My head fell against his shoulder. Gray played, reaping in piles of coins like I wasn’t there. His lips fanned my cheek as he leaned forward, hot and drugging.
“If she really loves you, she won’t care you’re a virgin,” I whispered, maybe a truth in the moment, or one last-ditch effort to hide before disappearing into him.
His tense was so subtle I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t literally melting into his body.
“Are you coming right now?” he hissed.
Maybe he didn’t mean to really get me off;
maybe I’d taken the game too far.
He’d grown rock hard. Iron. What would sex with Grayson Crowne be like? The thought popped into my head. Intense. Too intense. You don’t put on a mask as thick as Grayson’s unless you have something really untamable to hide.
“Fuck, you are.” His palm tightened possessively between my thighs. There was a surprised edge, a strangle in his voice I might have believed meant something if not for the words that immediately came from his lips next.
“Want to know something cute, guys?” Gray said. “This servant has a thing for me. She’s been saving her V-card for me. Which one of you wants to take it instead? I’m raising the pot. All in.”
What!?
The words shocked me out of the sweet, hazy place I’d been. I scrambled to pull the chips back from the center.
“What are you doing? You have a two and a three.”
Grayson pulled me back against his chest by the palm still between my thighs. All the oxygen in the room disappeared.
His breath feathered my neck. “Scared, Snitch?”
It took all I had not to shake. It came down to this hand. It was either him, or go home with some creep named Khalid.
“Are you wondering if they saw you come?” Grayson’s fingers played over the thin cotton barrier, dangerously light, like he was holding some part of himself back. “Stay fucking still or I’ll answer that question for everyone.”
This was what my uncle meant when he said dignity in the face of indignity. Would I really go home with Khalid?
Would I let myself go home with him?
Khalid was about to lay down his card when a gold coin landed on the table.
Everything stopped.
Unlike the other coins, this one had markings. It was beautiful, almost looking like lace. I don’t know what the markings meant, but the coin made Gray freeze.
“What the hell are you doing?” Gray looked up at whoever threw the coin. “Why would you use that on her?”
“You have to honor it.”
My heart stopped. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. I knew by the low, smooth timbre of the voice. I hadn’t heard it in years, but I could never forget the boy who took my virginity.
West du Lac.
Instead of letting me go, Gray tightened the cage, palm spreading to fan across my entire abdomen, pulling me tighter against his chest. Briefly, stupidly, I wondered if he could feel the butterflies bounce in my stomach.
West arched a brow. “Are you challenging? Over a servant?”
The room went quiet.
West du Lac was tall—taller than Gray even—with broad shoulders and a square jaw. With fluffy brown hair and warm brown eyes, he was like everyone else here dressed in casually expensive clothes, however there was one key difference: his eyes were kind.
I’d fallen for them once.