What the Gambler Risks

by Kristina Knight

  “I only bluff when I’m positive of the outcome.” Or when he just couldn’t resist, like last night. As a rule, he either had the cards and played them, or he folded and walked away. Sabrina was making him do things he would normally not do. He should definitely walk away. Once they were off the plane.

  Her mouth twisted to the side as she rearranged her cards. “I’m in.”

  “I’ll call,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to play the hand through.”

  “And what happens if the cards aren’t right?”

  He thought about that. When the cards weren’t right, he usually folded his hand and walked away. He didn’t want to fold these cards, not the ones in his hands, and not the cards attached to getting Sabrina’s number. He wanted to play through, and that was dangerous. It flew in the face of his cardinal rule: never let anything get out of hand.

  He had a feeling things with Sabrina Whatever-Her-Name-Was could get out of control quickly.

  But he still wanted to play it through, and that left a slick, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. The kind of feeling he hadn’t felt in more than ten years. The kind of feeling that had made him leave his family’s Las Vegas ranch for any casino with a hot poker game.

  “You either take the risk and play it through, or you walk away.”

  “And do you? Walk away, I mean?” He caught a flare of interest in her green gaze.

  “If the cards aren’t right, definitely walk away time.” He tapped his cards on the tray table, and kept his gaze steady on hers. “But these cards have potential.” He waited a beat. “I’ll up the wager, though, just to make it interesting. You tell me your secret, and I’ll tell you one of mine.”

  “Let’s turn that around, cowboy. You tell me your secret, and I might tell you mine.”

  Jase considered her words for a long moment. A little digging would reveal to her the family gambling gene and the tragic deaths of his parents. There was only one true secret in his life. His mother’s death. He had no intention of telling her that; it was too dark and too dangerous for a woman like her. He’d known her less than a day, but he didn’t think she had a dark or dangerous bone in her body. Interesting and complicated bones, maybe, but not dark or dangerous.

  He put his cards on the tray table. “Straight flush, king high, clubs.”

  Sabrina frowned at the cards in her hand and then laid them on her side of the tray. She had all hearts, with scattered numbers. “Flush. You win again.”

  Jase shuffled the cards and then placed the deck on her tray table. “My last name is Reeves. There’s one thing I haven’t told you, although I wouldn’t say it’s a secret exactly. You do want a secret, don’t you?”

  “That was the wager,” she said, and her voice seemed a little unsteady to him.

  “All right. Here’s one: I hate Las Vegas.”

  • • •

  “But you’re a gambler. Gamblers love Las Vegas.”

  He looked uncomfortable for a moment. His full lips pressed together, and she thought his fingers might have twitched before that cool, controlled veneer he wore like a second skin returned. For the hundredth time since they started this conversation, she wondered if that finger twitch thing was his tell. Then she wondered what hers was, because it couldn’t just be the lip-chewing thing Jase mentioned. A gambler would never tell his mark about her tell.

  “I already told you, I don’t gamble, I play cards.”

  Sabrina chuckled. “That’s a pretty fine line you’re walking there, Jase Reeves. You sure that’s where you want to be?” And then his name clicked. “Wait a second. Jase Reeves?” He nodded. “Reeves Brothers Entertainment. Casino games, property development, publishing?” He nodded again, as if those things were no big deal. Maybe they weren’t, not for him. For her … those eight words might as well be rearranged to spell disaster.

  Everyone in Las Vegas knew the Reeves brothers’ reputations. If one of them wasn’t making another million, one of the others was breaking off a tabloid affair with some Hollywood starlet or Vegas debutante. And she had just joined their ranks. God, she’d just joined the ranks of the debs and starlets when what she had wanted was a night of no-strings fun with a stranger she would never have to see again.

  “Gage and Connor are more hands-on than I am. As for that fine line,” he said, lifting one shoulder, “I like well-defined boundaries.” She shuffled the cards in her hand again, finding it hard to shut him out despite now knowing who he was. The man she’d spent last night with hadn’t seemed like the kind of man who jumped from one woman’s bed to another. Also, if anyone knew how wrong the tabloids could get their headlines, it was her. After all, they’d named her the Vegas Virgin and never bothered to correct the assumption.

