by Odell, Roxie
“We will, sir, right away.”
He regrouped, showered in the gym locker room, and headed back to the elevator to return to his room. He figured he’d take his mind off things by doing a little work and searching real estate ads. Now that Corrine was out of the picture, he was considering reclaiming his position at the Los Angeles hotel, though he hadn’t made any final decisions yet.
He got as far as the lobby when the front desk clerk flagged him down. “Mr. Quinn!” she shouted.
“What is it?” he responded anxiously.
“There’s a woman in the conference room. She says she knows you.”
He had the sense he was being played with, and he was really not in the mood. Derrick stormed across the lobby and barged into the conference room, ready to let someone have it.
There, sitting at the huge table and looking quite small as she gazed up at the cathedral ceilings, was Corrine. “Hey,” she said. “Sorry for hanging up on you.”
“That was you?” he asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance. He was certain it was her all along, but he certainly didn’t want her to know that, and he certainly didn’t want to admit to himself that he was still dying to see her.
“Yeah, I just… I sent the concierge to find you, but then I guess I just lost my nerve.”
Derrick gritted his teeth. “No worries. I thought maybe it was Lindsay.”
“Your ex-wife?” she asked, arching her brows as if she was offended.
Only once before had Derrick and Corrine had an argument that sent them going their separate ways. There was a fieriness in their relationship, an all-or-nothing factor to it. They were either glued at the hip or pushing each other away. They didn’t have a loud blow-up back then, but they had hurled lightning bolts at each other just the same.
Annoyance and frustration quickly consumed him. Each time he had seen her after they took breaks, even for just a couple of hours, Derrick had been thrilled, almost relieved. He didn’t experience that this time, and that made him wonder if something had changed for him or within him. Suddenly, especially with just the two of them sitting in that vast conference room, he felt like they were worlds apart.
Corrine looked around the room as if she was trying to formulate her thoughts and carefully choose her words. “How have you been these past couple weeks?” she asked.
Derrick was wondering the same thing about her. She looked a little thin, and there was a layer of foundation on her face, more makeup than he’d ever seen her apply before. It was clear that the separation had been tough on her, too, and he felt his insides begin to thaw at the thought. “I’ve been okay,” he lied.
“What happened, Derrick?” she asked. “One minute, we were hot and heavy, and the next, we were nothing. I’ve been trying to figure all of this out, which has made me crazy.”
She had been acting out of character for sure, which was partially his fault. He should have been straight forward with her. Now was his chance.
Derrick took in the awful truth, something he’d never had the desire to say out loud to her before. For whatever reason, he didn’t have the nerve to tell her. They had shared so much intimacy, but there were too many unspoken things between them, and he knew it was time to talk about it, even if he wasn’t quite sure he still wanted to be with her.
There was no glitzy atmosphere, no cocktail waitress to interrupt them, and they were both sober and out of bed, fully clothed. They were in a cold, unromantic conference room, the place where business deals were made and lost, and there was plenty of distance between them, literal and otherwise. If he was going to lay it on the table, it was the best place to do it.
“I wanted something more,” he admitted. “But you always made it clear that it was just an affair.”
Corrine’s face puckered up as if he had pulled a string and gathered it, and then she burst into tears. “You said that, too, that it was an affair,” she blubbered. “I’ve been driving myself nuts over what the hell was happening between us.”
“I know. Me too. We started as an affair of sorts, but it moved away from that so fast.” He took a sharp breath.
“I know,” she said through her bitter tears. “I was there.”
“I just got divorced, and you just got out of your relationship,” he said.
“Not just,” she said, quick to correct him. “My relationship was over almost six months before I met you, and now it’s been even longer.” She sniffled.
He chuckled softly. “Okay, but we were both still on the rebound.”
“We really weren’t, Derrick. We didn’t just move from our relationships to another just like it. What we had didn’t even compare to what we walked away from.”
Corrine’s words anchored in the pit of his stomach, and he knew she was right. He suddenly regretted waiting so long to have that conversation. When his mind told him it was over between them, it went about shutting the rest of that off for him, too. It was probably too late, and their moment had already passed.
“Please don’t turn me into a woman who begs, Derrick Quinn,” she said.
Derrick didn’t know, and he was utterly confused. For the longest time, she was a powerful force in his life, the most driving force he’d ever known. Even as recently as that very morning, when he was absent from her, she filled his head with longing. Now that she was sitting right before him, he didn’t seem to be feeling it anymore. “I wouldn’t do that, but I’m not sure what I want right now. I honestly don’t think you know what you want either.”
She quickly rose from the table and snatched her purse up to tuck it under her arm. “Obviously, this was a dumb idea,” she said with finality.
He stood. “It wasn’t, but the way you acted in LA has me trying to figure out what the hell to do. I’m still trying to figure out how a sunburn could cause a person to react the way you did.”
Corrine stomped her foot on the floor, visibly struggling for restraint. “I told you what was going on in my head.”
“Right. Then you just left without a word,” he said, feeling furious about it all over again.
