Shifters of Grrr 2 (56 page)

Now Jason was really, really losing. He started getting reckless.
 
He was stripped completely bare now, and now this was just about the cash.

Carly was astonished at how manic he was acting – wagering bigger and bigger bets.

Then he was down not just the $20 million he had won, but he was down the $2 million that was his floor.

Carly leaned back in her chair.
 
She knew this was the moment he should be walking away, if she knew anything about his history as a guest at Diamond's Oasis Casino.
 
He never allowed himself to lose more than $2 million.

The Alpha was fuming.
 
He stared at Carly.

"I have to turn this around," he said.

He pulled out his cell phone and walked away from the table.
 
Carly heard him yelling at someone, ordering them to liquidate assets – to release another $10 million into a flexible account. He yelled until he got what he wanted.

Then he returned to the table and told Carly he would keep playing.

He bet $500,000 in one hand. He kept losing.
 
Then he got a grip.

Then the Alpha did, in fact, turn it around.

Suddenly, now it was Carly who was losing.
 
Had he been hustling her all along?

The inevitable happened.
 
She now had to start stripping. First, she played hard to get.
 
She merely took off her earrings.
 
Then her watch.
 
Then just her bow tie.

Jason found himself amused by this.
 

But then, there was no way avoiding the removal of her first article of clothing.

When Jason won his next hand, he raised an eyebrow at her, then leaned back in his seat and folded his arms in satisfaction.

Carly's hands trembled as her fingers unbuttoned her shirt, revealing her red, lace Victoria's Secret bra.
 
She tried not to shake with nervousness.
 
She couldn't look at him. She had been dreading this – having to uphold her end of the poker game.

Jason sucked in his breath.
 
This woman was absolutely gorgeous.
 
He was about to say something completely raunchy and out-of-line, but then he realized that she now looked genuinely upset.
 
She was trying to hide it, but she couldn't.
 

The Alpha suddenly felt like shit.

He stood up, went over and picked up her shirt.
 
He handed it to her, and she looked up at him, totally confused.
 
She felt awful suddenly.

It was just like she suspected.
 
Once he saw what he was getting with her, he didn't want her.
 
He found her to be completely hideous.

Jason sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
 
He got dressed.
 
He went to leave, and then he turned back to her.

"I'm an asshole," he said. "I shouldn't have made you do this.
 
I don't know what I was trying to prove."

"It's okay," Carly said. Her lower lip was quivering. "You can be honest.
 
You're not really attracted to me."

"What?" he asked. "Why would you say that?"

"As soon as I took my shirt off, you didn't want to see any more," she said quietly.
 
She still wasn't looking him in the eye.

Jason was stunned.
 
He didn't know quite what to say.
 
He cleared his throat.

"That's not it at all – that's
really
not it.
 
I just, I just saw that you looked upset and weren't having fun at all, and I realized I was being a real dick."

He took a deep breath.
 
Then he continued.

"I mean, I should probably just get the message," he said.
 
"You've made it clear multiple times this evening that you just don't want to have anything to do with me.
 
A decent man would just back off.
 
But not an Alpha, I guess."

He turned to leave.

"That's not why I took off," Carly told him. "Look at me. Can you honestly say that I'm your type?
 
You're rich, you're an Alpha, and you can have any she-wolf you want. Me? No.
 
I'm overweight, I drive a beat up car, and I've got nothing to offer."

"Nothing to offer?" Jason laughed, shaking his head.
 
"You just beat me for $20 million – you won back what the house lost.
 
You're a card shark, lady!
 
And as far as the rest goes – I didn't just try to claim you at the canyon when I hadn't seen you.
 
You caught my eye as soon as I walked into the casino.
 
Then I saw you again later. I made your Pit Boss go through all the security footage just to track you down."

Carly looked astonished.

"What?" Then she realized.
 
That was what Max had meant when he said
I found the woman you were looking for.

Jason was still watching her in her slightly disheveled state. Then, without a word he walked toward the door.

He was leaving her.

She went to say something else, but her voice caught in her throat.
 

But instead of leaving, Jason simply locked the door. Then suddenly, he swooped down on her, crushing her lips with his own.
 
He pulled her out of her chair and kissed her like his life depended on it.

Carly couldn't resist any longer.
 
She melted into him.
 

His hands were everywhere.
 
He peeled off the rest of her uniform, slowly at first, and then he lost patience. They descended to the floor, with Jason completely in charge of the situation, as should be expected of an Alpha.

He overwhelmed her, and she lost all sense of self-consciousness.
 
Everywhere that his tongue traveled on her skin felt like it was on fire.
 
Her nerve endings came alive and every touch was magnified.
 

Suddenly, Jason paused.
 
He looked at her, studying her facial expression.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?
 
You're supposed to be my dealer, and I don't want you to get in trouble."

Carly gave him a little smile.

