Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
CHARLOTTE
“A game,” I repeat slowly.
He looks around the lobby. For a moment, I suspect he’s going to flag down a waiter, but he just makes eye contact with one instead. Nods his head a little. “Yes. A bit of friendly… betting.”
“You can’t be serious.” Embarrassment and irritation make my words come out sharper than I intended.
“Why not? This makes the evening more interesting.” His lips tip up in a half smile, and it makes him even more handsome. “Have you eaten?”
I shake my head mutely.
“We can start with that.” The waiter arrives with menus and the man orders a bourbon. He looks at me.
A punch of fear hits me, right below the breastbone, accompanied by adrenaline. It makes everything feel sweeter. “A glass of red wine, please.”
I look at him over the edge of my menu. Noticing the thick black hair and the straight eyebrows. His beard looks good, and his face has a light tan, the look of someone who’s spent a good week outdoors.
He’s large. A few inches taller than me. Broad across the shoulders, something that’s emphasized by his leather jacket. I suddenly feel acutely aware of that. Just like the fact that he saw me naked only a while ago.
Pleasuring myself.
I should win an award just for having a normal conversation with this man, without blushing or racing out of the room.
He’s looking at his own menu. “I don’t know your name,” he says without lifting his eyes.
I hesitate only for a moment. “Charlotte.”
“Charlotte,” he repeats. “ Chaos fits you, then.”
“That’s not my nickname.”
A smile plays at the corner of his lips. “Sure it’s not.”
I want to roll my eyes; it’s with a valiant effort that I manage to resist. I’m sure I’ve sprained something in the effort. “What’s your name?”
“Aiden.”
The waiter returns with our drinks. I hold my wineglass against my chest like it’s a shield. “You want us to play a game for the room?”
“Why not? We’re going to have to settle this somehow.”
“I’m not giving up my room,” I say.
“Neither am I.”
I narrow my eyes. “What kind of game are you proposing?”
He leans back in his chair and looks around. Other guests are eating in the dining room, and, outside the large windows, the world is pitch-black. The great mountains of Zion are standing silent guard, hidden beneath the blanket of darkness.
“We’re limited on options,” he says. “But there should be a deck of cards around here. I don’t suppose you know how to play blackjack?”
I make sure to keep a smile off my face. Pinch my face a little, as if I’m concerned. “I’ve played it a few times. It’s pretty simple.”
He nods and reaches for his drink. “We’ll play a few rounds. Winner gets the room.”
I reach for my drink and, very deliberately, take a sip. Just like him. Can’t drive anywhere now.
“Winner gets the room,” I agree.
We order food and Aiden somehow finds a deck of cards. It lies innocent between our plates as we eat.
I do my best to seem slightly confused about the rules and ask him to explain them in detail.
“Okay, I’ve got it. This will be fun.” I look up at him through my lashes. I’ve been taught well. You never play your opponent—you always play the odds.
A strange sort of excitement takes root. The unexpected. The adventure. It’s what I’ve been chasing for years. Never knew it would come in this form and after one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, but here we are. You play the hand you’re dealt.
Aiden has a thick watch on his left hand that seems expensive and hiking boots on his feet. The leather jacket looks fine, but worn.
“You’re studying me,” he says, cutting into the last part of his steak. “Good tactic.”
I reach for my wine. Look at the dark-red liquid rather than at him. “You’ve seen a whole lot of me today, so I think it’s only fair.”
His movements pause, and that smile tugs at his lips again. That almost-smile. “Valid point. I didn’t look for very long, though.”
“But you saw more. So it’s justified.”
He nods, and that curved smile widens. “Another fair point. Any questions?”
“What are you here for?”
He takes a moment to answer, like the question is a hard one. Then, he lifts a shoulder in a single shrug. “I’m hiking. Wanted to go somewhere without people. Get away from the… noise.”
“This resort can’t be to your liking, then.”
“No, it’s rather crowded. I still prefer the room to sleeping outdoors, though,” he says.
I put my cutlery down, finished. If I don’t win this game, I’ll have to sleep in my car. It’s always a possibility. But the wine has taken hold, settled around the edges of my mind, and with it my drive to win.
