Read Online Mother, Please! by Brenda Novak, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online

squinted at a chocolate she’d pulled from the lower layer. “Do you know if this one has a cherry in it?”
    “I have no idea,” he said. “I pretty much stick with traditional candy bars. But they’ve got a vending machine downstairs, in case you’re running low there.”
    She put the chocolate back. “I hate cherries. What’s in the vending machine?”
    “Are you planning to tell me what’s going on?”
    She licked her fingers and scowled. “Being an only child sucks.”
    His eyebrows drew together. “Are physicists even allowed to say ‘sucks’?”
    “I use words like that occasionally with people who don’t know me well. It makes me come off a little less stiff.”
    “I don’t think it’s working for you.”
    “Figures.” She grimaced. “Well, I’m getting tired. I think I’ll go to bed.”
    His eyebrows rose. “That’s it?”
    “What’s it?”
    “You really came here because you want to sleep? ”
    “My mother was crying when I got to my room. Would you want to spend the night with a woman sniffling into her pillow, refusing to tell you what’s wrong?”
    “Now you know why I never married,” he said, straightening. “I’ll get some change for the vending machine.”
     
    A N HOUR LATER , Gunner propped the pillows behind his back as he watched April study her cards. They were sitting on his bed, playing Texas Hold’em, and she’d beaten him three hands already. But he was pretty sure that was beginner’s luck. Atleast he hoped it was. The ace of spades, ten of diamonds and king of clubs were turned faceup between them—not bad flop cards. He should be able to make something out of this hand. “I can’t believe you’ve never played poker before,” he said while he waited for her.
    She was obviously preoccupied with the decision-making process. “Gambling hasn’t been very high on my list of priorities.”
    “But you didn’t know how to play any of the games I mentioned.”
    “Most people learn to play games like this while they’re young, or maybe in college.”
    “But you didn’t?”
    “I was fifteen when I started college, so I wasn’t invited out much.”
    He scratched his chest. What an odd childhood. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for her, thinking of all the fun she’d missed. “You were old enough to associate with college-age people when you were working on your Master’s and Doctorate.”
    “True, but behavioral patterns are learned very young. I was shy and reclusive at that point, and there weren’t a lot of men in school who seemed to feel comfortable with me.”
    “So you’ve never been to Vegas for spring break?”
    “No.”
    “Never been anywhere just to party and have fun?”
    “I’m here in Cabo, aren’t I?”
    “A company trip with your parents is your idea of a party?”
    “I’m having fun. Aren’t you?”
    “I guess.” He chuckled. What a life.
    She stretched out across the foot of the bed, the flop cards and the pot between them. “I’ll match your Twix bar and raise you a bag of Doritos.”
    “You must have quite a hand,” he said, trying to bait her into giving herself away.
    It didn’t work. She arched her eyebrows coyly. “Maybe I’m a good bluffer.”
    “Somehow I doubt that.”
    “I’ve won three hands already.”
    That was a slightly sore subject. Anyway, Gunner had an excuse. “Anybody would’ve won with the hands you were dealt. It’s beginner’s luck. And the game’s not over yet.”
    “You’re overconfident. About a lot of things. That’ll get you in trouble.”
    He could tell from her tone and expression that she was talking about their relationship.
    “It remains to be seen which of us is overconfident about the other,” he said.
    “You must be pretty self-assured where I’m concerned. You tried to talk me into playing strip poker a few minutes ago,” she told him.
    He shrugged. “I didn’t want to disappoint you. I have a reputation to uphold, remember?”
    April glanced eagerly at the