Up by Five (31 page)

“Everybody needs a cheering section once in a while,” Mac said in her ear.

Instantly, Gabby teared up.

They’d been there for her. They were here for her now. As was everyone who’d crowded into Sierra’s apartment. She knew she could call any of them and they’d come, no questions asked and do whatever they could for her.

Yeah, maybe having people in your life didn’t always mean having to do stuff for them.

“Hey, you’ll ruin your mascara,” Mac teased, lifting a finger to her cheek and swiping at a tear that had escaped.

“Then knock that shit off,” she said, pushing his hand away.

She dug in her purse and pulled out her phone. She didn’t need Conner to be here, she didn’t even need him to know about the game, the money or her dumb brother. But she did, suddenly, need to talk to him.

He hadn’t said “I love you” as she left. But she hadn’t said it at all.

And she did. She loved him.

It was stupid, it was going to be hard at times and it was most definitely going to be complicated. But she loved him and, yeah, it felt weird to have all these people here for her except him.

Mac gave her a knowing grin as she dialed. She rolled her eyes at him.

Conner answered on the first ring. “Hey.”

His voice made her smile and she felt the tension in her muscles release. “Hey.”

“You okay?”

“I just…” her throat tightened and she felt Mac squeeze her hand, “…I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Cheesy. Really cheesy.

Then she heard him clear his throat and thought maybe cheesy was good.

“My charming and witty joke-telling voice, my charming and rugged phone-sex voice or my I-love-you voice?”

Her eyes stung. “Your I-love-you voice isn’t charming?”

“It’s just my voice, no additives needed,” he said.

The stinging grew stronger. “I have to tell you something.”

“Anything.”

“I love you too.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Mac gave her a big grin.

Finally she asked, “Conner? You there?”

He cleared his throat again. “I thought you were going to tell me about the poker game.”

Now the surprised silence was on her end of the line. He knew? She looked from Mac, to Nate, to Michael, to Dooley, then down at her dress and heels, and thought about all of the people who knew about tonight.

Of course he knew.

She sighed. This was one of the things that was going to come from combining the people in their lives—even more meddling and big mouths and fewer secrets or private moments.

Well, she could think of worse things. Like
not
combining the people in their lives.

“The game is going to start in a few minutes. I’ll…come over as soon as it’s done.”

“I’m on the front porch.”

“What front porch?”

But he’d hung up.

She frowned at the phone, then looked up at Mac. “He hung up on me.”

Mac’s attention was on something over her shoulder. “Uh, hey, you know how we were talking about you thinking about the game too hard?”

Well, she definitely hadn’t been thinking about the game in the last few minutes. “Yeah.”

“I’m guessing you usually play with a lot of distractions around, right?”

She laughed. “My family is definitely distracting.” If it wasn’t the antics and ribbing from the people at the poker table, it was the family watching and coaching, or the family in the kitchen arguing about how much Tabasco to put on the wings, or the family in the living room telling everyone to shut up so they could hear the TV.

“Then you should play great tonight with distractions, right?” Mac asked.

She nodded. “Probably.”

“Good. Because I think things are about to get very distracting.”

And Mac’s hand settled on her left butt cheek.

The first thing Conner saw as he stepped into Ricky Donovan’s front foyer was Mac Gordon standing way too close to Gabby—with his hand on her ass.

Of course.

Conner absolutely owed the man an apology for flirting with Sara. And he was absolutely never going to give that apology.

And then the ass itself truly registered. Conner felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. Gabby was all woman. There was no question in his mind, of course. But seeing her now…damn.

The crimson dress covered her only from beneath her arms to midthigh. It molded to her breasts, hips and the firm butt that Mac was still touching. Her long, toned legs seemed to stretch for miles before ending in three-inch heels. Her hair was swept up, sparkly earrings dangling from her ears, her necklace catching the light and drawing his eye to her long, graceful neck and her smooth, bare shoulders.

Gabby hadn’t seen him yet, but he knew Mac had noticed him by the huge-ass, smug grin on the big guy’s face.

Conner greeted him. With one finger. Then started in that direction.

