Lusty Billionaires Bundle(30)

‘So the poker machines are more your thing, then?’ His upper-class accent was mocking now. ‘You don’t fool me, Tabitha. The only reason you don’t want to join in is because you don’t know how to play the tables.’

‘Look,’ Tabitha said very definitely, her hand pulling at his suit sleeve as he turned to go, ‘I don’t have a gambling problem.’ She allowed him one long bored sigh before tentatively continuing. ‘I really don’t. The debt you heard Aiden and I discussing is my grandmother’s…I hardly ever come here!’

He didn’t look at her. Pointedly removing his sleeve from her grip, he took a long sip of his drink before finally turning to face her. ‘Then why the sudden euphoria, Tabitha? Why the flushed face and the sparkle in your eyes? The second we walked in here I could feel your excitement—feel it,’ he reiterated. ‘So if it isn’t the casino that’s doing it for you, why the sudden change?’#p#分页标题#e#

‘Zavier!’ She almost shouted his name, but he didn’t even blink. ‘Why do you think I’m so excited? It’s not every day a girl gets a marriage proposal. It’s not every day…’ Her voice trailed off, and from the shuttered look in his eyes she knew she was wasting her time; a word like love simply didn’t factor in here.

‘You’ve got a problem,’ he snapped. ‘You can deny it all you like, but the only person you’re fooling is yourself, Tabitha.’

Sinking back into the sofa, Tabitha nursed her drink. ‘Oh, I’ve got a problem all right,’ Tabitha muttered as he stalked off towards the table. ‘Six foot four’s worth.’

She didn’t have to worry about her cover being blown. She could take a full-page ad out in the papers telling him about her grandmother and he’d still just put it down to denial. But why had she let him think she had a problem in the first place? Surely a gambling addict was hardly a flattering light to put oneself under? Looking over, she watched him. Not a muscle flickered in his face, not a single bead of sweat marred his brow. His brief nod at the croupier was friendly and relaxed. Turning momentarily, he caught her eye.

‘All right?’ he mouthed, and Tabitha nodded, a strange feeling suddenly welling in her. Despite his protests, despite his attempts to prove otherwise, Zavier Chambers was a nice man.

His back was to her now, but she could just make out his strong steady hands moving a pile of chips across the table. The woman in green was taking another nervous sip of her drink as Zavier stood unmoved next to her. She watched the woman walking away, tears in her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief at her loss. Perhaps the magnitude of what she had gambled was only now starting to dawn.

She could end it all here—walk away now and have lost nothing. It was Tabitha taking a nervous sip of her drink now, her hand tightening around the glass as she mentally rolled the dice.

Standing, she made her way over, one hand gently touching Zavier’s shoulder as she quietly observed the game in progress.

‘I thought this wasn’t your scene?’ Zavier turned briefly as an inordinately large pile of chips was pushed towards him.

‘It seems you were right after all,’ Tabitha murmured, breathing in the heady scent of him as she edged just a fraction closer, feeling the solid warmth of his legs against her barely clad thighs. ‘Maybe I don’t know when to stop.’





CHAPTER SIX




‘THANKS for the lesson, by the way.’ Tabitha let out a gurgle of laughter as his car pulled up outside her house. ‘You’ve definitely cured me.’

‘I’m never going to live this down, am I?’ Even Zavier was laughing as he pulled on the handbrake. ‘I couldn’t have lost my car keys tonight if I’d tried; I made a bloody fortune. So much for trying to show you the error of your ways.’

‘Lesson well and truly learnt,’ Tabitha answered in a solemn voice, then broke into hysterics again.

‘You’re a bad girl,’ Zavier said gruffly, and something in his voice stopped her laughter. Something in the way he turned his head, his dark eyes glittering in the moonlight, made Tabitha’s heart-rate accelerate alarmingly.

‘Maybe I am, but I make great coffee.’ Running her tongue nervously over her bottom lip, she watched his hands tighten on the steering wheel. ‘Do you want to come in?’

‘Better not.’ His words were clipped, and Tabitha felt the good mood of earlier evaporate, steaming up the car window as she sat there suddenly void of anything to say. The tension in the air was palpable. ‘It’s been a good night, though.’ His voice was strained, forced. ‘I really enjoyed myself.’#p#分页标题#e#