Love in the Cards (Whole Lotta Love #1) (7 page)

God, he’s got a great ass.

Maggie swallowed. Just looking at him was getting a certain four of diamonds real soggy. Or maybe it was a two of hearts. Who the hell cared? She was getting even hornier watching him browse through her cosmetics.

Deuce turned to look at her with bright red, glossy lipstick horribly smeared across his mouth. “Too much? I don’t think it goes with my hair. Maybe I should try the maroon color.” He paused and wiped the lipstick off with a tissue. “Maybe I’m a
winter.
I don’t know. Where are the beauty consultants when you need ‘em?” He tossed the tissue into the trash and turned. “Maggie? No hands, right?”

“That’s what I said.” She blinked.

“Okay. Then close your eyes.”

“Huh?”
What had he got in mind?

“Close your eyes. I’ll play by your rules, but you have to go along with just one of mine. Close your eyes.” His voice was firm and she watched his reflection as he raised his chin and stared at her in the mirror.

What the fuck. She wanted him. What did she have to lose?
Maggie closed her eyes.

And waited.

For a few moments nothing happened. She felt rather than heard Deuce move up beside the bed, the heat from his body brushing her bare leg. She tensed, knowing he was close.

A searing lick from his tongue branded her thigh and made her squawk.

“Sssh. Eyes closed, if you peek I won’t put out tonight.” His breath burned her skin.

She had a hard time following his directions when the next sound came and it was incredibly familiar. Her frickin’
hair dryer.

Set on cold, he aimed it at the spot he’d just licked, letting the air dry the moisture his tongue had left behind, and blow a few cards off her at the same time.

“You bastard,” she whispered, a smile curving her mouth.

“I actually know my father so technically I’m
not
a bastard. Just to clear up any misconceptions there.” His tongue traced her shinbone down to her instep and the dryer followed, chilling the flesh in contrast to the warmth of his touch.

The cards were sliding off her body, revealing more targets for that devastating tongue and the consequent attack of that killer hair dryer.

God-fucking-damn
. Who knew a beauty appliance could be a sexual toy?

When he reached her toes and sucked them into his mouth one by one, she nearly flew off the bed and cards showered down onto the carpet with soft thuds. “
Deuce
—”

Cold air met slick wet skin. “Yes?” He was coolness personified and Maggie could’ve strangled him on the spot. He was cranking every one of her burners up to “high”, yet doing exactly as she’d told him to.
No hands.

Her legs were bare now and she trembled, waiting for the next touch of his tongue. Her eyes were squished shut, her body tingling, as she tried to figure out where he was from the sound of the dryer.

Aaargh.
He was at her navel, licking the little bits of exposed skin and then aiming the flow of air with amazing accuracy. She knew the cards were flying off her and spread her thighs apart.

Aim that sucker where I need it, you—you—jerk.
Her pussy was wet and hungry and spilling over with juices but the cool air continued to tease, tantalizing the other places Deuce selected. Hot one minute and chilled the next, she shivered and shook, taken aback by the intensity of her reactions.

“Mmm. Now
this
is what I call a blow job.”

Maggie could hear the laughter in his voice. Something stirred deep inside her. His humor and pleasure in what he was doing—
moved
her. She’d enjoyed sex before and enjoyed the hell out of Deuce last night.

But a realization dawned on her at that particular moment. Sex with Deuce was…
fun.
Hot, sweaty, sticky, wild and crazy…fun.

She would have liked a few minutes to work this all out in her head, but Deuce had other ideas. His tongue had made its way higher and—oh God—he’d reached her nipples.

Maggie was lost. She squirmed as his tongue circled and teased and his mouth suckled her taut and puckered skin. The shot of cold air made her squeak and the rest of the cards flew off, helped along by her movements and sixteen hundred watts of a woman’s best friend.

She swallowed, trying to find her voice. “
Deuce
…”

He lifted his head and grinned at her. “What?”