He had embarrassed me earlier.
Let me try to embarrass him.
The plates are cleared. “Another bourbon,” Aiden tells the waiter. He glances at me. “And for the lady… Another glass of wine?”
I nod. “Yes, please.”
Aiden cracks open the deck of cards. It looks unused, and he shuffles the cards with more ease than I would have expected from a man with hands that large.
He has no accent that would place him clearly from a certain area of the country. No distinguishing features that lean toward either coast.
He’s likely my age. Around twenty-nine, but maybe a bit older. No more than thirty-five, I think. “You’re studying me again,” he says even as he deals the cards.
“I thought that was an essential part of poker.”
“It certainly helps.”
“How many rounds do we play?”
“Let’s say… best of five. Might take a while.” His eyes narrow, and there’s a thrill of competition in them that sends energy surging through me. “I hope you don’t have somewhere to be.”
I reach for my cards. “I do. I just need to win access to it first.”
He grins and reaches for his own cards.
The first game takes longer than I’d expected. He’s a confident, forceful player, but not stupid. He doesn’t make silly mistakes.
I make one, right off the bat. Risking it when I already have sixteen.
There’s no need to clue him into my past. Or that I just spent four months working with the world champion of online poker, helping him pen his memoir. I recently left him in Chicago after turning in the second draft of the book.
Sure, blackjack is much simpler. No chips. Closest to twenty-one wins. But you still have to bet with the odds.
Aiden wins the first round. I shake my head. “Damn.”
“The night is young,” he says.
The people around us clearly feel differently. They have been dropping off—table after table—wrapping up their dinners. Unprompted, the waiter comes by with a bowl of nuts for us and silently pours Aiden another bourbon. I’m still on my second glass of wine.
“Maybe we should up the stakes a little,” I say. It’s my time to deal this time, and the emotions have made me brave. I feel like someone else, someone who knows how to have these kinds of conversations and say these kinds of things.
Aiden raises an eyebrow. “Oh? What are you thinking.”
“I know nothing about you,” I say. “I think it’s only fair that the winner of a round also gets to… ask a question of their choice. And the other person has to answer.”
“Do you want to get to know me, Chaos?”
“That’s the stupidest nickname.”
That half smile flashes again. “Is it? Because that’s exactly what you are. But I’m game. Your turn to deal.”
We play in concentrated silence. It’s not an easy one. The air is taut between us, and I notice every move he makes. The curl of his hand around his tumbler. The shift of his long legs under the table, one of them brushing my calf.
He doesn’t feel like a typical hiker.
Plenty of tells to give him away. His boots are well used and top-of-the-line. Expensive. But his pants look new, and his leather jacket is absolutely nothing a hiker would choose.
A study in contrasts.
He looks at his cards. “So. Where are you headed?”
“LA.”
His eyebrows lift. “LA, huh? Big city compared to this place.”
“Yes. Have you ever been?”
His lips quirk. “Once or twice, yeah.”
“Me, too, but only for short trips. I’m looking forward to being there longer and actually exploring more of the city. Seeing the sights.”
He nods and reaches for another card. “There’s lots to do.”
“Mm-hmm.” We play in silence for another round. This one goes faster than the previous one, and by the end, he’s groaning when he busts through 21. I win with just a measly 14.
“I didn’t think you’d get that one,” he says.
I take a sip out of my wine and meet his gaze. “Don’t underestimate me.”
His gaze lingers on mine. “I’m learning not to.”
The wine is sweet on my tongue, adding to the fiery fuzz already enveloping me. I can taste another adventure.
Judging by his eyes, so can he.
Someone clears their throat. We both look up, the moment broken, to the bartender standing there. “We’re closing the bar now, I’m afraid,” the bartender says. “I’m really sorry.”
“That’s a shame.” Aiden looks at me, his eyes unreadable. “We’ve won two games each.”
“One left,” I breathe, and then we’ll know. Best out of five.
“Seems like we’ll have to finish this game somewhere else,” he says.
My breath comes fast. “It does, doesn’t it?”
“Good thing there’s a conveniently empty suite down the hall.”