Back in Her Husband's Bed

“Okay.” She sighed. “As long as you promise to keep Gabe on his leash. Putting up with his crap was not part of the agreement.”

Nate nodded and disappeared into the closet. “I’ll do my best.” He came back out with a blue pin-striped shirt and a navy suit. He laid them across his side of the bed and went back toward the bathroom. The towel fell away as he tugged on it, giving her a glimpse of his tight, bare rear end as he disappeared out of sight.

Annie immediately averted her eyes and took a deep breath, wishing away the warm stirring of desire in her belly. Her attraction to Nate was counterproductive. She needed to get her body and brain on the same page, and fast. She flung back the sheets and slipped quietly from the bedroom. If he was going to parade around naked while he got ready, it was probably a good idea for her to go get some coffee in the kitchen.

She was sitting at the granite-topped breakfast bar, taking her first tentative sips of the hot drink, when Nate strode into the kitchen, fully dressed and handsome as ever. He poured his own mug and turned to face her.

“What do you have on your agenda today?”

Annie frowned. She didn’t like having to report her every move. She didn’t have any firm plans, but she didn’t care for him knowing each step of her day, either. He’d been that way after they got married. He didn’t have the ability to be with her every moment while he ran the casino, but he checked in with her enough to make her thankful she had an unlimited texting plan. “I don’t know yet. Is there something we have to do?”

“I don’t think so. After we meet with Gabe, you’ll probably have most of the afternoon free until the cocktail party. Do you have a dress for tonight?”

Annie arched her eyebrow at him over her mug. Yes, she had a dress. She had two, in fact. She’d been planning to wear the more elegant and tasteful of the two dresses, but as punishment for his behavior last night, she was going to wear the sexier, more scandalous one. If she was successful, tonight he would be the one tossing and turning with unfulfilled fantasies. “Yes,” was all she replied.

“Good. Most of the players start arriving today and will be registering. Perhaps this afternoon you can make some headway in your investigation by socializing with them.”

Annie hated the idea of turning her social time with friends into a manhunt. “My sister comes in today. I’ll probably have dinner with her and meet you at the party.”

“I forgot you have a sister. What’s her name again?”

“Tessa. She’s playing in the tournament, too.”

“Good. I’ll be happy to finally meet her.”

Annie swallowed a large gulp of coffee and tried not to choke on it. “Yeah, I’m going to have to talk to her before we play happy family and do formal introductions.”

“You’re not telling her what we’re really doing, are you?”

Annie shook her head. “No, but the cover story will raise enough questions. Commitmentphobia runs in our bloodline, and she’s even more firmly entrenched in our family traditions than I am.”

“She disapproves of us?”

“Tessa certainly did the first time, especially after I left and she got to rub it in my face. I have no doubt she’ll give me hell for getting mixed up with you twice.”

“What did your mother think about us?”

“I come from a long line of independent, distrustful women,” she explained.

“Ahh...” Nate said. “Our marriage was not their favorite dinnertime subject.”

“I don’t suppose so. We’re really not that close. I haven’t seen my mother in several years. She’s in Brazil at the moment. She was in Portugal before that.” Annie at least tried to travel with a purpose and had found a career to soothe the itch to move. She had a condo in Miami as her home base between tournaments. Her mother just wandered to wherever the wind blew her. Annie had seen her four times in the ten years since she’d moved out on her own. “Are you close with your family?”

“Define close.” He laughed. “It depends. I’ve always been pretty close with my father and my grandfather before he died. Dad got a wild haircut and bought a ranch in Texas a few years ago, but until then, almost my whole family lived here in Vegas. The Reeds have been here since 1964, when my grandfather decided to relocate from Los Angeles and open a hotel.”

Annie knew her mother couldn’t even tell her where she was in 1964, much less every place she’d been since then. “A family legacy, then.”