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He looked down at her. “Sure it wasn’t the daiquiri?”
“I’m sure.” She struggled to keep a straight face. “I’m officially drunk on sex.”
“Perfect time to teach you to play craps.” He led her toward a large oval table with high edges. The fabric stretched over the center was covered with numbers.
Three men in bathing suits lined the table’s curve. Sure, they weren’t wearing much, but the logos on their swimsuits suggested they lived in a very different income bracket. And all three had tall stacks of chips in front of them.
She slowed her steps a few paces from the table. “I can’t afford to play for high stakes. Art therapy pays well, but not enough to secure a place with the high rollers.”
“The table has a five-dollar minimum bet on one side and a hundred on the other,” he explained. “I suggest we start with five, seeing as you’re tipsy. And I’ll cover your buy-in. Some chips to get you started.”
She stopped a few feet from the table. “I can’t take your money.”
He leaned over and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “One condition—I get to help you spend your winnings.”
“And if I lose?” she murmured, stepping up to the table.
“I’ve had the pleasure of watching you play.” He set a stack of twenties on the table. “Consider it part of the full Vegas tour.”
She took the chips and set them in the groove on the table’s lip as she studied the foreign numbers and markings on the felt. A plastic disk rested on the number five. And there were various sections labeled thing like “come” and “pass line.”
“Five is point right now,” he explained. “I’d recommend betting five dollars on the pass line for this next roll. Get a feel for the game.”
After a nod from the dealer, she set the chips on the letter P and two more on the C.
“Couldn’t resist?” he said.
“When given the choice, I always like to bet on coming.”
He laughed. “Today, you can count on it.”
His deep voice momentari
ly stole her attention from the roll of the dice. But then the small group at the table cheered and drew her focus to the table as the dealer added more chips to her pile.
The game moved quickly after that. Hovering at her side as if he were her personal bodyguard, Cade offered a few words of explanation and the occasional suggestion.
“What should I do for the come-out?” she asked him after a player on the far side of the table rolled a seven.
“Your choice. I think you’re getting a feel for the game now. And I need to step away and make a call,” he said. “I’ll swing by the bar for another round of drinks. What would you like?”
“For gambling with the next James Bond? A kir royale,” she teased.
The bikini-clad woman taking bets did a double take and looked at Cade long and hard, as if trying to determine if she had a movie star at her table.
He noticed her glance and caught Lucia’s eyes. “Not my style, gorgeous. You know that,” he said, pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck. He whispered into her ear, “And you put every Bond girl I’ve ever seen to shame.”
Her Navy SEAL moved away from the table, and she felt some of the afterglow follow him. She turned her focus to the table and watched the dice flying through the air.
Cade wanted her. Out of all the beautiful women in Vegas, he’d handed his stick figure fantasy list to her. He’d taken her to the ice room on the forty-second floor and given her an orgasm that deserved a place in the record books. He’d thrust past her inhibitions and introduced her to a level of pleasure she’d never imagined.
As she placed her bets, she stole a glance around the table. Three men on the far side of the table were staring at her. The dealer who’d studied Cade moments earlier smiled.
She’s looking at me like she knows what we did in the ice room.
Cade returned to her side with a champagne flute. His voice was low as he moved behind her and grazed her ear with his lips. “I promise you everyone at this table is wondering what I did to put that wild look in your eyes. Did I bend you over the bed before we left the room? Steal you away to a quiet corner and press you up against a wall until you screamed my name?”
“They’d be getting warm with option B,” she murmured, then leaned forward to place her bets. She’d added another thirty dollars to the table, but when she withdrew her hand, she couldn’t recall where she’d set her chips. The feel of Cade at her back shredded her focus.
