Put me in my place for being a brat.
My nipples hardened, and Max clenched his jaw hard enough to crack a tooth before sitting down abruptly, picking up his cards, and tossing his bet into the pot.
I discarded the top card and flipped the next three face up. Fiddling with my chips, I gave him a break and shifted to a lighter topic. “What was your favorite game growing up? No, wait. Let me guess.” I pretended to think about it. “Was it Knights of the Round Table?”
“Yeah.” He scoffed. “Sure. Go with that.”
I smiled broadly. “Ever cross swords?”
His droll expression assured me he had not.Yet.
When I chuckled to myself, he growled. “Get your mind out of the gutter. Just play the damn game.”
“I’ll have you know, Max Dread, I am an excellent multitasker.” I smirked, picking up a few black chips and setting them aside. “I can imagine a number of dark, dirty fantasies while I kick your ass at poker.”
He huffed, raising an eyebrow expectantly when I still hadn’t called his bet.
“That was Gia’s question, by the way. About the sword crossing.” I threw my chips into the pot. “Doesn’t matter to me if you’ve done it before.”
“Mmhm.”
I discarded another card and turned the next, smiling at the one that appeared. “As long as you’re open to it in the future.”
“Never gonna happen, Pr?—”
My eyebrows rose, triumph fueling my stare as it met his.
He snapped his mouth shut, fuming silently for a second before reining in his reaction. Pointedly ignoring my giddy expression, he tapped the table.
I tossed my cards in the center again. “I fold.”
“What?” He gestured at the clear table. “I didn’t even bet.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I stood up and shimmied my leggings to the floor. “You win. I strip. Those are the rules.”
To be fair, Max had seen me far more undressed than this back when we were pretending we didn’t want each other.
I’d been covered in whipped cream at the time.
Oh, the memories.
And he’d seen me way more naked since.
So, I didn’t expect him to react quite so strongly to a sports bra and cheeky panties, especially since he couldn’t even see how cute my butt looked from where he sat.
But his breathing grew shallow.
His pupils dilated, darkening his eyes even more than usual. Tension radiated up his forearms, and the muscles in his arms bulged. And when he reached for the pile of chips and my cards, his hands shook.
I took pity on us both and sat back down.
After he dealt the cards, I put my ante in and waited for him to do the same.
He folded. “You win.”
His low, gruff voice curled around me like smoke, and before I saw it coming, he tore his shirt over his head.
My mouth watered at the sight of his bare chest, his golden bronze skin begging to be touched. I traced over every curve and plane of muscle, trailing down his abs as far as I could go from my seat.