That woman loved him. Really loved him. There was no way he was going to be able to wait to…

“Conner-effing-Dixon!”

Ricky Donovan stepped in front of Conner, blocking his way to Gabby.

Ricky Donovan. Poker game.
Not
being the barge-in-here-and-save-the-day hero.

Right.

He was here for Gabby. And if Gabby needed to pretend Mac was her boyfriend then…fine. Kind of. For now.

Ricky grabbed Conner’s hand in a half-shake, half-slap thing.

“Hey, Donovan. Thanks for the invite,” Conner said, plastering on his biggest charming smile.

It didn’t just work on women.

“No problem at all. Thrilled you’re here. No promises not to kick your butt at the tables, but still thrilled,” Ricky said.

“Thanks, man.” Conner knew the younger man was a knowledgeable and enthusiastic fan. Specifically of Conner’s, but also of the team as a whole. He was known for his live tweeting during Hawks games and his ranting on blogs that ripped on the organization or specific players. He was a staunch supporter and Conner appreciated him. He was going to use Ricky’s enthusiasm to help Gabby win a bunch of money off of Ricky’s friends, but he appreciated him.

“We’re about to get started,” Ricky told him, steering him in the direction opposite from Gabby.

Conner glanced back. That was okay. For now.

“Gabby Evans looks great in red, huh?” he asked Ricky.

He’d seen Donovan’s tweets. Even without Amanda filling him in, he could tell Ricky had a little crush.

Ricky grinned. “Hey, that’s right, you probably know her. You’re both paramedics.”

“Yeah, I know her. She’s awesome.” And she loved
him
. Conner felt a big rush of I-can’t-fucking-believe-it-hell-yeah.

“She is. She’s with the big guy tonight, but I think I’m going to put him at another table for poker. Then I can flirt with her without him staring me down.”

Conner nodded and tried to contain the brightness of his smile. “I think putting Mac at another table is a hell of an idea.”

Ricky glanced up at him. Then groaned. “You’re going to flirt with her too? Man, I don’t stand a chance.”

Damn right.
Conner clapped Ricky on the shoulder. “Ricky, do you believe the old saying ‘all’s fair in love and poker’?”

Ricky gave him a grin. “Yeah, man, I do.”

They strolled through a large room where the buffet and bar were set up, then stepped into a huge room that Conner supposed would have been called the ballroom in old-fashioned mansions. He wasn’t sure what Richard Donovan used the enormous room for exactly, but his son had turned it into a Vegas look-alike casino.

There were even six slot machines around the perimeter, a blackjack table and a roulette wheel. Guests were milling about, playing, laughing and drinking.

But the centerpiece was the poker setup. Ten tables with seats for five each clustered in the middle of the room. Each had a dealer and a waitress standing ready to serve the players through the hours ahead.

“Wow.”

Ricky nodded. “Thanks.” He looked at Conner, clearly proud. “I can’t throw a football but I can sure as hell throw a party.”

Conner couldn’t disagree. “Let the games begin.”

“You’ll be at my table,” Ricky said, pointing to the first table near the arched doorway that led from the dining room. “Gabby will be too and a couple of my buddies.”

“Sounds good.” It sounded perfect. Conner could hold his own at poker with his friends, but Gabby’s family had proved that he wasn’t a serious player. He couldn’t win here with these high-level players. But he didn’t need to. Gabby didn’t need him to win the game. She just needed him to be here.

“I’m going to go announce the start of the game,” Ricky said. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Conner ordered a rum and coke from the waitress and took the chair to the left of the dealer.

He only had to wait five minutes for Ricky to escort Gabby into the room, with Mac right on their heels. Mac spotted Conner first and started in his direction, but Ricky said something that brought the big man up short. Ricky pointed to something across the room and Mac followed his finger, his eyes narrow. He glanced over at Conner, frowned, then started in the direction of the table he’d been assigned. As far from Ricky’s table as possible.

Conner hid his grin behind his drink.

Gabby was at the table when she finally noticed him.

Her eyes grew round and her mouth dropped open.

“Hi, Gabby,” he greeted. He kept his seat. Somehow. Everything in him screamed to grab her and kiss her and never let go. He wanted to demand that she tell him she loved him—now, in person, loudly and repeatedly. He wanted to strip her down. He wanted to propose.

