One Shot Bargain Read Online Free PDF Page A

when he turned to leave it slowly trailed down her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps.
    It was all he said before turning back around and walking directly into the house.  Randa stood outside in disbelief as the sun seared her exposed shoulders.  The heat was oppressive, but a moment ago when he had been so close to her, the air had nearly sizzled.  She looked behind her and knew that it would not take much to walk back to main road and get a cab to the hotel.
    She weighed her decision, but eventually her curiosity won out, and she followed him into the house. 
    The first thing she noticed when she crossed the threshold was that while the exterior of the house may have been old school gothic, the interior was very updated and modern.  It was a nice contrast, and she felt herself at ease almost instantly.  Drake was standing at the back of the hall, and when she walked in she saw him smile and motion her to follow him. 
    When she turned the corner, she found herself staring at a large open room with two pool tables on either end.  The furnishings in the other rooms might have been modern, but the tables were decidedly not.  They were large, and made from a thick, hard wood and the felt tops were so pristine there weren’t even chalk marks on them.
    It was not often that Randa felt herself intimidated, but these tables had her at a loss.  She walked around each of them, her fingers trailing across the carved wood.  These tables were old school masterpieces, and she would have laid money that each of them was carefully maintained and balanced by a team of professionals.
    “So, you live here?” she asked.
    “Yes.  I grew up here, and I inherited the house when my parents passed away.” 
    She studied him.  He couldn’t have been more than thirty.  There were very few wrinkles on his face, no grey at his temples, and not even a hint of flab on his body.  Either his parents passed away when he was very young or he was the best preserved man she had ever met. 
    “I’m sorry to hear that.” 
    “Thank you.  It was a plane accident.  My father used to fly a small airplane, and my mom loved to travel with him.  She would say it was far safer than driving a car.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, stopping at the opposite end of the pool table from her.  “Sad thing was she was right, it was statistically far safer to be in the plane.  But I guess statistics don’t mean anything to fate.  When it is your time, it is just your time.”
    Randa remained quiet, watching him and waiting for him to finish his story.  She knew from experience that people often did not get straight to the point.  Often, if you were patient enough, and waited long enough without interrupting them, you could gather a lot more information than if you started talking. 
    “That was several years ago.  I was at college.  For a number of years I did not come back.  My grandfather was still around, and he saw to the house, the staff, and the business while I ran around the world trying to drink my fortune and my pain away.  Somehow he made sure that didn’t happen.  When he died he knew that the one thing I treasured most out of all of it was my father’s lake cabin.  So, he left the property to the tribe with a set of very specific instructions on how the money raised was to be used and how the money was to be raised.”
    “So, this pool tournament, it was set up by your grandfather, before he died?  As in, it was in his will?” she asked, unable to believe the set of circumstances she now found herself in.  This was not only outside of the realm of anything she could have imagined, it was also well outside of the comfort zone of what she was partnering up for. 
    “Yes, this is my chance to win back the cabin fair and square,” he said as he looked up at her.  For the first time she saw the pain in the depth of his eyes and realized how badly he felt he had messed everything up.  She knew that feeling