by Ali Olson
She looked so cute when she was embarrassed. “I’m going to plead the Fifth,” she finally answered.
Aaron considered pushing for the real answer, but he decided to let it be. It was enough to know that she didn’t think he was weird for enjoying a bunch of kids’ books. Jeremiah had given him so much crap for reading them that it was a nice change of pace to be around someone who clearly thought they were as much fun as he did.
They moved on to discuss movies and favorite shows, and the more they talked, the more he found he liked her. How could he not like a girl who loved Die Hard? If it wasn’t for her love of Sex and the City reruns, he would have wondered if Jeremiah or someone had paid a woman to pretend she was the perfect match for him.
“Sex and the City is a great show. You’re not allowed to hate it if you haven’t seen it,” she insisted.
“I’ll take your word for it. I’m not going to watch it,” he answered, loving how her forehead wrinkled when she had that earnest look on her face.
He noticed they were both very careful to steer clear of anything personal. He wanted to ask what kind of editing she did, exactly, but stopped himself. Part of him didn’t even want to know what city she was from. He felt as if bringing up their real lives would remind them of the expiration date looming so close on their weekend. He was also slightly worried that she wasn’t completely unattached, which would explain some of her reluctant behavior, and he didn’t want to find out if that was the case and end this whole thing.
She seemed content to just enjoy their time together, and he didn’t want to ruin that by discussing anything outside the present.
As they walked down to the elevator, he laced his fingers through hers, happy to be able to at least pretend she was his. They strolled through the lobby and got into the car he had ordered for them, not letting go. The grin she gave him as she slid into her seat was such a genuinely happy smile that lit up her eyes, and it settled into a warm spot deep in his chest.
When they arrived downtown, they wandered through the classic casinos, looking at the fish tanks and the golden nuggets that were displayed for the tourists, and meandered along Fremont Street. He nodded toward one of the casinos and said, “Do you want to do any gambling or anything? I don’t want you to miss out on any of the Vegas stuff you planned on doing because I’m around.”
Jessica tilted her head a little as she looked around. “Well, I just came in for the bachelorette party, so my plan was to hide in my room whenever I got the chance. Now that I’m out, we could do something like that. I don’t know how to play any of the games, though.”
“Do you know how to play blackjack?” She shook her head. “Want to learn?” he asked.
She scrunched her face, as if the topic was a little bit of a sore one for her. “I don’t really have much extra money to give to the casinos, but we could play a little bit.”
“You don’t have to use your money. We can play with mine.”
The look she gave him made it abundantly clear what she thought of that. He stopped her before she could argue. “Don’t say no yet. Just think of it this way—I’d like to play, and I want to teach you how. It would be fun for me.”
She still looked uncertain, so he gave her his biggest “now I’m begging” look, and her expression softened. Reluctantly, she answered, “Fine, but we’re not spending ridiculous amounts of money at this. I don’t need that kind of stress.”
He wondered why she was so tight on money but didn’t ask. Staying away from details was becoming hard already, and it was far less fun than it had seemed at first. He wanted to know more things about her.
They sat down at the cheapest table they could find and he bought in. When he tried to put three hundred-dollar bills on the table, Jessica pulled two of them back and shook her head, as if he’d just done something completely insane. He put the two bills away and scooted his chair close to hers under the guise of helping her. With his leg pressing against hers, it didn’t matter how much money was on the table.
Though she’d never played before, he was impressed to see how quickly she picked up the game’s logic and how confident she was in her ability to make the right choice. After only a few hands, she was hitting and staying as though she had played for years.
Most women he’d sat at a table with at various rodeo weekends would constantly ask what to do or make plays that didn’t make sense. They’d giggle and shrug when they lost.
Jessica was not like most women. She watched the cards with such intensity Aaron was half worried one of the pit bosses would think she was counting cards, except for the fact that she refused to play more than the minimum five dollars a hand and panicked a little every time she needed to double her bet. Watching her amused him no end. She was cute when she was anxious.
When the dealer placed an ace on the queen in front of Jessica, she gave Aaron a brilliant smile and clapped her hands a little. “I got blackjack! What do I get, seven dollars? What am I going to buy with all that?”
He gave her his most confused look. “Why do you think you get the seven dollars? We’re playing with my money, remember?”
She rolled her eyes and shoved her shoulder against his, grumbling. He laughed and held up his hands to make it clear he was joking. Sitting next to her was worth it, even if she lost every penny of his money.
The dealer, a man about Aaron’s age whose name tag identified him as Cody, smiled at them. “You two seem to be having a nice time. Are you just in town for the weekend?”
Aaron and Jessica exchanged a split-second glance. They both realized what he thought, but it didn’t seem worth explaining the situation to this stranger. He wasn’t sure what he would say, anyway. They both nodded.
Aaron could tell Cody was going to ask him some more questions and headed him off. “How long have you lived in Vegas, Cody?”
Cody said, “Oh, about six years now. It’s not a bad place, once you get used to it.”
