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he smoothed his fingers over the tips of hers. “Am I your first date since he died?”
    â€œYes. And I can honestly say I don’t know what came over me.”
    That elicited a genuine smile. “Yeah?”
    â€œOh, yes.” Color rose in her cheeks.
    â€œThen I take back that ‘not having the moves of a natural flirt’ remark. If making a man feel like a million bucks is any criteria, you’re a lot better at it than I thought.”
    She blinked at him. “Why you silver-tongued devil,” she deadpaned. “Please. All this flattery is turning my head.”
    â€œHey, pretend all you want,” he said with a grin. “But I’m wise to you now. Letting a guy know you accepted his invitation against your better judgment—that’s flirting, honey. That’s effective flirting.” Seeing her flustered gaze made him change the subject. “So,” he said, “you have any kiddies at home?”
    â€œNo. We weren’t even married an entire year. BigJim had a grown son who was some kind of child prodigy math genius, but I’ve never met him.”
    â€œWhy not?” He sat back, the better to absorb her explanation. This oughtta be good, he thought.
    But she merely pressed her lips together as if she’d bitten into something that left a nasty taste in her mouth. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d really rather not talk about him.”
    The old bitter sense of inadequacy swept over him, and he blessed the waitress who arrived to take their order. What the hell did he expect, he wondered as he ordered. He was never anything but an embarrassment to the old man, so did he truly think that would have changed because he’d been gone for years? He’d outgrown such unlikely hopes years ago.
    It wasn’t like he gave a rat’s ass, anyhow. He’d left off looking for Big Jim McCall’s approval half a lifetime ago.
    Now he only had until the end of the month to charm his way into Treena’s good graces and find the autographed baseball that had been his father’s most prized possession. God knew that if anyone had earned ownership of that valuable little collectible, he had. And he meant to claim it through fair means or foul. Before Sergei Kirov set the dogs on him.
    At the same time he had to reserve part of his concentration so he could win the Las Vegas leg of this poker tournament. Ideally he’d have the former all wrapped up before he had to worry about the latter. Even so, he found his shoulders tensing and he rolled them as the waitress flipped her order pad closed and walked away.
    Then he relaxed. You’re thinking too much. He’d builtin plenty of wiggle room, and he didn’t expect to spend much effort seducing one showgirl. He flashed Treena a smile, and watched one side of her mouth curl up in response in that kiss-me-daddy smile of hers.
    Oh, yeah. It was just a matter of time.

CHAPTER THREE
    T REENA WAS SWEATING her way through another interminable set of pliés when Carly suddenly appeared in front of her. “Hey,” she said in startled greeting as she sank down, her knees turned out and her back erect. She surged back upright, ignoring her screaming quadriceps. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œAre you kidding me?” Reaching out a hand to rest her fingertips lightly upon the barre, Carly pliéd in sync with Treena’s next repetition. “You didn’t come home from your class!”
    She blinked. “They had an opening in the schedule here, so I took it.” She often grabbed unscheduled time, and Carly knew it.
    â€œYeah, well, that would be fine any other day.” Her friend waved the explanation aside. “But not after your date this morning. Like I could wait to hear? So, spill! How did it go?”
    Memories of her date with Jax, which she’d been firmly repressing in order to focus on her class and the extra studio time