“Are we going to keep talking all night, or are you going to roll the dice?”

He gives me a long, hard look and then raises his hand to my mouth, the cream-colored dice in his palm. “For luck,” he says and lifts his hand higher.

When I press my lips together in answer, his mouth quirks in an oh-well gesture, like this is all a game to him. 

And maybe it is.

Perhaps he wants to play with his food before eating it.

Aiden tips his hand, and the dice tumble out of it and onto the blood-red felt of the pool table. I jerk involuntarily like I’m going to grab for them to stop this farce before I’m trapped with him for the night, but he takes my arms in his and moves so quickly, I’m pinned between his body and the pool table before I can do anything. We both watch as the dice tumble and tumble and tumble until they crash into the side of the pool table and finally, finally stop. We both jerk as the number is revealed.

Snake eyes.

Two.

Probability of rolling a two? Less than 3 percent.

Less than three fucking percent.

Should I let it get to me that snake eyes are bad luck? My stomach hollows out as I consider exactly what he could have in mind for me for the rest of the night. I didn’t put any stipulations on what he could and couldn’t do. What does ‘do with as I please’ even mean to a man like Aiden O’Connor?

I dread finding out.

I’d gambled for my freedom… and lost.

“How should I have you first, pet?” he asks, his mouth unnervingly close to my ear, voice rumbling and dangerous—I’m pinned and helpless. “On your knees? Or bent over this table so I can see if you’re worth the trouble?”

Shudders wrack my body as I lock my knees to stay upright. Well, I guess that answers the question of what he has in mind for me. None of it good.

“Do you think that’s going to scare me?” I ask with more bravery than I feel. I’m giving up trying to interpret my emotions at this point. The one thing I do know is I can’t let him see any weakness. “Because it doesn’t.”

Instead of pissing him off, his lips hover at my neck, and he’s so close they tickle my skin as they draw into a smirk. “Alright, pet, whatever you say.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Then tell me your name now and I’ll call you that instead.”

That’s not happening.

A shiver threatens, but I turn to stone to fight it off. Chills race down my arms and tighten my nipples instead. Fantastic. “Fine,” I grit out. “Call me whatever you like as long as you tell me what you want from me.”

“Whatever I like?” he croons and backs off enough that I’m able to turn around in his arms. Strains of music from the party fill the momentary silence. He’s close, far, far too close. But the only way to get by him would involve rubbing my body against his, and I don’t plan on giving him the satisfaction. “We need to go back down to my guests. I have an alibi to establish. What better way to do that than with a beautiful woman at my side?”

A sick, greasy feeling rolls through my stomach. “You’re disgusting.”

His smile is a predatory carving on his beautiful face. “A fact I’ll prove to you before the night is over. You should have thought of that before you gambled with me.”