Kat and Mouse by Lexxie Couper Read Free Book Online

gnaw on her bottom lip, instead casting him a level look. Is he familiar? Maybe … “Tell me, sir? Do you write your own material?”
    Dark eyebrows shot up. “Aah, you are Australian, no?” he flicked a quick glance to the waiting Blackjack dealer, giving the man a wide grin. “I come from the Land Down Under,” he sang in a deep baritone that made Katrina’s tingle turn into a teasing tickle and her nipples pinch tight. “Where women blow and men thunder… The land of deadly snakes and spiders and many things which bite.” He slid his room card through the electronic data access slot, activating his table credit. “Deal me in.”
    Turning back to Katrina, his grin grew devilish. “Do you bite, ma cher ?”
    “Only those foolish enough to provoke me.”
    Black eyes glinted. “Oh, I would provoke you, yes? I would let you devour me, if it meant feeling your teeth on my flesh.”
    The tingle-now-tickle in her spine spread into the pit of her stomach and Katrina felt her pulse quicken. “I’m a fussy eater,” she shot back. “I avoid oily food.”
    He laughed, a rich sound that struck a chord buried deep in the shadows of her mind. She openly studied him, imprinting every detail of his face on her brain. There was something about it, something about the hard angles of his cheekbones, the strength of his nose, the brooding arrogance of his brow that caressed a deep memory. She’d never seen The Mouse’s face, she’d never been that close to catching him, but she was almost certain she’d seen this man’s face before.
    Or was it wishful thinking?
    “Oily food can be good for the blood, cheri . Especially when the heart beats quicker than normal. When one is excited, for instance.” Lifting his own eyebrow, as if accepting a challenge she didn’t know she’d made, he threw five gold chips onto the table.
    Five thousand credits. Katrina shot a look at her own bet: Five hundred credits. She cast the man a pointed look. “Compensating for something?”
    His answering chuckle pinched her nipples tighter again and his unreadable eyes held hers as their cards were dealt.
    Their dealer cleared his throat. “Dealer stands on all seventeens.”
    Starting, Katrina checked her cards: Ace of Clubs, eight of Hearts. A soft nineteen.
    “Playing to win?”
    The man’s deep, smooth voice—accent thick and rolling—drew her gaze to his. “Always.”
    “Do you ever play for fun?”
    “Never.”
    The sensual lips twitched, but his eyes remained fixed on hers, intent and inescapable. “A shame. Playing for fun is most…pleasurable.”
    She dropped her attention to his cards. Ten of Hearts. Seven of Diamonds. Seventeen. A good hand.
    He lifted a beading glass of whiskey to his mouth and Katrina found herself staring at the rim of the cut crystal where it met his mouth, the quick glimpse of his teeth and tip of his tongue as he took a small sip stirring something deep within her memory. She frowned. “I know you.”
    Black eyes glinted. “I wish it were so, ma cher , but I am afraid you are mistaken.”
    Katrina shook her head slightly. “No. I know you. We’ve met before.”
    He chuckled again, the wicked sound sending a ripple of surprising dark want into Katrina’s core. “Perhaps in your dreams. Those you would not admit to even your closest friend?”
    A wave of heat flooded Katrina’s face and belly. Her dreams. God, she didn’t want to admit to herself her dreams. She fixed him with a level stare. “I tell you what, if my next hand beats yours, you will tell me how I know you.”
    The man took another sip of whiskey, refusing to look away from her as he did so. “Agreed,” he said. “But if my hand wins, you will let me have you.”
    A wild flutter exploded to life in Katrina’s sex. “Have?”
    His piercing black stare answered her question. An image of his tall, lean body sliding, moving over hers filled her head and her pussy fluttered again.
    She shoved the image from her mind.
    He’s not