  Jase’s deep voice cut into her thoughts. “Tit for tat. I told you mine, now you tell me yours.”

  “That wasn’t the wager. I said I might.” She dealt the cards. So she’d had a one-night stand with one of the infamous Reeves brothers; that didn’t have to spell the end of her world. Sabrina checked her cards: two of a kind. She put three down on the tray and waited for Jase. So she was playing poker with him on the plane back home; again, no big deal. It wasn’t as if anyone on the plane had taken a second look at her. Or him. Jase took two cards. She’d been watching his fingers but didn’t catch that twitch thing. Probably, the man of control didn’t have a tell. That would be her luck, and if she only lost at cards on this flight, she could live with that. It was her reputation that she wanted to remain intact.

  But, as long as her name stayed out of the headlines, what was the problem with telling her full name to the man she just spent the night with? She would simply make sure her name and his were not linked moving forward. Simple enough. It wasn't as if they ran with the same crowd of people.

  “It’s Smith,” she said reluctantly. “Sabrina Smith.”

  “Sabrina Smith.” Her name rolled off Jase’s tongue sounding much more regal than it had ever sounded coming from her. Or anyone else, for that matter. He held out his hand, and she took it, her hand looking way too small in his. Small and delicate and like it might be crushed. She shook off the thought. She wasn’t in danger of being crushed, metaphorically or literally, by Jase Reeves. “It’s nice to meet you.” Still, it was hard to deny the heat emanating from his palm or the little zing of pleasure that raced along her nerve endings while her hand was clasped in his.

  Too much like the zings of pleasure that had kept her in his bed way too long the night before. She drew her hand away.

  He turned over his cards, showing three queens, an ace, and a nine. Three of a kind. Better than the two kings and random cards she held. Sabrina pushed the cards across the tray. “You win again. I think I’ve had enough poker for one flight.” She picked up her earbuds and phone, flicking over to the white noise app she liked to listen to on flights. It was relaxing to look out the window at nothing, hearing nothing but soft waves and wind through the tiny speakers. Maybe the clouds and the white noise would help her shut out the man in the seat beside her. She didn’t want to be drawn into more card games or conversation, not when both left her feeling off-balance. Vulnerable. “Have a nice rest of your flight, non-gambler Jase Reeves.”

  He shuffled the cards in his hands while she turned her attention to the window and concentrated on the sound of a ship’s keel on rolling waves, a light breeze, and the lapping of water against a shoreline. And under all of that, the sound of shuffling cards. And under that, the soft brush of his arm against the armrest. The scent of sandalwood and leather. She closed her eyes, but behind her closed lids she could see still the competent and controlled way his hands manipulated the cards in the deck. The gentle way he held the cards while dealing. That funny twitch thing he’d done after he told her he hated Las Vegas.

  What gambler hated Las Vegas?

  She had more reason to hate the town than a gambler who was good at playing his game, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to leave for more than a week or two
at a time. From the time she left to the time she returned, she missed the sound of jets overhead, the smell of the sand in the desert, and the sight of all that neon.

  Jase Reeves made her curious. He was a poker player who insisted he wasn’t a gambler. He lived in Las Vegas, but he said he hated it. He was one-third of one of the most powerful families in town, and yet he spent more time away from the business than in it, at least according to the newspapers. He was a tall man who would definitely be more comfortable in one of the seats in the first row, yet he’d chosen to sit beside her. Most men didn’t willingly choose to take up with the woman with whom they’d just had a one-night stand. He wore brown leather boots, faded jeans, and a black T-shirt under his leather jacket, which made him look like a cowboy, but there was something about him that was definitely not cowboy like.

