Page 38 of Mayhem
They went over to the couch, and Erin sat on the floor across from them on the other side of the coffee table. She watched Cruz eye the fruit and dips on the board, those gray eyes coming to her.
“Can I eat this off of you?”
“I…that isn’t what I put it there for,” she responded.
Cruz smirked at her. “That wasn’t a no, Maly.”
Erin bit her lower lip, raising a teasing eyebrow at him before turning and grabbing the deck of cards she’d placed on the entertainment center behind her.
“Who’s teaching?”
“Cruz is a much better teacher at card games than I am,”Paetyn responded, taking the cards from her and handing them to Cruz.
“I’ll be the dealer and the teacher. You’ll play against Paetyn. He’ll be two opponents.”
Erin nodded as Cruz shuffled the cards, and her eyes zeroed in on his fingers, watching until the cards were dealt. She wasexcited to learn so she wouldn’t be the odd man out next time everyone wanted to play.
“That’sridiculous,”Erin said, and Paetyn chuckled, knowing what she meant before she voiced it. “We have the same cards. It should be a tie.”
“Yes, but Paetyn still wins,”Cruz told her.
“How? We have four, five, six, seven, and eight.”Erin countered, popping a raspberry into her mouth.
“Your straight is made of different suits.Paetyn’sis all in one suit, giving him a straight flush, which beats your straight,” Cruz explained, and Erin huffed a little before grabbing a grape and eating it.
“You want me to let you win, Angel?”Paetyn questioned.
Erin shook her head. “No, because then I’ll never learn.”
“You don’t have to learn. Cruz was giving you a hard time when you were at the house,” Paetyn told her.
“I know, but Iwantto learn.”
Cruz gathered the cards and began to shuffle them while Paetyn watched Erin dip a blueberry in chocolate before eating it, licking the excess sweetness from her finger.
“You know,”Cruz started as he shuffled, and Erin grabbed a piece of pineapple. “If this were strip poker, we’d have you naked by now.”
Paetyn slid his attention to Cruz momentarily before it went back to Erin. She looked at Cruz for a minute before nodding.
“Probably,”she responded before placing the fruit into her mouth and slowly pulling her finger out. But wearen’tplaying strip poker,” she informed him after swallowing.
“No, but we can make this interesting,” Cruz countered as Paetyn leaned back against the couch.
“How?” Erin inquired.
“Every time Paetyn wins, we get to eat a piece of this fruit or lick one of these toppings off of you.”
“And what do I get when I win?”
“What do you want, Maly?”
Paetyn watched Erin lick her lips, and it seemed she didn’t have to think long about what she wanted. “I want to wet your beard,” she responded before her eyes slid to Paetyn. “Both of them.”
Paetyn smiled at her. “You don’t need to win to do that. Come here if that’s what you want.”
Erin smirked at him, shaking her head.“Play by the rules; you can’t just fold every time.”
“If you insist,”Paetyn responded, and Cruz dealt the cards.
