Page 50 of One Night Gamble
And at that moment, he knew he’d said the wrong thing. But he had no idea how to play it any different. If he could get her back into bed where he could show her with his body what she meant to him, he might have a chance. But it wasn’t looking likely.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?” she asked. “Because guess what?”
“What?”
“You’re not the first man to say those words to me. Most of my childhood I was told, ‘Don’t worry, kiddo, I’ll double your lunch money, I never lose.’ You know what? He did lose. Maybe not that week or the next, but eventually I had no lunch money. And I had to ask for free lunch or worse, ask Gran,” Talia said. “You are going to lose eventually. And I’m going to be the one who pays for it.”
“Never. I’m not taking anything from you,” he said.
All the color left her face and her hands shook as she stalked past him and picked up her keys. “You would have taken my job if you’d lost. And what about us? I’m not playing a game. I’m not interested in being a prize that you won in a childish bet with your friend.”
“I wasn’t playing for you,” he said. “That thing with Darien was for him. It had nothing to do with us. I would never put you out of your job. I want you in my life. I felt like I was fighting for everything last night when you were trying to break it off with me—”
“I was trying to, and I should have stuck to my guns. My gut was saying this was a bad idea from the moment I walked into my final interview and saw you sitting at the table. I knew I should have gotten the hell out of Jokers Wild.”
She took another step toward the door, but he caught her hand, pulling her off balance without meaning to. He steadied her, then stepped away. “Don’t go. Not like this. Give me a chance to explain. To make things right.”
She shook her head. “Everyone knows better than to bet against the house, Casey. For a while I forgot, but I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
“I’m not the house,” he said. But how could he convince her when he’d already damned himself with his own stupid actions? What had he been thinking? All he’d wanted was to get rid of Darien so he could move on with his morning with Talia. He had been on the cusp of having it all, having everything he wanted with her. And now, it had been snatched away from him.
At least the cards weren’t that hard to read. They fell where they did and he’d gotten lucky when he’d drawn the ace. But in his heart, he knew that she was his. It had been more than luck guiding his hand to that ace. It was fate.
How could Talia not see it?
“I’m the man who wants to spend his life with you,” he said, coming back to her and trying to make her see the truth in his eyes.
“For how long?” she asked.
“Forever,” he admitted, baring his soul in a way that he never had before.
“Are you sure you don’t want to high card me for it?” she asked, pain and sarcasm in her voice.
…
Talia knew that she had hit below the belt with her last comment, but he deserved it. She’d expected to be let down by her father. And when she’d first met Casey, she’d taken his measure and decided that he was cut from the same cloth. But he’d wooed her and shown her a side of him that was different.
She felt like an idiot, and she had no one but herself to blame for that. But that didn’t stop her from loving him. She put her hand over her heart and staggered backward. How could she still love him?
She’d heard him betting with his friend, risking their future on a card. What was wrong with her? Was she so broken that she thought she didn’t deserve to be loved?
“If you’re going to be irrational about it, then there is no point in talking,” he said.
She heard the anger in his voice, and his betrayal stung a bit more. He should have been angrier when he’d talked to Darien. He should have figured out a way to appease his friend without putting their relationship on the line in a card game. Risking it all on a whim. “You started this. I didn’t force you to try to settle things with Darien with a deck of cards. But that is what your gut led you to, isn’t it?”
He tightened his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, it did. When the chips are down, I fall back on what I know to strengthen my position.”
She got that. She hadn’t before this moment, but she finally thought she understood Casey. It wasn’t just that he wanted to win, or that he was good with cards—it was that taking chances was the only way he knew how to navigate through life.
She’d seen the tattoo and the table in his foyer and how every part of his life was embossed with cards. She should have known better.
“Sorry, you’re right,” she said. “I should leave.”
“I don’t think you should,” he said. “I’m not very good at relationships and I’ve done everything I can—”
“Don’t. You didn’t do everything. You risked it all on a card because you wanted to one up Darien. You couldn’t trust that I cared about you enough to make this work, could you?” she asked.
