Wicked Nights Read Online Free PDF Page B

sank his seven balls, the game was his. So much for losing intentionally.
    He looked over at her. “What do you think I should buy with my hundred bucks?”
    He wouldn’t actually take her money, but teasing her was too much fun to resist. She belted out a curse
    and stepped away.
    “Didn’t I hear you were trying to stop cursing?” His mother had pointedly mentioned Piper’s endeavor,
    apparently under the mistaken belief Cal might want to try the same himself.
    He picked out a cue stick from the rack while he waited for her answer.
    Her yes, when it came, was grudging. “I’ll put a quarter in the swear jar later.”
    He didn’t know where Piper had learned to curse, but she could definitely outswear many of the SEALs
    he’d served with. Plus, not only was she creative, but she was loud. Her jar probably held enough quarters
    to fund an entire new wing for the library she’d apparently announced was the jar’s beneficiary. Over the
    course of the next ten minutes, he proceeded to sink his seven balls, one after the other, and Piper’s
    obligations to the swear jar grew more substantial.
    Tag whistled. “I shouldn’t have bet against you.”
    She stepped up behind him as he eyed his final shot. It was game over as soon as he sank the eight ball.
    “I’d like to propose a side bet unrelated to this game,” she said.
    This game. Not a game.
    His critical-thinking skills suddenly became nonexistent, which was probably part of Piper’s master
    plan. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach his ear. God knew what it looked like to the other guys in the bar.
    Since her front was pressed against his butt, he wasn’t complaining.
    “What are we negotiating?” His voice sounded gruff, but some things were definitely beyond his
    control.
    “The Fiesta contract.” She didn’t retreat. Nope. If anything, she pressed in tighter.
    “I’m not stepping away,” he warned. If he wanted to bring more veterans out here to Discovery Island
    to work, he had to have the additional business. No pool game got in the way of that.
    “I wouldn’t ask you to bow out...more than once.” He felt rather than saw her smile against his throat.
    Piper had always been honest. It was one of the things he liked about her. Her next words were a whisper
    meant for him alone. “Loser takes orders from the winner for one night—in bed.”
    Whoa. He hadn’t seen this bet coming.
    “You’re crazy.” Of course, he’d known that for years. Piper had never met a chance she didn’t want to
    take. Twice.
    “If you’re so sure you’re going to win, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
    He looked down at her arms, caging him in place, and wondered if she’d thought her bet all the way
    through. “There are other ways to take a man to bed, Piper, if you’re desperate.”
    The bar’s noise gave them just enough privacy that the others couldn’t hear their low-voiced exchange,
    but this still wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have in public.
    She gave a little laugh. “I’m not desperate, Cal.”
    He eyed his cue stick and wondered what his next step should be. “Then, maybe you could explain it to
    me.”
    “We’ve always had a certain...chemistry. Aren’t you curious?”
    Oh, yeah, his inner bad boy growled.
    “I’m going to take my shot,” he warned, all thoughts of deliberately throwing their match vanishing.
    “I’m winning. You don’t want to give me that kind of opening.”
    “Go right ahead,” she said, and he had no idea what she was inviting him to do. And then...she blew on
    his ear. Right as he shot.
    He scratched, the eight ball rolling into the pocket. Well...hell.
    She stepped away. “Too bad, Cal. You lose.”
    Scratching the eight ball was an automatic loss. Piper was clever. And at least now he wouldn’t worry
    about her grocery money for the week.
    “You going to pay up?” She parked her butt on the edge of the table and smiled at him. “Because I think
    we’re done here.”
    He pulled out his