Nix looks at Garrett dumbfounded. “Ferverence? Is that even a word and where the hell did you pick it up? Wheel of Fortune? Jeopardy!? Either way, you’re watching too much fucking TV.”
I don’t say anything to that. I just throw two twenties on the table. “Deal me in.”
Nix reaches around Phoebe to take my money and shoves a bunch of picks my way and I notice the glass in front of him has an amber-colored liquid in it—definitely not wine.
“And I’ll have what you’re drinking,” I tell him.
I glance down at Ivy’s legs stretched across the chair. Her feet are bare and her nails are painted red. “May I?” I ask. My gaze fastens on hers. I wait for her response.
She pulls her legs off the chair and sinks as far as she can back into her own seat. “Welcome to the game.”
I sit down and lean forward, inching my way closer to her to take the drink Nix hands me. I take a sip before setting it down on the table and notice she’s still watching me. I divert my eyes only when Leif asks, “No wine, man? It’s the good stuff. I picked it up at a local vineyard yesterday.”
Raising my glass, I say, “I’m good.”
He feigns offense.
I try not to stare as Ivy raises her glass for a sip, but when my eyes catch her mouth, I can’t keep from watching. She licks her lips and says, “I really like it.” I know she’s answering Leif, but I feel like she’s talking to me, and I can’t help but smile—my mind wandering to thoughts of what I know she likes.
Slamming his hand in front of me, Garrett slips in, “I’ll take your money any day of the week.”
I look over toward him as he gulps the rest of the liquid in his glass. “I doubt you’ll be taking my money because if memory serves me correctly, I’m the one who taught your scrawny thirteen-year-old ass how to play this game.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t use money back then, just beer bottle caps, and I was usually the one who drank most of the beer.”
“You were so funny when you drank. You just couldn’t handle your alcohol,” Ivy blurts out. It’s the first time any of us has talked about being together when we were younger, and I notice that her gaze flitters from Garrett’s face to mine before she looks down at the table. When she reaches out to push some chips forward, her hand grazes mine. The skin on my arm prickles and the electricity between us sparks immediately. She quickly moves her hand away and crosses her arms over her chest, but I already noticed her nipples harden from our encounter. I want more than anything to sit in that chair with her on my lap. To slip my arm around her waist and pull her close to me like I always did when we played poker with River and his friends.
“Cold?” I ask, wishing I could drape my body over hers and warm her up.
Flushing, she rubs her arms. “Yes, I am. I’ll be right back. I’m going to get a sweater.” At least I didn’t get the finger.
She stands up and I watch her step across the room and then disappear through the doorway. A few minutes later she’s back with a sweater wrapped around her and when she sits down, I can smell her sweet scent in the air.
Nix shuffles the cards around Phoebe like he’s a dealer in Vegas.
“You smell good,” I mumble in her direction.
Her cheeks turn pink again and I just smirk at her. I know she sprayed some kind of perfume on when she grabbed her sweater.
Nix continues to shuffle the cards and his eyes dart to Garrett. “You in or out?”
“In,” he says with a scowl, and adds, “But if I lose this one, I’m done, busted, broke, annihilated. Do I need to go on?”
“Whatever, dude, just stop whining and ante up. You’re holding up the game.”
Garrett throws his picks in the middle of the table, and Nix sets the deck down next to Ivy. She cuts it and finally he deals. She gets the first card, since she is to Nix’s immediate left. I get mine next. I stare at the two cards beside each other on the table and try to block memories of playing this game alone with her years ago in my grandparents’ pool house. We didn’t play for money, though—we played for clothes. I’m sure she remembers. Once the cards are dealt, she leans a little my way and I can smell that fresh, soapy scent even more. I get lost in it and those memories come flooding back.
“Xander, snap out of it. What are you doing?” Nix calls me out.
I blink, realizing I haven’t even looked at the cards in my hand. “I’ll raise,” I say, tossing four picks in the middle.
Everyone starts laughing except Ivy. She leans toward me and whispers in my ear. “I checked.”
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath.
Her body stiffens and she sits back in her chair.
I turn my attention to the guys. “So I’m tired. Give me a fucking break. I meant to say I’d open. Either way, see it or fold, assholes.”
Needless to say, the first hand ends with me losing. As the game continues, Garrett’s luck seems to have changed. He’s raking it in. About two hours later, the room’s a little fuzzy and if Ivy moves any closer to me I think I’m going to lose it in my pants right here. Shit, I have to get my dick under control.