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‘Relax.’ He closed both hands over hers, his voice as smooth as silk. ‘What can go wrong? You’re my lucky charm.’
He slid an arm around her waist and directed her to one of the rooms where they were playing roulette. She watched for a few minutes, her eyes wide. She didn’t have a clue what was going on and everyone else looked like they’d been doing this for years.
‘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.
