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  “Indeed. Well, thank you for letting me know.”

  “Oh, and I had a word with an old friend from my university days. He’s at the US Justice Department now. I’m assured you’re exactly the candidate the prison reform task force is looking for. You should expect an offer within the week.”

  “Really?” he blurted. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Really. I never joke about such things.”

  Christian realized he’d pulled the phone away from his ear and was staring at it. He put it back up to his ear and mumbled, “Umm, thank you.”

  “My pleasure. I’m counting on you, Christian.” The line went dead.

  He handed the phone back to Stone. “Do you know what he said to me?”

  “I caught the gist of it,” Stone said cautiously.

  “Is it true? Have you been offered a permanent position here in DC?”

  Stone nodded slowly. “I have.”

  “Are you going to take the job?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?” Christian’s stomach broke out abruptly into a full gymnastic routine just beneath his ribs. He could hardly breathe with it flipping and turning and spinning like it was.

  “On you, Christian. Are you going to take the job at Justice?”

  “It’s my dream job.”

  “Is that a yes?” Stone pressed.

  “I guess it is.”

  “Then I’m accepting my job offer too,” Stone said firmly.

  “Are you sure? I mean, I thought you like to travel. Be a rolling stone. Gather no moss—”

  Stone laid a finger on his lips to stop the spill of words and stared deep into his eyes. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I want you. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to have you. Including settling down, buying a little place for us, and building you a picket fence if that’s what you want.”

  His jaw dropped.

  “And,” Stone continued, “now that you’re going to be working for no less than the Department of Justice itself, we wouldn’t want any hint of scandal to follow you from your previous employer.”

  “Heaven forbid.” A pause, then Christian added fervently, “From this moment forth, I wash my hands of Jack Lacey and all his women.”

  Their gazes met in rueful understanding and Stone murmured, “Ditto.”

  Christian smiled. No person could possibly pack more meaning into fewer syllables than this man.

  But then Stone said, “I figure the best way to protect your reputation is to get you safely into a long-term relationship with a respectable man.”

  His stomach stuck a perfect landing as he stared at Stone. “Are you really sure?”

  “Positive. How about you? Are you in?”

  He didn’t have to think about it. Didn’t hesitate for a second. “Yes, I am. Absolutely.”

  A slow smile of relief and wonder unfolded across Stone’s face. “Glad to hear we’re on the same page, Prep School.”

  “Cow-pie kicker.”

  Smiling broadly, he took one small step forward into Stone’s arms and one giant leap into their grand and glorious future. Together.

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, CINDY DEES started flying airplanes while sitting in her dad’s lap at the age of three and got a pilot’s license before she got a driver’s license. At age fifteen, she dropped out of high school and left the horse farm in Michigan where she grew up to attend the University of Michigan.

  After earning a degree in Russian and East European Studies, she joined the U.S. Air Force and became the youngest female pilot in its history. She flew supersonic jets, VIP airlift, and the C-5 Galaxy, one of the world’s largest cargo airplanes.

  She also worked part-time gathering intelligence. During her military career, she traveled to forty-two countries on five continents, was detained by the KGB and East German secret police, got shot at, flew in the first Gulf War, met her husband, and amassed a lifetime’s worth of war stories. Cindy has turned many of her experiences into novels of military romance and suspense.

  Cindy's hobbies include professional Middle Eastern dancing, Japanese gardening, and medieval reenacting. She can also be found often on various social media, hanging out with her friends and fellow readers.

  Winner of a Golden Heart and Holt Medallion for writing, Cindy is a five-time finalist and two-time winner of the prestigious RITA Award for Romance Fiction, two-time winner of RT Book Review’s Best Harlequin Romantic Suspense Novel of the Year, and is a Romantic Times Lifetime Career Achievement nominee.

  She has published over sixty novels, including thrillers, adventure novels, epic fantasies, and many stories of military romantic suspense.

  By Cindy Dees

  STUD GAMES

  Poker Face

  Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  www.dreampsinnerpress.com

  Published by

  DREAMSPINNER PRESS

  5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA

  www.dreamspinnerpress.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Poker Face

  © 2020 Cindy Dees

  Cover Art

  © 2020 L.C. Chase

  http://www.lcchase.com

  Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.

  All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64405-238-9

  Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-237-2

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020933232

  Digital published June 2020

  v. 1.0

  Previously published by Dreamspinner Press as Ace in the Hole by Ava Drake, July 2016.

  Printed in the United States of America