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‘I thought we were doing the one where all I had to do was kiss the dice?’ she murmured.
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Craps? It’s complicated. That’s in the other hall. I thought I’d introduce you to something a little easier.’
He gave a nod to the croupier and gestured for Lara to sit on a stool.
* * *
Lara was so out of her comfort zone that she had no idea she was by far the most stunning woman in the room. She’d started to line up the chips into little coloured piles. It seemed to keep her focused.
Reuben had his arm around her, the length of his body up against her back. Her orange-flowered scent was snaking its way up his nostrils. On anyone else he would hardly notice. On Lara it was tantalising, evocative.
He could see the glances from the other people around the table. They were curious about the new players.
Lara leaned back against his chest and turned her head to whisper to him, ‘What on earth do we do now?’
He reached up his hand and pulled her silky soft curls back from her ear to reply. He couldn’t help it, his reaction was automatic, but his finger trailed down the soft skin behind her ear and down to the nape of her neck. She twitched against him and he resisted the temptation to do it again. He’d already had one waking up of his anatomy tonight and it seemed like any second there would be another.
He took a deep breath and spoke in her ear in a low voice, his lips brushing against her earlobe.
‘You can do lots of different things. The most straightforward way is to bet on red or black. Or you can choose between odd or even numbers. The stakes are lower then. If you want to be a bit more risky you can bet on a column of twelve numbers or a row of three.’ His left hand moved to her hip. ‘You can put your chip on a line and bet on two numbers—that’s a split bet, or you can put a chip on a corner—between four lines.’
She nodded slowly as she studied the table, as if she were trying to take it all in.
He took a final step forward, moving his right hand from the edge of the table and directly onto her thigh. He heard her suck in a breath, but the action just pushed her body further back against his. ‘Or you can play things dangerously and only bet on one number. That’s the most risky play.’
He let the words hang in the air between them.
They were good at this. Talking innocently about one thing when they were actually implying another. Or maybe it was just he who thought that way? Maybe this was all going completely over Lara’s head?
But then she rested back fully against his chest, shifting her hips backwards on the chair and coming into contact with another part of him. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t move. Instead, she picked up one of the chips, turned it on its edge and rolled it over the back of his hand, which was still firmly on her thigh.
‘I’m not quite sure how I want to play,’ she said cheekily.
A waiter came past and nodded at their near-empty drinks. ‘Same again?’ he asked.
Lara shook her head. ‘I’ll have a lavender fizz.’
Reuben smiled and turned towards her, his lips almost coming into contact with her cheek.
‘What on earth’s that?’
She smiled. ‘Champagne, lavender syrup and raspberry purée.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘You memorised the whole cocktail menu?’
She shook her head. ‘No,’ she answered innocently. ‘Just the ones I liked the look of.’
Reuben nodded to the waiter. ‘I’ll have the same again and the lady will have a lavender fizz.’
His fingers slid a little further up her thigh. Her bare thigh.
He’d seen plenty of glimpses of her thighs in the last few days but he hadn’t actually felt how silky smooth they were until right now. If he wasn’t careful the roulette table was going to start blurring in front of him.
Lara stood up quickly, leaning across the table and putting her chip down on the number seventeen. He could see the gentlemen on either side of him glimpse the rapidly rising short dress and he moved to block their view.
She gave him a playful smile. ‘I think I’ve decided to take the biggest risk.’
That was it. The blood was roaring in his ears. The palms of his hands were tingling. This was ridiculous. He was in the finest casino in the world and was supposed to be showing Lara around. Instead, he felt like a teenage boy with hormones erupting all over the place.
This was so not him. What was different here?
The croupier gave a nod. ‘All bets placed?’ he said, as he looked around the table.
Ten seconds later his white-gloved hand spun the roulette wheel and sent the ball spinning in the other direction.
Lara was still standing but she backed up against him. ‘My first-ever bet,’ she whispered.
He was surprised. ‘What? You don’t even bet on the Grand National?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know a thing about horse racing and wouldn’t have a clue how to put on a bet. I’ve never been in a betting shop in my life. My parents didn’t bother with things like that. I used to just pick my favourite jockey outfit from the newspaper and shout for that horse.’
He liked her. He liked her more and more. And it was beginning to creep around him like a big coiling snake. He’d never really felt that connected to any woman before. And he’d never believed in love at first sight. In his world, that was for fools.
It was ironic really but from that first impact—that first blow on the head and that murky blackness as he’d come round and got his first look at Lara, the giant pink teddy bear, something weird had happened to him. He couldn’t put his finger on it. He couldn’t describe it. Because he didn’t really know what it was.
He just knew that he didn’t like to see her sad. He’d probably do or tell her anything to help her blink back her tears. And he would have been more than happy to knock her ex into next week. It had taken all his self-control not to.
And here in the casino, he could see her attracting attention. But what struck him most was that Lara hadn’t noticed. Her attention was focused entirely on him. And that gave him the biggest buzz in the world.
This place was probably full of billionaires—but that hadn’t even crossed Lara’s mind. She wasn’t calculating. She wasn’t a player. He’d spent the last few years mixing in the wrong circles. Lara was like a breath of fresh air.
She sounded as if she might have been a little flighty in the past but it was clear she loved her job and wanted to do the best she could for Tristan. It was refreshing to find a woman who wanted to pay her own way and take care of herself. And it was more than a little infuriating to know she’d been subsidising and taken advantage of by another man.
The wheel was spinning round and round and his hand slipped around her waist and rested on her stomach. He smiled. She was holding her breath, waiting for the ball to rest in one of the numbers on the roulette wheel. Her fingers were clenched into tight fists.
Watching the ball spin round the roulette wheel was almost mesmerising. He could see how people could become addicted to the game but the only thing he was addicted to right now was the look on Lara’s face.
The wheel started to slow, the ball moving more slowly almost tripping past the numbers. ‘Come on!’ she urged.
Her stomach muscles were clenched under his palm. The ball tripped alongside the last few numbers, moving steadily past twenty-five, then seventeen, then thirty-four, before finally coming to rest on number six.
‘Oh, no.’ Lara sagged back against him and without even thinking he tightened his grip a little. She spun around in his arms, their noses practically touching. It seemed almost natural that her arms lifted and rested on his shoulders. ‘Rats,’ she said. ‘My first bet was a complete doozy. Maybe I should just give up on all this?’
The waiter appeared back wi
th their drinks and set them down on the table next to them. Reuben was conscious of the eyes of people around them watching. They must look like a couple. It was an intimate pose. It spoke of complete and utter knowledge of the other person. And right now he wished that was true.
‘Let’s finish these drinks.’ He smiled. ‘We can place a few more bets and then just people-watch if you want.’
She glanced to the side as a well-known movie actor walked past with his entourage. She tilted her head to the side. ‘Well, I guess if we want to people-watch, this is the place to do it.’
She picked up her lavender fizz and took a sip. She gave a little hiccup as the bubbles caught in her throat. ‘Wow.’ She laughed. ‘It’s delicious.’
He moved forward, this time with him sitting on the stool at the roulette table and positioning her perched against his thigh. It was the oddest feeling but he wanted everyone around—with their admiring glances—to realise that Lara Callaway was with him. Just him.
Lara seemed to rest comfortably there, sipping her cocktail as she watched him place a few bets. The casino was getting busier, the tables more crowded, and the Mediterranean heat was rising.
He brushed his hand against her leg again. ‘Let’s say you try again? One more time—for luck. Betting in the casino at Monte Carlo is something you can tell your kids about.’
