I shifted in my chair, finding AJ, the handsome one Stella said was off-limits, regarding me from a nearby loveseat. Out of all the insolent, entitled, boring assholes in the room, he seemed the most tolerable. The rest were just as bad as their parents.
“I don’t think I know anyone with that last name,” AJ said.
“And?” I raised a brow. “Trying to determine if I meet the right pedigree requirements to be in this room?”
AJ glanced sideways at Stella, who was seated next to him. “Touchy.”
She rolled her eyes. “Like that wasn’t what you were doing.”
He flicked her thigh. “I wasnot. I just wanted to know if he had any siblings, since he’s obviously spoken for. Unless,” he bit his lip, gaze sliding back to me, “you’re as into sharing this one as you were with Caleb.”
My eyes snapped to Stella. Her and AJ? Andsomeone else? Fuck, that wasn’t an image I needed in my head. Especially not when my malfunctioning brain mademethe someone in that scenario.
Julia, the blond, lifted her head from the coffee table and dabbed at the white beneath her nose. “Oh, Caleb. He was so pretty. What happened to him?”
“I think he lives in Dubai now,” Stella said, looking everywhere else in the room but at me. Why? Because she thought I might be judging her? Or because she was picturing the same thing I was? AJ sandwiched between us, the focal point for all our unspent hatred and lust?
“Okay, wait, though,” someone else (Federico, maybe?) said. “Whereareyou from? Not here.”
I shifted my gaze to him. “No?”
The redhead at his side shook her head. “No. You look like you were born in some dusty old manor in the Bavarian alps.”
I glanced around the room. “Any other guesses?”
A few people answered, throwing out responses like California or England or Sweden, all of which seemed to be tied to my light features. I smiled, feeling smug that I’d done such a good job mimicking their upper-crust accents that there was no morerhoticityfor them to notice.
Across from me, Stella looked nervous. This is why I should have sat next to her when I had the chance. To place a warning hand on her thigh whenever she started getting squirrelly or showing her discomfort. She really was a terrible actress.
I leaned out of my seat and snagged a card deck off the nearest table. “I’m from here. Just nothere,here. My lineage hails from farther north.” I left it there. Let them think I was some Canadian oil baron’s offspring.
With a flick of my fingers, I shuffled the deck, and then the cards leapt to life in my hands. They fanned out in a full circle, back in, my fingers moving in a blur as I split them, again and again, moving sections outward and inward, rotating individual cards.
Someone let out a low whistle.
I lifted the deck in one hand and let half of it waterfall into the other. A brief pause as I halved the cards before flicking the ones in my right over and around to land perfectly face down on top of those in my left.
“Oh god, please tell me you aren’t into magic,” a woman said.
I chuckled. “No. I just like cards.” I spun the deck again and lifted my head. “Anyone up for a friendly game of poker?”
AJ shrugged. “Sure.” He shot a look at Stella. “You in?”
Her answering smile was somewhat forced. “I think I’ll watch this round.”
His face fell, and he dropped his voice. “Oh, right. Sorry.”
Stella winced. “It’s okay.”
Did AJ know? That she didn’t have any money to gamble away?
Not wanting to draw attention to their awkward exchange, I stood and paced toward a table stacked with a mountain of poker chips. Several people followed, including AJ, Federico, and Julia, the bored expressions leaving their faces now that money was on the line. Or maybe what drew them in was the competition, the chance to defeat and embarrass their peers.
“The game is hold ’em,” I said, shuffling. “Everyone know how to play?”
Nods all around.
“Good. What’s the limit?” I asked.