“I admit I kind of lost my mind out there, but you told me I could go home if it would make me feel more comfortable,” she protested. “I thought that was what you wanted.”
“Let’s get back to the losing-your-mind part,” he said.
“I don’t know, Derrick. Maybe I got dehydrated. Maybe it was sun poisoning. I’m sorry I acted like an ass, but I would have stopped it if I could have! What did you want from me anyway?”
“What I wanted really didn’t play into our arrangement,” he said acidly.
“See, that’s just it,” she replied in kind. “It was just an arrangement.”
“Right, so why are you here?” he asked bluntly.
“Because I missed you,” she snapped.
“Okay,” he said as if he wasn’t moved, even though he was screaming inside. He could hardly handle seeing her again because it kicked up so much emotion, yet she’d just made it clear that they had nothing more than an arrangement.
“Where are you going?” he asked as she hurried to the door.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said.
“So this is how you want to end things?” he asked. “Let’s at least be civil.”
“Fine,” she said, turning back to offer her hand to him for a shake. “Is this civil enough for you?”
“Yeah,” he lied, furious that they were fighting once again. Then, once again, she walked out of his life, and he didn’t bother to chase her. She liked playing games, and that used to make him feel alive, like the man he wanted to be, but he’d grown weary of it. His marriage had taught him that there was a point of breakdown when things could no longer be remedied, and he didn’t see any point in stopping her.
For the rest of the day, Derrick ditched his house-hunting and buried himself in work, trying to take his mind off of all things Corrine.
Midday, the same concierge came to find him.
“For shit’s
sake, what is it now?” Derrick snapped.
“It’s your girlfriend, sir,” the young man said.
“I don’t have a…” He stopped and rolled his eyes.
“She’s betting like a crazy person, about to lose her shirt,” said the concierge. “I just thought you might want to intervene.
“Damn it,” he said, then got up from his desk and marched into the bar and casino area. He contemplated buying a drink or six, but he knew that wouldn’t be good if he was going to have to babysit Corrine.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded when he spotted her at a blackjack table.
“I am playing cards, something adults do,” she snipped.
He watched her make a few moves and saw that she was deliberately sabotaging herself. “Knock it off. What are you trying to prove?”
Suddenly, that same old glint traveled into her eye, the one she always got when they were about to drum up some delicious mischief together.
Derrick could only roll his eyes, not sure how much more of it he could take.
“We’re in Vegas,” she scoffed with a smile. “Gambling is what people do. You know, take risks on things?”
“I can see that, but I understand you’ve been dropping some rather large sums of money. If you don’t stop, I’ll have you cut off.”
“I tell you what,” she said. “If you play with me, I’ll bet against you and not the house. It doesn’t even have to involve money.” She smirked like the devil himself, like the temptress she was.
The chemistry between them pulled at him like the universe’s strongest magnet. He didn’t consciously want her because he was well protected by a thick wall of anger, but he could feel himself being drawn right through it. Even so, he said firmly, “No, Corrine.”
“Well,” she said. “I’m not breaking any laws, and you have no basis for tossing me. You know that, don’t you, Mr. Quinn? As a lawyer, I mean. Do it, and I’ll sue.” With that, she squared back up to the card table to resume her game.
The dealer looked at Derrick and shrugged, as if asking for official permission to proceed, and the other players at the table were quickly growing impatient.
“Are we playin’ or not?” asked a man sitting next to Corrine, a man in a cowboy hat far bigger than his head and an ugly bolo tie that wouldn’t have been in style even in Texas.
“She’s not,” said Derrick. “If you are, good luck.”
“Whatever ya say, buddy,” the cowboy said, then turned to the dealer. “Go on with it, kid, and prepare to bust!”
Derrick took Corrine by the hand to draw her away from the table, but she locked her legs and would not budge. “I’m not playing, Corrine,” he said, his rage growing.
“I am!” she said, looking him straight in the eye. “Just one game isn’t too much to ask.”
Derrick shook his head fiercely. He was not prepared for her nonsense, and he wanted to neatly pack it up and put it away. Knowing how stubborn she was, though, he finally relented. “Gimme a pack of cards, man,” he said to the dealer. He didn’t even look at Corrine directly, but he could see out of the corner of his eye that she was smiling, happy about the turn of events, which made it all the more exasperating for him. Still holding her hand, he led her away from the gaming area.
Once they were away from the bustle of the casino and deeper into the hotel, she stopped. “Where are we going?” she asked, grinning.
Derrick scowled at her on the outside, but inside, he felt a cyclone brewing, a tornado of turmoil infused with desire for her. “Just how much did you lose back there?” he demanded.
“That’s none of your business,” she said.
He knew all too well that she meant it. He could easily find out, but it wouldn’t be from her, so he figured he might as well give her what she wanted and send her on her way. “One hand,” he said. “I have no idea why I’m doing this, but I’ll give you one hand.”
“No,” she said. “I either play with you in a private game, or I go back to the table. Not one hand. You’re wasting my time.”
