“Mia?”
“Uh-huh.” Amelia’s shoulders shook as she cried, grief consuming what anger couldn’t.
Joel’s sigh of relief was palpable. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah. You?”
I tightened my arms around Amelia and kissed her shoulder.
“Bored as fuck,” Joel said as his tone turned far too casual for how upset Amelia was. “I’ve started doing administrative shit around here just so I have something to do since I can’t go outside.”
“I’ll kill him,” I muttered.
Amelia swatted my leg. “But you’re okay? How’s your knee?”
“I’m fine,” Joel said. “One of the people that works with Cole snuck a physical therapist in here so I can keep up with my progress.”
The slump in her shoulders as relief flooded her expression made me feel ten feet tall. “Good,” she said. “That’s good.”
“How long are we gonna be stuck like this?” Joel asked, his blasé tone turning petulant. “I’m ready for things to get back to normal. We’re missing the best part of baseball season. That’s our thing.”
The corners of her mouth lifted in a wistful smile. “We’re working on it.”
I tapped my wrist, reminding her to keep it quick.
“I miss you,” she croaked. “And I love you.”
“Love you too,” Joel said. “And I’m sorry.”
I tapped my wrist again.
“I’ve gotta go. But I’ll try to talk to you again soon,” Amelia said.
Cole snatched the phone and hung up on his end before Amelia or Joel could get another word out.
“He’s a prick,” I muttered. “Kid deserves to be a little fucking bored.”
“Maybe this will be like rehab for him,” Amelia said quietly. “An extended time-out.”
I tipped her chin up and kissed her. “Feel better?”
She nodded. “Thank you for that. I’m sure calling is a risk to operational security . .. or whatever. So—just—thank you.”
I turned the phone off and slid it back into its hiding spot. “Stay sharp. Stay clever.”
Amelia eyed the playing cards. “I need to practice, don’t I?”
“You need to learn to count cards with distractions. Sometimes you don’t hide that you’re following the count, and I can see it on your face. It needs to be second nature or you’ll get made. Vegas isn’t like Atlantic City. You can’t set up and startslow. We have to get in and out before they realize how much they’re losing.”
She tilted her head up. “You gonna help me?”
I stole another kiss and nudged her forward just enough for me to slip out from behind her. “It’d be my pleasure, Dr. Hawthorne.” I grabbed the playing cards from the couch and grabbed another deck from the bedside table. “Deal out for three.”
Amelia shuffled, then leaned forward and dealt out two cards each for her and the two invisible players along the edge of the bed, as if the dealer were standing at the end of the bed.
When she leaned forward on her knees and set the rest of the deck at the foot of the bed, I climbed behind her, lay on my back, and slid between her legs until her pussy was right over my mouth.
Amelia shrieked and pulled away with a nervous laugh, but I reached up and held on to her hips, keeping her right where she was.
