Poker Face: A Small Town Romance (The Beaufort Poker Club Book 1)

by Maggie Gates

“How ‘bout we put that to a test?” He asked with a soothing voice as he coaxed me closer and closer to another climax. I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out, and he wasn’t having that. The blunt head of his cock prodded at my entrance, and I slowly eased down onto his steeled shaft. He let out a grunted profanity and set a steady pace. “Move in.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “Move. In. With. Me,” he gritted out, punctuating each word with a snap of his hips. “No more taking it slow. This is it. You’re it.”

  “Luca—”

  He smirked and drove into me hard and fast. Stars burst into my field of vision and I thought for a second that the roof caved in. I screamed as I hit my peak. Luca’s body shuddered as he fell into his release. “I dare you, Tesoro,” he grinned against my collarbone as we caught our breath. “I dare you to give me a shot at forever.”

  Well, hell. I was a lot of things, but chickenshit wasn’t one of them.

  I dare you. They were the exact three words he had texted me in California, trying to convince me to go out on a date with a total stranger. I dare you. I needed that push. I needed someone to dare me to take a chance on myself—on someone else.

  I dare you to love, I thought to myself.

  ✽✽✽

  “Mad, wake up,” Luca whispered. I blinked my eyes a few times as they slowly adjusted to the darkness.

  Mindlessly feeling around, I pawed for my phone and looked at the time. “Babe—it’s five in the morning. You have another hour before the turkey needs to go in.” The house was still quiet, but it wouldn’t be for long. The DeRossis were an unruly bunch, and I loved it. Everyone had shown up for Thanksgiving. Air mattresses were sprawled around the living room, and every couch was occupied. The bedrooms on the second floor were packed. I had never been so thankful for our private little getaway. Family was wonderful and stressful all at the same time. Still, I was grateful. It was a good thing we were both professional chefs and had Nonna to keep us in line—we’d need it since it seemed like we were going to be feeding half of North Carolina.

  “Get up, get dressed,” he whispered. When I nestled back into my pillow, he yanked the covers off and threw my pillow across the room. “Get moving, Tesoro.”

  I tossed a few four-letter words his way before finally stumbling toward the closet. He was already pulling on his coat and sliding his feet into the pair of Ariats he’d gotten from a small store on Highway 70 when we went to Raleigh to meet with a chocolate supplier last week.

  “Where are we going?” I whined as I pulled on a thick pair of leggings and a chunky sweater. I only managed to find one of my Duck boots. Thankfully, Luca found the other one while I slipped on a pair of his socks.

  It annoyed the hell out of him that I kept a laundry basket full of unmatched socks, especially when I usually opted for just wearing his. He was anal enough to match his pairs when we were folding laundry. Those were just some of the little quirks we’d come to begrudgingly love since I moved in as soon as I got back from New York. It had been a month of intense bickering followed by raunchy make-up sex. Luca always threatened to push me up against the glass that looked out over the water just like he had that night during the hurricane. Of course, I always said no. After all, Steve was right across the bay.

  I grabbed a salt and pepper hat that my mom had knitted and shoved it over my bedhead. I ran a toothbrush over my teeth and tried to perk up my tired face with a splash of cold water. I had stayed up way too late sitting around and drinking wine with Nonna, Luca’s mom, Daniella, and Anna-Marie. “You ready?” Luca asked when he stuck his head into the bathroom.

  “You never told me why you have me up at the crack of evil on my day off,” I grumbled. “You said you’d get up and take care of the turkey, and even if you needed help, I could’ve done that in my pajamas. It’s my friggin’ house. I’ll walk around in your boxers if I damn well please.”

  Luca chuckled at my insolence and leaned in for a chaste kiss. “I love hearing you say that.”

  Sure, I missed the quirkiness of my houseboat, but I didn’t miss the precariousness of living on the water. When I moved in with Luca, I planned to keep it as a rental property for a little extra income to help pay for my mom’s care. That was before I found out that Luca had been paying for it for months.

  Months.

