Playing Dirty Read Online Free PDF Page B

sign the same sort of waiver.”
    The Cheatin’ Hearts blinked at her.
    She leaned forward. “Who’s the brains of this outfit?” she pressed them. “Did you have your employees sign a waiver—”
    “Yes, we did,” Owen said.
    With one carefully manicured fingernail, Sarah thunked a firefly off her bare shoulder. “Of course, Rachel cares too much about you to cross you, with or without a waiver. I’m surprised the two of you aren’t tighter, Martin. I know you’re not dating anymore, but she wouldn’t tell me why, almost like it’s a big secret.”
    “There’s no secret,” Erin said, patting Martin’s hand protectively. “They just don’t want to talk about it with a stranger.”
    Maybe Erin didn’t know the secret, either. But Sarah saw the panicked look Martin shot Quentin. Quentin didn’t return the look. He was either too smart to react and give away whatever the secret was, or too stupid to know there was a problem.
    Sarah suspected the latter. As Quentin picked up his cards, he asked her, “How d’you like the big ol’ salty ’Ham?” He spoke in a thick Southern drawl similar to her mother’s, but without the class.
    “You mean your lovely little town?” Sarah sipped her delicious margarita. Mmmmm. “I can stand the heat.” She looked at her cards. Nothing. She threw away three and asked Quentin to deal her three more. Still nothing. Erin, Owen, and Martin folded. Sarah raised.
    Now Quentin stared her down, trying to decidewhether she was bluffing. She met his gaze and got the chance to study him in person for the first time. His T-shirt was printed with a fire-breathing dragon, the mascot for the local university. Some people were fans of a college’s athletic teams without ever attending school, she supposed. The shirt was so well loved that a layer of faded white fuzz showed on top of the green material. His eyes had looked intense on the album cover, but against this shirt, in only the weak floodlights from the mansion now that the sun had set, she could have sworn his eyes were dark green, like a Southern pine forest. With the alcohol massaging her skin and this handsome hick speeding up her heartbeat, she liked her job a lot more than she had for the past nine months.
    “Call,” he said, throwing in his chips. “Let me see them.” This must have been an inside joke because, inexplicably, Erin slapped his shoulder.
    Sarah turned up her cards, and he turned up his. Drat, he’d won. She wished she’d won the first hand, setting the tone for her relationship with the band. No matter, though. She’d be winning before they were through.
    Quentin raked the chips toward himself and winked at her. “Good start. I wonder how many clothes I’ll get off you by the end of the night.”
    She smiled. She knew he was a cocaine addict from the country. The stars who’d never had money were the ones who got into the most trouble when they suddenly made it big. And he was flirting with her to geteven with Erin. Erin took him back again and again, and would again, as soon as she tired of Owen. If the band didn’t break up first.
    But Quentin had an infectious pleasantness about him. Even now, as he half propositioned Sarah, he didn’t gaze at her in narrow-eyed lechery. His face was open and friendly and focused, and he looked absolutely delighted to be sitting next to her. She almost wouldn’t mind losing this game to him.
    Almost. Soon it was her turn to deal, and she enjoyed the Cheatin’ Hearts’ stares again as she flipped the cards expertly. She’d played quite a bit of poker in her career as babysitter to the stars, and she was the daughter of bridge players. Before long, Martin’s socks, Owen’s shoes, and Erin’s ponytail holder were bobbing in the pool, and Sarah hadn’t lost so much as an earring. Quentin hadn’t lost any clothes, either, but now Sarah had most of the chips.
    They were an easy take. Erin kept asking Owen what to do. She was either a novice or a