As the conversation about the wedding wound down, Griffin called his shot, and the thirteen ball slid into a corner pocket.
Her seven ball, the eight ball and the cue ball remained. Griffin had to sink only the eight ball with the white cue ball to win.
She'd gone head-to-head with Griffin, and it had been a close game. She'd been in this to win, however.
Eva closed her eyes. She couldn't watch Griffin make his shot.
"Seven ball and eight ball in the corner pocket."
Her eyes flew open. She didn't understand. Were they playing by rules she wasn't aware of?
She focused in time to see Griffin very deliberately sink her seven ball along with the eight ball.
He straightened, and gave her a slow, sexy smile. "I consider this a win-win situation."
She stared at him. "Why?"
He put down his cue, and came around the table toward her. He removed the cue stick from her limp grasp, and set it aside. "The art of a successful hustle is to get your opponents to bet the house and empty their pockets."
Her eyes widened.
The side of his mouth lifted. "Isn't that what you were trying to do?"
She felt herself flush. "I—"
"So I decided to oblige you. This has been burning a hole in my pocket since you walked in the door."
He pulled something from his pocket, and grasping her hand, slid a ring onto her third finger.
She stared down at the brilliant cushion-cut diamond set in a filigreed setting. It had to be at least four carats.
Her lips parted. Oh, my…
She suddenly, inexplicably, felt like crying.
She hadn't gotten a ring from Carter before she'd found out about his betrayal.
Griffin was obviously making a statement—in more ways than one.
Her gaze rose to his.
"If you don't like it, we can get you something else."
She cleared her throat. "It's…thank you."
His eyes burned into hers, and her breath caught.
A moment later, his lips touched hers, and she melted into him, kissing him back with all the pent-up sexual desire that had been building between them since she'd walked into his house.
His lips trailed along her neck.
"Why didn't I ever know you played pool?" he muttered against her throat.
"I…I didn't ever want to play you," she said breathlessly. "Stakes too high."
"Oh, yeah," he returned, and a moment later, her back met the wall.
She'd never had an adrenaline rush like this. She closed her eyes, and gave herself up to the passion between them.
He shoved her underwear down, and she heard the hiss of his zipper.
"Wrap your legs around me, kitten," he said roughly.
She complied, and he hiked her up, helping her while he kissed her deeply.
She was slick and wet, and they both groaned as he entered her.
The coming together was quick, hard and feverish. Within minutes, they found oblivion together.
Nine
E va stared at herself in the full-length mirror in the bridal shop fitting area. The ivory wedding gown she wore was as slinky as a floor-length negligee.
She stood on a platform, and she turned to eye her back in the dressing area's three-way mirror.
The gown's almost backless style showcased a smooth expanse of skin from her neck down to the indentation of her waist.
The wedding was only two weeks away, and given the short notice, a custom-ordered gown had been out of the question.
"You look beautiful, Eva," Beth said from nearby, her reflection caught in the dressing room mirror.
"Thank you."
"Griffin will be knocked off his feet."
"And not by a San Francisco earthquake, either," she replied.
Beth gave a tinkling laugh. "Trust you to create your own earthquake."
She'd felt the earth move all right, Eva thought. But it had had nothing to do with seismic shifts belowground. Instead she'd felt the world tilt right in Griffin's bed.
At the thought of returning there, a tremor took hold of her.
"The gown does flatter you spectacularly well, dear," her mother said, speaking up from where she was sitting in a nearby upholstered chair.
"Thanks, Mom."
Her mother gave a sudden watery smile. "My baby is getting married."
"Oh, Mom."
Her mother waved a hand away. "Your father is happy."
Happy? Try ecstatic, Eva wanted to say.
When she and Griffin had announced to her parents days ago that they planned to wed, her father's face had been wreathed in smiles.
It had been a far cry from her father's reaction to her plans to marry Carter. On top of it all, her father had acted as if the element of convenience to her marriage to Griffin was just an insignificant detail.
"If I hadn't known Griffin such a long time," her mother said now, "I would have worried about your decision to marry him this fast."
Eva reflected that at least one of her parents was willing to be levelheaded about her marriage to Griffin.
Still, she knew she owed it to her mother to be reassuring. Now that she'd made up her mind to marry Griffin, she was determined to see it through, and she didn't want her mother to have a moment of concern.
"In a way, it's not fast at all," she said lightly. "I've known Griffin just as many years as you and Dad have."
She kept more equivocal thoughts to herself as she turned back around and stared at herself in the mirror.
Who was this woman who had agreed to walk down the aisle in a couple of weeks? And what had she done?
Since she'd agreed to marry Griffin last week, her life had been in tumult. She was full of jittery excitement and quivering anticipation—alternating with moments of pure panic.
Griffin overwhelmed her. Ever since they'd slept together after the party at his Pacific Heights mansion, she'd felt like herself but not herself. Certainly she was acting uncharacteristically, as witnessed by her decision to accept his proposal.
And though she'd once never have guessed it, Griffin had proven to be the most exciting, inventive bed partner she'd ever had.
Now, the thought of more of those nights stretching endlessly before her brought her body to tingly awareness.
"You know," Beth observed, "I've always thought Griffin was attracted by your acerbic wit."
"Thanks," Eva responded dryly. "I hope you're right because he's about to get a lot more of it."
Beth winked. "Planning to spice up the bedroom, hmm?"
Eva shot a glance at her mother, who was busy extracting a tissue from her purse and appeared not to have heard.
If only Beth knew, Eva thought to herself.