"Intimately, actually," I tell him back with a straight face. Might as well get this out in the open. "I’m here to win. Shall we?"
Li doesn’t even flinch.
"Place your bets!" the dealer cries.
My dealer places my three hundred thousand dollars’ worth of high-value plaques on the apron in front of me. Li places the equivalent of fifty thousand dollars on the Pass Line and I match him by pushing my chips into the Don’t Pass Line with a smile. The other players make their bets, but I don’t pay any attention to them or the amount of money flowing in here. Li’s hand is on Grace’s hip.
I see red, but I take a deep breath. Wrong time, wrong place.
The dealers flips the puck to white and the game is on. Li picks up his dice, jiggles them in his hand, and then with a flat palm offers them to Grace. She leans in and kisses them. I zero in on her lips, fuming when they touch Li’s skin. When I look back up to his face, he’s smug. "Good luck from the lady," he says loudly.
Everyone cheers.
"You bet against her, Mr. Asher," he says, nodding down to my Don’t Pass Line bet.
"I always bet the House first time out, Mr. Li."
He throws the dice and rolls a seven. The whole room erupts in cheers. Except for me. Because I lost.
"Ha," Grace says in a voice pitched too high, "loser! That’s what you get for betting against me."
I smile at her as I push another fifty thousand dollars into the Don’t Pass Line. Li doubles his money and holds out his palm for Grace to kiss. This time she looks me right in the eye, takes his hand in hers, stroking her thumb up and down the length of his fingers, and then leans in and touches her lips to his skin once again.
I fume. Anger manifests as heat and pulsates through my entire body. "Grace," I growl, but at the same time Li throws the dice and rolls snake eyes. Everyone but me lets out a collective groan. My chips double and I’ve made my money back.
"Shall we raise the stakes a little, Mr. Asher?" Li asks me, his grin a little too wide. "And move over to baccarat? Minimum bet of fifty thousand?"
"I’m in," I say as his hand rubs against Grace’s hip once again. She leans into him and I have a brief second of panic that maybe they really know each other. Maybe she’s dating this guy. I’ve left her alone for two weeks, Ray can’t know everything about her. It’s possible she had plans to meet him here.
"With a private non-monetary wager as well. My date for tonight."
"What?" Grace squeals. "You can’t bet me!"
"She’s not a piece of property, Mr. Li."
"No, Mr. Asher," he says back evenly. "She’s not. So stop treating her like a gold watch."
"I didn’t buy my way into this game to retrieve a gold watch, Mr. Li. I told you, I’m here to win."
"Win back the girl?" he asks with a lightness in his voice that really pisses me off. "Too late for that." He pulls Grace in close, his large hand across her hip. "She’s mine and I’m not ready to give her up just yet."
"Oh, I assure you, Mr. Li. Grace Kinsella is not yours." I smile and a small laugh even comes forth. "She’s mine in every way imaginable."
"Holy shit, you’re both a couple of ass**le cavemen!" Grace says too loudly, sipping on a glass of champagne that has materialized in her hand while Li and I have this pissing contest. "I don’t belong to anybody but me!" And then she storms off, handing her champagne to a waiter as she makes for the door.
A few of the women in the room cheer her on, but their partners quickly divert them to another game and a few seconds later Li and I are staring each other down from opposite ends of the table.
"You have a one-hour minimum in here, Mr. Asher."
My attention is fixed on Grace, who walks out the goddamned door.
"So let’s make that wager. And if you win, you can have her. If I win, she spends the night with me and you are escorted off the premises." I recoil and he grins a little wider. "Don’t worry, someone will be scooping her up momentarily and taking her to the bar to await the outcome."
The doors close after Grace exits.
"One hand of baccarat. If I win, I get to leave immediately and you back off."
"One?" He tsks his tongue. "Where’s the fun in that? That has no risk, Mr. Asher. You’re wealthy. Whatever you lose or net in here will not affect your bottom line. No, I’m afraid we’ll need to raise the stakes higher. At the very least the best of ten hands. You see, your risk is leaving her alone out there. She’s been drinking, she’s angry, and she’s in Vegas. Ten hands of baccarat, played swiftly, might take ten minutes. But she can make a lot of decisions in ten minutes."
I could stand here and argue with him, but why bother. If I play and win, I could have her back under my control in a matter of minutes. If I play and lose, well, at least she won’t be picked up by a stranger. If I do nothing she’s got a sixty-minute head start on me. I can’t even call Ray and have her followed because I don’t have a phone. She could disappear. Someone might get her and who can tell what might happen. I have no choice. "I accept."
Chapter Six
WHEN Li waves his hand, his people close the doors to the baccarat room and we approach the table. I set my rack of chips down and wait to see how he wants to play this.
"Place your bets," the dealer says.