Stroke of Love

Chapter 12: Poker Night Problems

The first thing Karen heard was Sanders snickering.

"Hey, Mark, just be glad this isn't strip poker. You'd be wearing nothing but your dignity."

Basil laughed and started singing. "We need to take our clothes off to have a good time!"

"How many times has that worked for you, Carter?"

"Plenty times, my beloved cousin," came the wicked reply.

Karen still wasn't sure if she was dreaming when Basil continued.

"I would have loved to try it on your sexy house guest but I take it she's off bounds."

Jay laughed. "Is she?"

Before she could help it, she inhaled and her mouth stretched in a yawn.

All four men heard the consequent sigh and looked in her direction.

She covered her mouth as a second yawn escaped.

Then she looked at them and said, "Hi there."

They offered greetings in return and she stood up.

"Playing poker?"

"Yes, we are."

"Ooh, yummy." She reached for a buffalo wing. "What time is it?"

"Quarter to ten," Jay told her.

Karen wrinkled her nose, put the chicken down and grabbed a celery stick from the tray. Sleep was slowly fading from her eyes but she still looked well tousled. Munching on the vegetable, she went to get her book.

It didn't go unnoticed by the other poker players that she was wearing a shirt that obviously didn't belong to her.

"Think I'll go read in bed. Good night, you all."

She kissed Basil on the cheek as she was used to doing, which caused Mark to say, "Now you have to give all one."

So she did.

Then she left the library calling out, "Good night."

"Good night," they chorused.

A door down the hall opened and closed, faintly.

"Tell me she didn't just go into your room," Basil directed at his cousin.

Jay shrugged. "That's where she's sleeping."

Sanders and Mark groaned.

"And you say she's not off bounds?"

Regardless of his protests, Jay's three friends read a lot more into the sleeping arrangements.

Basil went downstairs for more beer and ice for Jay's whiskey, which Mark seemed to enjoy. They all continued winning and losing until about one o'clock.

By then it was far too late, in Jay's mind, to be dropping people off. So he offered his two guest rooms to them. Mark and Basil opted for the two beds in the room across the hall and Sanders went upstairs to the yellow room.

He stood in the library for a moment trying to decide what to do with himself.

He didn't want to sleep in the library. Jay was far too tall to fit in one of the available pieces of furniture the way Karen had earlier. Shaking his head, he made his decision.

Upstairs it was.

Karen woke up.

Her dogs were out, but she didn't worry about them anymore. She went into the bathroom and ran water into the tub. His tub was a bit more luxurious than all the others in the house. Big enough for three people, she thought.

Still, she didn't want to linger. She merely scrubbed, rinsed and jumped out. After towelling off, Karen brushed her teeth and then put on a gown to go in search for some clothes.

In the process of searching for her own clothes, she found out what all the drawers held. Underwear, vests, socks and her lingerie was in the fifth. She chose a pair and slipped them on with one hand.

Going to the chest of drawers she found cufflinks, tie pins and watches, each in their own velvet lined section. Her own jewellery was in one such drawer. She chose a dangly topaz pair of earrings, shades darker than her panties.

Karen untied her robe and let fall on a foot stool she hadn't noticed earlier. She chuckled to see her gowns hanging with Jay's, her t-shirts in their own pile on his shelf and so on.

Jay didn't expect her to be awake when he returned from his swim, but his bed was empty. The curtains were still drawn and the bathroom door was closed. He headed for the walk in closet and caught Karen in the process of putting a golden t-shirt over her head.

"Oh sorry, I thought you were still bathing. I just came to get clothes."