Page 77 of Puppy Kisses

Her sisters saw it, of course. So did Marcia and Bea and, unless she was very much mistaken, Zeke. His eyebrows shot to his hairline, but he didn’t move from where he sat on the couch.

“There.” Adam flipped his hands from palm-side down to palm-side up and back again. “Anything else I can do to address your concerns? Should we have Bea cover the mirrors? Clear the room? Strip me down to my shorts?”

He made a show of standing and reaching for the buttons of his shirt as if to disrobe right then and there. The forearms Dawn could withstand, but there was no way she’d be able to concentrate if Adam sat there in nothing but his underwear.

And concentrating was something she seriously needed to do.

“Cut it out, you two,” she said, sounding so much like Lila that her sisters had to stifle their laughter. “No one is accusing anyone of anything. Well, except for Adam being a cocky bastard with all the luck, but there’s not much we can do about that. Shall we keep going, or do we need a break?”

“Keep going,” both men said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Unless you’d like to take a few minutes?” Charlie asked with a glance down at Dawn’s rapidly dwindling pile of chips. “You, ah, aren’t looking so flush over there. If you’ll pardon the pun.”

She pardoned the pun but not the fact that Adam looked so smug about it. His intentions were obvious—he wanted Bea’s land, but more than that, he wanted to make sure shedidn’tget it. He couldn’t stomach the idea of having her as a neighbor, was so determined to cut her out of his life that he’d sit here and carefully demolish her at poker to ensure she was exorcised forever.

“I’ll be fine,” she said in as sweet a voice as she could muster. And she would, too. She had her sisters at her back, and she knew now that she didn’t need anything else.

But, oh, she wanted more. So much more, and with so much longing that it was all she could do not to upend this poker table and demand that Adam see this game for what it really was.

She was reaching her hand out as far as it could go. All he had to do was reach back, just a little, and she’d hold on with every ounce of strength she had.

“Then ante up, and we’ll get this next hand going,” Marcia said as she gathered the cards and began shuffling them. As the most neutral party in this whole thing, she’d been designated as the dealer. “I’ll keep an eye on the sleeves from here on out.”

The next few hands went as well as expected, which was to say that Dawn was quickly and steadily losing her ground. Charlie was also losing, but he still had enough chips to make a recovery—provided the cards fell in his favor.

They didn’t. At least, Dawn assumed they didn’t because as Marcia tossed the next round of cards their way, Dawn picked them up to find herself facing the knobby braille of a straight flush.

Finally.Here was her chance to regain some of her lost ground, to show Adam that she was a contender worthy of the title. She needed to make a big show of this hand, to shake Adam out of his calm and make him realize that if he wanted this land, he was going to have to fight her directly for it.

“All in,” she announced, pushing her pile of chips toward the center. “I’ve got you beat this time, boys. I’m looking at a straight that’s dripping with diamonds.”

Marcia’s hand stopped over the top of the deck. “Um, aren’t you supposed to keep that a secret? The hand’s not over yet. In fact, I didn’t even call for your bets yet.”

“It’s also not her turn to start the betting,” Charlie said, his head tilted as he considered her. “Are you sure you know how this game works?”

“Playing games is the only thing I’m any good at,” she replied. Although she spoke to Charlie, her words were meant for Adam’s ears. From the looks of him, he knew it. His mouth was firm and his concentration more focused on her than the cards in his hand. “And I repeat—I’m all in.”

“She’s bluffing,” Adam announced as he matched her bet. It barely made a dent in his own chips. “She doesn’t have anything. She’s just making a mad last-ditch effort to throw us off since she knows this is her last hand.”

Dawn’s lips curved in a smile. Now they were getting somewhere. Now she could force Adam to discuss the real matter of importance between them. “Are you sure about that, Adam? I’ve always been straightforward with you before—told you exactly what I wanted, exactly what I was thinking. What makes this time any different?”

His lips pressed into a firm line. “She’s bluffing,” he repeated.

“I don’t know, Dearborn,” Charlie said. “She looks pretty serious to me.”

“No. She doesn’t actually want Bea’s house. In fact, this whole thing is a sham. She only set up this game to thwart me.”

“Are you absolutely sure about that?” Dawn asked. Even though she knew they were in a room full of people, that there would be no more pretending to Zeke that she wasn’t in love with his brother after this, she went all in on this matter, too. “Because I’m willing to place everything on this hand. In fact, I’ll even raise the stakes higher.”

“With what?” Adam asked. “You don’t have any more chips.”

Being down for the count had never stopped Dawn before, and she wasn’t about to let it stop her now. A stirring at her feet reminded her that the things she possessed went a lot higher than poker chips, that the things that mattered were a lot more valuable than a stupid house and a hundred acres.

“No, but I do have Gigi. She’s worth—what did you say, Marcia?—about a thousand dollars?” She fought a pang of regret as Gigi resettled herself, this time placing her head firmly on the top of Dawn’s foot. The poor puppy was exhausted by the day’s activities, and instead of sitting by Adam, she’d opted for Dawn. It had been a nice—if unprecedented—move on her part. “I’ll add her to the pot. That should help sweeten the deal, don’t you think?”

Adam’s mouth twitched and his hands faltered on the cards, but Charlie spoke up before he could say anything. “Uh, no offense, but I don’t really want a dog.”

“Oh, but this isn’t any dog,” Dawn replied sweetly. “She changes lives. She charms uncharmable men. Isn’t that right, Adam?”