Page 262 of A Vicious Love

My heart gave one hard, foolish beat. Father cleared his throat into his fist, trying for the room to get order back. While my mother opened her fan aggressively.

Jamison bent and kissed my temple. Slowly, and in front of all of them. Before he turned his attention back to the cards.

“Again,” he said.

So we played again.

I forgot the rules twice more. Once because I confused a straight and a flush again, and once because I thought two pairs should become a “double marriage,” which Jamison refused to accept as legitimate terminology no matter how many times I explained its elegance.

I also tried to rescue a two.

He stopped me.

“You cannot keep funding weak cards out of compassion,” he said.

“Everyone deserves a chance.”

“No.”

“You’re mean.”

His mouth touched the side of my hair. “Only to bad hands.”

I laughed before I could stop myself, and his arm tightened as if the sound pleased him more than the pot he had just won from my father with a king-high bluff.

He taught me how to fold without looking sad. How to hide excitement in my shoulders and breathe through a good card instead of greeting it with my whole face.

Every lesson came close to my ear with his hand steady on me.

When I leaned too far forward, his palm spread beneath the edge of my dress, holding my thigh lightly as he drew me back. I forgot to keep my cards angled, he covered my hand and turned them down.

I won a small hand, he kissed my temple again and murmured, “Good girl,” so quietly that my entire body went warm and useless.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” I whispered.

“What?”

“Distracting me.”

His lips brushed my ear. “Yes.”

“That seems unfair during a lesson.”

“A Crow table is never fair.”

“I thought you wanted me to learn.”

“I do.”

“Then why distract me?”

His hand moved at my waist, possessive. “Because you also need to learn how to think while I touch you.”

I stared at the cards in my hand. They could have been written in another language.

Jamison chuckled low against my hair.

“Terrible little gambler.”