Read The Bet (Addison #2) for Free Online Page A

hand. The dealer sets a king of hearts in front of Lucas and a king of spades on top. Stay, stay, stay.
    Without hesitation, he looks the dealer in the eye and says, “Split ’em.” The other players sitting at the table start laughing.
    “Ha, goddamn amateurs.” The woman snickers.
    “What the fuck are you thinking, Lucas?” I blurt out. He cocks his head up toward me and gives a smirk.
    “Don’t worry, doll. I got this.” Doll? Really? The dealer splits the cards and sets an ace of diamonds onto the king of hearts. My heart just dropped to the pit of my stomach. Are you kidding me? He’s got twenty-one!
    “Yes!” Lucas whispers to himself. I don’t see how he’s not screaming from excitement. The dealer places a seven of clubs onto the king of spades.
    “Please stay, please,” I whisper to him.
    “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he whispers back to me. There is more meaning behind those words, I feel, but I’m not going to draw any attention to them and make things awkward.
    “Hit.” Lucas looks at the dealer. Everyone at the table grunts at his idiotic decision.
    “Are you kidding me? You’re an idiot, Lucas!” I yell at him. The dealer flips over a queen of hearts. He busted. He fucking busted.
    “Ah, bust.” Kate takes his $1,000 in chips.
    “Let’s go, now,” I scold. Lucas smiles and wraps his arm over my shoulders, pulling me close.
    “Lighten up. It’s just money. I wanted that to happen.” I peel his arm off me and start power-walking ahead of him.
    “Okay. Go pout, Princess.” Lucas laughs. Ugh! He drives me nuts and this is only the first night. This week can’t go by fast enough. I turn to look back at him. That smirk stretches on his face, his fingers run through his messy blond hair. Why does he have to be so damn attractive? This sucks.
    “Give me the room key,” I demand.
    “Don’t you know how to ask nicely?” He grins and holds the room key out of my reach. I try to grab the key, but he moves it away from me. My flailing arms surrender.
    “Fine. You win.” I sigh.
    “No, no, no, I don’t want to win that easily. It’s not any fun that way.” Lucas holds the room key about three inches from his face, taunting me, trying to get me to grab it from him.
    “Take it.” He smiles. My hand bolts for the room key and just as quickly he moves the room key out of my reach. My heel buckles beneath me and Lucas catches me by the small of my back. I glance up at him and our lips are nearly touching. If he kisses me, I win.
    “I didn’t know you had that much to drink. Do I need to carry you to the room again?” He pulls his face away from me and helps me get my balance.
    “What do you mean…again?” I snatch the room key from his hand and we both head back to the hotel.
    “You were pretty wasted…you really don’t remember anything from that night, do you?” Shit. I did sleep with him. Fuck.
    “I really don’t care to talk about it. Whatever happened, happened. That was then, this is now. I’m not like that anymore. So please don’t be getting any ideas.” Lucas stops walking and grabs my wrist.
    “What do you think happened? Nothing happened, Addison.” His eyes are honest, but how can I just trust a stranger’s words if I can’t even trust myself?
    “I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember anything, really. Just the bet, and then waking up naked in a hotel room the next morning with a pounding headache and my clothes scattered all over the floor,” I admit.
    “Let’s just talk about this in the room.” Lucas takes a few steps forward, then comes to another stop. “Addison, nothing happened. Honestly…I may not know you that well, but I would have never done anything to hurt you.” There’s a magnetic pull coursing through my veins that is completely unexplainable. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me. Yet the desire to wrap my arm around his and kiss his shoulder is so strong.
    “Thank you.” We start toward the room