Chapter One
Sejal Chaudhary had never claimed to be a good girl.
In the past, she’d channeled her daddy issues into getting tangled up with the wrong men, channeled her mommy issues into getting tangled up with the wrong women, and channeled her impulsive nature into general... tangles.
So it was a disappointment, but not a terrible surprise, that instead of finding someone to hook up with in this sultry Brooklyn bar, as she’d intended, she was sitting with a dude in the running for Not the Best Guy™. Her only solace was that she was currently taking all his money.
Sometimes business comes before pleasure.Okay, fine, but she hoped before the night was out, she got some pleasure. A girl had needs and hers were screaming.
“You must be a magician, because it feels like everyone else has disappeared.”
Sigh. A girl couldn’t do a single card trick without a cheesy magic-themed pickup line.
Sejal shuffled her cards with one hand and hooked her heel on the rung of the barstool. Most people didn’t bring a deck ofcards out to drink, but most people couldn’t do with them what she could. “Flirting to get out of paying up?” she asked lightly. “It won’t work.”
Her new friend/mark Jack—or was it John?—shook his head. He was a handsome enough man, in a neat, white, country club, square-jawed, symmetrical kind of way, but she was wary of faces that could be perfectly divided in half.
Especially when they were accompanied by wedding rings. Married back home, trolling for a woman in New York. An all-too-common scenario that was good for business, but terrible for her already nonexistent belief in the sanctity of marriage.
She hadn’t targeted him. She hadn’t needed to. He was the one who had walked over to her while she’d been quietly sitting by herself at the end of the bar, sipping her wine.
Not a surprise. She was like catnip for terrible men, and she used it to her advantage occasionally. Leave the good, kind ones for the other good, kind people. Give her the cheaters, the swindlers, the entitled masses who were rude to waitstaff. They were her bread and butter.
This trendy bar had become her semi-regular watering hole precisely because it was walking distance to a couple swanky hotels. There were always at least a few insufferable wealthy patrons in it. It didn’t hurt anyone if Sejal occasionally took a small pound of flesh from the worst of the bunch.
“I’d never renege on a bet. You fooled me fair and square.” John opened his wallet and made a face as he handed her a fifty.
She snapped it up and made it disappear, too, lest he change his mind.
“One more bet. Give me a chance to earn my money back from the pretty lady.”
Prettywasn’t a word anyone would use to describe her. Sexy, okay. Striking, sure. Pretty was for floral dresses and sunshine. She was ripped jeans and dark alleyways. Definitely full of shit, this guy.
But he’s also a gambler.Gamblers were good for business. They never knew when to quit, and judging by the sheen in his eyes, Johnny Boy might go too far. She discreetly checked her watch. Plenty of time to win some more money from him and then go off and find a nice, non-threatening person to take home. “Double or nothing?”
“We can do better than that. If you win... I’ll give you this.” He took off his watch and placed it on the bar between them. The gold Rolex was a solid five figures, in Sejal’s estimation.
She tried not to drool. “And if you win?”
“You come with me back to my room.” His smile was lecherous. “And I show you a few tricks of my own.”
Gross. “How do you think your wife would feel about that?”
He glanced down at his wedding ring. “Don’t worry. She’s not important.”
Well, now youhavetofleece him.
A well-executed Biddle trick, and then she could walk off with that Rolex. “Let’s see if I can find your card.” She held the cards face down and let them fall into her palm below, one-by-one. “Tell me when to stop.”
“Stop.”
She halted and faced the thin stack of cards in her top hand toward him. She made a show of looking away, over her shoulder, though in a second, thanks to a key card and a sneaky overhand shuffle, she’d know exactly which card he’d stopped at. “You see that card? Remember it.”
“Got it.” He tapped his temple.
So did she. Jack of diamonds. She shuffled, letting the cards fly between her palms like a rainbow. There were so few things she was good at, but this, this was home.
John’s gaze slid over her body. “I didn’t realize aspiring magicians had to be so in shape.”
