Vegas Baby(26)

I’m burning up, wishing we could both pretend this never happened. I can’t answer. If I say no, he’ll know I’m lying. If I say yes, he’ll think I like him.#p#分页标题#e#

And I kind of do.

Hell.

Who am I kidding?

He’s everything I shouldn’t want and nothing I need all wrapped up in a muscled, dimpled-chinned package.

“Not going to answer me?” He laughs. “It’s okay, Calypso. You don’t have to. I can see it in your eyes.”

My gaze snaps to the floor.

“The way you look at me,” he says. “You keep yourself at a distance—emotionally and physically. But your eyes give it all away.”

I look up at him, suddenly finding him closer than before. I drown in his scent—cigars and bourbon—and I’m bathed in his warmth.

I drag it all into my lungs and let it settle deep inside me as my heart thunders in my chest.

“It was a reflex,” I say. “You’re reading into it. You came into my space and I tensed up.”

“If that’s what you want to tell yourself.” His words are accompanied by an amused chuckle. “I’m trained to observe people, to catch the smallest nuances. I can read body language like a book, and, Calypso, the way you look at me, the way you move around me, tells me everything I could possibly need to know right now.”

“Which is . . .?”

“That you really fucking want me to kiss you.”

I don’t have a chance to protest when, without warning, I find myself slammed up against the wall, Crew’s mouth on mine and his fingers in my hair. My body melts into his as his tongue circles mine.

His lips are soft, a stark contrast against the hardness of his kiss.

Intrusive thoughts threaten to ruin this moment. I try to shut them out, but they only grow louder.

He kisses me like Mathias did. There’s a hunger there, an insatiable drive, and an entitlement. His hands and mouth command my body like he owns the damn thing, and it doesn’t put up the tiniest of fights.

“Calypso.” He cups my face in his hands, coming up for air.

I can’t breathe. I can’t think straight. The room is dark, and I only see him. He’s all over me. His touch, his scent, his presence. Everything about Crew Forrester permeated my cinderblock walls with one greedy kiss.

I’ve been down this road before, and I can’t do it again. Not with him. Not when I’m leaving this city in three months, one foot already out the door. As soon as The Tipsy Poet closes, I’m gone. There’s nothing for me here in Vegas.

“I should go.”





ELEVEN




Crew



The first time my uncle sat me down with a deck of playing cards, he slipped a burly hand over my shoulder and said, “Crew, first rule of poker is you either play to win or you play for fun. Decide what you’re doing before you even sit down.”

People think poker’s simple. Easy. They don’t realize it’s one of the deepest card games out there. It’s not just about calculating pot odds, calling bluffs, and going all in. It’s about reading your opponents, looking for tells, watching out for the skinflints, and avoiding the aggressive players with little regards to their money.

I didn’t get where I am today by playing for fun, though it may have started that way.

Calypso leaves, and I don’t try to stop her.

The kiss wasn’t planned, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been on my mind since the day I wandered into The Tipsy Poet. One taste of those heart-shaped lips was all I wanted. Only problem is, now I want more.

I kick off my shoes and lock the door before checking on Emme. She’s sound asleep, little baby snores coming from her crib and her arms resting just above the top of her head.#p#分页标题#e#

She sleeps the same way I do.

I’ve only known this little baby less than a week, but every time I look at her, I can’t help but feel I’ve known her my whole life.

I pull her door shut with an inaudible click and make my way to my room, peeling off layers of clothes and climbing under the sheets.

Calypso’s probably doing the same thing on the other side of the wall.

I shut my eyes and graze my tongue along my lower lip, remembering the way her mouth felt under mine, and my lips pull up at the corners.

It’s decided.

I’m playing to fucking win, and Calypso’s the jackpot.



***



I’m half asleep, brain fogged all to hell, when my phone goes off the next morning.

“Good morning,” my mother’s unusually and perpetually loud voice penetrates the receiver and vibrates my phone. A piercing pain shoots through my eardrum, and I yank the phone out a good couple of inches. “Hope I’m not calling too early. You’re probably on your way to work right now.”