Part 20 (2/2)

Two beautifully arched eyebrows disappeared under Cat's bangs. ”I should hope so.”

”Come here, you.” Jessica opened her arms and they snuggled together under the covers.

”We smell a bit funky now.”

”I like it.”

Cat's breathing quickly steadied and Jessica decided another ten minutes wouldn't matter to whatever was served for dinner. Cat was warm and safe in her arms. Someone else might think that they'd sleep together later, so why give up a unique experience in favor of one she could have almost any time she wanted.

Then again, some people didn't get it.

Count Me In Radclyffe The hands were back. Sinewy tendons tented the tanned skin as tapered fingers deposited a stack of crisp $100 bills on the felt. Aidan scooped them up, counted the stack twice, and then folded them into the slot on the table that connected to the safe underneath. With practiced efficiency she slid $5,000 in chips back across the table. Only then did she look up and nod at the familiar face of the stranger. Eyes the color of winter stared back from beneath jet black brows. The surprisingly wide, full lips curled briefly into a smile. Then the flash of welcome faded, and all expression left her sharply sculpted face.

Aidan scanned the table as five different hands pushed chips into the betting circles. Some dropped them carelessly. Others aligned them precisely in the center. The new arrival let them fall from the funnel of her fingers one at a time with a snick snick snick that reminded Aidan of the sound of s.e.x. She had watched those hands every night of the cruise-fingers flicking the edge of a card, caressing the faintly corrugated rim of a chip, tapping the felt delicately with a firm, round fingertip.

Aidan dealt the cards and her c.l.i.t grew hard. Beautiful hands, strong and deliberate. She imagined them skimming her body with casual possessiveness, a fingernail grazing her nipple. She tilted her hips forward until her mons rested against the curved edge of the table. Her c.u.n.t throbbed.

Each of the five players took a card. Tonight, the stranger wore a fine-weave linen s.h.i.+rt with the cuffs rolled back to the middle of her toned forearms. Her wrists were small, her fingers long and fine-boned. Aidan imagined them folding inside of her, knuckles ma.s.saging the tender spot that forced her c.l.i.t to grow and ache and finally burst apart.

Aidan dealt the cards.

Two players went over twenty-one. Losers. Two stood at sixteen and seventeen. Still in the game. The stranger took a card, her middle finger tapping twice with slow deliberation. Aidan felt the smooth, hard edge of a fingernail skim beneath the swollen flesh hooding her c.l.i.t, and her thighs tightened. Aidan dealt the card.

The stranger slowly brushed her hand over the cards, standing firm at eighteen.

Aidan turned her cards over. A nine and a three. She dealt a card. Five. House rules-the dealer stands at seventeen.

”Dealer pays eighteen.” Aidan raised her eyes to those of the winner. She could read nothing in the hawk-like gray eyes, but she caught the glimmer of another smile. She swept the chips of the losers from the table and paid the stranger.

Aidan dealt the cards, round after round, and the stranger won more than she lost. Chips clinked, bills whispered across the surface of felt, and stiff, crisp cards snapped between sure fingers. Hours pa.s.sed and she watched those hands, feeling the press of smooth flesh in her hot, hungry places. By the time her s.h.i.+ft ended, she was wet and swollen and mindless of anything other than the need to reach the locker room and fondle the hard length of her c.l.i.toris to a sharp, swift o.r.g.a.s.m. She needed to come now, wouldn't be able to wait, just as she hadn't been able to wait the night before. And the night before that.

When she stepped back from the table, struggling to control her erratic breathing while the pit boss removed the safe deposit box from its rack beneath the table, she saw the gambler collect her chips to cash out.

By the time Aidan signed the receipt for the pit boss, the dark-haired stranger was gone. Intent on reaching the locker room, imagining the way her c.l.i.t would pulse and dance between her fingers, Aidan twisted her way through the crowded aisles. Her skin was on fire, but even after she loosened her tie and unb.u.t.toned her vest, she still couldn't catch her breath. Just as she yanked open the door marked Staff Only, a hand shot out to slam it closed. Aidan nearly moaned. She knew that hand, those fingers, those blunt, strong nails. Her c.l.i.t jumped. G.o.d, I can't last another minute!

”I'd like to buy you a drink,” the gambler said.