  That had been a fight of epic proportions. Not because I was mad, but because I was shocked. It was a burden that he had taken from my shoulders, and he did it quietly. Luca was flashy and outgoing—he had to be to maintain his level of celebrity. What I had fallen more and more in love with were the things he did in secret. The ways he showed that he cared. It was the big things like taking over the payments to Harlowe Bay Assisted Living. It was the little things like hosting The Poker Club here every Monday. Of course, he was still the reigning champ, and that was infuriating as hell. He hired a new Jane of all trades to replace Astrid. This time, she was a happily married, sixty-something year old woman who didn’t meddle and didn’t get her granny panties in a wad if Luca said he was going to lay low.

  We tiptoed around his nieces and nephews, who were still sound asleep on the floor, and snuck out to his car. I kept pestering him to find out where we were going, but the devilish gleam in his cocoa-colored eyes told me that I wasn’t finding out. We settled on talking about the new restaurant concepts that the DeRossi Hospitality Group was working on. The Griffith Brothers deal was finalized last week, and they would start breaking ground on Texas’s soon-to-be most sought-after steak destination at the beginning of the year.

  Luca pulled into the parking lot at Fort Macon and cut the car off. “Let’s go on a walk before things get loud.”

  The beach was deserted this early. Then again, it was pre-dawn on Thanksgiving Day. Not even the locals would be out. We trudged up the hill beach access and across the soft sand. I smiled as the rock jetty came into view. It was one of my favorite spots on the entire coast. It was the first place I took Luca when he finally convinced me to take a full day off just for us. He took my hand, and we started on our way out to the edge of the jagged boulders that jutted into the roaring ocean. The water was gray and ruthless, spraying us with a salty shower with each crash against the jetty. We finally made it out to the very tip, and Luca wrapped his arms around me from behind. A wave broke against the rocks at my feet, and I shrieked as ice water clung to me with a death grip.

  Luca let out a hearty laugh, but when I whipped around to nag him for laughing at my misfortune, he was down on one knee with a white box in his hands. “Madeline,” he began.

  Oh my God. He was—he was doing the thing. It was happening. Luca was—and I saw the—I clasped my freezing hands over my mouth and did my best to stay upright while my head spun.

  “Do you know why I brought you here today?”

  I gave my head a pathetic shake. I barely knew what my name was. If a cop came by and gave me a sobriety test, I would have failed miserably. Seeing Luca down on his knee rendered me completely stupid.

  “The day you first brought me here was the day that I realized that I wanted a life here—A life that included you. Tesoro, you are everything to me.” He reached up and held my hand, his thumb brushing over the knot bracelet he’d given to me the first time he took me to New York. I took it off only for work. “You’re my treasure. When I first talked to Rob about buying Revanche, he told me the history behind the name. He always liked the folklore of Blackbeard wrecking the Queen Anne’s Revenge off the coast of Beaufort. He liked the idea that treasure could be buried in the water here, so he named his restaurant revenge in French after Blackbeard’s ship.” Luca shook his head with a ridiculous smile on his face. “Thing is—the treasure isn’t in the water. It’s right here. It’s you, Maddie. It’s always been you.”

  He opened the little box, and my eyes widened when I saw the ring. “Is that—” I would recognize that ring anywhere. I spent hours staring at it as a little girl.

  Luca nodded. “It is. Your mom gav
e it to me to give to you with her blessing.”

  Tears flooded my eyes, and I sobbed into my cupped hands. “Luca—”

  “Madeline Lee Dorsey,” he grinned while he paused for dramatic effect. “Will you marry me?”

  “God, yes!” I exclaimed as he slid the ring onto my shaking finger. Luca rose to his feet and planted a hard kiss on my mouth.

  He took my hand and led me back to the car, cranking the heat up as soon as we got in. I was sea-soaked and shivering, but I didn’t care one bit. Luca reached over and popped open the glove box. “One more thing for you.”

  He handed me a letter that had my mom’s handwriting on it. “What is—”

  “I dunno. I haven’t read it. But, your mom asked me to give it to you after I proposed, so…”

  Carefully, I slid my finger along the edge and popped the envelope open. Unfolding the neatly creased paper, I began to read.

