All-In (The Gamblers Book 1) Page 7

  "I think the lady to your left is trying to catch your attention."

  Alec turned his head, and sure enough, a woman two spots down gave him a toothy smile and a flirty finger wave.

  Not to be rude, he gave her a tight smile in return before once more facing forward, silently willing the bartender to hurry with their order.

  "Guess the women flock to you, huh?" Jason asked, his sly grin still in place.

  "Sometimes."

  "Guess with good looks and all that money the women can't help themselves, huh?"

  Alec made a noncommittal grunt while silently commanding the bartender to hurry the fuck up. He could go with the flow of small talk as well as the next guy. So long as it wasn't about him.

  "So, you and River."

  Or River.

  "You guys been dating long?"

  Alec looked over and gave Jason a bland look. He'd been surprised they'd gotten along so well at dinner, thinking poker would be all they had in common. But best buds they were not, and Alec didn't like to share his private life.

  "We met yesterday," he said, deliberately keeping his reply short.

  Jason was quiet for a moment. A good sign they were done with this conversation.

  Or not.

  "Yeah, Silvia told me she was in the tournament. Looked her name up on the roster when I found out we were meeting for dinner."

  Alec remained silent, watching the bartender's every move.

  "Knew Frank Kingston had a daughter but didn't know she played. Never ran into her before, anyway. I rubbed elbows with her brother a few times, though." He chuckled, and Alec gave him a side-eyed glance. "What a character that guy is."

  Alec made another noncommittal grunt. If the guy was fishing for gossip about River, he was out of luck. Alec wasn't sharing.

  He felt a hand caress his lower back, just as their drinks were set on the bar in front of him.

  "That'll be thirty-six dollars," the bartender said, placing the beers down beside the cocktails.

  He reached into his pocket while swiveling to see who'd come up behind him. The brunette from two seats down. Guess she mistook his tight smile as an invitation for her to make her way over.

  "Do I know you? You look familiar," she said with a smile that appeared wider up close than it had from far away.

  Alec's face had been on TV numerous times, but one would have to follow poker to recognize it. "Probably not," he said dismissively. He heard a chuckling snort from Jason as he slapped a fifty on the bar before grabbing up one of the beers and one of the cocktails. "You ready?" he asked Jason, feeling a perturbed expression coating his face in response to his annoyance.

  Unfortunately, that just made Jason chuckle harder, pulling a reluctant smirk from Alec's lips.

  "Wait." Brunette put a hand on his arm and he stopped, not wanting to spill River's drink. "Are you sure I don't know you?"

  Alec really hated to be rude but enough was enough. With another tight smile, he said, "I'm sorry, but I have someone waiting for me. Please remove your hand."

  He felt her free hand slip into the front pocket of his slacks. "Just in case." She gave him a saucy smile and a wink before turning and walking away.

  Thank God, they made it back to their table without further incident—unless Jason's ribbing could be classified as an incident. Finding his own jokes about the event hilarious, Jason was laughing uncontrollably by the time they reached the table.

  "What's so funny?" Silvia asked, smiling up at her boyfriend.

  Jason pointed to Alec with his thumb. "Casanova, here."

  Alec looked over at River, her gaze already on him. She raised a brow, her lips curving into a wicked smile as humor glinted in her eyes. Fuck if that look didn't make him hard, and he felt his lips curve up just as wickedly. "Do tell." Her words were for Jason, but her eyes remained locked on his.

  "Oh, um..." As if realizing the awkwardness of the situation, Jason fumbled to a stop, turning wide eyes to Alec.

  Lifting a shoulder, Alec slid into the booth, setting River's drink on the table in front of her. "This is your show. I was just the involuntary quarry."

  Jason slid into the booth. Looking uncomfortable, he took a sip of his beer. "There was just this woman at the bar, hitting on Alec. He was quick to turn her down," he rushed to add, "so no biggie." He shrugged, trying to pull off nonchalant while staring down at his beer, clearly not wanting to make eye contact with River.

  River wiggled her brows suggestively. "Did she slip her number in your pocket?"

  Alec felt his cheeks heat. He didn't even know it was possible for him to blush. He sure as hell had never done it before.

  River's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open before blurting a laugh. "Oh, my God, she did!" She held out a hand, palm up, wiggling her fingers. "Let me see."

  Without saying a word, he leaned to the side, slipping his hand into his pocket, feeling around for the paper. He dropped the folded note onto River's eagerly awaiting hand with a sigh. This was not how he envisioned the night preceding. In his version, by this point, he had River naked in his bed, fucking her.

  Another loud laugh from River drew his attention. Her eyes were dancing with mischief when she trained them on him. "Her name is Brandi, spelled with an I, and she even put a little heart on top to dot it." She lowered her gaze back to the paper, her smiling lips turning thoughtful as she uttered a hum while nodding her head. "Her tag line is inventive. None of that classic for a good time call mumbo-jumbo."

  As much as Alec wanted to move on from the conversation, he couldn't help but be entertained by River's amusement.

  "What is it?" Silvia asked, leaning over, trying to get a look at the note.

