I knew that Parker would be at the roulette tables even before he'd sent me fourteen increasingly panicked texts in a row. "We're here!" ran the gamut all the way to, "DO YOU SEE ME??? I'M WAVING RIGHT NOW!!!"
I shook my head as I tucked my phone back into my pocket. The only deal I wanted to be making right now was negotiating with Charlie about how long I could put my face between her legs.
But then again, she was my good luck charm. And I was never one to avoid mixing business with pleasure. So after printing our voucher from the slot machine, I led her over to the roulette tables with a strange mix of dread and excitement.
She must have been feeling something similar. Because she stopped midway back to the tables and flagged down a circulating cocktail waitress. "Thanks," she said as she grabbed a glass of wine off her tray.
"Good idea," I nodded, grabbing one for myself. "Cheers!"
Charlie grinned and clinked glassed with me, then proceeded to knock the whole glass back like a shot.
"What?" she asked accusingly, then slammed the glass back down on an empty tray, startling the poor waitress who was carrying it. "If I'm gonna be your good luck charm, I need to be relaxed."
"True," I nodded. "And you're gonna need another one," I said, gesturing to the table two places over from us. "Because Parker just spotted us."
"Yay," she deadpanned, and then grabbed another glass. "What? I'll sip it."
"No judgment here," I muttered as I led her over to the table. The sooner we dispensed with the business shit, the sooner I could get her out of here. In the back of my head I was acutely aware of my return flight, the seconds I had left with Charlie ticking down like the seconds left on a bomb set to detonate. I kept having this feeling that I was going to ruin everything without even meaning to.
"Hey!" Parker bellowed, sliding from his chair and leaping to his feet. "There he is! Jameson Tellar, man, I thought you'd gotten lost, haha!" He actually said the word haha instead of laughing and looked around really quickly to see who was listening to his joke. "I was ready to send out the dogs, haha!"
I sniffed as he took my hand and pumped it up and down. He was red-faced and sweating already. The guy never could hold his liquor, not even back in our frat days. And underneath that boozy bravado, I could almost smell the fear that hung around him and I knew I was the cause. I'd been late and incommunicado. He thought he'd blown the deal.
This was going to be even easier than I'd thought.
"Parker Henley? You remember Charlotte..."
"Charlie," she interrupted, glaring at me. "Charlie Kendall." She reached out her hand to shake Parker's. If she looked a little disgusted when he turned her palm over and kissed it, she hid it well, and I was too triumphant over learning her last name to make a comment about it.
"Oh, course I do," Parker said smoothly. "You were the waitress, right?"
I opened my mouth to correct him.
But I needn't have bothered.
"Your waitress was Gina," Charlie said icily. "She was the one who brought you your food and drinks. My name is Charlie and I am the front-end manager and expediter at Indigo. Gina your waitress? She reports to me."
Parker looked a little dazed for a moment. "Oh, I thought..."
"I know what you thought," Charlie said with a breezy wave of her hand. "I'd say it's an easy mistake to make. But, it's really not."
Parker looked even more red-faced and sweaty than before. I was really starting to enjoy this girl.
"Place your bets!" the croupier called.
I turned away from Parker, letting him sweat it out a bit longer while I focused my attention on Charlie. "Red or black?" I asked her.
She stood there, wavering slightly back-and-forth, her tongue poking adorably through her pretty, wine-stained lips. "Oh God," she groaned. "This is too much pressure."
"You want to flip a coin?" I asked her, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my lucky quarter.
"Sure," she said, watching me carefully. "Go ahead."
I put my thumb underneath the worn base. "You pick. But don't say anything until I catch it."
She wrinkled her nose and nodded. "Got it."
I flicked my thumb upward sending it spiraling in a perfect arc. As it fell back down, snatched it out of the air and slapped down onto the back my hand, then looked at her.
"Heads is red," she said. "Tails is black."
I slid my hand back and smiled. "Heads it is," I told her, letting my eyes sweep up and down her body. "And since my lucky charm is wearing a red dress, it must be a good sign." I turned back to the table and put my money down. "Put it on red," I instructed the croupier. He nodded. And Charlie reached over and grabbed my arm as he spun the wheel.
"Red wins!"
She let out a squeal, clapping and grabbing my arm tightly. The rush I felt when her breast pressed against my arm was nothing like the rush of winning. It was better.
On impulse, I turned and pressed my lips to hers, going with my gut.
She froze, and her eyes blinked up at me, but her lips parted eagerly and when her tongue met mine I couldn't help the noise that rumbled up from my throat. I could taste the wine on her lips and hear the sweetness of her gasp as I pulled her close to me. "You really are my lucky charm," I breathed, moving my lips down her neck.
I could feel her pulse under my lips. If it was beating this fast just from me kissing her, how fast would it throb when I was fucking her?
She inhaled sharply and pulled back, and suddenly I remembered that we were on a crowded casino floor and the whole table was watching. "What happens now?" she asked, and I loved how pink her cheeks were.
I tucked to strand of coiled gold behind her ear. "We let it ride," I told her, and she must have heard the double meaning in my voice because the pink in her cheeks deepened to almost the same shade of red as her dress.
I nodded to the croupier who played red again.
I pretty much knew we'd win again. We were on a roll, both of us, and I could feel that electric surge that comes when you know your luck is holding. When you're in the zone. Charlie clapped, laughing loudly in shock, but I was as calm as anything. She pressed her hands to her mouth biting her nails. Hungrily, I reached up and pulled her hand away. "Should we let it ride again?" I asked her.
She winced. "I don't know..."
"Go with your gut."
She thought for a moment and then shook her head, causing her curls to tumble about her face. "Play something else," she suddenly said urgently.
It only took a moment for me to realize. "Thirty," I said, nodding to the croupier. "For her son's birthday." She gaped at me. "What?" I asked. "You told me he was a good luck charm too."
"I said he was my good luck charm."
I shrugged. "Then he's mine too," I told her bluntly.
I didn't have a single clue why it was so easy for me to say these things. I didn't like kids, and I didn't like making declarations that sounded like promises. I'd been an Army brat since I was born, shuffling from town to town whenever my Dad was reassigned. I didn't promise anything to anyone because I knew that I couldn't trust that I'd wake up in the same place the next morning. Putting down roots only meant it hurt worse when you were yanked away.
"Holy shit," Charlie breathed as the little silver ball nestled down into the thirty like it belonged there. "How...?"
Then she whirled to me, eyes shining. I saw something flicker across her face — maybe it was disbelief — and it struck me that Charlie and I were both playing an elaborate game of pretend tonight. She was pretending she was a carefree single girl out on the town, and I was pretending I wasn't leaving in less than eight hours.
"You're insane," she exhaled. She leaned forward and I caught her up in my arms. We might only be playing a game here, but I always played to win.
And all at once I was kissing her again, pulling her flush against my body, devouring her hungry mouth with no regard to the people around the table. My ears were filled with the sound of her breath, and the whooping and laughing of the people at the table. And somewhere in the background, buzzing as inconsequentially as a fly, came Parker's nervous laughter. "I guess you're enjoying yourselves huh? So we can uh...go over the paperwork later, right Jameson?"