Jessica studied her cards thoughtfully, and Aaron could practically hear the gears whirring in her head as she tried to remember what to do in that situation. She stayed—the right move, of course—and looked back to the dealer. “What made you move out here?”
Cody flipped his card, took another and busted. As he paid them, he said, “I came out here for school. It’s much cheaper to live here than it was in California. I’m finishing up a law degree at the university.”
Before he could say more, another dealer came up and tapped him on the shoulder. Cody said, “It was nice to meet you. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s always great to see two people in love.”
He left before Aaron could respond. Not that he had anything to say to that. He almost didn’t want to look at Jessica and see her reaction. What if she agreed with Cody? What if she scoffed at the idea? Neither sounded particularly appealing.
Jessica’s hand dropped to his thigh and squeezed his leg, sending a thrill up through his groin and settling in his stomach. She knocked him with her shoulder again. “You hear that, sweetie? We must be quite adorable.”
Aaron couldn’t quite bring himself to joke about it, but he smiled at her. The silence lingered for a minute. He didn’t think he’d be able to stand it much longer. Luckily Jessica looked down at her chips. “Well, I think I understand the game, and it looks like we made you twenty bucks. Shall we go?”
Aaron agreed, glad to change the topic. They took their chips to the cashier. Aaron had lost a little of his fifty, but Jessica was up over thirty. When he tried to hand it to her, she pushed it back at him. “There is no way I’m keeping that,” she said.
He looked at the money and considered the options. “How about we use it for food or something?”
“That works for me. I’m a huge fan of food.”
She was being deliberately casual, trying to get past the whole “in love” thing. Aaron wasn�
��t sure if he was grateful or irritated about it. There was no point lingering on it, though. Their weekend would be over soon enough, and there wasn’t time to waste on wondering about a passing remark from a dealer.
Jessica thankfully broke the silence before it could get too thick around them. “How do you play the other games?”
Something to talk about. Perfect. He rattled off descriptions of pai gow, craps and casino war—which was easy, since she knew war, and it was pretty much that with betting—and he could practically see her absorbing the information and filing it away in her brain. It was a wonderful thing to watch.
He wondered what it would be like to sit across from her at a poker table; he imagined she’d quickly become a force to be reckoned with. He doubted they would have time for it this weekend, but maybe next time—
He cut off the thought. Someone else would need to teach her that.
He examined her, focusing on her beautiful eyes and the strands of hair falling against her cheek. He imagined her glancing at her cards, her manner cool and confident whatever they might be, and tossing her chips all in with that little smile he’d seen play across her face throughout their night together. The mental image shifted seamlessly to one of her sitting on the poker table and wrapping her legs around him, unbuttoning his shirt—and he had to stop it there when he remembered they were in public.
He breathed deeply, keeping his body from getting aroused through sheer force of will. Aaron wanted her again. He loved feeling every part of her, the explosive reactions as he buried himself in her, saw her eyes close and heard her breath catch with pleasure. He wanted them to get out from the cloud that was hovering over them, get back to where they had been that morning. What better way was there than licking the small spot at the base of her neck that made her tremble?
He couldn’t spend too much time considering that, or he’d be grabbing her and running back for the car. He didn’t want her to think he was some oversexed caveman, and based on that encounter at the strip club, that could very well be her impression of him even now. He hoped she saw he was more than that.
“Did you want to try any of them out?” he asked after he finished explaining the games.
Jessica shook her head. “I think I better quit while I’m ahead. I don’t want to lose all of my winnings, and it looks like luck isn’t on your side today. You might end up being one of those guys flying home without his shirt because he lost it at the tables in Sin City.”
Aaron was pretty sure luck was very much on his side this weekend, if the woman with him was any indication. And if he ended up flying home without his shirt, it would have something to do with her, as well.
He was getting too attached to this woman who would disappear out of his life in two days, or even earlier. He had no idea when her flight home was. The most rational part of his mind told him to break it off before he got invested any deeper into the relationship, but he knew he wouldn’t do that.
“Let’s get some fresh air, then,” he said, nodding toward the door.
As she moved to the exit, he stood a little behind her, watching her gorgeous form as she strode through the banks of slot machines. How anybody could keep their attention on those things as she walked by was a mystery.
Although he definitely wasn’t in love as Cody assumed, he couldn’t give up an incredible weekend with this mind-blowing woman, even if it meant it would hurt to leave and never see her again. It would only hurt a little, he promised himself.
He just needed to soak up everything he could get until their time in Vegas was up.
6
AS THEY WALKED down Fremont Street, Jessica studied Aaron, wondering what was running through his mind. It was probably something about what that damn dealer said. He could be freaking out, thinking she wanted a relationship and just call the rest of the weekend off.
God, she hoped that didn’t happen. When she’d first seen him, her thoughts were so focused on the sexual charge running through her and the images of his body against hers that she didn’t take the time to think about his personality. But after they’d spent the morning together talking and exploring, she found that she was enjoying his company more and more. His mind was sharp, and she couldn’t always tell what he was thinking—she liked that. And now she might lose out on another two days of it?