But he stayed seated, smiling casually, watching every move she made.

She was looking at him with a combination of emotions—surprise, of course, but there was an instant look of affection, that he loved, and a look of relief. She gave him a quizzical look and a smile as she took a seat in the chair Ricky had pulled out for her.

“I didn’t think about the fact that you would know each other,” Ricky said as two more men joined the table. “But this is great. I get to hang out with the most beautiful woman I’ve met in a long time and my football hero in the same night. This is awesome.”

“I didn’t realize you knew Conner,” Gabby said, still looking at Conner.

“I’m a huge fan,” Ricky assured her. “I can’t believe he’s here.”

“Well, that’s great,” she said. “It’s that kind of flattery that keeps his custom-made helmet fitting his big head.”

Conner gave her a wink.

Ricky chuckled. “This is going to be fun.”

It was.

As long as Gabby quit looking at him like she was. It seemed she was also fighting the urge to round the table and grab him. If she kept watching him with the love and heat in her eyes, he wasn’t going to last an hour.

Ricky turned to talk to their dealer and a man in a suit who had approached with a question. He seemed to be in charge of something.

Conner took the opportunity to mouth to Gabby,
“Win big.”

She smiled and nodded. Then mouthed back,
“I love you.”

He groaned. He hadn’t touched her since she’d said it. He hadn’t been able to kiss her. Hell, he hadn’t even said it back. Sure, he’d said it first, but she had surprised him so much with her declaration on the phone that he hadn’t really responded appropriately.

“Sorry about that,” Ricky said, turning back to them. “That’s Stan. He’s in charge of security tonight.”

“Security?” Conner asked. “Really?”

Ricky shrugged. “It’s a game and I hope everyone has fun, but there’s some big money at stake and some of these people take it too seriously.”

“Better safe than sorry, I guess,” Conner said. “But no worries at this table, right? Everyone’s friends here.”

He knew Gabby could handle herself, even if the other players did take it seriously, but he was hoping that his presence would distract Ricky and that if their host felt he was truly playing with friends—or at least people he wanted to be friends with—he’d be more relaxed and less cutthroat about the game. Ricky was well-known as a card shark. After all, practice made perfect and Ricky got a lot of practice. It wasn’t like he had a lot of other pressing obligations to attend to. Every advantage Conner could give Gabby, he would.

“Definitely friends,” Ricky agreed, clearly pleased. “So I’m taking the night off.”

“The night off?” Gabby repeated.

Conner picked up on the note of concern in her voice, but she covered her reaction with a smile.

“How does the host take a night off?” she asked, her tone smoother.

“With you two here?” Ricky asked. “I don’t want to play hard. I want to enjoy. We’ll just play for fun.”

“Fun?” Gabby asked, as if she’d never heard the word.

“You don’t have to take it easy on me, Donovan,” Conner said smoothly, wishing he could reach for Gabby and squeeze her hand—or kick her in the shin. She needed to be cool.

“Me either,” Gabby said, too enthusiastically. “I’m here to play.”

“We’ll play,” Ricky told her. “Just not for money or anything. Just fun.”

“We’re not going to play for money?” Gabby asked, her tone definitely concerned now.

Conner tried to catch her eye but she was staring at Ricky.

Ricky chuckled. “You are Josh’s sister. That kid is intense.”

Having met Josh, Conner wasn’t sure he’d agree with the word
intense
, but he’d looked Josh up on Twitter on their way over and he knew the kid was pissed about not playing tonight.

“We take poker seriously in my family,” Gabby said.

“Well, I take charming the ladies seriously,” Ricky said, turning a grin on her. “And beating their pants off in cards isn’t the way I like to end up with their panties on my floor.”

Gabby stared at him as if trying to compute what he was telling her.

Conner thought fast. Okay, they were here playing poker, but it seemed clear that Ricky didn’t want to have to concentrate on a serious card game
and
seduction at the same time. Apparently he didn’t multitask well. But Gabby needed to play for the high stakes.

There was no way Ricky was going to let her sit at another table.