Ah, yes, she had told him she was an aspiring magician. She wasn’t. A few tricks did not a magic show make. But everyone needed a gimmick, and rich men loved struggling artists, perhaps because they thought it implied desperation.
“I go to the occasional Pilates class.” And the occasional boxing class, and jujitsu class, and bootcamp class... she wore long sleeves for a reason. Most marks didn’t need to know she could outbench them. These guns were for utility and safety, not necessarily admiration.
“It’s working for you.”
“Aw, thanks.” Her answers were growing flat. Time to wrap this up.
She turned the deck over and fanned it out. “I’m going to have to do some light mind-reading here.”
“If you could read my mind, we’d already be back in my room.”
Gag. Let her get through her trick, damn it. “I bet I can narrow your card down to one out of five.” She jogged out five cards, making sure the jack was the second one in the pile she squared up and stripped out. “One, two, three, four, five. Don’t tell me if I have it yet. Think it in your head if you see it. One, two, three, four, five.” She made sure her handling was fluid and hypnotic.
Even if Sejal hadn’t known the jack was his card, the way his eyes darted down and lingered when she flashed it at him would have told her. She placed the rest of the deck on the pile on thebar, then counted the cards she’d pulled out again. “One, two, three, four... huh. I seem to be missing a vital card. Your card, perhaps.” She paused. “Let’s check over here.”
His smile disappeared when she fanned the rest of the deck out on the bar. The jack of diamonds winked up at them, smack in the middle of the pile, the only card face up. “Is this your card?” she asked.
John’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Nope.” He scooped up the watch and put it back on his wrist.
Fucker. “Are you sure?” She picked up the jack between two fingers and showed it to him.
“Nah, my card wasn’t even in the five you picked. Guess you’re not that clever after all.” He leered at her. “Would you like champagne or wine? I can have a bottle waiting back in my room.”
She leaned forward. Predictably, his gaze went right to her chest again. She preferred to wear dark colors, and her black low-cut, long-sleeved crop top always scored her some good money and good flings.
Back when she was young and dumb, she might have actually gone with him, certain she’d hit a better payoff in his room. Older and wiser now, she knew a bear in the woods could be safer than a drunk man in a hotel room, even with the knife strapped to her ankle and the pepper spray in her pocket. Going off alone with someone only happened if her gut approved, and her gut had signaled its hatred the second this man had sat next to her.
She placed one hand on his arm. She ran the fingers that weren’t touching him along her own neckline. Stealing was all about smoke and mirrors and distraction, and this man was far too distracted to care about anything but theprettygirl he’d met while traveling for business.
Lazily, Sejal stroked his forearm. He looked down at the touch, then back up when she spoke. “No thanks.” She slid off the barstool and came to her feet. “See ya.”
John’s fingers, surprisingly strong, locked around her wrist before she could step away. His face hardened. “You’re running away after you got my money, huh?”
“I’m leaving after you lied,” she specified, though to be fair, she would have walked away regardless. She tried to subtly twist away. John was annoyingly strong, though. She wasn’t a stranger to self-defense, and she’d happily break his fingers, but that would break her current cardinal rule as well.Stay invisible.
Because otherwise, maybe the cops would be called, and then she’d have to go pack up her apartment and leave New York, her cozy home for the past few months, which would be a shame. Especially since she’d considered simply stopping her journey here in Brooklyn for a while. She was tired of always running like someone was going to grab her off a sidewalk and throw her in a van. Again.
“Lied?”
“I found your card. The jack of diamonds. You broke the unwritten code between magician and volunteer by lying about it.”
He looked confused for a second. Then he glanced at his wrist and tightened his grip so much, the gold band he wore dug into her skin. An ugly sneer twisted his symmetrical features. “You bitch. You stole my watch.”
Ah, no. She was getting soft, if he’d noticed her light larceny.But it’s yours. You found his card.
Her poor innate sense of twisted justice. She pasted a smile on her face, pulled the watch out of her pocket, and slapped it on the bar. “I was kidding around, bud. Here you go.”
His voice deepened. “You’re coming with me.”
Whoa there.
Worry licked along her nerves. He’d definitely made her radar as a sleazeball, but in a garden variety sort of way. She hadn’t expected him to be this aggressive.
Terrible man catnip.
“I won’t be going anywhere, actually.”
The music turned up and the dance floor behind them instantly grew crowded, signaling the midnight hour. His thin lips turned up in a smile that would have chilled her if his next words hadn’t. “You don’t have a choice.”