  My dear Maddie Lee,

  I may not remember much, but I remember the important things. I remember that you were seven pounds, seven ounces, and twenty-one and a half inches long when you were born. I remember that you sacrificed your dreams to come back from New York and move back in to take care of your momma. But most of all, I remember what love is.

  I remember you crying yourself to sleep after your daddy left all those years ago. I cried too. I know it probably would have made it easier on you to hate him, but hate isn’t what we’re made for.

  We’re made to love big and fierce for all the days of our lives. Sometimes people leave us and hurt us, but that doesn’t mean you lose your capacity to love. It just means they weren’t worth the love you have to give. It doesn’t make it easy, because there’s still a hole that’s missing their love in return. The ones who are worth it will stick. Sometimes they’ll leave, but they always come back.

  I pray every night that you’ll find the best kind of love—the kind that sticks when the going gets tough. Love isn’t always soft and meek. Sometimes it’s loud and knocks you down on your ass from the sheer power of it all. Love fights. It works hard. As you get older, you and your partner will grow as a people. Your love will need to grow too.

  I know that by the time you read this, I probably won’t be the momma you remember, but you’ll always be my Maddie Lee.

  All my love,

  Momma

  I leaned back in the seat, the letter falling to my lap like a leaf. Luca reached over and laced our fingers together. “You alright, Tesoro?”

  I wiped the tears away and nodded, offering a watery, “Yeah.”

  Mom had taken a turn for the worst over the last few weeks. As hard as the visits were, I didn’t have to do it alone. Luca was always right beside me. My rock.

  After a thorough make-out session in the car that had me feeling like a teenager, we got back to the house and walked straight into an engagement party. The whole place was awake, and it had me thinking that they knew what Luca had been planning all along.

  It wasn’t just Luca’s family, though. Scott, Carol, Rae, and Javier were there, along with most of the staff from the restaurant. Hannah Jane, Chase, Bridget and Kyle, Steve, Melissa, and Kristin milled around, drinking coffee, and digging into the breakfast spread that Nonna had whipped up.

  While the rest of the girls were oohing and aahing over my ring, Hannah Jane was in full wedding planner mode.

  “Happy for you, Mad,” Steve said when I caught him next to the coffee maker. “Never thought I’d say this, but I actually kinda miss you being a pain in my ass, livin’ on that damn houseboat.”

  Truthfully, I worried about Steve. He’d become somewhat of a recluse. Apart from his shifts with the Beaufort Police Department and poker night, I rarely saw him. None of us did. Luca and Chase had started working out in Steve’s garage to make sure he had some company every few days.

  That’s what we did for each other. We were like a patchwork quilt—different kinds of fabric, different shapes and colors. Some pieces older and some newer, bound together to make something beautiful.

  EPILOGUE

  ———

  LUCA

  “Where the hell did Maddie go?” Hannah Jane hissed as she grabbed the sleeve of my tux and pulled me into a corner by the DJ. I gave a polite wave to someone who was somehow related to me and, according to my mother, had warranted a wedding invitation.

  I chuckled, “You think I know where that woman went?”

  “Well, it’s almost time to cut the cake,” Hannah clipped. “Do not move from this spot until I find your wife. You two are like herding cats, and don’t even get me started on your best man.”

  Speak of the devil. Isaac strutted across the dance floor with a glass of something strong in his hand. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Hell Yes Ma’am,” he teased Hannah. She just rolled her eyes and headed off in search of Maddie. Isaac’s head spun like he needed an exorcism as he watched her walk away. Yeah, my man was totally checking her out. I should be mad about that on Maddie’s behalf since we were married now, but truth be told, Maddie and Isaac were thick as thieves—probably because they were both slightly insane.

  “So, how’s it feel to be a married man, DeRossi?” Isaac asked as he clapped his hand on my shoulder. “You gonna start wearing New Balance sneakers and getting up at seven on Saturday mornings to cut your lawn? Gonna start shopping at the GAP?”

  I chuckled and stole his glass, finishing off what little brandy he had left. “I’m married, not over the hill. Besides—you’ve gotta drive all the way to Wilmington or Raleigh to go to the GAP. Not a whole lot of shopping around here.” I didn’t mind. I still had both of my—our—places in L.A. and New York. If we wanted a taste of city life, we’d just go there.

