Chapter 12

She didn't know what she expected to find down in the hotel lobby, where the casino buzzed with Sunday night gamblers and smokers. Maybe Eva hoped to find her wife having fun with her friend and join them until she calmed down from what Kathryn implied. I could go for another blackjack game. This time at the lower stakes table. Where Lacey wasn't likely to be.

Except that was exactly who she saw sitting in one of the lobby bars, just beyond the poker tables.

Eva almost turned around and went the other way. Lacey hadn't seen her, and that was how Eva should have kept it.

Yet something burned a hole in her chest and punched her in the throat. If she were being robbed, this would be the part where she was kicked in the groin and had a sharp blade pressed against her throat.

She had to do something. Her wife's honor might have been on the line.

Who the fuck am I kidding? Eva's internal dialogue continued to buzz in her head as she approached the bar and picked the exact stool to make hers. This is about my honor and no one else's. Lacey doesn't give a shit. Nadia's had her fun and it's over. I'm the jealous asshole here, and I've got to do something about it.

Like buying herself an overpriced, watered-down drink that had no business being in front of her.

"Lacey looked up from her phone once she noticed who sat next to her. "This can't be a coincidence."

Eva cut to the chase, intent on getting her point across before her drink arrived. "You've had quite a bit of fun with my wife this weekend."

Lacey exhaled the tension instantly created between her and Eva. Even in plain clothes, she's quite the fancy chick, isn't she? Lacey wasn't so much different from Eva when it came to physique and style, although Eva had a good few inches in height over her old rival. Still, even I couldn't wear this outfit and still look fine. Dark wash jeans, wedge sandals, and a tight V-neck that left little to the imagination would have looked silly on any other woman. Yet on Lacey Cruz, who took confidence to another level?

Eva had to watch herself around this one. That had always been true.

"It didn't mean anything, and you know it."

"Maybe I want to make sure." Eva thanked the bartender for her prompt drink. She immediately pulled away the tiny napkin and said, "My wife is quite taken with you."

"Is she telling tales about things that did not happen?"

"No tales required. I know her so well I can tell she's thinking it." Eva overlooked the giggling, polite flirting, and walking arm-in-arm with someone else. When she saw the way Nadia sat in their hotel room the night before, though? Beautiful. Bold. Bothered. The hot kind. Either things had gotten dangerously real between Nadia and Lacey… or Nadia wished they had.

Eva didn't begrudge her wife her fantasies. After all, wasn't Eva always flirting with other women and coming up with all sorts of sexy scenarios for her marriage to get into? If Nadia can put up with that for nearly eight years, I can deal with someone like Lacey sniffing my wife's shampoo. Eva didn't know what annoyed her, then. Was it the fact that it was Lacey? Or because Nadia wouldn't come outright and say that she was attracted to another woman?

Sure, there was always the chance that Eva might be upset, but… hadn't she established the kind of boundaries in their marriage that allowed them to talk frankly about these things? She must be embarrassed. It's the only logical explanation. Either that or Nadia was worried that Eva would be offended that attraction was reserved for someone else and not her.

"Nothing happened beyond the bounds of what you would expect in a fake date auction." Lacey stared forward, hand hovering her drink as her eyes glazed over in the direction of fanciful bottles and backlighting on the wall. "You have a lovely wife, though."

"Lovely enough that something might have happened if she wasn't already spoken for?"

Narrow eyes flashed in Eva's direction. The sip of a cocktail passed her lips. Way more watered down than expected. Good. Eva didn't want to get tipsy for a conversation like this.

"Look, nothing happened. I don't know what you think of me," Lacey turned her body toward the woman in question, but her guard was up, and that made Eva bristle more, "but I wouldn't try to steal your wife because I think it makes us even. That's never been my style."

"Let's say, hypothetically," Eva continued, "she came on to you. Would you say no?"

Eva wasn't sure if that was a grunt or a chuckle in Lacey's throat. Both. Definitely some unholy abomination made up of both. "I don't know," Lacey candidly said. "Maybe."

That should have incensed Eva, but all it did was make her more frustrated.

Why? Because I wish Nadia had tried cheating on me? No, that wasn't it at all!

In no universe would Nadia have attempted such a thing, especially the Nadia that Eva knew. The one who reserved her body and sexuality for certain moments throughout the year. The very thing Eva attempted to open up more as the years went by and they navigated the wild and wacky world that was their relationship.

"You know what I think?" Eva dropped her cocktail glass so hard on the bar that it almost spilled. "I think you want to fuck my wife."

