“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.”
I counted five twenties and held them out. But when she tried to take them, I didn’t let go. Her eyes lifted from the bills to mine.
“Let me earn it a different way,” I said. “Go out with me?”
She plucked the bills from my hand and tucked them into her front jeans pocket. “No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“That would be too easy for you.” She picked up her purse and pulled the strap over her head so it laid diagonally across her body. “But I’ll give you a consolation prize.”
“What’s that?”
“You can watch me walk out.” She turned and strutted toward the door, yelling back over her shoulder. “My ass is even better than my tits.”
She wasn’t wrong. But I was still confused as shit about what had gone down this evening. “Wait. What do I have to do to get you to go out with me?”
She stopped with her hand on the door but never looked back. “Now if I told you that, anything you did would be considered easy, wouldn’t it? Goodnight, Merrick.”