happened?” I said, collapsing against the door.

Isaac caged me in, his corded forearms bracing on either side of my head. “Let’s get something straight,” he said in a rumble. “Thisis real. Whatever you want. However you want this to look, I’ll give it to you.”

I trapped my lip between my teeth. “I’m scared to ask for what I want.”

He scoffed. “Why? You’reHell Yes Ma’am. You had me wrapped around your finger the minute I saw you. That woman had no goddamn problem demanding what she wanted. Why the hell are you scared of asking for it now?”

“I’ve gone on dates with pretty much every eligible bachelor in eastern North Carolina.” I sniffed, and then laughed in quiet irony. “All that dating experience, and you swoop in here and make me feel things I’ve never felt before.”

He grazed the pad of his thumb along my lower lip. His gaze was intense. There was no escaping the immeasurable depths of his blue eyes. They froze and burned at the same time.

“Then that makes two of us.” He tipped my chin up and drew me in for a kiss. “Tell me what you want.”

I lost myself in the kiss, but the bite he left on my bottom lip told me he wasn’t letting me out of answering.

“I want to dance with you at Jokers,” I said quietly. “I want to wake up beside you on Christmas morning. I want to sit in bed with you and eat cereal and watch TV. I want your time, but it’s a cruel ask because I know you can’t give it to me. Not as much as I want, anyway. You have to be you, and that happens everywhere except where I am. I don’t want to need you this way, but I do.”

“Ask me,” he said again. I closed my eyes when he pressed his forehead to mine. “Ask for it.”

“I want you.”

“That’s wanting, not asking. Demand it. Be the woman I fell for. Trust me to give it to you.”

I clenched the lapels of his suit jacket in my hands. “Just be with me,” I pleaded. “For all the moments I want you and all the times I need you. Be mine, Isaac Lawson.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yes, ma’am.”

24

ISAAC

It was the Monday before Christmas. Luca had ordered me to Beaufort, stating, “Get your ass to my house by six or else.”

I didn’t want to think about whator elsemeant. Probably Nonna withholding her homemade pasta and putting an ancient curse on me. I didn’t want to risk that. The upside was that I would get to surprise Hannah.

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