No way she was going to let that happen. She needed to think of some way to get them past the awkward moment. But her mind blanked.
“You should learn how to play Texas Hold’em. You’d be good at it,” he said, breaking her reverie.
She smiled. Exactly the kind of diversion she’d been searching for. “Actually I know how to play that.”
He gave her a sidelong glance. “You know poker, but not blackjack? That’s a weird combination.”
“I do some editing for a writer friend of mine, and he wrote a book where the characters played poker. So I learned how to play to make sure it was all accurate. They never played blackjack.”
He laughed. “Have you actually played poker? Like, with real people?”
“Well, no, but I watched some videos of the pros. I understand the game. I’m probably better at it than you are.”
It was a bald-faced lie—she had no doubt she was terrible—but needling him would be fun, and maybe it would bring back that little half smile he did sometimes.
Sure enough, it appeared when he raised his eyebrows at her. “Seriously, Jessica? I’m from Texas. I’ve played Texas Hold’em my whole life. I’d destroy you.”
Even though she knew she’d lose, the challenge was too much to resist. “Sometime this weekend, we’ll grab a pack of cards and play.”
She wasn’t sure what she liked more: the dare in his eyes or the fact that she now knew where he was from. She had figured a lot of the cowboys in town for the rodeo weren’t actually cowboys. But Aaron was from Texas, cowboy central.
She pictured him standing in the middle of a barn, shirt off, leather-gloved hands pulling large bales of hay out for animals while the song from the truck commercials played in the background. The rugged mental image sent another thrill through her, in spite of how ridiculous it was.
She tried to shrug it off. She would never know if that image was at all accurate, because she refused to brook the subject of details from their outside life any more than they already had. Vegas only. Besides the offhanded comment, he seemed in no hurry to do so, either. He didn’t actually say he lived on a ranch, either, just that he was from Texas. He could be an accountant there, for all she knew.
It was definitely for the best for a weekend fling. It might’ve even been better, safer, if they didn’t know each other’s names, but she did love the way his eyes flashed when she said his, and the warm feeling that rushed through her when he said hers, especially when he said it in that deep whisper as they were pressed together.
“You’re on, Jessica,” he said, smirking.
He was talking about poker, she knew, but in her mind the topic had become very different, indeed.
She tried to stop the flow of thoughts, reminding herself that they were still outside, around people, and she couldn’t expect him to be ready to jump back into bed so soon. With Russ, twice in as many days had been a big deal, and despite how incredible their night—and morning—had been, she couldn’t expect Aaron to just hop to attention because she wanted more.
She didn’t know how she could still be so fired up, either. Sex had never before been such an experience that she couldn’t get enough of it, but here she was, just hours after a romp-filled night, and every touch of his hand sent sparks through her, her heart thumping wildly, and her body yearned for him as much as ever.
She shook her head, trying to focus on the beautiful clear sky, the fresh air, the strange sights of old Las Vegas. The conversation quieted and they walked side by side, content to be near each
other, their fingers lightly twined.
When her phone beeped, she looked down at it, confused. Why would anyone want to interrupt her peace?
It was a text from Cindy asking if she felt okay and if she wanted to come over to hang out.
Jessica grimaced. God, she was such a jerk, spending her time with Aaron without explaining to her friend what was going on. And it wasn’t something she could explain in a text message.
She turned to Aaron. “I need to make a quick call. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Oh. Okay,” he answered, shifting a little awkwardly.
It took her a moment before she figured out what was wrong. When she realized he was probably thinking she was calling a boyfriend or something, she added, “Cindy, the bachelorette, texted me and I need to call her.”
His relief was obvious when he nodded, and she broke away, her hand lingering in his an extra second before she finally untangled her fingers and walked over to an area away from the main thoroughfare. So Aaron didn’t like the idea of being “the other guy.” That was a good sign.
Except it didn’t matter much because in a few days she would never see him again. Why did she need to keep reminding herself of that?
She tapped on her friend’s name and pressed the phone to her ear. As it connected, she covered her eyes with her free hand, completely unsure of what she was going to say when Cindy picked up.
“Hey, Jessica! How’s it going? You feeling better?”
Jessica was glad Cindy couldn’t see her blushing. “Cindy, look, I have to tell you something. I wasn’t sick, and I know we’re here for your bachelorette party—”
Cindy cut her off with loud laughter before she could go any further. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out exactly what was going on? Like I don’t know you’re with that guy, Jeremiah’s friend? Come on, give me some credit. You thought I didn’t notice how you blushed when you looked at him? Or the way you both disappeared, and then I get a sudden text from you that was nearly incomprehensible? Or the fact that he never came back? How about when I saw you booking it across the restaurant leading him by the hand as he followed like an excited puppy? You don’t need to be Sherlock to figure it out.”