  River quickly peeked over at Silvia before darting her eyes back to Alec, her wide smile making a reappearance. "I have the F, the C, and the K. Now all I need is U."

  "It does not say that," Silvia said with a laugh, again leaning in to see the note.

  "Believe me, it does. I'm not creative enough to make that up." He watched her refold the note, placing it flat on the table before sliding it across, stopping it in front of him.

  He picked up the paper, crumpling it into a ball before tossing it to the center of the table. "I'm sure you're plenty creative when you want to be." He shot a devilish leer her direction.

  She countered his devilish leer with an impish smile. "Sure you want to get rid of that?" she asked, tipping her head at the paper ball. "Might be your only chance to get lucky this vacation."

  He leaned into her, his hand finding her bare knee under the table. "I'll take my chances." He slid his hand under her skirt along the smooth, warm skin of her inner thigh.

  "I'd forgotten what a risk taker you are," she said, voice low and slightly husky.

  "Only when the odds are in my favor."

  * * * * *

  "You haven't touched your drink." Alec said, eyeing her still mostly full glass.

  "I'm not much of a drinker." River nodded to his glass. "I see you haven't had much of yours, either."

  "I like to keep my wits about me in situations like this."

  "And what kind of situation is this?"

  "Too many people. Too much alcohol. A beautiful woman to protect."

  "Mm." River took a small sip of her now warm cocktail. They'd been at the club for over an hour, talking while Silvia and Jason hit the dance floor. She was surprised at how much they had in common. Alec may not have been surrounded by poker growing up, but he'd been a part of the world long enough for them to know many of the same people.

  She'd been fascinated to lear
n he'd dropped out of college in his third year after discovering he had a natural talent for poker, which then led to an obsession.

  "What was your major?" she asked, tracing patterns in the condensation that had formed on her glass.

  "Promise not to laugh."

  She looked at him with a straight face, already feeling bubbles of laughter wanting release. "No."

  With a resigned sigh, he admitted, "Performing arts. Once upon a time, I thought I wanted to be an actor."

  "A noble profession," River solemnly stated, barely containing the lip twitch induced by her suppressed laughter.

  "I suppose you majored in something a little more studious?" The smirk on his face telling her he saw her lip twitch.

  "Business. More specifically, finance."

  "Couldn't get away from the numbers, huh?"

  River shrugged a shoulder. "What can I say, I have a knack. Operations, stats, percentages," she tapped her temple, "got it all up here. So my choices were either accounting or finance. Finance seemed more interesting."

  "So what exactly do you do?"

  "Right now I'm an investment analyst. In a nutshell, I find new investment opportunities and analyze securities."

  "Ah, the person who finds all the best resources for a person like me to invest their money in."

  She gave him a smile. "Exactly."

  Their conversation flowed, keeping a nice rhythm as they'd jumped between topics.

  When she'd learned old movies were what first drew his love to acting, she asked, "Which one's your favorite?"

  Alec was quiet for a moment, looking deep in thought. She loved that he thought about his answers, making her truly feel he was sharing a part of himself and not just giving her what he thought she wanted to hear. "That's a tough question, but one of my favorites is The Searchers starring John Wayne."

  River smiled. "A western buff, huh?"

  "Guilty as charged. What about you. What's your favorite?"

  Without a thought, she said, "It's a Wonderful Life."

  He raised a brow. A silent request for her to elaborate.

  Playing with the rim of her glass, she started into the depths of the red liquid. "When my mom died, I went through a bit of a rough patch."

  "That's understandable."

  River nodded, her gaze still directed at the contents of her glass. She never talked about her mom's death outside the fact she was gone. Only her father and brother had known the amount of sorrow and guilt that had consumed her that first year. And even now, twelve years later, she was amazed how much a heart could still ache.

  She looked over at Alec and gave him a small smile. "It was actually more than a rough patch."

  He captured her hand, plucking her restless fingers from her glass. Entwining their fingers, he squeezed her hand. Not flirty or sexual, but a show of support. His eyes bore into hers. She could see the questions in their icy depths, but he didn't say a word, waiting patiently for her to open her soul to him.

  "I never talk about this. It's...hard." He gave her hand another squeeze. She swallowed down the sudden lump blocking her throat, working up the courage to speak.

  Could she do it? Open herself to a man she'd known for only a day, even if he had been a boy she'd obsessed over for years? She knew she was guarded, learning at a young age to keep her true self hidden. She'd had to growing up the way she did, and never making any real or lasting friendships.

  But looking into his eyes—such an icy blue it was inconceivable the warmth she felt while gazing in their depths—she felt a click. A shift in her reality. A reality that now included him. He'd been a part of her dreams for so long, having him there felt surreal. Almost as if her real life were now a dream. And if that were the case, she wasn't sure she wanted to wake up.

  She squeezed his hand in return, taking courage from his strength and did something she'd never done for anyone else. She let him in.

