House Rules(74)

He shook his head and continued leading me forward to the door I knew led to the back rooms. I thought about backing away for a brief moment—the desire to get away from the place overwhelming—but Miller wasn’t giving up that easily. I knew he cared about me, but I couldn’t figure out why in the world he would do this.

When we reached the door, I put the breaks on. “Miller, I really don’t want to go in there.”

He turned to face me. “I know, but you need to.”

He gestured around the space. “This is my life. I want you to be a part of it, but that means you need to be a part of all of it. And some of it isn’t pretty. It’s a downright fucking mess. But the woman I’m going to be with needs to be there through all of it. You need to walk through those doors like you own the fucking place. You do that, no one will question a damn thing.”

My heart melted a little when he said he wants me to be a part of his life. I was falling. Damn it. Something I swore I would never do, but I was falling hard for the man standing in front of me. Was I ready to tell him that? I doubted it, but I needed to walk through those doors, exactly like he said, even if it made me feel uncomfortable as hell.

“Okay.” I held my head high as Miller opened the door and we walked in.

The room was already full with people, some I remembered from that disastrous night. I saw them watching me and did my best to ignore them.

Easier said than done.

Miller led me to a table near the center of the room. Now that I knew what table he was playing at, once he took his seat my plan was to hit the bar and drink enough to take the edge off. Make things easier to deal with.

Imagine my surprise when Miller pulled out the chair, but didn’t take a seat. He looked at me and gestured toward the seat.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered to him.

He leaned in. Lips brushing my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “It’s simple. Tonight you’re playing. I have a feeling you know how to play. I saw the look on your face when the cards were turned last time.”

“I do, but I can’t afford the buy in for a game like this.”

“You don’t have to. The money on the table is for you to play with. I want you to enjoy the night and to show you there is nothing to fear in this room.”

“I can’t—”

His finger covered my lips. “You can and you will. Sit down. Play. I’ll be at a table a few over from here. I didn’t want to give you an unfair advantage with me playing here.”

In a daze I took the seat. I was afraid to look at the money in front of me—the dollar amount would probably give me a stroke—but I had a feeling there was no arguing with him about this.

I glanced around the men seated at the table. Not one of them had been sat at Ray’s table that fateful night. Two of them were there in the crowd, though.

Be strong.

The best way to show my strength to these men would be to take their money, something I was determined to do.

“This is Tess,” Miller said, addressing the group. “If I hear about anyone hitting on her while she plays, I won’t bother with Dean or Charlie. Do I make myself clear?”

A few of the guys’ eyes went wide and they nodded in unison.

“Good.”

He bent down and placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Have fun.”

Still in shock, I watched him walk to his table and turned back to mine. The dealer looked at me, waiting. I had no idea what he was waiting for until he spoke up.

“Miss Carner, the buy-in for this hand is five hundred dollars.”

I almost freaking choked. Five hundred dollars. Miller must have been out of his mind to suggest it. I turned to face him and started to get up from my seat, when a waiter blocked my way. He placed a glass of white wine in front of me.

“Mr. Hawes says this is your favorite, and to tell you relax and just play.”

The waiter left and I saw Miller raise his glass to me. I returned the gesture and took a sip of the wine. The flavor settled on my taste buds, calming my nerves.

Taking another sip, I swiveled back around in my seat to face the dealer and threw in the money before I lost my nerve. He dealt the cards. I held my breath and picked up the two cards in front of me. It wasn’t a great hand but I was determined to play it as best I could. Five hundred dollars was on the line.

Unbelievably, I won that round, and the next two. For a moment, I thought maybe Miller had told them to let me win. It pissed me off to think that he would do that. It wasn’t until the fourth hand I knew that wasn’t the case. The other men at the table were cursing and throwing cards in the heat of the moment. Dean had to remind two of them to sit their asses down.