Lacey turned, one arm leaning against the bartop while the other flexed against her side. "So what if I do? Doesn't mean I have or will. You know how this works."

As if on cue, a familiar head of red hair and her brunette best friend ambled by one of the poker tables not too far away. "Hmph. What if you had the opportunity?"

Lacey was instantly aware of the trap Eva set. "What are you on about?"

Eva kept her head craning over her shoulder until she made eye contact with Nadia, who stopped immediately in her steps. Jasmine bumped right into her. Both women looked over and saw Eva and Lacey sitting at the bar.

Jasmine was confused. Nadia was paler than she had any right to be.

What's the issue, darling? Yet Eva wasn't surprised when Nadia hustled over to the bar, expertly weaving between crowds of people attempting to cross before her path. Eva bit her lip in anticipation. This would be good, even if it didn't go her way. It will go my way. Trust me.

"What are you up to this time?" Nadia hissed at her wife, although Lacey could clearly hear that as well.

"Up to? I don't know what you're talking about."

Lacey got Nadia's attention by grazing fingers against her arm. "I think I'm being offered an indecent proposal." Her stony eyes remained locked on Eva, who was chuffed to have so much attention. "Your wife wants to know if I'd like to sleep with you tonight."

Before Eva had the opportunity to correct that assumption, Nadia was already on her.

"What the hell!" Red hair was in Eva's face, threatening to tickle her nose if she didn't turn away at the right moment. "What the hell has gotten into you lately? I swear to God, if this is your weird way of getting jealous over nothing, then I think I've about had it for a while!"

Jasmine approached but said nothing. Her respectful distance announced without words that she knew better than to get involved in this.

"Far be it from me to turn you out, honey." Eva sipped her drink as if her wife had not almost dislodged her from her stool. "I'm merely interested in the truth. Something happened between you two. Or something almost happened. I want to know what it was, and how badly I should try to make the next few hours happen."

Nadia's jaw dropped. "Why are you embarrassing me like this?" she squeaked.

I knew it. Embarrassment. The best reason for not doing something fun.

"Fine." Lacey smacked her hand against the bartop. If she were annoyed at Eva for ruining a quiet evening in a casino bar, that was now behind them. Good riddance to that, too. Lacey could take her introspective extroversion and shove it up her damn ass. Balls out or get the hell out, honey. Eva was in charge now.

Like God intended!

"I tried to kiss her!"

That hadn't been loud enough to garner the attention of anyone else but Jasmine, who whispered something in Nadia's ear and was waved away for the rest of the evening. With one last look of curiosity, Jasmine hustled away, a shrug pushing into her loose black hair.

"You don't have to tell her anything," Nadia said. "This is between Eva and me. There's no reason for you to get involved."

Eva scoffed. "There is, though. Because you're right, babe. I am proposing. It's clear you like this woman. It's clear she knows how good I've got it with you, and I don't blame her for trying to make a move. You're the hottest thing in a pair of leggings around here!"

"Eva…!"

"Remember our promise earlier this year, Nads? Hawaii?"

Nadia was on the verge of fainting on the old, faded hotel carpet. Eva would have laughed if she wasn't out to antagonize the sexy wife she intended to sleep with again.

"Don't think for two seconds you're inviting her to join us." When Eva smacked her hand, it landed near Lacey's. The woman immediately drew hers away. That's right. She wants nothing to do with me. Even if Lacey joined them in a threesome, Nadia would be the spoiled center of their sandwich. While Eva liked that idea too, she had to lay some ground rules. "You've been denying everything I've asked you since yesterday morning. Maybe if you had been honest about your mutual attraction, I would have let you have all the fun in our room. After all, I let you have the honor of picking the right lucky lady… but not like this, babe."

"Eva Warren, I cannot believe you're doing this. You're embarrassing me."

"Or am I making you confront something you didn't know about yourself?"

"You'd love to find out!"

Lacey held up her hands as if she could excuse herself from this mess. "You guys can figure out your relationship issues without me around."

"Oh, no." Eva shoved her back down onto her stool. Lacey stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "You've got to hear me out, Miss I Tried to Kiss Your Wife."

"You're more than a little obnoxious right now."

"Good! Because you've both been driving me crazy since yesterday."

Nadia clasped a hand on her wife's shoulder. "I'm begging. Don't say something stupid."

Eva grinned. "Tell you what, Cruz. Beat me in a game of poker, and you can sleep with my wife tonight. No strings attached."

She knew she might have signed her death warrant with that offer.