Chapter Six
Connor
It was possible that I’d lost my mind.
I was definitely playing with fire, but I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. Maybe I’d had too much to drink. Maybe there was something about this small, tiny cabin and being stranded with my sexy assistant—the only woman I’d wanted in a very long time—that broke through my defenses. All I knew was that I felt my vow to resist our attraction, and her, slipping away with each passing second.
And here in this small shack, sequestered away from the rest of the world for a while, I was suddenly okay with that.
God, she was beautiful in the firelight. The more we both drank, the less tension there was in the room and between us, and I was having the hardest time grasping the reasons that we were both dancing around our mutual desire. Because I knew now that she wanted me, too. I had seen the hunger in her eyes as they ran over me earlier. And it was currently clear in the seductive way she licked her lower lip, as she were contemplating the same provocative things running through my mind.
Suddenly, Sophie laughed, but it sounded forced. “Very funny.”
“I’m completely serious.” I was already committed to this now. There was no taking back the words, and I didn’t want to. If I didn’t take her to bed tonight, I was going to lose my mind. “I meant it. Let’s get a little wild.”
“We can’t,” she said, her voice lacking any real conviction.
There was that pretty pink tongue of hers again, flicking out to wet her bottom lip. Every time I saw it, my dick twitched inside my pants.
“Why not?” I countered. “We’re the only ones here. No one has to know.”
“We’d know,” she whispered, as those tempting breasts rose and fell a little faster as her breathing increased.
I leaned forward, wishing that there wasn’t a table between us as I stared into those captivating green eyes. “That’s the point, sweetheart.”
As if needing that one last shot of fortitude, she took a big gulp of her bourbon, wincing as she swallowed. Then, a brazen smile curved her lips and her eyes grew a few shades darker. “Okay, let’s do it. But no complaining when I beat the pants off you—literally.”
I chuckled as I grabbed the cards from her and continued to shuffle them, trying to remember the last time I’d done something just for fun. With all of my focus on work and the company, it had been too long, and I was more than ready to enjoy myself for a change.
After that last drink of bourbon, Sophie’s eyes looked slightly glazed, and her cheeks were flushed. I had her right where I wanted her, but I barely had the advantage in the game. She wasn’t keeping track, but I’d actually had more to drink than her, and my mind wasn’t nearly as sharp as usual. I was definitely inebriated, which was probably why I was doing something so stupid and reckless, but I refused to examine my motivations. I didn’t want to lose my nerve to follow through and see where this night led.
“The game is five-card draw,” I said as I dealt us each five cards. “You know how to play?”
“Of course,” she said, picking up her cards.
She had a good poker face for someone that was tipsy, and I tried to follow her lead with that as I realized I already had a pair of queens. It wasn’t enough to feel confident about winning the hand, but it was a good starting point.
I exchanged my three other cards, and ended up with another queen. Three of a kind.Good enough.
But when we laid our hands on the table, Sophie had a flush, and her grin was pure triumph.
“Do I get to choose what you take off?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.
I smirked at her. “Only if I get to decide for you.”
“Never mind,” she said quickly, and I chuckled.
Deciding to go big for my first loss, I whipped off my shirt, tossing it aside carelessly and leaving my chest completely bare. Sophie sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes traveling down the length of my naked torso, and I felt about ten feet tall. Maybe losing wasn’t so bad after all.
I won the next hand, a straight versus a pair, and Sophie took off a single sock, not giving in to my teasing when I suggested that she was too chicken to show some skin.
The game went on, with more drinking and the winning hand going back and forth until I was left in only a pair of jeans while Sophie was still dressed in her T-shirt and the sweatpants I gave her. It was driving me crazy that she was still wearing so many clothes.
We didn’t talk much as we played, and I knew it was because we were both so focused on the game and how it was inevitably going to end. I also knew before even seeing Sophie naked that it was going to be impossible to shove my attraction back into a box and throw away the key.
But right now, that no longer mattered. We were snowed in together, with the wind still whipping against the outside of the cabin as snow continued to fall. We had time to kill, and I was going to finally get a taste of this woman I’d wanted for the past year.
Then, I landed four of a kind.Shit, this is it.