“
I fold
.”

~~~~~

He shut off the dryer and clambered onto the bed. There were no winners or losers, no matter who’d folded. Sure, he’d outplayed her with the hand she’d dealt him, but shit—they were both going to score big-time. He’d make damn sure of it.

Settling himself between her legs he stroked her skin, so soft and rippling with shivers as his fingers brushed along their length. This was what had been lurking at the back of his mind all day. Maggie, spread out ready for him, waiting—wanting, needing him inside her as much as he needed to be there. It was the only bet he was one hundred percent sure of. That she would be waiting for him tonight. All thoughts of anything other than her went out of his mind. He wanted—needed—it was amazingly simple but incredibly complex. It was out of the ordinary, so far out of the ordinary that if he’d had any breath it would have been taken away. It was unique—and it shook him more than he wanted to admit.

Deuce pulled back, his hands firmly cupping the cheeks of her ass. His breathing was shallow now, almost panting. He gazed at the open folds of flesh, still dripping from the games he’d played with her body.

He began to understand the meaning of craving. Like a vampire seeking the existence only found in the warm blood of a pulsing vein, he craved the taste of Maggie. She was nourishment. She empowered him.

It also gave him a hard-on so intense he was afraid it would detonate on contact.

He had a weakness for going down on women, but this was definitely different. Most of his relationships were simple one-night stands, followed by flowers sent to the room and a schedule of annual checkups to make absolutely sure he hadn’t accidentally picked up anything that might need a prescription. He wasn’t a guy who went out deliberately looking for pussy. But if pussy came his way—as it tended to pretty regularly—he wasn’t about to turn it down. Was it casual sex? Probably. But it had worked for him up to now.

Not this time. It wasn’t
love,
he told himself
—
it was more like he had found something rare and valuable. They just seemed to click together. His finger slid between the shining folds, making Maggie moan. The slippery flesh wrapped around his finger with each gliding stroke—in and out.

He watched her mouth fall open as he teased with gentle caresses, spreading her hot honey over sensitive skin, taking Maggie higher with each move.

“Deuce…ahhh…dear God,
Deuce
…”

He bent his head and burrowed his face into her pussy.

Maggie could’ve sworn steam was coming from between her legs as his saliva mixed with her juices while his tongue seared her already hot flesh. The way Deuce slurped with enthusiasm sent shivers rolling up her spine. She let herself go and arched into his mouth, thrusting herself against him greedily, urging him on,
in—
deeper and deeper.

All the tension from the daylong poker games had gotten to her and this was exactly what she needed. To be freed from her self-imposed stress levels by a man with an extraordinarily talented tongue. But not any man—this man.

Sure, she was in the finals of the tournament—against Deuce in fact—but she didn’t want to win at
this
. She simply wanted to enjoy the fuck out of a sexual adventure. And the man sharing it with her. It might be blasphemy to even think it, but the thought was there anyway.
To hell with poker.

Maggie lifted her head a little and looked down between her breasts to see Deuce smile and lower his face back between her legs.

Shocks of pleasure streamed up her torso as he found the perfect blend, licking her throbbing clit and combining it with the upward pull of his finger along the inner wall of her pussy. He tuned her like an instrument.

With a long stroke of his tongue he made her sing.

And the song shook her, whirled her out of her mind, and focused every nerve ending she had on the spot he’d found. She cried out as she came, pulsing around his face and his hand, shattering inside.

Before the inner convulsions of her orgasm subsided, he climbed up her body. He kissed and licked at the protruding nipples, not wanting to neglect them. They’d been ignored for too long, but his attention had been devoted to her pussy and a man could only do so much.

His throaty growl made her giggle and he felt like an unleashed animal that had eaten its prey and now demanded to possess it completely. To dominate it.

The stiffness of his cock was obvious as it reached between their bodies. Maggie wrapped her legs around his hips and drew him into her heat. The extreme wetness of her pussy helped the hard and rigid flesh glide deep inside.

She sighed, letting her body adjust to him as he filled her.