Aidan studied the shadowed hollows beneath the angled cheekbones, the strong jaw, the straight nose. Those winter eyes appraised her coolly in return. Aidan dealt the cards.

”I don't drink where I work.”

”Where do you drink?”

”On the veranda outside my cabin.”

”Alone?”

”Sometimes.” Without the barrier of the table between them, Aidan saw that the gambler was younger than she had thought, although her eyes seemed those of someone much older. Aidan watched those eyes, waiting for a clue. Seconds pa.s.sed. A minute. Then, for the length of a heartbeat, the stranger dropped her gaze. Aidan smiled and waited some more...

”What about tonight? Are you drinking alone?”

”Deck seven. Number seven twelve.” Aidan turned the k.n.o.b again, and this time the hand fell away, allowing the door to open. ”Thirty minutes. And I'm drinking Stoli.”

Inside the locker room, Aidan leaned against the door and contemplated the next thirty minutes. It would take all of a frantic minute to take the edge off the mind-scorching arousal that pounded away inside her, and then she'd be able to head back to her cabin for a shower without her c.l.i.t screaming for relief. Or she could ignore the stiff little tyrant and wait to come later, when she'd need it so bad she'd be almost sick with excitement. Those were the times when she climaxed so hard she couldn't walk afterward. She thought about those hands squeezing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, those fingers working inside of her, and she cupped her crotch. She bunched the material of her pants in her fist and ground the heel of her hand into her c.l.i.t, moaning softly.

”Oh f.u.c.k,” she gasped, easing her grip before she really let go. She walked on rubbery legs through the casino. Tonight, she'd shoot for blackjack.

The shower cleared her head a little but did nothing to ease the pounding in her permanently erect c.l.i.t. Skipping underwear, she pulled on loose black cotton shorts and a white T-s.h.i.+rt. Her nipples stood out. So did her c.l.i.t. She was wet again by the time the knock sounded on the door. When she opened it, the gambler stood in the hall with an unopened bottle of vodka in the crook of her arm. She'd changed into a sleeveless black s.h.i.+rt that b.u.t.toned up the front, khaki pants and deck shoes. An intricate black and green tattoo twined over the peak of her exposed shoulder and down her arm. It looked tribal or Celtic and definitely s.e.xy. Traces of the design crawled up her neck.

”What's your name?” Aidan asked, still holding the door ajar.

”Fel.”

”Short for anything?”

Fel shook her head. ”Would you like a drink, Aidan?”

Aidan raised an eyebrow.

”Nametag.”

”The bar's in the corner. Rocks with a twist of lime. I'll be on the veranda.”

The sky was moonless and nearly black. The s.h.i.+p's lights glinted off the water and reflected on the undersurface of the clouds. Tomorrow they'd dock, Aidan would lay over for a few days, and then she'd fly back to their headquarters while awaiting the next cruise. She might meet a girl in Venice, or she might end up sleeping alone. But tonight, tonight she'd play the hand.

”Here you are,” Fel said.

They drank in silence for a few minutes, then Aidan said, ”You play cards for a living.”

”I've had some luck at it.” Fel set her gla.s.s beside her and pivoted so her back was against the railing. ”I wasn't working this week, though. I'm on vacation.”

”I know.” Aidan drained her drink and put her gla.s.s next to Fel's. Then she stepped into the vee between Fel's thighs and settled her crotch against Fel's. ”You weren't counting. I was watching.”

”I know. I imagine the cameras were, too.”

Aidan smiled and kissed the side of Fel's neck, feeling her s.h.i.+ver as she slid her tongue over and between her lips. Stroking leisurely inside Fel's mouth, Aidan pumped her crotch into Fel's. ”I had to mention it to the pit boss. She said they'd check.”

”I'm glad I pa.s.sed inspection,” Fel murmured, letting her head drop back, exposing her throat. ”I would have been disappointed if I couldn't see you every night.”

”Why did you wait all week to talk to me?” Aidan's kisses turned to slow, firm bites as she sucked the thick muscle in Fel's neck.

”Because watching you deal the cards made my c.u.n.t ache.” Fel groaned as Aidan sucked harder. ”And I like the way that feels.”

”Is it aching now?”

”Oh, yes.” Fel cupped Aidan's a.s.s and thrust her hips as Aidan rocked faster in her crotch. ”I'll come right here if you keep doing that.”

<script>