Miles walked into the room and took one look at the condition that the other three were in, Charlie only barefoot and jacketless while Bass and Connor were down to their last article of clothing each, before smugly asking his old friend, "Aren't you supposed to be good at poker?"

"Shut up," Bass grumbled, clearly less excited about the game they were playing than he had been before.

Miles let out a laugh at that, then seemed to decide that he had seen the two men undressed enough and walked out of the room, through to the kitchen.

"Since you're both so bad, I'll make you a deal," Charlie offered as soon as her uncle had left the room. "You can quit now and keep your last shreds of dignity. Or we could play another hand and when I inevitably win, I'll take pity on you and take my shirt off. You decide."

Neither of them was willing to be the one to object to the uncomfortableness of the idea of losing together and both of them wanted to see her at least take off her shirt.

"Go ahead. Deal," Connor told her, grinning as if he thought the double-meaning of his word choice was enough to get her out of her clothes by itself.

Charlie chanced a glance over at Bass, who was leaning forwards and watching her expectantly. She looked between the two men for a moment longer, her eyes shamelessly hesitating on their bare chests, before a smirk pulled at her lips. "Well alright then."

She dealt the cards, then looked down at her hand and had to hold back a grin. "Are you sure you don't want to back down?"

"Just show your cards," Bass told her, clearly not nearly as amused with her cockiness as she was.

She made no move to reveal her cards though and just waited for them to show theirs first. When they took the hint and did, a cruel smile formed on her lips before she set her own cards down.

Connor wasted no time before he rose to his feet, with a spring in his step, and dropped his boxers to the floor. Charlie watched appreciatively and looked the man up and down before turning her attention over to his father. "You're up."

Bass hesitated for no longer before he too stood, rising to the challenge, and without losing eye contact dropped his own drawers. She looked between the two of them in admiration as she compared them and determined once again that she wanted them both. She only tore her eyes away for a moment to pull her shirt off over her head, leaving her top half covered by only her bra.

Bass took a long look, then his eyes flickered up to meet hers momentarily as he asked, "How the hell did you get so good at poker?"

Connor had been wondering the same thing. He had played quite a bit of poker himself back in Mexico and had not been expecting to be defeated by Charlie, especially not so badly.

"There wasn't much to do in Sylvania Estates," Charlie responded with an innocent shrug. "I played a lot of card games."


Miles looked up as Charlie walked into the room with a couple of shirts in hand, along with her boots. She sat down at one of the chairs at the kitchen table and began to pull her shoes on as she smiled up at her uncle and commented, "I bet I could get them to name their republic after me if they get it back."

"Ben teach you how to trick deal?" Miles questioned.

"Yeah. It was more intended for lame magic tricks and not cheating at poker, but it does the trick," she responded. "Why? Did he teach you?"

"Eventually. After a few years of using it to win bets against me," her uncle admitted. He had been talked into far too many things that he had not wanted to do through that strategy. "So what exactly are you doing with those two?"

Charlie shrugged. "Someone has to keep them in line."

Before Miles had the chance to ask anything else, she was out of her chair with the shirts back in hand as she went up the stairs.


"She wants to pit us against each other for her own amusement," Bass pointed out as he stepped back into the leg of his pants. "You do get that, right?"

"Well feel free to back down if it bothers you so much," Connor retorted as he pulled his belt back on.

"What I'm saying is, if we keep reacting, she's just going to keep seeing how far she can push us," Bass insisted. "She's expecting a reaction. I don't know about you, but I'd like to see what happens when we don't give her the drama she's looking for instead of playing along with her plan."

His son hesitated for a moment before he agreed, "Alright, fine. We'll play nice and work together. But just for now."


Charlie grinned deviously as the pair walked into the kitchen, chests still bared. She had made it back only a few seconds before they had walked into the room and she was looking forward to playing a whole new game. She put on her sweetest, most innocent tone as she questioned, "Aren't you going to ask where your shirts are?"

Bass glanced over at his son as he commented, "I don't think I need my shirt back. What about you?"

Connor shrugged, then agreed, "Nope. I'm fine like this."

Charlie glanced between the pair curiously. She could tell that there was something up by the friendliness in their tone that was beyond anything she had ever witnessed in them before. This wasn't just friendly banter between father and son. This was an act.

"Well, this room has breached the quota of shirtless men I can tolerate," Miles insisted. "I'm out of here."

Charlie watched her uncle leave, then waited a moment longer before she turned her attention back to the two men in front of her who appeared to be just a smidge too relaxed for their current situation.

"I get it," she told them proudly. "You two are working together. Cute. We all know it won't last long, but it is adorable."


A/N: Please read and review! Another giant thanks goes out to ToTheSkyAndBack, JM2788, and the anonymous guest for reviewing last chapter! :D