Snapshots of Desire ✔ [Completed]

Red Ace

Warning - ABSOLUTELY RATED M, which means it is MATURE! You don't like that? Better head out, now…

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Inspector Shreya just couldn't believe it: she had lost. Again and again, like an endless chain of humiliation, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She tried to play it cool, but her lower lip was shaking, and part of her felt like crying.

She was a good poker player, dammit. She had played with the best and more than once come out the victor, had always held her own and managed to make a nice bunch of money from her occasional games. So why was she now losing like an untried schoolgirl who saw a deck of cards for the first time?

The problem was that Daya’s mannerisms never stayed the same, he changed them subtly from game to game, and whenever she thought she had found a pattern and that he was bluffing for sure this time, he changed his behaviour again and she was lost. It enabled him to bluff with unbelievable bravado, and he had defeated her with the worst of hands, again and again.

But… now? He was bluffing now, wasn't he? She watched him closely. She knew him well, dammit, there had to be a way to win against him. There were some subtle clues, the way he straightened his collar as if he was a little nervous, the tapping of his fingers against the tabletop, the slightly too arrogant way he pulled his eyebrows up… he was playing a role, wearing a mask of fake confidence, and he was 100% bluffing this time.

She almost smiled, but carefully controlled her facial expressions instead.

"You're bluffing." She said, stressing every single syllable. "I call."

Daya just smiled and put his cards on the table, producing the cleanest Royal Flush she had ever seen.

She sat there dumbfounded for a moment while Daya collected his winnings, putting the jelly dinosaurs on the large pile he had already assembled.

That was it. She had lost everything she'd had. She was finished.

Daya wore a smug, arrogant smile, but when he looked at her, his expression changed, and a tender compassion took over that unnerved her big time.

She anticipated his touch, craved and dreaded it at the same time, but was unable to pull away. Senior Inspector Daya did strange things to her equilibrium, and she lived in the constant fear that her feelings for him would be showing on her face, that she could give him this utmost power over her… he had won her heart without even trying, and god knew that wasn't an easy task.

When he covered her hand with his, her skin started to tingle, all over her body.

"Well," Daya cooed, "that was fun, huh? And now, we start with the LESSONS to enable you to take Vineet to the cleaner's."

"But… but I'm out of stakes, Daya. I lost it all, there isn't anything left. You won everything, the whole pot."

Daya grinned, rubbing his fingertips over the back of her hand. She shuddered, which only made him deepen his smile.

"No problem," he breathed, and Shreya started to feel the sweat pool between her breasts, "we can always find new stakes- what about your clothes?"

Shreya stared at him for a second, before she threw her head back and laughed at the top of her lungs. She laughed for the better part of two minutes, laughed until tears sprang to her eyes, until her stomach muscles hurt and the noise flowed out into a soft giggle. She laughed until she looked at Daya again and found him completely serious, not a muscle moving on his face.

Her laugh died like a fish on dry earth.

"You don't mean that serious, do you?" she asked hoarsely.