I narrowed my eyes, studying him. “You don’t want her to leave, do you?”
And Ward gave me grief about Bailey. This dude.
“What?” Dallas made a face, but he was a terrible actor. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be glad to have my space back and all that…” He gestured vaguely around the room, which did precisely nothing to help sell his lie.
“You do realize the places they’re looking at are only, like, ten minutes away, right?”
At this point, I was stoked about spending time at Bailey’s place someday. Not being public enemy number one in her home would be great.
“Yeah, I know.”
Ty strolled over, amber beer bottle in hand. “Enough gossip, bitches. Are we playing poker or what? Davis and Fitz are in too.”
“You want to get taken to the cleaners again?” I asked. “It’s like you two never learn.”
Not that I should complain. A little extra pocket money never hurt. And they made it so damn easy.
“You got lucky,” Dallas grumbled.
I cocked a brow. “The last five times?” Standing up, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet.
Ty held out his free hand, beckoning for the buy-in money. “Put up or shut up.”
Many hands later, it was down to Fitz, one of our senior defensemen, and me. He wasn’t a bad poker player, though not quite as good as he believed. He played in tournaments recreationally, which gave him an inflated sense of confidence.
And made him the perfect mark.
Ty dealt the final card. The river gave me the nine of spades I’d desperately needed.
Beauty.
“Call.” Fitz raked a hand through his copper hair—his tell. He had something, just not something big enough to beat me.
“Flip ’em,” I said, nodding at his hand.
Fitz turned over his cards to reveal a full house: three eights and two kings. Not bad.
Then I flipped my cards over, displaying a straight flush in all its glory: a nine, ten, jack, queen, and king of spades.
Fitz’s eyes bulged, and he slapped the round tabletop. His face reddened beneath his freckles, and he made a fist, pounding his thigh beneath the table.
“Dammit, Carter!”
“Bullshit,” Dallas muttered. “Did you have those up your sleeve or what?”
Ty cleared his throat. “Ahem, the dealer is right here, jackass, and that shit wouldn’t fly at my table. I have fucking eyes.”
“What?” I shrugged, pushing the cards over to Tyler to put away. “You thought I was bluffing?”
Fitz gestured with the neck of his beer, still baffled. “You went in big on a pair of twos a few hands ago.”
“All a part of the game, my friend.”
That pot had been small, the payoff huge. Because it made Fitz think I was a reckless idiot, which was why he went all-in against me just now.
I ended the night two hundred dollars richer. Can’t say I didn’t warn them.
OceanofPDF.com
CHAPTER 28
OceanofPDF.com
DOUBLE DATE
Chase
The bus ride home felt like days.
When I walked in, Bailey was curled up on the living room sectional with her silver laptop propped up beside her. She looked adorable wearing black leggings paired with my white Falcons hoodie. Definitely an added perk to coming home.
Her hazel eyes lit up when they landed on me. “Hi, stranger.”
She closed her computer and stood to greet me as I rounded the couch. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I ducked my head to kiss her. Her warm vanilla scent surrounded me, always smelling vaguely like a cookie or something equally delicious that I wanted to devour—literally.
Her lips parted, and our mouths slanted, deepening the kiss. She drew in a soft breath, arms sliding to rest on my shoulders. My hands smoothed down her ribcage, past her hips, cupping her perfect ass. And instantly, I got hard. Maybe I should have done this somewhere else, because I was getting way too turned on in the middle of the living room.
The front door swung open, and Dallas barged in like a goddamn rhinoceros. “Don’t mind me,” he called, clomping by. For someone so graceful on the ice, he had lead feet at home. “Just going to find Shiv.”
Mood-killer.
“Sorry we ran late,” I said, tracing her jawline with my finger. “Some of the guys took forever to get their act together and check out from the hotel after the game.”
She blinked slowly, lips forming a little smile. “It’s okay.”
“C’mere.” I threw an arm around her, tugging her onto the couch with me. Bailey flopped down beside me, exhaling with a sigh and shifting ninety degrees so her long legs draped across my lap.
I scanned her face and let my gaze drift down to her torso, clad in my gray sweatshirt. It was a little oversized on her, but in the most perfect way. And I knew the curves beneath it were phenomenal.
I wanted to throw her down on the couch and ravage her. But I didn’t want her to think that was the only thing I was interested in, especially after a few days apart, so I held off.
Our gazes met again, and it felt like coming home; being with her felt like home.
“What were you working on?” I asked.
“Well…” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip. “I was reading an internship posting Zara sent me.”
“With what company?”
She was playing coy for reasons I couldn’t quite discern.
“Penalty Box Online.” She grabbed her laptop, turning it to face me.
I skimmed the description and the requirements.
“James.” I glanced up at her. “This sounds perfect. You’re going to apply, right?”
She made a little noncommittal sound and did a half shrug, dropping her gaze. “We’ll see. I’m not sure I’m qualified.”
I studied the description of the internship again. “Babe, it sounds like they created this for you.”
She rolled in her lips like she wanted to argue but didn’t. I hated that she thought so little of herself and her abilities sometimes. I hated the reason why even more. Fucking Morrison.
“Don’t self reject,” I told her. “You’ve got nothing to lose by applying.”
“Yeah.” Her gaze turned distant for a beat, and she nodded. “You’re right. I’ll do what you would do. Assume I’m awesome and that everything will work out.”
“Exactly. You’re going to stay over Wednesday, right?” I flashed her a crooked grin, one that almost always got me to yes.
“Yeah, I can.” She smiled, suddenly shy. “I’ll get some of that stuff done early. And I don’t have class until ten on Thursday. Unless you need to be up early.”
“I have dryland that morning, but I can come back after. I should be home around eight.” Crawling back into my bed to find James in it was my literal idea of heaven.
“That works,” Bailey said. “I still have a group project to deal with tonight anyway. We’re having issues between group members, and I have to play mediator.” She rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of annoyance that was more cute than angry.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her really angry. Irritated, yes. But never losing her temper. It was probably inevitable with my dumb ass, though.