Zaira observed Trent as he played the seven person poker game. She lost track of time but suspected that at least an hour had passed. It was the last betting round and the pot had tripled in size during such a short time frame. Sometimes her own poker face waned and she was literally on edge as they played out the last hand. It was funny how Trent brought out the emotions in her. Every single one of them. She was left with no choice but to keep her distance. The side conversations with the friends of the other players weren’t helping her state either.

The game ended with Trent laying down five cards on the table. Four of a kind and one queen. She had no idea how he did it, but he was a beast at this game.

Zaira sighed in relief. Even though it was all a game, she still cheered for Trent. Of course, she wanted to be the first to congratulate him on his win, but all the losing players and bystanders got there first. When he turned to look in her direction and acknowledged her, she smiled. He grinned back and moved his attention to the card dealer who was speaking to him.

Noticing her empty cocktail glass, Zaira moved to the mini bar in the room to secure one more. She grabbed Trent another beer while she was at it and walked back over to the pool table.

What she did not expect was to find a woman standing near Trent, laughing and flirting with him. Zaira knew green jealously was only human nature, but she also knew that the feeling never evolved into anything worth fretting over and she worked to dispel the emotion. Taking a few deep breaths, she closed the distance.

They stopped talking when she made her presence known.

Trent slipped his arm around her waist. “Zaira. This is my agent, Eve. Remember I told you she was working on my timeshares.”

Eve blinked several times, her cheesy grin fading by the second. There was no doubt that the woman was beautiful with her flawless pecan colored skin, slim physique, and jet black weave flowing down her back. The death stare that Eve gave Zaira revealed the woman’s agenda in a matter of seconds.

“Yeah…you sure did.” Zaira handed him the beer and nodded her head. “Nice to meet you, Eve.”

“Oh, hi,” Eve greeted and smiled. “How odd. Trent’s told me nothing about you yet.”

Zaira chuckled. “I don’t find it odd at all. You don’t need to know anything at all about me.”

A small gasp emanated from Eve’s lips and she looked disturbed. “Oh, please…” She shifted her gaze away from Zaira. “Trent, don’t forget about our dinner tomorrow tonight. We can continue this talk in a more sophisticated type setting.”

Trent still wore a poker face and he said nothing as he nodded his acceptance to Eve.

Eve gave Zaira another glance before she turned and disappeared into the crowds.

“Zaira…”

She held up her palm. “You don’t even have to explain, but answer me this…”

“All right,” he replied, nervously.

She turned to face him. “What type of magnet do you have in your dick?”

“It’s not what it seems. We’re—”

“—Number one. Your agent is attracted to you and she looks like she wants to jump you for sex if you haven’t already fucked her. Number two. You’re going on a sophisticated date with her and you have the nerve to say it’s not what it seems.”

Zaira feigned nonchalance, but deep down inside she knew the truth would hurt if she ever allowed her real feelings about Trent to surface.

Trent took her cocktail and put it and the beer on the card table and placed both hands on either side of her arm. “There is no date. I hired Eve to help me with my timeshares.”

“Okay. I’m over-reacting.” She shrugged. “It’s not like we’re a couple anyway. You can go date and fuck whoever you want, but you won’t be dating and fucking me at the same time. So if that was your plan, you can scratch what we talked about the other day at the office.”

Trent sighed and swore under his breath.

“Crossing the line is a bad idea,” she added.

“Yo, Trent.” The guy that was dealing the cards walked up from behind. “The money is counted and ready. We can’t cash out standing around out in the open.”

“Wire the money. I’m kind of busy right now,” he replied.

“Naw, man. I don’t want this traced. You either take it now or leave it,” the guy said. “I can certainly use me a new ride if you leave it.”

“Fuck that. I want my cash.” Trent turned back to Zaira and held his palm out. “Come with me?”

“Let’s call it a night.” Her heart seeped with regret as she fought herself from speaking the next words. “My friend, Pam, is here and I’m sure she’ll give me a ride home.” She reached up and stroked his cheek as a gesture of peace. “Go get your money. You deserve it.”