Nestling tight into her, Deuce sighed too. “I’ve been thinking of you all day. Seeing you only reminded me of last night. The heat, the sex, the way you look naked, the sex, your lips, the sex…I’m repeating myself aren’t I?” He dropped light playful kisses on her neck.

“Just shut up. Shhhh, mmm, just—oh God—just keep doing
that…”
Maggie closed her eyes, relaxing into her sexual plateau. Deuce burned too as her fingers ran across the muscles of his back, then she spread them apart and tightened as he fucked her. It was bliss. He was growing addicted to how good she made him feel.

Deuce began to struggle for control. His arms shook and he tried to not drop his weight onto her. Dear Lord, she felt so fucking
great.
He cringed in agony, straining to hold back his impending need to erupt inside her.

“Don’t hold back, Deuce—let go. Just let go.” This woman sensed his passion, tuned to his body, responding to him in a way that amazed him.

Incredible. Unbelievable.
His mind gave up looking for adjectives and surrendered to the needs of his cock.

She couldn’t miss the tightening of his balls each time he plunged into her since they were slapping against her and driving him insane each time they touched her heat. In, out, harder and faster, over and over—he became lost inside her. He gasped for breath, so very close to the edge of his control.

The tournament vanished, the world vanished—everything narrowed down to the place where their bodies met and parted only to join again.

With a stifled groan Deuce came. The spurts of his seed coated Maggie’s inner flesh and he
had
to, at last, let go. The shudders went on and on and he thrust himself as deep as he could, flooding her completely.

Finally he unlocked his arms and lowered his weight down on top of her. Maggie sucked in a breath and smiled contentedly, bringing a flood of pleasure to his heart as well as his cock.

This was sex at its finest. A welcoming gush of passion between two people. The warmth of her blood pulsing through her veins heated his own body as she lay beneath him. He felt… What did he feel? At
peace
.

Finally he rolled to her side and snuggled her up next to him, grinning as she rested her leg over his. Her fingers teasingly played with the strands of hair on his chest as the two of them lay tangled, quietly catching their breath. His muscles eased, his mind cleared, and the world, for a few more minutes, ceased to exist.

With a light touch, he stroked her hair as it spread over his shoulder. The romantic delight of the moment caught him up in its magic enchantment and he knew there was something he needed to say.

“Umm, Maggie? You’re dripping on my leg and it’s sticky.”

Chapter Eight

“Ladieeees and gentlemen. It’s time to get down…”

Two of the players assembled shared an identical thought.
Too late.

“And get serious with some pokeeerrrr…”

The smooth voice of the announcer rolled over the crowded room as the lights dimmed. Several spotlights shone over the green baize table around which four people sat quietly.

Maggie’s palms were damp and once again she found herself surreptitiously wiping them on her slacks out of sight of her opponents.

Of whom Deuce was one.

Just looking at him made her pussy twitch and Maggie dropped her eyes to the hands of the dealer, trying to focus on what mattered this morning. In the cold light of a new day, she had one goal and one goal only.

To win.

She had to. She simply
had
to. This was why she’d come to the Last Resort in the first place. This was the end result of years of playing the game she loved. Her crowning achievement. A vacation in the Caribbean and a nice new home awaited her. Financial security. All the things she’d wanted—
still
wanted.

Deuce hadn’t been part of her dreams and she couldn’t afford to think about him now. The sex had been fabulous—fun, wonderful, orgasmic and all those high blown things that had gone past women’s magazines and into the realms of stuff she’d only read about in erotic romance novels by those two crazy authors whose names she couldn’t remember right this minute. She’d had no idea such things were possible, let alone attainable. Especially by her.

But with Deuce she’d found a passion that damn near matched the one she’d cherished for poker all these years. However they weren’t in bed together now. They were facing each other, the two additional players on either side, ready to go head-to-head in the biggest game of their lives. Well, hers anyway.

Her thoughts veered off into the wrong channel as she thought of going head to head with Deuce. Shit. The guy knew how to use
his
head. And the rest of his associated parts.