  Silly, silly girl, she chided herself. Interesting, Jase Reeves might be, but interesting wasn’t what she was looking for, not right now. When she decided to settle down, what she wanted was a partner, someone who understood her just as she understood him. Someone who was nice to look at, sure, but not someone who put all her nerve endings on alert when he was near. The nerve endings thing would get old after a while. She wouldn’t be able to think rationally when her base hormones were screaming at her to throw herself into the arms of the man beside her.

  Sabrina didn’t need that kind of hormonal surge; it would make her want dumb things. Like sex instead of security. Moments like those she experienced last night were fine as a one-off thing, but in the long term … She sucked in a breath as a wave of hot energy skated through her veins, making a thin film of sweat break out on her upper lip. She had watched her mother mistake things like lust for longevity too many times to repeat that pattern. Sabrina had worked too hard to get to this secure place to risk it all on a gambler, even a gambler as smart and interesting as Jase Reeves.

  She slid her gaze toward Jase’s profile. He was scrolling through his phone, his gaze intent. She wondered who he was texting and if that woman was also turning down the gorgeous gambler.

  Probably not. Sabrina refocused her gaze on the mountain range below them, briefly wondering how they’d managed to get past the Rockies already. It seemed as if she’d just gotten on the plane; she hadn’t had enough time with Jase.

  She swallowed. She shouldn’t want more time with Jase Reeves. She wanted to leave her night with Jase Reeves in the past so that it could be a fun memory. After all, Jase was part of the reason she was finally considering moving forward in her personal life. If she kept talking with him, someone who knew her or him would eventually see them, and if that happened … life as she wanted it to be would be over.

  She might hate the Vegas Virgin moniker, but her reputation as a steady, coolheaded planner was what her readers wanted. She was the woman who planned her dreams into reality, and her reputation was what kept them buying her books. Dating a man like Jase, a professional gambler and one-third of a trio of playboy brothers, could set fire to her reputation.

  The fasten-seatbelt light flashed back on as the captain’s voice sounded over the loudspeaker. They would be landing soon. His words should have been a relief to her, and yet she didn’t think she wanted the plane to land. It was nice being up here, unable to take phone calls or answer emails. Just her and the clouds and the white noise.

  And the contradictory man sitting beside her.

  “I have a car service picking me up once we land. If you need a ride,” he said, his voice startling her through the sounds of the creaking ship and the wind.

  The captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker again, telling the passengers to put their tray tables and seats in the upright position.

  “I left my car in long-term parking,” she said. “But thank you anyway.”

  A few minutes later, the plane taxied to the gate, and Sabrina switched her phone out of airplane mode as she began gathering her things. She didn’t bother to hurry; passengers always jockeyed for position on Vegas flights. Soon, the last passengers were filing into the gangway, but still Jase sat beside her in their row.

  “We could grab a cup of coffee in one of the lounges.”

  Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I think that must be your favorite line.”

  “What?”

  “The ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea’ thing. You fall back on it a lot.” Jase stepped into the aisle but waved Sabrina in front of him instead of just walking away. His interest in having coffee or drinks or dinner or whatever was beginning to wear thin. Sabrina wasn’t conceited, but she knew men turned their heads when she walked by—still, there had to be some other reason a man like Jase Reeves was so interested in her. It didn’t make sense.

  She stepped into the aisle and began walking. He caught up to her quickly. Damn his long legs.

  “Desperation doesn’t suit you,” she said, but before she could get farther, her phone rang. “Feel free to catch your car service. I won’t be seeing you around.” She tapped the screen to take the call. It was her mother. Damn it, why hadn’t she read the caller ID?

  Melinda Smith had always had bad timing. Although, since Sabrina wanted Jase to leave her alone, this might be good timing.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “How many times have I asked you to call me Melinda? And why didn’t you call me when your plane landed?”

  She ignored the first question. Melinda had never been fond of the “mom” moniker, but even though she didn’t act much like a mother, Sabrina couldn’t bring herself to call her by her given name. It was just weird. “The plane only landed ten minutes ago.”

  “And I’ve been waiting since I got the text alert that the plane was down.”