Zaira picked up her cocktail and turned without another word.

Zaira was fresh out of the shower when her cell phone began to ring. She ran over to the nightstand and picked it up without checking caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Zaira.” It was Trent.

Her heart skipped a couple beats and she clutched the towel just before her fingers went completely lax. “Hi,” she breathed.

“I needed to know if you made it home safely.”

“I did. Thank you.” She sat on the bed, put the phone on speaker output, and grabbed a bottle of lotion. “I was just getting ready for bed.”

“We had quite a night. You must be really tired.”

She shrugged and smoothed the lotion over her arms. “Well, you’re the one who left with the win.”

“I would have rather left with you.”

Even over the phone, his voice sent warm sensations up her spine. Or maybe it was the cool air hitting her skin from the vent above her bed.

“Some days you can have cake and ice cream, other days you can only have cake. And sometimes you end up with nothing at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“You didn’t leave with me, so I hope you at least got something out of the deal and hooked up with Eve. It looks like she’s ready to blow your mind and your dick.”

Zaira couldn’t believe her nerves right now, but seeing another woman dote on Trent must have really gotten to her. Maybe the distance between them had her spewing these begrudging words.

“I don’t want Eve,” he said.

“That’s too bad.” She applied some of the lotion to her legs and feet. “You told me once that you liked to celebrate your wins with no strings sex. So didn’t you?”

He exhaled loudly into the phone. “You know, sometimes I wonder if I’m at a disadvantage in trying to convince you that you’re the only woman for me when you know so much about me. The good and the bad…and the ugly.”

“Probably. We’re like brother and sister. We just had a bad fallout at one point, that’s all. Let’s not repeat it.”

“Is that how you really feel?”

She squeezed more lotion into her palm and applied it to her torso as she spoke. “This is probably our sign. Remember what we agreed on? After tonight, we’d decide if crossing the line was a good idea. I think we have enough evidence to say that this was not a good idea.”

“It sounds like you’re running around. What are you doing?” Trent asked.

“Seriously? I’m putting some lotion on my body.”

He cleared his throat. “I can help you with that.”

“I bet you could,” she said. “I’m almost done. I just have my thighs and ass left.”

“Fuck,” he mumbled.

Zaira chuckled. “See? You should stop asking me intimate stuff. If we’re going to agree to be friends, it would be wise to at least pretend that we’re not attracted to each other.”

“I remember when you got your first tattoo a year ago. That same weekend, some R.R. brothers had a pool party and you and your friends came by. I could tell it was new and your first one. Maybe a few days old. You were proud of it and you wore that two piece bikini to show it off, didn’t you?”

Zaira’s breath caught in her throat and she caught a glance of herself in the mirror by her bed. She looked just as flustered as she felt. Enough time had passed since she’d exited the shower, but a rush of heat suddenly filled her pussy.

Trent continued when she didn’t speak. “It’s a black and red butterfly on your lower back. That day I tried to pretend that I was only admiring your new tattoo, but I was really admiring your ass.”

Her sex clenched and a jolt of pleasure surged up her spine. She knew what he was trying to do. Nope. It wasn’t going to work. She would not be taken by temptation. When her contract at Svelte was up, she’d stay far away from his smooth talk and magnet dick.

“I’m sure you were, unless you had a change of heart about your favorite body part on a woman,” she said.

“I bet your ass is just as plump and round as it was that day in those flimsy bikini bottoms,” he continued. “I wanted to take you somewhere, untie the strings, and fuck you like it was my last day on Earth.”

Fever rushed over her body. She inhaled and exhaled silently so that Trent couldn’t detect her reaction.

Zaira got up with the phone and pulled out a pair of black lace panties from her dresser and slipped into them. She turned her back to the mirror and looked to peek at the tattoo that he spoke of. It had been her first and only tattoo, but Trent was right. She was proud of it and the ass she worked so hard at the gym to maintain.

“You know what, Trent?” she asked. “You wouldn’t know what to do with this ass if it was right there in your face.”

Zaira promptly disconnected the call and activated her “do not disturb” settings.