It took a moment for everything he’d just said to really sink in. How sad for his mother and for him. Yet they’d had good times.
‘So which was your favourite?’ she asked. ‘Which are you best at?’
She saw that dangerous, playful light in the amber.
‘You want to play with me, Merle?’
‘A board game,’ she stressed. ‘Why not?’
‘It’s not too much of a risk for you?’
‘I think you have your own code of conduct.’
‘High praise,’ he mocked. ‘You think I play around, but I play by the rules.’
‘Your rules, yes. One night, right?’
He drew back and shot her a serious look. ‘No cheating. No children. No commitment. Fun and done.’
‘In that one night? Truly? You don’t ever want more with someone?’
‘What is more, Merle?’ he asked sardonically. ‘It’s only messy.’
‘What’s so wrong with mess?’
‘People are greedy. And selfish. Everyone is, at heart. Especially me.’
‘I think that’s just an excuse,’ she said cheerfully. ‘To make it easier for you. You don’t even have to try to be better.’
He laughed then drew in a steadying breath. ‘You want to see if you can beat me, Merle?’
‘I’m not afraid to try.’ She lifted her chin. ‘A board game.’
Satisfaction flared between them both.
‘You pick the game,’ he ordered. ‘I want you to have some kind of chance.’
‘Snakes and ladders,’ she said promptly. It was the only one she actually knew the rules to. ‘A roll of the dice and you can win or lose.’
‘You’re relying purely on chance? You’re not willing to back yourself and pick a strategy game?’
‘Who says you can’t have strategy in snakes and ladders?’ She scooped up the dice and shook them in her hand.
‘You’re not going to kiss them?’ he teased.
‘I don’t think that will bring me any extra luck.’ She rolled and made the first move on the board.
‘Kiss mine for me,’ he jeered.
She puckered and made a loud popping sound with a fake kiss. He promptly rolled double sixes.
‘Thanks, darling.’
She didn’t reply. She was too busy fuming at the man’s luck. That wicked grin spread over his face as he counted out the spaces he got to move—landing on a ladder, naturally enough. Three rolls along she rolled the dice and found herself on the head of a snake and slid back to the beginning again, while he was already onto his next move.
‘You play a fast game,’ she noted. ‘Barely taking the time to consider your options.’
‘Because I know what I need to do.’ He slid his counter on the board and lifted his intense gaze to hers. ‘Look at that,’ he said softly. ‘I won.’
‘Wasn’t it inevitable, given you’re so much more experienced?’ She gazed across the game to meet his intense stare.
‘If you’re not used to playing games, why are you so willing to try?’ he asked.
‘Because there’s always hope, right? There’s always a chance there might be an exception.’
‘You want to risk everything on chance? On the possibility of being an exception?’ He shook his head and laughed. ‘Maybe you’re more of a risk-taker than most.’
He was wrong. Yet once again she was tempted to take all the risks with him. Once again she was a hot mess of confusion and conflict. Of desire and denial. And of silence.
He cocked his head and smiled slowly as he studied her with that relentless intensity. ‘I bet I know what the troubling thoughts are.’
‘Do not, I beg, reveal your appalling arrogance yet again.’
For him it was merely an entertaining escape, but for her it was pure, tantalising mystery.
He leaned back. ‘You can’t stop thinking about that kiss any more than I can.’
Was he really thinking about it? Or was that one of his many practised lines? Did it really matter? Because for her it was the truth. He was magnetic.
‘Why not a repeat?’ he asked.
‘There are so many reasons,’ she muttered. ‘But I think you just want what you can’t have,’ she said. ‘You want the woman who doesn’t want you.’
‘Is that what you think you are?’ He chuckled. ‘I’ve met many women who didn’t want me and I’ve never felt the need to persuade them otherwise. You’re only saying no because you can’t stand to say yes to me. You don’t like it when I win, because you think that means you lose,’ he muttered. ‘But I promise you won’t lose. And, if you like, you don’t have to say anything at all. You can choose to stand there, or you can move to that other room and have your own space. Your choice. But I know what I want.’
‘And you always get it?’ She shook her head. ‘I don’t believe anyone gets what they want all of the time.’
‘Then why not get what you want when you can,’ he suggested with a smile, ‘when it’s right here, waiting for you to simply admit it?’
He made it sound logical and easy and as if it meant nothing. Which, of course, it did for him.
‘You’re so annoying,’ she muttered feebly.
He stepped closer. ‘Why shouldn’t you get what you want, Merle? Why shouldn’t you get to have some fun?’
‘A one-time limited offer?’ She paused.
‘Games end, Merle.’
True. And no matter how he tried to spin it, there was always a winner and a loser. She knew she was nothing but another challenge to him. Once conquered, the challenge of her would be destroyed and his interest would wane. He was mercurial, a creature easily bored. Never truly satisfied.
But she could be satisfied. She could finally experience the one thing everyone else in the world seemed to go crazy for. And if the hint she’d had earlier was any indication? It would be so worth it. Couldn’t she be the winner? But a streak of
