Falling for Fangs

Maxwell was almost right about Chloe being late. She was the last to arrive, but it was technically one minute before 8:30 when the knock came. He recognised her scent right away, but nothing could have prepared him for what awaited him when he opened the door.

Chloe certainly would never wear that dress to sell houses. No one would be looking at granite countertops or an open space floorplan when her curves were encased in tight-fitting red silk, a plunging neckline showing the curve of her breasts. Instead of a sleek ponytail, her hair hung loosely around her face. There was something different about her makeup, too; perhaps she had added something to emphasise those big blue eyes, the plump softness of her lips.

“Hi,” Chloe said, grinning at him. “I’m bloody freezing in this dress; let me in!”

Maxwell stumbled, still trying to find his words. “You look nice,” he said and berated himself immediately. He was supposed to be good at this. He had flirted with thousands of women over his many years, and the best he could come up with was “you look nice“. Pathetic, really.

“Thanks,” Chloe tossed her hair. “You said I had to let my hair down and enjoy myself tonight. I figured I may as well dress the part.”

“You certainly did,” Maxwell said, unable to pull his gaze from the way the red silk clung to her hips, showing off legs toned from running up and down the picturesque streets of Crowley Lake. Or so he imagined. And damn, he was imagining. “Planning to distract the other players, then?”

Chloe laughed. “Oh, come on, you know I don’t need to do that.” And she actually winked at him. Maxwell was flabbergasted. If this was Chloe letting loose, he was in serious danger.

“So, are you going to offer me a drink?” Chloe opened his fridge and pulled out one of the bottles of Yellowglen. “Or do I have to do it myself?” She looked down at the label. “Oh, this is my favourite!”

“I know,” Maxwell said, quickly getting her a glass. “I mean, you don’t let yourself have fun very often. So I thought I’d better pull out all the stops.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Chloe said, carefully easing the cork out of the sparkling wine so that it gave only a muffled pop.

“I aim to please,” Maxwell had managed to recover his usual charming nonchalance. “Do you want to bring the bottle and come through to meet the others? You’ll know them better than me, probably.”

“Absolutely,” Chloe took a long sip and smacked her lips. “And do remember, Maxwell. You promised me a good time.”

He was definitely in danger.

Maxwell was aware – horribly aware, in fact – of the way that all sets of male eyes immediately fixed on Chloe as soon as she entered the room.

“Well, hello Chloe,” Charles said. “Come and sit next to me; Sean will move over, won’t he?”

“Actually, I need her on the dealer’s left,” Maxwell said, putting an arm around Chloe’s shoulders for just a moment. Her skin was soft and warm under his touch, and he felt her shiver slightly. He swallowed hard. She was becoming very hard to resist.

“Sorry,” Chloe shrugged and took another sip of her drink. “He’s the boss.”

“Apparently he is,” Charles said, raising his eyebrows. “I see.”

“Can we get started?” Tobias was impatient once again. “Let’s up the buy-in. Make it more interesting.”

“What did you have in mind?” Maxwell asked carefully.

“Two hundred should do it,” Tobias said, pulling out his wallet.

Maxwell snorted. “This isn’t a casino,” he said. “But we could do fifty if everyone’s comfortable with that?”

There was a general murmur of assent, and even Tobias seemed to accept that Maxwell wouldn’t allow any more.

“You don’t want a high buy-in with me at the table,” Chloe declared, fluttering her long lashes. She had already refilled her glass of bubbles. “Since I’m going to wipe the floor with the lot of you.”

“Oh, I love a confident woman,” Charles said, although he dropped his gaze when Maxwell glared at him.

“Aren’t you here because you lost to Maxwell?” Sean asked, and Maxwell really wished he hadn’t reminded her of that.

But Chloe just laughed. “True,” she said. “But I’m not ashamed to lose to the master.”

“Oh, don’t stroke his ego anymore, Chloe,” Charles chided. “It’s already big enough.”

“Can you just deal the cards?” Tobias looked pained.

And so Maxwell did what he did best – he dealt the cards.

“Nice cards,” Chloe said, running a finger over the edge with her hand.

“I chose them especially for you,” Maxwell told her.

But Chloe just laughed. “Sure you did,” she said. “You’re just trying to distract me so I lose. Your mind tricks won’t work on me, Maxwell.”