  “Not down, landed.” The crowd in the airport was noisy, so Sabrina closed one ear with her finger while she listened to her mother. “Down means crashed.”

  “For all I knew, it had crashed.”

  “If it crashed—” Sabrina stopped herself. It was no use arguing with Melinda, especially not on the telephone in a crowded airport. “What did you need?”

  “The first flight out of Cozumel, for starters.”

  Sabrina winced. “Lorenzo wasn’t the knight in swim trunks you thought he’d be?”

  Melinda scoffed. “With my luck? I’m just glad he didn’t turn out to be a serial killer.”

  “Mom, maybe it’s time you lay off the running off with a stranger thing.”

  And just like that Melinda's demeanor changed. The scoffing tone was gone and near-hysterical sobs filled the phone line. Sabrina clenched the phone tighter, reminding herself to take a deep breath before saying another word. Melinda had had her heart broken too many times to count, but every time, it was as if it had never happened before. As if no other man had sweet-talked her out of Las Vegas and into Mexico or Paris or a one-stoplight town in Montana. Every time, it was Sabrina who picked up the pieces.

  “I thought he was different. I thought he was the one.” She sobbed over the phone.

  Sabrina sighed. Her mother had been looking for The One since before Sabrina was born. Her father was Melinda’s fourth The One. He’d put up with her for just over a month before he kicked her out of his San Diego condo. She hadn’t known she was pregnant until the fifth The One told her she was getting too fat and bought her a plane ticket back to Las Vegas. That was at least twenty The Ones ago.

  “Mom, you’re never going to find the one until you start respecting yourself enough not to go home with every guy who offers you a $10 chip as a tip.” She made her way to a quiet alcove, trying to ignore the fact that she’d gone to the hotel room of just such a guy the night before. Sabrina glanced over her shoulder. Jase Reeves stood behind her, at a discreet distance, but close enough that he’d probably figured out what was going on. “I need to get my car out of the lot. Once I’m home, I’ll get you on the next flight.”

  “I can’t stay here another minute, Sabby, I just can’t. There are so many mem
ories.” Her voice wailed on the last word, drawing it out into five syllables. “He kissed me under that trellis over there, and we held hands all the way down the concourse behind me, and his driver called me ma’am from the second we stepped onto the sidewalk.” Her voice caught on another sob. “We didn’t even wait for the luggage. He just tipped that tall, black man at the SkyHop booth to get it for us; that way we didn’t have to wait to get hooome. He was the one, Sab, and I messed it up. I just want to come back to Las Vegas and forget I ever met Lorenzo de Palmas of Cozumel, Mexico.” Sabrina heard more sobs over the line. “Please, I just want to get out of here.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you back in—”

  “No! Don’t hang up on me, I don’t want to be alone.” Melinda’s voice sounded desperate. “I don’t understand the language, it’s all gibberish, and it’s so loud—”

  “Fine. Fine.” Before her mother could really get going, Sabrina cut her off. “Let me pull up the airline app.” She hit a few buttons on her phone, putting the call on speaker as she began scrolling through the app. Melinda talked about Lorenzo with the usual combination of contempt and devastation. “Everything’s booked until tomorrow, Mom.”

  “Don’t call me that,” Melinda ordered, her voice sharp over the phone. Sabrina clenched her jaw. “I need to get out of here before I lose my mind.”

  Strong hands took the leather notebook Sabrina was juggling with the phone. “You looked like you could use a hand.”

  She shot Jase a look and put the notebook under her arm. “No, thank you. I don’t want to have coffee or dinner, and I don’t need you holding my notebook while I’m on the phone.”

  “Sabrina.” Her mother’s voice was tinny over the phone. “Sabrina, are you listening to me? I said I can’t stay here. It’s too much.”

  “I’ll get you on the first flight out tomorrow, and I’ll call the airport hotel for tonight.”

  Sobs, gut-wrenching and loud, came over the phone line.

  “She seems pretty upset.” Jase's voice was an ocean of calm in the middle of the teaming airport, and with her mother's broken-hearted sobs echoing out of the cell phone.