  With a voice thick and low, River shared, "My mom was the backbone of our family. When she was gone, things kind of fell apart. My dad was devastated. He'd loved her so much. And I think that's why it took him so long to see how despondent I had become. Days would pass in a blur where I would forget to eat. If not for Royal, I'd have probably wasted away. But I did sleep." She gave a humorless chuckle. "Seemed all I did was sleep. And if I wasn't sleeping, I was sitting on my bed wishing I'd never been born."

  She gave him a small smile. "I know what you're thinking. A little melodramatic, right?" She turned her head away, staring back at her glass, unable to bear the probing intensity of his eyes.

  "Hey, look at me." With a finger under her chin, he turned her head back to him. "I wasn't thinking that. I can't imagine how hard it must be to lose a parent, especially at such a young and impressionable age. Everyone deals with grief in their own way."

  "You don't understand. I didn't just lose my mother. I killed her."

  Chapter Seven

  Her announcement was met with silence, but it only lasted a few seconds before Alec broke it. "I'm sure you misguidedly thought so at some point, but you can't possibly still think that."

  His thumb brushed across the top of her hand—up and down, over and over—a soothing caress that felt good. "Yes and no. I wasn't the driver of the car that hit and ultimately killed my mom, but I was the one to put us in the vehicle's path."

  His thumb suddenly stopped its caress. "Us?"

  She glanced over at him and nodded before returning her focus to the tabletop. She traced the wood's grain with her finger, following the little swirl when she encountered a knot. "Yeah, I was in the car. We were T-boned at an intersection. The other driver ran a red light, hitting our car on the driver's side. They said Mom was killed instantly, but I don't really know. My head hit the side window, and I was knocked unconscious."

  She'd always wondered, in her mom's last few minutes, did she think River was dying, too? That question had plagued her the worst of any. She didn't like the idea that worry for her was her mom's last thoughts.

  "That still doesn't explain why you think you're at fault."

  "We shouldn't have been out that day. Mom hadn't been feeling well, but I just had to go to Emily Tanner's birthday party. In true twelve-year-old girl fashion, I ranted and raved until she'd finally relented. Dad had been out of town, and Royal only had a learner's permit, so he couldn't drive me yet. I do know now, we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was still my selfish actions that had put us there.

  "It was Royal who'd started worrying about me first. It had been months since the accident, and I wasn't snapping out of my depression. He must have talked to Dad because one day, he came into my room, took me by the hand, and led me to the family room. Without saying a word, he turned on It's a Wonderful Life. We were both crying by its end. The movie wasn't a miracle cure, but it did help me realize wishing I'd never been born was not the right solution. And it did help me finally come to terms with what had happened." She looked over and gave him a small smirk. "Well, that and a year of therapy."

  His icy eyes roamed her face, absorbing even the tiniest change in her expression. She did the same, but his face was blank, she couldn't read what he was thinking. He leaned into her, and she rushed to add, "To this day, I watch it every holiday. It makes me feel closer to my parents. Like they're with me for a little while, even if only in my thoughts."

  He moved in closer, so their noses almost touched. "I'm going to kiss you now."

  With him so close, lost in his eyes, it took her a second to register what he'd said. Leaning back, she jerked her hand from his grasp, positioning it between them. "Wait. You can't kiss me."

  Pushing through
her ineffective barrier, he skimmed his nose lightly along her jaw, up her cheek, to her ear. "Why?"

  "Why?" The word was a breathy whoosh.

  "Mm-hmm," he hummed into her ear, his lips capturing her lobe.

  "Because...um." She really couldn't think with his teeth scraping along the edge of her ear like that.

  "Because?" He drew the word out, his warm breath sending goose bumps down her arms.

  "Wh...what was the question again?"

  His deep, throaty chuckle filled her ear. "Why can't I kiss you?"

  Right. Victoria.

  Pulling away, she scooted along the booth's seat, putting some distance between them. She needed it to keep a clear head, and it was almost impossible to do that with him so close. "I was raised by a set of codes. You don't renege on a promise or bet," she started, ticking the items off on her fingers. "You don't steal. And you don't cheat." She stressed the last word to make her point.

  "All very noble codes, but I don't see how that pertains to me kissing you."

  "Victoria Lee."

  His brow furrowed. "I don't cheat either, River. I've already told you she wasn't my girlfriend."

  "Yes, I remember your informative text."

  Her sarcasm was rewarded with a smile. "What more do you want to know?"

  "Have you slept with her?"

  "Would it matter?"

  "Yes."

  "Why?"

  She wasn't sure how to answer without sounding like a love-sick fool or a deranged stalker. She knew he wasn't a virgin. Hell, she wasn't one either. But with the unusual number of photos she'd seen him and Victoria in together, the little voice in the back of her head screamed, if he had slept with her, it would mean something more than just a random hookup. She wasn't sure why that thought bothered her so much, but right or wrong, it did.

  "River?"

  She felt her cheeks grow warm from the confession that was on the tip of her tongue and his intense stare. To avoid his gaze, she looked over his shoulder at the colorful and happy people passing by, and said, "I may have started following you in the media when I was thirteen." She felt her cheeks burn hotter and knew he could read her thoughts. "I'm only telling you this so you know I'm an authority on all things Alec Throne."