Page 69 of An Inevitable Marriage

I respected that.

Liam cleared his throat, effectively drawing my attention back to him. Brows raised, blue eyes trained on me, the corner of his mouth curved up as he matched my bet.

I held his gaze and my breath while Rafe revealed the next cards.

A king and an ace, giving me a full house.

I bit my lip in mock concentration and added more chips to the pot. “How about it, boys?”

Tristan grumbled something under his breath and folded. Rafe did the same. Liam, determined not to back down, pushed all his remaining chips into the center.

I met his challenge with a grin. “I guess we’re both all in.” The last of my chips joined his.

Liam smiled; it was big and devastatingly beautiful. My heart made a funny dip, not only because there was no way he could win, but this pull I had to him grew so much stronger the more time I spent in his presence.

It was unnerving.

“Come on, don’t keep us in suspense,” Rafe complained.

With his stormy gaze pinned on me, Liam revealed his cards. He had two pairs, definitely not enough to beat my full house.

A deep laugh rumbled from Tristan’s chest. “Again. She wins again.” His hazel-eyed gaze landed on me. “I thought you said you couldn’t play.”

“I didn’t.” I laughed. “You just assumed.”

“Donna pericolosa,” Rafe muttered and took a long swig of his bourbon.

Unable to keep the smile off my face, I eagerly gathered my chips. “What does that even mean?”

“Dangerous woman,” Liam provided.

His voice was low and raspy, and I couldn’t help but look up. The moment our gazes locked; sweet, delicious tension wrapped around my body. His tongue darted out to wet the corner of his lip, and my freaking blood hummed.

“He’s right. You, Snow, areverydangerous.”

Gosh, this man and whatever power he had over my body was going to be the death of me. Either that or land me in a padded cell. Because when he spoke to me like that, looked at me like that, I could almost believe he wanted me.

What a scary, exhilarating thought.

“Well, it’s no fun having my ass handed to me.”

Tristan slammed his palm on the table. The jolt was just what I needed to snap me out of whatever trance I’d fallen in. “I say we make this more interesting and swap the chips for clothes.”

“No!”

“What?”

Liam and I spoke at the same time.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” he growled at his friend. “We’re not playing strip poker. In fact,” Liam pushed to his feet, “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“You’re throwing us out?” Tristan sounded incredulous.

“Absolutely.”

Shaking his head, Tristan got up and rounded the table to where I was. He took my hand and had it halfway to his mouth when another one of those angry noises rumbled through Liam’s chest.

Tristan chuckled and shook my hand instead.