Dinner was great, the guys were sweet. Clean-up was quick, and the men settled around the table with her and started teaching her the game.
“We’ll play for chips first,” Aaron said, shooting a warning look at the other two men. “Just so you learn the game. No pressure.”
“Okay.”
She realized she’d lost track of time. It had to be getting late, but she didn’t care because she wasn’t even tired. This was fun. The men had settled into an easier, relaxed mood now that it was obvious she wasn’t running, screaming, out the main hatch. This made it a lot easier for her to read them, although Aaron was still cloudy and guarded in many ways. An enigma she wouldn’t mind spending more time exploring.
Ford partnered with her first, helping her with her cards and teaching her the finer subtleties of betting and calling. Apparently they played a very standard, basic version of the game and not one of the more horribly complex ones.
Good thing, because she hated games that were more trouble to play than they were fun.
An hour later after several rounds, she started getting the hang of it, although she had trouble remembering which hands were worth more than others. She also realized she had an unfair advantage because she could tell when the men were bluffing, especially each other.
That would be cheating, right?
Or not. They had her resume, they knew she was a trained class two empath.
After another hour, Ford let her play on her own and she started wiping the men out of chips. At first she wondered if they were letting her win, then realized they were genuinely surprised a beginner could pick up the game so quickly.
When it was her turn to deal she flashed them a smile. “So what happens when you run out of chips?”
The men looked at each other, then Aaron spoke. “What do you want to happen?” he carefully asked. She tried to read him. The men had all shifted slightly back to nervous, afraid of doing something to spook her.
His eyes never wavered from hers. “So how’s strip poker work?” she asked.
The twins said, “Holy shit!” She’d gotten used to their frequent unison comments and thought it was funny that two unrelated men could be so close as to talk like that.
“You want to play strip poker?” Aaron asked in disbelief.
“Well, from the looks of it, you guys would be doing the stripping.” She didn’t blink, holding his steady gaze, waiting until he turned to Ford to look away.
“Well?” he asked Ford.
Ford shrugged. “I’m game.”
He looked at Caph. “What about you?” The large man eagerly nodded. “Sure.” Aaron turned back to her. “We can’t force you to do anything, understand? You also realize it would be fucking mean to tease us, right?”
She narrowed her gaze and imitated his amused smirk. “I’ve never been accused of being a tease, gentlemen. You want to talk or play? I still have chips. If you want to get me naked, you’re going to have to start winning back some money.”
They played. Within four hands, the three men were totally out of chips and shirtless.
And they all had very nice chests.
Emi dealt the next hand and kept raising the ante, forcing the men to give up a shoe each. Three more hands left them in their pants and underwear.
“You guys want to keep playing?” she asked.
They all nodded, their eyes on her.
The next hand saw them sacrificing their pants. Aaron wore boxers, but the other two wore briefs. All three men were stiff, and from what she could tell, large.
She smiled. “I like what I see, gentlemen. What do we play for after you lose all your clothes?”
Aaron met her gaze head-on from across the table. “What do you want to play for?”
“What do you usually play for?”
Ford and Caph silently watched them like a tennis match, their heads pivoting back and forth, their jaws slightly gaped in disbelief.
Aaron narrowed his gaze. “Once our clothes are gone, we play for favors.”
“Favors as in little birthday party toys, or favors as in blow jobs?” He smirked. “The second. Usually we play cards in bed when we get to that point.”
Okay, she was definitely soaking wet now. Emi took a sip of her water and licked her lips because her throat had gone dry. “Really?” All three men nodded.
She couldn’t believe she was doing this, it didn’t feel real. “How fascinating, gentlemen.” She picked up the deck of cards and stood, heading toward the doorway leading to the crew quarters. The men watched her, and she turned. “Well? I thought you said you normally play in bed at this point.”
After a brief moment of stunned shock, the men scrambled to follow her. Aaron took the lead. She didn’t bother keeping her eyes off his ass as he opened the cabin door.
Their banter had ceased. Apparently they were too shocked by her willing acceptance of their situation to think of any pithy, snarky comments. She waited for them to get settled on the bed, then kicked off her shoes and sat with them. She removed her linen jacket, leaving her hard nipples clearly visible, pressing taut against her shirt.
From the direction of their collective gazes, they’d noticed.
Emi shuffled the cards and tried to conceal her amused smile. Five years with a crew of guys who were apparently more than satisfied with her appearance, who were pretty good-looking, who absolutely could not cheat on her, and whom she was able to stun into silence.
Not a bad deal at all. She liked the feeling of…power. Feeling desired, because frankly, her two exes never made her feel like she was beautiful, just that she was available.
“Ready, gentlemen?” she purred.
The men nodded.
She dealt the next hand and didn’t have to be a full clairvoyant to know they were too distracted to play well. At the end of the hand, all three men stood and shucked their underwear without comment.
Emi stared, her throat dry. The men were well-endowed. Not porn stars, but definitely fairly proportioned and larger than either of her exes had been.
Much larger.
Holy crap!
She tried to hold onto her cool, appraising mask and knew it was slipping. She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with the Braynow Gaston’s crew, but these three men were all men, not a bit of boy about them.
Maybe they were jealous.
Aaron’s smirk returned. “Well? Like what you see?” She carefully moistened her lips and tried to control her voice.
“Very nice, gentlemen. Next hand?”
All three grinned and resumed their previous positions, sitting cross-legged on the bed, their cocks stiff. Fortunately, none of them were extremely hairy, something that would have turned her off.
Although she suspected if any of them were, they’d probably get a full body waxing to make her happy. Caph’s chest was covered with soft, downy blond hair. Ford had a light dusting of darker curls across his chest, and a dark line of hair ran from his navel down between his legs. That would keep her mind distracted if he went without a shirt, knowing where that trail led. Aaron’s body hair was fine and straight, and she resisted the urge to run her fingers over his chest¯and between his legs.
Now she was the one forced to concentrate. Fortunately she still had the advantage. “So what kind of favors do you usually play for?” she asked as she shuffled the deck, trying to keep her eyes on Aaron’s deep brown gaze and not on his throbbing member.
His playful smirk told her more than anything that he was well aware of her rapidly disintegrating control. “Depends.”
“On what?”
He shrugged. “On what mood everyone’s in.” She glanced down. All three men were stiff without any indication of disinterest. “Looks like everyone’s in a fairly playful mood to me.” The twins remained silent. She had a feeling if she kept this up too much longer, those two poor guys would be drooling idiots.