Lexi sat and plopped the hundred dollars worth of chips they’d each been given as VIPs onto the green felt. “Deal me in.”
Austin swept the chips into his hand and placed them in her palm. “Hang on, sweetheart. That’s not how you play this game.”
Victoria stood behind Eric’s chair. “I’m just watching. Thanks.”
“Don’t you want to blow a hundred bucks of Taylor and Lexi’s hard-earned money?” he asked her. “I know I do.”
She just smiled, a hint of mischief in those brown eyes.
Damn.
All evening, desire for her had been smoldering in his belly, need for her coiled around the base of his spine, anticipation making his sexual hunger sharper. It was a sweet form of torture, a kind of merciless foreplay, walking around the posh VIP Club, the image of her in that dress without panties burned into his brain. He laughed and joked and talked, but his thoughts were wrapped entirely around the things he would do to her.
She would pay for this. Oh, yes, she would.
The dealer gave them each two cards, sliding them deftly out of the shoe. Eric got a king and a five—a hard fifteen. Austin got a pair of sixes, while Lexi got two fours.
Eric and Lexi both motioned for the dealer to hit them, while Taylor surrendered, automatically losing half his bet.
“What’s the matter, Taylor? Afraid you’re going to lose?”
Eric’s next card was a seven. “Damn.”
He’d busted, losing ten bucks.
“What’s the matter, Hawke? Can’t count to twenty-one?” Taylor joked.
But Lexi got an ace and beat the house for twenty bucks.
Victoria leaned in, her scent surrounding him, her voice a warm purr in his ear. “You seem a little distracted.”
Hell, yeah, he was distracted. He didn’t even have to touch her for his pulse to race. He couldfeelher beside him, his senses full of her—the satin glide of her hair as it slipped over her shoulder, the light in her eyes when she looked at him, the glossiness of those lips when she smiled, the maddening sweetness of her scent.
“Keep it up, honey, and see what it gets you,” he whispered.
He busted on his next hand, too, and the next, while Lexi continued her winning streak, and Austin lost as often as he won. And so it went for most of an hour until they’d rotated dealers twice. In the end, Eric had lost all but one five-dollar chip, Austin had more or less broken even, and Lexi had somehow won a hundred bucks.
“Beginner’s luck,” Taylor teased, handing the dealer a tip.
Lexi looked affronted. “Clearly, you guys have no clue how to play blackjack. Want to try roulette? There’s no skill involved.”
That made Taylor laugh. “Hawke, I think we’ve just been insulted.”
Chuckling, Eric got to his feet and took Victoria’s hand. “Easy come, easy go. At least it wasn’t my money.”
“Sorry you lost it all,” she said.
“It’s your fault.” He ducked down and brushed his lips against hers, breathing in her scent. “I can’t quit thinking about you.”
“Good.”
They played roulette for a while, Eric watching Victoria lose most of her chips. Then they tried the craps table, where Taylor crashed and burned.
“Taxes on the casinos’ profits go to fund state parks and wilderness preservation. So I’m paying my own salary—sort of,” he said.
“Trying to make yourself feel better aboutlosing?” Eric asked.
Moretti rejoined them. “Hey, I won twenty bucks. You guys out of chips yet?”