Page 41 of The Night Ride
“I just said I did.”That candy was mine as were the bragging rights.
He quirked a brow.“Fine.Have it your way.I will see your hundred.And raise you another hundred.”
Shit.Just what type of hand did he have?There wasn’t much that beat the hand I had.Except, perhaps he was bluffing.I studied him but couldn’t read his poker face.He had more shots than me with all his lousy hands.Maybe he’s just drunk and being a total dude, thinking he’ll get me to fold.But I didn’t scare easily.
I glanced at my pile of candy, then back at him.Before I shoved every piece into the pot.I had an amazing hand.At this point in the night, it was shit or get off the pot.This hand was a sure bet, I knew it in my bones.
“You sure you want to do that?”
“Yep.”I put an emphasis on the p.
“I’ll see your raise.”He shoved all his candy onto the pile.
The game had shifted and now was winner take all.We stared at each other, trying to gage whether the other was bluffing or not.
“I call it.Show me what you’ve got.”He nodded at my cards.
“Read them and weep.”I laid them on the table in grandiose fashion.His brows rose at my straight with Ace, two, three, four, five with two wild cards.My original hand was two wild cards and the ace with an eight and a nine.I got rid of the eight and nine and wound up with the four and five.
I started to reach for what I knew was mine.The pot with all the candy, and of course, bragging rights.
“Ah, ah.It was a valiant effort.I’ll give you that.But I’m sorry to say it’s not enough to win this hand.”He lowered his cards to the table.
My jaw dropped.A royal flush Ace high with a wild card serving as the ten.
“You won.”I couldn’t believe it.I blinked a few times to make sure my eyes weren’t seeing things.He’d won the biggest hand of the night.
He collected his winnings, popping a few pieces of chocolate in his mouth.Then poured another shot for me.“Don’t feel bad.You would have taken me if I hadn’t discarded two.”
I eyed the tequila as if it were a snake.I wasn’t sure my body could handle another shot.He began collecting the cards.
“What did you have?”I reached for the discards.
“It doesn’t matter.”He snatched them up before I could look at them.
“What?Let me see!”I tried to take them from his hand but could only pinch part of the cards.He pulled them back but there was no way I was giving up.
We engaged in a small power struggle, laughing like lunatics the whole time.Meaning we were both drunker than skunks.Until I found myself straddling him on the chair reaching for the cards he held out of my reach.Our faces were inches apart.
We remained in the heated silence for a breath.The seconds ticked by.Lightning flashed and thunder boomed outside while the storm raged on.
I wasn’t sure who moved first.Yet in the next breath our mouths fused.Volts of electricity shot between us as we kissed.Instead of questioning myself and my sanity, I leaned in.This was the man I’d been crushing on since I was fifteen.This was the man I had imagined fairy tale scenarios with, each one more lavish than the last.This was the man I had wanted with my whole heart growing up.And the man who had dazzled me for a night.Even though that night ended in ruins, it was still a night that impacted me because it was a wish fulfillment.
I knew it was weird that getting kissed by Aiden fulfilled a part of me.But the thing was, I had yearned for him for so long and felt as if his arms were where I belonged.
That sensation had only intensified in the years since that first magical kiss.It had grown into a raging wildfire that I didn’t want to escape.I wanted to feel the burn and everything he had to offer.I didn’t want to hold back anymore.Regardless of the outcome, I wanted him in a way I didn’t really understand.Yet if felt as if it would kill me if he stopped and pushed me away again.
He cupped my nape, angling my head the way he wanted it and delved deeper while the other pulled me in tighter until I was plastered against him.
I surrendered to the tide, tired of fighting the quixotic pull that was always constant between us.I wanted this man in ways I had never wanted anyone else before.
And I understood I was risking opening myself up to further disappointment.But I no longer cared.If this tryst, this time with him broke my heart, so be it.I would rather know him, experience being the sole focal point of his universe, even for the night.
Maybe it was the tequila talking, but I never wanted to stop kissing this man.
I rocked against him, feeling him harden and lengthen beneath me.Deep inside I quivered in longing, in need to be skin to skin with him.He was solid and well built.
And oh my god!
