Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(7)

She smiled a little when I put my arm around her. “Chase.”

“Hey, sis.” I pinched her cheek. “This is the happiest day of your life and you look like someone just told you there’s no Santa Claus. Not having buyer’s remorse, are you?”

She shook her head. “No. And it is the happiest day of my life.” Saylor sighed. “I guess I should be grateful enough that my dad’s here.”

I understood. “But your mom’s not.”

Saylor’s mother hated Cord. She’d had this sick, torrid affair with my uncle long ago, but that seemed to make her hate everything Gentry even more. She and Saylor had never been close and when Saylor got together with Cord that was the end of whatever relationship they had. She’d told Saylor to have a good goddamn life popping out Gentry brats and being wedded to white trash. Saylor was better off without that bitch in her life. Still, it stung to be rejected by your mother. I knew that.

“I never had any doubt that she wouldn’t come.” Say’s eyes misted over. She cried more easily these days and I knew it had something to do with the changes coursing through her body. The other day she’d cried for ten minutes when I failed to wash out my cereal bowl.

I handed Saylor a napkin and she dabbed at her nose. I considered making some kind of wisecrack designed to lighten her mood a bit. It’s what I was best at and she might have even answered with a weak smile. It would also be painfully short of what she needed.

My hand touched her shoulder and her green eyes lifted. I cleared my throat. “Say, I know it seems like you’ve lost something on the day you were supposed to get everything. It’s not fair. But babe, you didn’t just get Cordero today. You’ve now got two brothers who would crawl over broken glass for you. So hopefully knowing that makes it hurt a little less.”

Saylor smiled, forgetting her tears. “There’s no one luckier than me, Chase. With the Gentry boys next to me, how could it be otherwise?”

Cord appeared, putting his hands on Saylor’s shoulders and shooting me a curious look. “I know you’re hard up, Chasyn, but don’t go trying to run off with my bride.” He noticed Saylor’s red face and knelt down next to her. “What’s wrong, baby?”

Saylor stood up and gently held his head against her belly. “Nothing. Nothing at all. I just got lost in my own happiness for a minute.” She ran her fingers along the back of his neck. “Know what would make me even happier?”

Cord looked up at her, his hands surrounding her delicate hips. “Name it.”

She smiled, slow and sexy. “Starting our honeymoon.”

“And that’s my exit cue,” I said loudly and started to back away. I wondered what that was like; to know that every night there was sex waiting, sex with the only girl you wanted to have sex with.

That reminded me I’d had ambitions tonight. Steph had probably scampered back to her room but I wasn’t going to give up so easily this time. Of course it wasn’t the Cord/Saylor story of true love and other madness, but I’d been lusting after Stephanie longer than I was used to lusting after a girl. It was time to stop wondering what would happen when her pissed off glare melted into orgasmic quivering.

I was already walking briskly to the elevator when I realized she was only about twenty feet in front of me, tripping on that stupid dress with her arms crossed. I paused while she pressed the elevator button. She craned her neck and glanced toward the buzzing casino but still stepped into the elevator when it opened. I waited for the space of a breath and before the doors could close I jumped in there with her.

“Chase,” she said and looked surprised. She also didn’t have time to hide the way her eyes raked me over as a blush crossed her face.

I grinned. “Stephanie.”





CHAPTER THREE


Stephanie



“So what floor are you on?” I was standing closest to the elevator panel and we were the only two people in there.

Chase peered at the panel. “Nine,” he said mildly. That was actually my floor. I had already pressed the button.

I faced the doors and crossed my arms again. Chase didn’t have much of a concept of personal space. The elevator wasn’t exactly roomy, but he really didn’t need to stand so closely that our arms touched. I wasn’t going to let on that it bothered me. It would only amuse him.

“You having fun?” he asked.

“It was a nice wedding. Saylor and Cord look very happy together.”

Chase smiled. “You didn’t answer my question.” He was wearing a light blue button up shirt and he’d rolled the sleeves over his muscular forearms. The shirt was tucked into black trousers. The musky scent of his aftershave filled the elevator. It wasn’t overpowering but it was enough to remind me that he was all male. As if the heat of his body right next to mine wasn’t enough.

“I’m having fun,” I told him.

“What are you going back to your room for then?”

“Why are you going back to yours?”

“I have to take a piss.”

“They have bathrooms downstairs.”

He pretended the concept had never occurred to him. “Do they? Well shit, I didn’t even think to look. Too late now though. I’m already up here.”

The elevator doors opened. A pair of giggling women stood on the other side. They were heavily made up, wore clothes several sizes too small and looked half wasted already. The brunette stared right at Chase with interest but he didn’t seem to notice. He followed me down the hall.