But when this was all over…
“Where’s Captain Finn?” she asked, scanning the crowds.
“I sent him on ahead. Figured I’d give him a chance to brush up on his Costa Five.”
The poker tables were across the casino floor, beneath the garish flashing helo-lights. These tables were for high rollers, with a minimum bet of ten thousand credits. It was early yet, so most of the tables were empty. Luckily, the one Viktis had scoped out still had an open seat.
They headed toward the other side of the casino, and Viktis snagged his own glass of champagne from a passing waitress. As he walked, he caught the suggestive gaze of a tall, Trezian woman. Viktis returned her smile. Beside him, he thought he heard Keva grind her teeth.
“You ready for this?” he asked quickly, drawing her attention—and his—away from the other woman’s beckoning glance. His gaze drifted down to the bulge on her thigh. “I see you came prepared.”
She smiled, tugging up the hem of her dress enough to show the holster and pistol strapped to her shapely leg. “Always. I am your bodyguard after all.”
“And what a bodyguard,” he said with a smirk.
Keva shook her head. “There you go with your awful innuendoes again. No wonder no one takes you seriously.”
“Who wants to be taken seriously?” He nodded to the table where Finn was already sitting, a stack of chips growing in front of him. “What’s it done for that guy? Broken heart, boring life, treason. No thanks, I’ll stick to my happy-go-lucky personality and get along just fine. Now start looking like a guard.”
She dropped back to walk behind him as he approached the poker table. Two men and a woman wearing a shocking red dress were waiting for the game to begin.
“Is this seat taken?” he asked the woman. Her dark hair was carefully dyed, her unlined face showed faint signs of frequent surgery to keep it looking fresh. As he let his gaze drift appreciatively down her body, he noticed that she had the smooth curves of a much younger woman.
She smiled at him, completing her own careful inspection with big, gray eyes. “Not anymore.” Her smoky voice was like pure sex, and as she leaned forward to help pull out the chair, she twisted her torso, providing him an excellent view of her perfect cle**age. Instead of being attracted to the beautiful woman, Viktis forced back a shudder.
Kitty Cordoza was flirting with him.
But he was here to play the game, so he pretended to be flattered. “Thank you. Perhaps you’ll be my good luck charm. I certainly need it after my stint at the roulette tables earlier.” Viktis shook his head with a wry smile. “I must have lost a hundred thousand credits.”
“Ouch,” Kitty said, running a blood-red nail across the green felt of the table as she gazed at him from beneath darkened eyelashes.
Viktis shrugged. “Eh, it’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing.” He paused, then added, “I hate to lose.”
A slow smile curved her lips. “So do I.”
He held out a hand. “Ravy Zero.”
She shook it, letting her smooth fingers linger a little longer in his hand than proper. “Kitty Cordoza.”
Behind him, Keva took up a military stance, her face as impassive as stone. Viktis flashed Kitty a smile as he caught her gaze flick to the Delfine. “I hope my bodyguard doesn’t make you nervous.”
“Of course not. I have a few myself. A girl can’t be too careful.”
“I agree completely. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to a pretty face like yours.”
Before Kitty could figure out if Viktis’s words were a compliment or a threat, the dealer droid pulled a fresh stack of cards from the table. “Are we ready for the next hand?”
The rest of the players murmured their consent, and Viktis snuck a glance past Kitty. Finn sat on her right side, also dressed in a tuxedo. He’d smoothed his usually messy hair back, and his flinty eyes watched everyone with seeming disinterest.
Perfect.
Finn glanced down at his hand after the cards were dealt, his face expressionless. Everyone else at the table seemed to be hiding their tells as well. Viktis had no idea what the other hands looked like.
Good thing it didn’t really matter.
“Two cards, please,” Finn said, passing over two from his hand.
Beside him, Kitty shook her head. Finn did the same. The final man took three cards, then frowned as he viewed what he’d received from the dealer. “Please place your bets. Ma’am?”
Kitty pushed two chips to the center of the table. “Twenty thousand.”
Viktis arched an eyebrow at her and added a third chip to his pile. “I’ll see that and raise you ten.”
The other men grumbled and added their chips to the pile, but Kitty took her time, sliding the octagonal disk carefully over the green felt, her gaze never leaving Viktis’s. “Must be quite a hand.”
“I’ll never tell,” he said.
“Good thing I’m skilled at getting secrets from even the most inscrutable men.” Her smile was feral and Viktis forced his to stay pinned to his face. Behind him, Keva snorted, quickly turning it into a cough.
“Hands,” the dealer said, breaking the painful tension between them. Viktis could have kissed the robot.
Each player displayed their cards. At the end of the table, Finn crowed, “Damn, that’s me again. This table is hot!” He pulled the stack of chips toward him, grinning like a fool. Then he glanced up and spotted Viktis.
His smile got even wider. “By the gods! Ravy Zero? Is that you?” He jumped from his chair and grabbed Viktis’s hand, pumping it up and down. “It’s been, what? Four years? Last time I saw you, you were finishing a deal on Antivia Nine. Bought a million credits worth of cybertech, if I remember correctly. And you still have the same guard. I’d remember those legs anywhere!”
Viktis cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat like he’d wished Finn had kept his mouth shut. “Well, well. You’re the last person I expected to see here, Clayton. How’s your dad’s money treating you?”
Beside them, Kitty watched openly, her gaze flitting between the two men. She tapped a lacquered fingernail against the table, but didn’t interrupt.
“Not bad,” Finn continued, playing his part as a spoiled heir. “Dad thinks I need to get serious, so he’s sending me to take care of the branch on Enill. This is my last hurrah before I get shipped off to the middle of nowhere.”