Big Shot(20)
“Wow, it’s quite hot in here,” Natalie said as she passed by Wes again, pulling his head out of the game as she fanned herself with her hand. “In fact, I think I’m flushed. Anybody else feeling flushed?”
What the hell? Did she just give up his hand?
“I’m out,” Max said as he put down his cards, the half grin on his face telling Wes that, yes, Natalie’s comment had definitely influenced his decision to fold instead of tossing another bet into the increasing pot.
“Me, too,” Connor chimed in, followed by Kyle.
Wes glanced at Natalie with a frown, and she gave him a guileless little shrug. No doubt about it, she’d just sabotaged his hand. When she did it a second time, making an odd remark about straightening his chips, the guys immediately knew what hand he was holding. Max and Kyle folded, but Connor upped the ante and won with a royal flush.
As he shuffled the deck, Wes gave Natalie a pointed look. “Don’t you have appetizers to attend to or something?”
“Sure, I could go check on them.”
He caught the mischievous gleam in her eyes before she started back up the stairs. He didn’t even want to know what had prompted that look, but he was immediately suspicious. Once she was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief and dealt the next hand.
“I have to say, it’s quite amusing so see a woman get the better of you,” Max mused out loud as he picked up his cards.
“How so?” Wes asked, refusing to verbally admit that Natalie was in the process of outwitting him tonight with her clever pranks. First the French maid costume, then her comments that gave away his cards. What else did she have in store for him?
Max shrugged. “Just that women are usually falling at your feet or blinded by your charm, which makes them easy for you to influence.”
“Or manipulate,” Connor chimed in after taking a drink of his beer, seemingly still a little peeved over the risqué maid outfit.
“Yeah, that, too,” Max agreed with a grin. “Natalie, on the other hand, has no problem thumbing her nose at your rules and doesn’t take your crap. She knows how to keep you on your toes and doesn’t seem too worried about consequences.”
Which was one of the many things that turned him on about her, that sassy defiance of hers, compared to the complacent, always-wanting-to-please-him women he was used to. “She should be worried,” Wes grumbled, because his palm was suddenly itching to make contact with her ass. She certainly deserved a spanking for her bad behavior tonight.
Connor’s gaze narrowed on Wes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Wes sighed, cherishing his manhood way too much to reveal his dirty thoughts to his best friend about his own sister. “Nothing. It means nothing.”
Connor didn’t look convinced but let it go, and they played another couple rounds of poker without Natalie prancing around and distracting the hell out of Wes. It was quiet and calm and relaxing while they focused on their game, until about fifteen minutes later, when he caught a subtle whiff of something acrid.
“Something smells like it’s burning,” Kyle said right then, confirming that Wes wasn’t imagining things.
“Yeah, I smell it, too,” Max said.
Wes glanced toward the stairs and could have sworn he saw a faint swirl of smoke coming through the doorway. He frowned. Something definitely wasn’t right. He placed his cards facedown on the table and stood up to go and check things out just as the shrill sound of the fire alarm blared through the house.
“What the f*ck?” Worried about Natalie, Wes bolted up the stairs with the other three guys tailing him and followed the trail of smoke into the kitchen, where it was the thickest and most pungent. “Natalie? Everything okay in here?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him, nonplussed as she pulled the appetizers from the oven and set the scorched trays of food on the stove. Coughing a few times, she waved the potholder in the air to try and cut through the smoke, until the fire alarm finally went quiet again. “I think I left the appetizers in the oven longer than I was supposed to.”
An understatement, Wes thought, his eyes stinging from the lingering haze in the kitchen. Everything was burnt to a crisp and inedible and looked as though she’d cooked it with a blow torch. Hell, maybe she had. Tonight he wouldn’t put anything past her.
“Geez, Nat,” her brother said, unable to disguise the disappointment that he wasn’t going to get fed tonight. “It’s not that difficult to heat up pizza rolls, wings, and jalape?o poppers.”
She gave all four of them a contrite look that Wes didn’t believe for a second. “I’m really sorry, guys. And this was all of the appetizers that Wes had.”
Surprise, surprise, Wes thought sarcastically.
“What are we going to eat?” Kyle asked, a bit grumpily. “I didn’t have dinner and I’m hungry.”
“We’ll have a couple of pizzas delivered from Dominos.” Wes pinned Natalie with an I know exactly what you’re up to kind of look, because he knew damn well she wasn’t as incompetent as she was making herself out to be. “Think you can handle making the call?”
“Of course I can.” The impudent minx rolled her eyes at him, as if he was the inept one. “You all go back to your poker game, and I’ll order the pizzas and clean up this mess,” she said, indicating the charred appetizers.