Page 28 of When He Plays

The King of Hearts stared back at her. “How⁠—”

“Want to know a fun fact about me?”

She would very much like to know all the fun facts about him. Slowly, she turned back toward her.

“I grew up in Vegas, and when I was a punk teen with way too much time on my hands, I even worked as a magician’s assistant for a while.”

That had not been in his case file.

“Abracadabra,” he said, and with a roll of his fingers, the Queen of Hearts appeared in his hand. The card seemed to just appear from thin air.

Holy crap. “You did cheat!”

Soft laughter. “I play to win.” The laughter slowly faded. “I never would have lost you. Understand that with certainty. No one would have taken you from me.”

A little shiver darted down her spine.

She slipped from the room. Charlotte closed the door behind her with a soft click.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five⁠—

“Fuck,” Logan breathed. He grabbed the table. Held on with a death grip. Lust still burned in his blood. Kissing Charlotte had been a major miscalculation. He’d known that he should not do it but…

He’d put her on the table.

He’d been so close to her…

Desire had burned in her eyes, and his control had snapped.

He’d expected her to shove him away. Had thought that her stickler self would follow the rules and not kiss the enemy.

I don’t want to be her enemy. I want to be her lover.

He’d kissed her, and need had exploded within him. Her taste had sent him past the edge. He’d wanted to absolutely gobble her up. His hands had been eager to rip away her clothing, and as he’d pushed up her dress, he’d been seconds away from touching what he wanted most.

Then Freya had come back in.

Freya.

She’d seen him with Charlotte. Because she did enjoy good gossip, Freya would let it be known that he had a weakness.

As if Ares didn’t already understand that fact.

Ares, you bastard, did you really think you could take her from me? The Greek had deserved to lose his casino for that move. As for Pierre, the French prick had all but been drooling over Charlotte.

No one drooled over his PA that way.

He looked down at the table. The Queen of Hearts stared regally back at him. He’d tossed her down as soon as the door closed behind Charlotte. Why in the hell had he told her that bit about working with the magician? Normally, he kept all of his secrets close to his chest.

But…

I needed her to know I would have never let her go.

He shoved away from the table. The walls seemed to press in on him. He had to get out of there. Violence lingered in the room, seemed to fill the air, and he knew that he’d be dealing with Ares again, soon.

Only next time, no one would be there to stop Logan once they began to fight.

Logan yanked the knife from the wall. Her second favorite knife. He manually pushed the blade back into place before tucking the knife in his pocket. With hard, angry strides, he marched for the door. He yanked it open and nodded to the guards who waited.