Undercover Attraction by Katee Robert

Author:Katee Robert [ROBERT, KATEE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2017-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Aiden barely breathed as Charlie faced down Mae for what felt like the millionth time that night. Even though he knew she was playing up the persona of an empty-headed idiot, it was still disconcerting to watch her giggle and joke her way to winning. She effectively took out both him and Alethea in the first hour, manipulating them expertly despite the dramatics—or because of the dramatics. She bluffed so well, he still wasn’t sure when she actually was bluffing. Even though he knew better, he’d underestimated her.

It made him wonder how else he was underestimating her.

But as soon as it was down to her and Mae, Charlie started losing. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out if it was on purpose or not. They still hadn’t gotten around to talking business. It would come, though. Alethea hadn’t invited them out here for a simple poker game, no matter what her daughter thought of Charlie. The woman was too smart to waste an opportunity as important as getting Aiden on her side, but she was too arrogant not to try to play him in the process.

So he focused on Charlie and the game dwindling to a close between her and Mae. He hadn’t trusted her before in how she handled the situation with the Eldridge heir. He trusted her now.

“All in.” Charlie pushed all her chips to the center of the table with a flirty wink at him. “Dinner’s going to be on me tonight, baby.”

She loves this. The risk, the role-playing, the outwitting of dangerous enemies.

He made a noncommittal sound. Alethea leaned over from where she sat next to him and murmured, “Trouble in paradise?”

“You’re awfully concerned with my love life.” He didn’t look away from the game, where Mae was considering Charlie like a cat toying with a mouse before devouring it.

She laughed softly. “This is about business and you know it—you also know that your love life is business. Since you’re going to play coy on the subject, let’s put the rest of it on the table. You want us to work with you against Dmitri Romanov.”

Finally. Trust the woman to leave it until the last possible moment to broach the real reason they were there. When he looked at her, he found she was wearing the same expression as her daughter.

Normally, Aiden knew which way he wanted to play a person, depending on a number of factors. His sisters got the older brother who was kind of an asshole but still loved the shit out of them. The people under his command got Seamus 2.0, because that’s what they responded to best. Charlie got … Well, she was currently beside the point.

Alethea spoke and acted bluntly, but she was capable of subtlety—if she wasn’t, Romanov wouldn’t consider her such a large threat. So Aiden went the most direct route. “It’s in your best interest.”

“No, it’s in your best interest. My best interests lie elsewhere currently.”

He reminded himself that he’d expected he’d have to persuade her—if only on sheer principle.

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