Harper stared at Charlie’s discard but didn’t take it and grabbed from the pile instead. “That’s a good question. My parents were quite a bit older when they had me, but they tried to be fun. I had a good childhood.” She discarded.
Charlie took from the pile again and stared at the card that was no help to her hand and waited for Harper to continue.
“There were so many little fun times, but maybe my favorite is when I went with my grandmother to a theme park. I thought we’d just ride the small, easy rides and spend some time in the arcade, but she was game to try every ride. Can you imagine sitting in the front row of a roller coaster with your seventy-five year old grandmother, her hands in the air as she yelled the whole way down the first drop on every ride? I was a little afraid to go on a stand-up coaster, but she said if she wasn’t afraid, I shouldn’t be either.” The smile on her face was completely unguarded, and the shared memory made Charlie feel closer to her than ever. “Looking back, I’m not sure if she should’ve beengoing on those rides at her age. But she was so happy. And so was I.”
“That’s so sweet. I wish I could have met her,” Charlie said, a little surprised that she really meant it.
“Me too. So what’s your favorite childhood memory?”
Charlie knew she should have prepared for this exact question, but she hadn’t. “Hmm.” She bought time as she drew a card, reordered, and discarded. “I grew up in Gainesville, which I think you already know, and my parents were both pretty outdoorsy. So one time, we were kayaking on a lake and bird-watching—”
“Wait, you’re a bird-watcher?” Harper stared with wide eyes.
“Wasis the operative word. I’m not currently a bird-watcher, nor do I plan to take it back up. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.” She leveled a fake serious expression at her. “Now, can I continue with my story?”
“Of course, sorry.” She held her hands up without giving Charlie a peek at her cards.
“Thank you.” She cleared her throat playfully. “So there we were, kayaking along the lake, when my dad got Mom’s and my attention and pointed out this gigantic python swimming along the top of the water about twenty feet away. It had to have been someone’s pet that they released when it got too big or something. I nearly dropped my paddle in the water. I hate snakes. Likereally, really hate snakes. But it was cool watching it slither across the surface of the lake like it was solid ground. When all of the sudden, this alligator vaults up from underwater and grabs the snake right behind its head and drags it down, and we never saw either of them again.”
Harper’s jaw was hanging. “Okay, so first, this is your favorite childhood memory? It’s a little gory, don’t you think? And terrifying. An alligator eating a snake while you’re a few feet away?”
“It didn’t feel gory. And how many people can say they’ve had the chance to see an alligator hunt in the wild? It was amazing. And pythons weren’t meant to be loose in Florida. So for the ecosystem, as my father was quick to remind me, it was a win.”
“You are a little dark, Ms. Paulson,” Harper said, laughing as she spoke.
“It was a fun afternoon on the water with my parents, and we saw something super cool. It’s not dark at all.” Charlie laughed too, though maybe it was a tiny bit dark. But so cool to have seen. Especially from a kayak.
They continued laughing and chatting for two hands. Harper won the first and Charlie the second.
As Harper was shuffling for a third hand, she said, “We’re all tied up. Want to make it more interesting in a third and decisive hand?”
The heat simmering in her eyes had Charlie’s muscles tightening in the best way. She tried to use her flirtiest tone as she said, “What’d you have in mind?”
“Whoever wins this hand gets to make the other person do whatever they want.” Her tongue flicked out for a brief moment and moistened her lips.
Charlie felt like she’d just taken a shot of tequila with the bouquet of butterflies running rampant in her belly and up into her chest. “So I could ask you to wash my dishes tomorrow when we get home?” She didn’t know why she’d just said that. It was so goofy.
“Uh, yes, if that’s what you want me to do, I’ll wash your dishes tomorrow.” She’d started dealing, but she paused as she made eye contact and said, “But I’d be lying if I said I hope you pick something that tame.”
The air in Charlie’s lungs fled her body in awhoosh. Her reaction had to be at least partially due to them being well into their second wine goblets, but her skin tingled. She clenched herthighs to quell the ache, but it didn’t help. Not even a little.
She couldn’t think clearly and was staring blankly at the cards she’d picked up without ordering them in the slightest.
“Don’t forget, it’s your turn,” Harper said in a husky whisper.
“Oh, right.” Charlie picked up a card, took a quick check to see if it looked like it fit in her hand and discarded it without knowing for certain.
Harper picked it up, found a place for it, and discarded a jack, which Charlie was pretty certain she didn’t need. Shit, what had Harper just picked up? Charlie was going to lose, and it was going to be ugly if she continued with this level of inattention.
She started to organize her cards but was distracted by Harper’s fingers tracing a path along the lapel of her robe, moving it ever so slightly more open. Charlie squeezed her eyes shut as she closed her cards and tightened her jaw, searching for a little self-restraint. When she thought she found it, she fanned her cards open again and confirmed she didn’t need the jack, so she drew from the pile and discarded a ten.
From the glint in Harper’s eye, she knew exactly what she was doing. She clearly wanted to win this hand, and damn, Charlie wanted to let her. She didn’t intentionally throw the game, but Harper continued to tease her, distract her more and more as the hand progressed.
When Harper at last drew a card and her mouth curved into a pirate’s smile, Charlie knew she’d lost.
“Gin,” Harper said.
But Charlie didn’t feel like she’d lost at all when Harper stood and said, “Come here.”