Slave Wager: Poker Party

“Mmmmm,” she breathed. It really did feel wonderful, having him on top of her. “What was that you said to me, Master? Something like why couldn’t you see it?”

“Do you know what a ‘tell’ is?” She shook her head. “It’s poker terminology for a giveaway, a read, something that tips off the other players. When you said that, I realized that I had been doing it the other night at DaVinci’s.”

“Playing with the cigar band?”

“Yeah, we were smoking cigars that night too. I must have been doing it when I was bluffing, and Theo picked up on it.” He rolled off and stretched out beside her on the bed.

She propped herself up on her elbows. “So you did it deliberately,” she asked, “there at the end?”

He nodded. “I had the kings off the deal, I knew he’d fall for it. A little worried he might have filled a flush, though, but he wouldn’t have bet so heavy on a draw. He thought he’d caught me bluffing.”

She was silent for a moment. “Master, how did you know I’d beat him cutting the cards?”

He laughed. “I didn’t. Maybe I was a little drunk, after all. Ten thousand dollar cut -- crazy.” He shook his head. “What card did you draw?”

She reached over to the dresser. “I’ve got it right here. I’m going to put it in my scrapbook.”

“What? You can’t just take one card out. The whole deck is useless now!” He grabbed for it.

She shook her head, holding the card against her chest. “You made enough money to buy a hundred decks of cards.”

“Shame to waste a perfectly good deck,” he grumbled. “What did you draw, anyway?” She showed it to him, grinning.

“The queen of hearts? No fucking way,” he asked incredulously. She said nothing, just slipped the card under the pillow and crawled beneath the blankets.

“I suppose you think this means something?” he asked, sighing. “You and your tarot cards…”

She giggled. “No, Master,” she said sweetly. “It’s just a card. It doesn’t mean anything.”

He crawled into bed beside her. “Queen of hearts,” he mumbled, chuckling. “Who knows, maybe it does mean something.”

Robin smiled secretly. It had actually been an ace she’d drawn, not the queen. She had a ‘tell’ too, but he didn’t need to know about it. Not yet.