  Isaac grimaced at my obvious adjustment to the quiet life. “Dude, I was kidding. Why the hell did you move all the way to Butt Fuck Egypt again?”

  I spotted Hannah Jane dragging Maddie across the dance floor in a cloud of white tulle. That was why—always her.

  The DJ faded whatever was playing, and Shania Twain filtered through with her sultry Let’s go girls blaring over the sound system. Maddie cheered, “It’s my song! Come on, Han! One dance with you, Bee, Kris, and Mel, and then we can do the cake.”

  “Nope,” Hannah snapped. “Mad, I love you, but you’ll thank me for this when you sober up. Time to cut the cake with your hubby.”

  I left the spot Hannah had ordered me to stay put in to help her guide a very tipsy Maddie over to the cake table. “Where was she?”

  Hannah blew a stray piece of hair out of her face and huffed, “Drinking with your grandma at the bar. Fun fact—the lady with one foot in the grave can hold her liquor better than this one.” She stabbed a finger toward Maddie, who was all too eagerly looking at the cake.

  It had taken Maddie longer to pick a cake designer than it took for her to pick a wedding dress or hell, anything else about the wedding. Finally, we decided on a kick-ass pastry chef whose cake samples made Maddie moan the way she did when we were in bed. Good to know I ranked just above cake.

  “Nonna’s so much fun,” Maddie giggled as she swayed back and forth. She let out a cute little hiccup and covered her mouth. “She may have convinced me to do a few shots.”

  Damn that woman. Nonna was a feisty one. Maybe that’s why she and Maddie got along so well. I looked around the ballroom at the Taylor Creek Inn and found her cutting up on the dance floor with Chase. Because of course she was. I couldn’t help but laugh. He waltzed around with my Nonna like she was the Queen of England. Next to Chase and Nonna, I saw Bridget and Kyle swaying back and forth. No wonder Chase was hanging out with my grandma. Still, they looked like they were having a hell of a time.

  We went through the rituals of cutting the cake and tossing the garter and the bouquet. Isaac caught the garter, and much to her dismay, Hannah Jane caught the bouquet. The DJ coerced them into a quick dance where I saw Hannah intentionally stomp on Isaac’s foot at least four times. If the two of them didn’t kill each other by t
he end of the night, it’d be a miracle.

  Things were winding down, and Maddie had miraculously sobered up. “Baby,” she whispered as we slow danced while Jon McLaughlin crooned out a love song.

  “Yeah, beautiful?”

  “Wanna get out of here?”

  “Aren’t we supposed to do that sparkler thing in a little bit?” I didn’t really know—I just caught bits and pieces here and there and showed up on time whenever Hannah Jane gave me a schedule.

  Maddie had a naughty gleam in her eye and a wicked smile on her lips. “I have my key to the restaurant with me,” she whispered.

  I decided to close Revanche for the day so that the staff could have a night off and attend the wedding. “Oh?” I said with feigned innocence. “And why do you have that with you, Mrs. DeRossi?”

  “Luca,” she soothed in my ear, nibbling on the lobe. “What if I said I wanted a preview of the honeymoon now?”

  I chuckled low and long. “You’re evil, Tesoro.” Since the first time we’d had sex in the pastry kitchen at the restaurant, we’d done it there a few more times. Okay, more than a few.

  “Please?”

  How the hell was I ever supposed to say no to her? Heaven help us when we have kids—I’ll be a goner if they look anything like Maddie. She was reckless and wild. She brought out the best in me and pushed me in a way I never knew I needed. She saw through my poker face—past the punk-ass kid who’d hit on her in the gym, and through the grumpy judge who ragged on her through an entire competition. She saw through the guy who wanted to have two different lives and somehow managed to mold them into one fulfilled future.

  I looked over her shoulder and saw Hannah shaking Isaac off her tail and prancing toward us. “You two ready for your last dance?”

  “Then we’re out of here?” I asked. Okay, so it was more of a desperate plea.

  “Then you’re out of here,” she promised before giving the DJ the signal to start our final song.

  I leaned down and whispered in Maddie’s ear, “We’ll leave and circle the block and then sneak in the back door of the restaurant.”