“Sorry.” She swayed on her feet. “Not tonight.”
“We’ll come back tomorrow.” Eliza smiled. “You’ll get your chance.”
She glared at her sister. What they’d won tonight would keep them for the next six months. Returning was an awful idea.
Suddenly a man crashed into her and before she knew what happened, she was falling to the ground with him groping to stop her descent.
While in midair, his hands were everywhere. Her jacket, her trousers pockets, her back. Then they crashed to the floor, his superior weight coming down on hers, stealing all the wind from her lungs.
Money careened through the air, as her winnings scattered to the floor. Eliza gave a cry, then scrambled to pick them up.
But Isabella couldn’t move. Partially because the man’s weight had stolen all her breath. But also because the most piercing black eyes stared down at her, pinning her to the floor.
“Sthorry,” he rumbled, his slur belying the sharp look of his eyes. “Didn’t mean to knock you down.” His words came out fuzzy even as his gaze narrowed.
Distantly, Isabella realized other men were dropping to the ground too, collecting money by the fistfuls.
But her gaze was transfixed.
Because, as her breath returned, she realized this man was lying on top of her. His muscular weight pushing into her softer curves, his body hard, and strong, and stunningly exciting. Her legs had naturally spread apart to accommodate his and his hips nestled between her thighs.
His arms propped his upper half off her body, but his face was shockingly close to hers. Never had she been held by a man like this and it was…utterly divine. And a bit frightening.
“Please get off me, sir,” she cried, pushing at his chest.
“What?” he asked as he slid his hands over her hips. He didn’t pinch or grope but seemed to…search.
For the first time, real fear trickled down her spine. “Get off,” she shrieked. “Please.”
He rose then, pulling her up all in a single motion, with an athleticism that almost left her breathless.
With his body off hers, she could breathe again, and think.
And that’s when she realized that Eliza was attempting to wrestle their bag of winnings from a man’s much larger grasp. Chaos had erupted all about them as people yelled, some of them shrieking about the odds of Eliza wresting the bag from the thief. Were they actually betting on her sister? Heathens.
She gasped and started for the man yanking on her sister. But before she’d even taken a step, the man who’d knocked her down had the assailant by the collar.
“Do you know who I am?” He growled in the thief’s face.
The other man took a large swallow. “You’re Bash.”
Bash hauled the man closer as though he barely weighed anything, though the other man must have been twenty stones. “That’s right and do you know why they call me that?”
“N-no-no.” the other man struggled to get out of Bash’s grasp.
“I’m a boxing champion. Knock a man’s teeth out before he can even turn his head. We don’t steal at the Den of Sins,” he growled. “And we especially don’t steal from women.”
His slur was completely gone. Which told Isabella he’d never been drunk. She’d suspected as much. His eyes and hands had been completely steady.
But then why knock her to the ground?
The other man dropped the bag and Eliza pulled it close, clutching the leather to her chest.
“Anyone who picked up coins will set them on the table now if they want to be invited back to this club. And just so you know, five other men besides me were watching so we know who you are. You’ll never make it out the door with the stolen money. We run a clean club.”
A grumbling rumbled through the nearby tables, but money appeared on the table as Eliza moved about and collected the funds the men deposited, her head high.
But Isabella wasn’t feeling nearly as confident as Bash’s glittering gaze focused on her once again. “You. Come with me. We’ve got a few things to discuss.”