BACK IN HER HUSBAND'S BED by Andrea Laurence Page B

him while wearing a wire. “I’m surprised no one has caught him yet, given how many people know about it.”
    “He’s careful. And smart. There’s one main player they try to push through to the final table and a good ten or more in the tournament just to help them along. You never know who’s in on it. I heard he’s got a new partner working with him this year. I haven’t seen her myself,” he continued. “But I heard she’s—”
    She? Annie sucked a sip of her bottled water into her lungs accidentally, launching into a mad coughing fit. The Captain immediately stopped talking and patted her on the back, watching with concern as she wheezed and viciously hacked.
    “Are you okay?” he asked when several minutes had passed and the bright red faded from her face.
    “Yes, I’m sorry.” She nodded. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll run to the ladies’ room.”
    “Of course.”
    At that, Annie dashed away to the safety of the restroom and hoped Gabe’s security goons had the good sense to stop listening in.
    * * *
    With the way the tournament play fell, Annie was scheduled Saturday so she had Sunday off. They had a record number of registrations, so the breakup allowed everyone to participate. The numbers dwindled exponentially after that point, so the top players from Saturday and Sunday would then combine to continue on Monday.
    In theory, Nate should’ve been down on the casino floor making sure everything was going as planned, but he just couldn’t make himself do it. Saturday had been agony. He’d watched Annie play from a distance all afternoon, unable to touch her the way he ached to. His fists had been curled tight in his pockets for hours, a fake smile plastered onto his face.
    When she finished for the day, victorious, he’d whisked Annie away to the suite. She’d barely been able to bask in the glory of her poker domination before she was naked and writhing under him again. They’d spent the entire evening holed up in the suite, ordering room service and making love on every piece of furniture he owned.
    As the sunlight began pouring in the windows Sunday morning, Nate rolled onto his side and stared down at her. She looked as though he had thoroughly exhausted her. The long strands of her dark hair were messy and sprawled across the pillow, her eyes dancing under her lids with dreaming.
    Throwing back the covers, he disappeared silently down the hallway. By the time he reached his desk, he could hear the chattering music of his smartphone. It was Gabe’s ringtone. He hadn’t spoken to him since the end of tournament play yesterday. He was certain his head of security had been anticipating a daily debrief with Annie, but Nate hadn’t felt like sharing her last night.
    “Hey,” he answered.
    “Good morning, sunshine,” Gabe said dryly. “We need to talk about something that happened yesterday.”
    Nate frowned and settled into his desk chair. “What?”
    “I was down on the floor watching Eddie as you directed, but one of my guys, Stuart, was doing surveillance and listening to Annie’s conversations.”
    He didn’t really want to know what his friend would say next. It would ruin his sex buzz. “And?” he said reluctantly.
    “She was talking to the Captain and having a fairly blunt conversation about Walker. He indicated that he’d heard Walker had recruited a new woman to work with him. Just when he was about to elaborate, Annie went into a mad coughing fit and immediately dismissed herself.”
    That wasn’t good. Knowing the accomplice was a woman reduced the suspect list dramatically. Knowing Annie had abruptly ended the conversation, hadn’t followed up and hadn’t passed any information on to him or Gabe narrowed it to a party of one. Was it possible that Tessa was more than just Eddie’s girlfriend? Could she be involved in the cheating, as well, or was the Captain just misinformed? He needed to get Annie away from the casino and all the intrusions.
    “I think