The Forever of Ella and Micha
an angel is something you’re not.”
My jaw drops and I throw a chip at him, hitting him in the chest. “I am so an angel.”
“Ow.” He rubs his nipple where the chip scraped. “That was vicious.”
I nip my teeth at the air and then laugh, taking a drink of my beer. “Now back to the game. What do you have?”
He taps his fingers on the table, eyeing his cards and then targets an inside-melting gaze on me. “I want to up the bet,” he says, and when I start to gripe, he adds, “If you win you get my signed Silverstein shirt, but if I win you have to get naked.”
My heart thumps deafeningly in my chest. “I thought you said you’d never give me that shirt—that it was your pride and joy for getting it signed.”
He gives a blasé shrug. “I’m making an exception right now.”
I measure the pair of queens in my hand and the one laid down on the table, but there is also a pair of aces dealt. Shit. “I don’t know…”
“Come on, Ella May,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. “Loosen up.”
From over my cards, I glare at him. “I’ll tell you what. If you lose you give me the shirt, but if I lose I’ll take off my bra and jeans, but the panties are staying on.”
Micha chuckles and takes a shot. “That’s not very fun.”
I roll my eyes. “I’ve seen you play poker with girls like this before and you never offer up anything this rewarding unless you have a good hand and know you’ll win.”
“And I’ve seen you play enough times that I know you won’t back down from a good challenge,” he retaliates, slamming the bottle onto the table. “So come, pretty girl, are you in or out?”
I consider it, but not for very long, and lay my cards down on the table. “I’m in. Now what do you have?”
A soon as his lips turn upward, I know how it ends. He slaps his cards down on the table. “Get naked, Ella May.”
“You had the fucking ace.” I smack some of the cards off the table and they float to the floor. “I knew you had it.”
He continues to grin. “And yet you kept playing. Now get naked.”
I stare inanely at him. “That wasn’t fair. You tricked me.”
His eyes hold mine powerfully as he pats his hands on the table. “That was a totally fair hand and you know it, so stop being a baby and hand over your losings.”
Staring him down, I come to the conclusion that there’s no point in fighting. Keeping my eyes on him, I get to my feet and carry my chin high.
He raises a finger as he shoves the chair away from the table. “Just a second.” He saunters into the living room and disappears out of my sight.
Confused, I start to head for the doorway to find out what he’s doing, but as soon as my foot inches forward, the stereo clicks on and I stop as “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails clicks on.
“You have got to be kidding me?” I mumble as Micha struts into the kitchen with a pleased grin on his face as he rubs his hands together. “No way. Music was not part of the deal.”
He braces his hands on the door frame and the light highlights the muscles on his chest and the shameless blaze in his aqua eyes. “Now, most guys would have gone with some sexy song you had to dance to, but I’m a lyrical man myself and I think this song fits perfectly.”
The lyrics make my cheeks heat. “In no way, shape, or form did I offer up a striptease.”
His tongue slips slowly out of his mouth and when he pulls it back in, he draws his lip ring with it as his fingers comb through his disheveled hair, leaving strands sticking up. “Pay up, pretty girl.”
Pressing my lips firmly together to bury my nerves, I reach around to the back of my bra and unclasp it. Wavering temporarily, I inhale an insecure breath, release the fabric from my fingers, and allow it to fall to the floor.
His eyes drift to my chest, unashamed, as he sips a beer. When he pulls the bottle away from his lips, he makes a motion with his finger. “Continue.”
I want to smack him upside the head, but I unbutton my jeans. With my knees shaking, I step out of my pants and stand vulnerable in the spotlight, something I despise. Thankfully, I’m wearing boy-cut panties so at least my ass is covered. His eyes lazily move up my long legs, across my bare stomach, finally resting on my eyes.
“You can sit down now,” he says like he’s the boss.
Proving a point, I walk across the kitchen and steal a beer from the fridge. “I don’t have to sit down just because you tell me
Weitere Kostenlose Bücher