Page 105 of Just Another Silly Love Song
The crowd erupted with cheers and whistles, this time even louder.
“Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!”
“No way!” I dropped the piece of paper on the table. “We’re betting with chips here, not kisses. Nice try, but that is not valid.”
The crowd booed me again, obviously still hoping for a kiss.
What was with these people and their need for public displays of affection?
One kiss at the end of the tournament.
This was ridiculous.
Why was Ben betting this?
Was he just playing around?
Or could he really be hiding two aces?
Ben sat back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, grinning, confident as hell. “Well, partner? What’s it going to be? Come on, it’s just a kiss.”
I shook my head. “We’re betting with chips, that’s what we’ve been doing since the start of the tournament.” I looked at the dealer. “You’re not going to allow that bet, are you?”
The dealer shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with it. Seems legit to me. The certificate has a monetary value, and so does the kiss.”
More cheers and whistles from the crowd.
I glared at Ben. “You’re saying a kiss with me is only worth a buck?”
“On the contrary . . .” He placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, locking gazes with me. “It would be impossible for me to put a dollar amount on the value of a kiss with you. It’s priceless.”
My pulse started banging in my neck.
How could he get under my skin and into my heart at the same time?
The man drove me crazy, there was no doubt about that.
All eyes in the room were on me, waiting for me to make a move.
I just needed to figure out what that move was.
Chapter Twenty
LORI
The crowd went nuts again, chanting, “Call! Call! Call!”
Of course, everyone wanted me to call his bet. They also wanted to see me lose so they could see another kiss, like the one Grandma Joyce posted online.
Ben grinned. “There’s no shame in folding, you know.”
There he went, mimicking me again.
This was why I liked to be the one applying pressure to players in the tournament. It put them on the spot and they had to make a decision that could change a hundred times in their head because of the pressure.
Ben used my trick.
Now, I felt the pressure.