“And where should we play this private game?” he asked. “Conference room?”
She said nothing and only shrugged, but halfway to the conference room, she took the lead and took them in another direction, toward the elevator.
“We’re not playing in my room, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he protested.
“No,” she said, smiling from ear to ear. “We’ll use mine.”
“Damn it, Corrine,” he argued. “We’re not going to anyone’s room. In fact, I’ve changed my mind. No more games of any kind… ever.”
“Fine, Derrick Quinn,” she proclaimed, then released his hand and marched toward the casino.
“You’re cut off!” he yelled.
“I’ll just go somewhere else. You can’t stop me everywhere. You’re only king of the castle in the Tresor!”
“Just check out before you do,” he said sharply.
“Really?” she asked. “You’re giving me the boot altogether?”
“Yes, Corrine, I think that would be best,” he replied, unable to stop himself from sulking and making a total ass of himself.
“If you want me out of here, you’re gonna have to play me for it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Again with the games? Really?”
“Yep. We play, and if I win, I stay. If you win, I go. Oh, and when I win, by the way, we have to play another hand.”
“One hand,” he reiterated. “And then you go.”
“Fine,” she said. “And we’ll do it in your boring old conference room if you want.”
“Thank you. Now let’s get this over with,” he said.
As she led the way, he wondered if she knew how painful it was for him to be around her. It was nothing like being around Lindsay. Any proximity to Corrine was brutal because she brought so many raw emotions to the forefront. Not only that, but even her walk practically killed him. The way she sashayed her perfect hips was a temptation all their own.
Could she get more magnificent? God, the things that woman can do to a humble tank dress. He suddenly realized that it was almost too hard and square of a name, tank, for such a graceful work of art. Corrine’s body was long and lanky and moved with fluidity. The fabric hugged her body, especially her backside, and Derrick bore witness to every flex and muscular squeeze. He would have bitten his knuckle to help him endure it, but she no doubt would have caught him in the shiny reflection of the floor or the furnishings or all those windows.
They closed the door behind them and pulled up chairs. They had to sit side by side since the table was so enormous. As such, it was purely accidental, but she grazed his knees with her perfectly bare ones, buffed with lotion that had fine wax in it. She looked sleek and well put together, as always, and she smelled amazing, with just a hint of scent that sent his head reeling to the moon. For a moment, he regretted that he’d never taken the time to ask what kind of perfume she wore, but that didn’t matter now. Whatever it was, it was slightly sweet but not sickeningly so, and soft and colorful in a way that made him think of summer.
Derrick pulled out the new deck of cards, zipped the seal off, and laid them on the end of the table like a dealer would.
Corrine nodded and cut the cards.
“Do you want to deal, or shall I?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, hesitating. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. You do it. I don’t want to be accused of cheating later.”
Corrine raised her eyebrows and picked up the cards, but she said nothing.
Derrick knew he had hurt her, and in turn, that hurt him. Not at all proud of himself, he asked in a much gentler tone, “What are we playing?”
“We can just do blackjack, since this is such a pain in the ass for you,” she said.
It wasn’t all that common for Corrine to use bad language, and that only made him feel like more of a heel.
Corrine wasn’t an awesome dealer, but she d
id all right, considering that he hadn’t asked her if she even knew how. She had the worst but most adorable poker face he’d ever seen, and as Derrick looked at her, his anger melted away. He could not tell by the showing card whether she had a good or bad hand, but from the looks of it, neither could she. She kept lifting and looking, stopping and thinking, and stress crossed her beautiful face.
He was good where he was, and he already knew what the best bet would be. If she wins, she stays. If I win, she leaves. Suddenly, he wasn’t sure he really wanted to collect that prize. Knowing it wasn’t going to get any easier the longer they waited, he sat up straight in his chair, prepared to end it. “Shall I go first?” he asked.
“Don’t you want another card or something?” she asked.
“Do you?” he asked politely. “Take one if you like.”
It was painful to watch the expression on her face twist with sadness. He had sucked all the fun out of it, and she was giving up, something Corrine was not at all used to.
“Nah, that’s fine. I lost already.” She put her cards down and got up from her chair.
Just a few short weeks earlier, he would have wrapped his powerful fingers around her slender waist and drawn her onto his lap, but they weren’t in that place anymore. This time, he had to let her go. For as long as he could stand it, he waited behind to give her time and space.
When she figured out that he was tailing her, even from a distance, she spazzed and turned around to glare at him. “Go away!” she insisted. “You won fair and square, and I’m outta here.” She quickly cut away from him, heading straight for the glass elevator.
He was compelled to jump aboard with her, so he scrambled through just as the doors closed.
Inside the car, she was a combustible mixture of outrage and fear. She was still nervous in the elevator, so that stilled her a bit. Her usual move would have been to jump into his arms when she was fearful, but that was clearly off the table.
Derrick reached over and pushed the button to stop the car.
“I asked you not to do that,” she hissed.