"All bets are off," she said.

Jason grinned.

Soon, Carly finally understood what all the fuss about Alphas was about. Her total enjoyment and pleasure was his absolute number one priority. His hand traced up her outer thigh, then traveled along her inner thigh causing her to almost to convulse from the shock of being touched this way.
 

They were supposed to be playing poker.
 
How much longer they could carry on like this uninterrupted, they could only guess. Max would be coming back soon, and he would expect Carly to be winning and to be fully clothed.

When Jason was finally inside of her, they moved together in perfect sync. Carly secretly cursed herself for denying him earlier at Red Rock Canyon.
 
She had no idea that sex could be like this.

Why had she treated herself so badly by denying herself a night with a man who could make her feel like THIS?
 

Carly climaxed first, then Jason did. They collapsed together breathless, neither able to speak.
 
Jason was surprised at how intense this had been – not just for her, but for himself.

But he didn't want to get Carly in trouble with her boss.

An hour later, when Max finally did come back to check in on them, Carly and Jason were both fully clothed, playing Texas Hold 'Em as expected.

Chapter 7

Max looked at Carly suspiciously.
 
She was looking too relaxed.
 
So was Jason.

What was going on here?

"Who's ahead?" Max asked.

"Technically Mr. Irvine is, although I was winning for awhile.
 
He lost $22 million, but then won back $12 million. Which means he's now up $10 million."

Jason winked at her.
 

Carly knew this would happen.
 
After letting Mr. Alpha finally claim her, she had lost her edge at poker for the moment.
 
She still could recognize Jason's tells, but instead of giving her an edge, his every gesture, his every facial expression made her want to overturn the card table and have a second go with him. How could she possibly concentrate on a card game when she was so totally turned on?

"If Mr. Irvine was losing before he started winning again, why is he still fully clothed?" Max asked.
 
"And, you also have lost several hands by now, so why are YOU fully clothed?"

Both Carly and Jason froze.
 
In their haste to straighten out the room and appear innocent before the Pit Boss, they both forgot that they should maintain some state of undress, to make it appear like a legitimate game of strip poker.

Jason spoke first.

"Um – I decided not to push it.
 
I called off the whole strip poker thing."

"Oh," Max said. "Alright, I'll come back in another hour.

Jason and Carly kept playing.
 
As they focused on poker – or tried to anyway – and as Carly kept gazing at the man she had just slept with, suddenly her insecurities started creeping back.
 
This really would be only just one night, she was sure of it. Jason Irvine was a billionaire, and she was just a casino employee.
 
Alphas rarely stuck with a woman they had claimed, unless it was a formally arranged marriage.

This particular Alpha had just claimed her on the floor of a smoky backroom in a Vegas casino.
 
This wasn't the stuff that boded well for a real relationship.

Time wore on and the stakes remained as they were.

She folded.
 
At least for the moment.
 
Then Carly stood up and poured herself a glass of champagne.
 
She had nothing to celebrate, but she decided to start getting wasted. It would make it easier when the Alpha left.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"Nothing."

"Clearly something's wrong," he pushed.

Carly sighed.

"Look, we both know what's going to happen.
 
Do me a favor.
 
Just say you lost $5 million more,
take
$5 million, and leave the casino tonight."

"What's got into you?
 
Why are you telling me to leave suddenly?"

They bickered like this for another minute, when Carly blurted out to him what she was really feeling.

"You're going to leave anyway.
 
This was just a one-night stand, and you know it.
 
So it'll be easier if you take off sooner rather than later."

Jason had nothing to say in response.
 
He was completely caught off guard.
 
He had thought that after what had happened earlier that he had proven how much he was genuinely attracted to her.

A knock came at the door.
 
It was Max again.

"Everything okay?"

"I'm still up $10 million," Jason said.
 

Carly shot him an angry look.

"But I'll make another deal with you," Jason continued.
 
He was speaking to Max, but staring hard at Carly.

"I'm folding now.
 
And I'm taking my winnings tonight."

Max did not look pleased.

"But instead of cash, I'll call it even if you give me Carly."

Max went to say something, and then realized what it was that he had just heard.

"Can you clarify what you mean when you say 'Give me Carly'?" Max asked.

"You know what I mean.
 
I'm buying her."

Carly's jaw dropped.

"I – I don't think we can do that," Max stammered.

"You can and you will," Jason said.

It was true.
 
Alphas could demand any female they wanted.
 
Jason was actually being nicer than most.
 
He didn't have to actually pay for her with his winnings.
 
He could have just demanded to take her outright.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Carly spat at Jason.

"What does it sound like? I'm taking you.
 
Period.
 
You have no choice."

Jason stood up and left the room.

Carly just didn't understand this at all.
 
She knew Jason couldn't really want her, yet here he was upping the ante Alpha-wise and not just claiming her for a night.