Star of His Heart - Brenda Jackson [71]
Tony smiled to hide his frown. “Yeah, but I ran into some dough right before I got put in this joint. I stashed it away so the feds couldn’t touch it. I’m gonna pay up, man, you have my word on it.”
“I don’t take nobody’s word on nothin’.”
“Okay, man, that’s cool. I’ll just have my cousin Billy lay an advance on you. You’ll get the rest as soon as I get out of here. Just make sure everything goes down the way I want. Deal?”
Lamar rubbed his chin. Word on the street had it that Tony had come into some cheese and before he’d had the chance to blow it all, he’d gotten busted for knocking around his old lady. So there was a good chance he did have some bread stashed away somewhere. “If you cross me, Tony, there ain’t no place big enough in this city for you to hide. Remember that.”
Tony leaned back in his chair, relaxed. “Hey, I’ll remember.”
Chapter 20
“Who taught you how to gamble so well, Ashton?”
Ashton’s laugh, soft and sexy, rumbled low in his chest. “Becoming a sore loser, are we?” he asked as he lifted his gaze from the cards he held in his hand to look at Netherland. The two of them were sitting Indian-style across from each other on the floor in front of the fireplace as they played a game of spades.
Netherland shrugged, grinning. “No, that’s not it. You’re beating me at a game I thought I was good at. How about giving me some slack.”
“Sorry, I play to win.”
He had leaned forward and had unknowingly given Netherland a whiff of his manly scent. For a moment she was tempted to throw the cards down and have her way with him. Again. “I figured you did, and you still haven’t answered my question.”
He smiled. “My father taught me. The Cherokees, like a number of Native Americans, own several casinos. My family owns two.”
“No wonder you’re good at it then.” She leaned back on her arms. “It’s getting hot in here. You don’t mind if I take off my blouse, do you?”
Ashton regarded her with a smooth grin. “Not at all. Help yourself.”
Netherland hesitated a moment, but only a moment before unbuttoning her blouse and tossing it aside.
Ashton had watched her every move. “Feel better?”
She smiled at him as she reached up and pushed a strand of hair from her face. “Yes. Much better.”
“Had I known you wouldn’t mind getting out of your clothes, I would have suggested that we play strip poker.”
Netherland laughed as she went back to studying her hand. “Why? You’ve seen me without clothes several times over the past few days.”
“Yeah, but each time is better than the last, and I discover something new. Like yesterday for instance when I noticed that butterfly tattooed on your right inner thigh.”
Netherland sighed as she remembered just how he had discovered her small secret. A sensation of simmering heat passed through her with the memory. She felt hot again. Without saying anything she removed her bra.
“Are you trying to mess with my concentration, Netherland?”
She smiled up at him. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
He slowly dragged his gaze away from the sight of her bare breasts back up to her face. “You should know by now that I’m a breast man.”
“I thought you were a leg man.”
“That, too. And as you discovered yesterday, I also enjoy thighs.”
The passion in his voice sizzled through her. “Easy, Ashton, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you were getting aroused.”
“And if I didn’t know any better I’d think you were deliberately trying to arouse me.”
“Would I do that?”
“Yes.”
“You’re right. I would,” she confessed, shivering at the intensity in the dark eyes looking at her. She wondered if there would ever come a time where she would get enough of this man. She doubted it. No matter how many times they made love, she always wanted more of him. And although she had very little experience on which to base a comparison she knew that he wasn’t like most men. For one thing, he had the stamina of a bull.
“I don’t want to play cards anymore,