The woman lifted a brow. “Well?”
She was waiting for an actual answer about Will’s dick. I tilted my beer toward his junk. “I’ve seen it. His dick’s pretty sad.”
“Fuck off,” Will said. “I’m a grower, not a show-er.”
The woman looked at me. She wasn’t smiling, but I could see it lurking at the corner of her lips and in the sparkle in her eyes. She tilted her head. “And how’s your dick?”
I shrugged. “Spectacular. You want to see it?”
Her smile peeked through. “Maybe later. I’ll take all your money first.”
I might’ve been willing to hand my wallet to this girl right now, if that was all it was going to take. She had fire red hair, pale skin, and a few freckles on her perky little nose. Not to mention, the green tank top she had on made it impossible to not stare.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said. “Except I’m pretty sure I’ll be the one taking the money tonight.”
Her smile widened. “Would you like to wager on that?”
“You want to bet you’re going to be the big winner tonight even though we haven’t dealt the first hand of cards?”
“Yep.”
“Shouldn’t you at least wait to see how the people you’re up against play?”
“Nope. If we wait that long, you won’t make the bet…”
“Because you’re that good?”
She rolled her eyes. “Do we have a bet or not?”
“Sure. Why not? How much we betting?”
“A hundred bucks?”
My buddies whistled. We only played with fifty bucks each, sometimes less if someone was broke. But I worked and had plenty of money. Besides, I could only count a handful of nights when I’d lost big. More times than not, I was the winner. I was good at cards, because cards were essentially numbers. And I was even better at numbers. Though I didn’t want her money.
I rubbed my bottom lip with my thumb. “I’ll give you the hundred if you win. But if I win, I want a kiss.”
Amelia’s eyes sparkled. “Deal. Let’s play.”
? ? ?
Two hours later, I sat back in my chair and dragged a hand through my hair. Travis and Will had tossed their cards on the table and gone out back to smoke a joint. “How the hell did you learn to play like that?” I asked.
We’d played Texas Hold ’Em, Five-Card Draw, Crazy Eights, and even Sevens Take All, and Amelia had won almost every single hand.
She leaned forward to rake the last of the pot to her side of the table. “My father loved to play. He taught me how to count cards when I was four, and I’m good at reading people.”
“You count cards? That’s cheating.”
“No, it’s not. It’s using your brain to get an advantage. Cheating is when you hide a few aces under the table and give yourself a winning hand. Or when you help yourself to a view of another player’s cards.”
“But you didn’t mention that you could count cards before we started.”
She shrugged. “I told you I was good at cards and was going to take your money. You didn’t believe me.” Amelia held out her hand, palm up. “By the way, I’ll take my hundred dollars now.”
I shook my head as I dug into my pocket. “I should at least get the kiss I bet since you already fucked me.”
“You didn’t earn it.”