Chapter Fifteen

Talia woke in Casey’s arms. After last night, it was difficult to remember the fears that had been playing around the back of her mind. Instead she wanted to pretend that she didn’t know that gamblers were dangerous and just stay in this man’s arms.

But reality intruded when her alarm went off and she groaned as she rolled over to turn it off.

“I’ll order some breakfast while you shower,” he said.

Just that. Like it was a normal morning. Like nothing had changed last night, when in reality, it felt to her like everything had.

“Okay.”

It wasn’t like she was going to argue with him. Or start something before she had to be downstairs to meet first with the world poker championship people and then later with Darien.

She wasn’t sure how to deal with Casey’s business partner and friend. Though she knew she could just ignore him and deal directly with Rio, she was going to have to figure out how to make peace with Darien if she and Casey were going to keep this relationship going.

She finished her shower and blow-dried her hair before getting dressed in a simple fit and flare navy dress that was trimmed in red. She put on her necklace from Casey and remembered that he was different than her father. He’d never taken anything from her. He always gave her things and that meant more to her than she had realized it would.

She took her time smoothing lotion on her legs and then put on her sandals before heading to the stairs.

She heard the sound of voices downstairs and thought that it must be the room service staff delivering their breakfast. But the conversation was getting louder, and she moved to the top of the stairs, seeing the back of Casey’s body as he faced Darien.

Darien looked angry and she could tell from Casey’s stance that he wasn’t happy, either.

“I’m not firing her,” Casey said.

Her. Did he mean her or someone else? Was it about her? “I can’t let this go. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to sleep with her and let her run our social media. It’s just…too dangerous. For everyone involved. Her included. Sex and business don’t mix, Case. Please listen to me on this.”

Casey ran his hand through his hair. “She’s not like Poppy—”

“Hell, it’s not just about Poppy. My mom couldn’t take it, either. I’ve never known a woman to stick around and neither have you. What makes this one different?” Darien asked.

“She’s nothing like my mom. Talia’s not a leaver,” Casey said.

He has that right, she thought. She was the kind of woman who held on long after anyone else had let go.

“But sex complicates things. You are distracted in every meeting we have and you can’t tell me that has nothing to do with her. Nick and I both see it. When she’s in a meeting, you aren’t thinking about the casino. You’re thinking about her.”

“I don’t know that firing her is going to change that,” Casey admitted.

“Well that’s what I want. Convince me otherwise,” Darien said.

Casey spread his arms wide. “Can’t you just trust me?”

“I do trust you,” Darien said. “When you aren’t being ruled by your dick.”

“Fuck you, Darien, she’s more than a hookup.”

Talia didn’t like that she was listening to this conversation. She knew she should step away or let them know that she was there, but she couldn’t.

Darien stepped closer to Casey and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t care about you. Rio says she’s really good at her job but she knows too much about the workings of the Jokers Wild. You and I both know that if she goes to another casino after things cool, it could end up biting us in the ass—”

“I don’t intend to end it with her,” Casey said.

“I heard you,” Darien said. “Fine, I’ve said my piece.”

He backed away.

“What will it take for you to let this go?” Casey asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, running his hand over his head. “I’ve never seen you like this. I just don’t want to see you crash and burn like I did, I guess. I mean seeing Poppy again makes me realize how deep that damage can go. You know that besides Rio, you and Nick are all I’ve got. I can’t walk away when I see one of you in danger.”

“Why don’t we let fate decide?” Casey suggested.

Talia leaned closer to look down at him. What was he saying? That he would decide if she should stay in his life based on chance? He’d said last night that it had brought them together, but she’d forgotten that this morning. She’d felt like the love she had for him was returned. That maybe after last night, they’d crossed into a new territory, moving forward as a couple.

Then again, maybe she’d misunderstood.

But she saw him walk to the table where he’d pulled the deck from that night when they’d met. That night when he’d high carded her for clothing. Her heart was in her throat as he broke the seal on a new pack of cards and shook them out into his free hand. He shuffled the cards like the consummate professional he was and she told herself to look away. Or better yet, walk away. But she couldn’t.

She watched him hand the deck to Darien to cut and then they both took a card and she stood there watching, as if her life didn’t hang in the balance, too shocked and heartbroken to move as Darien flipped his card onto the table where so much of her life with Casey had taken place.

“Jack of Spades.”

She inhaled deeply and then realized she was holding her breath as she waited, and Casey flipped his card over. “Ace of Hearts. It’s done. She’s mine and she’s staying. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

Her hands were shaking as she took the first step. The click of her heels against the marble sounded loud in the hallway. Both men turned to look up at her.

“I think I might have something to say about that.”

…

Darien backed away and was out the door before Casey could punch him. This morning wasn’t going at all the way he had planned. He looked up at Talia—she was pissed. And he couldn’t blame her.

“I can explain,” he said. Though he had no idea how he was going to. She had a thing about gambling anyway. How was he going to tell her that he’d always been lucky at cards? That he had a gut feeling about which card would turn up, and he’d never been wrong? To him, this had been a sure thing.

“I would love to hear you try,” she said.

“Darien was being difficult,” Casey argued.

“I don’t give a shit about Darien. I’m wondering how the man who followed me last night and spent twenty minutes talking to me in the parking lot and telling me that we could make something real and lasting would bet our future on a card? I’m pretty sure you were the one who suggested that, not Darien,” she said, coming the rest of the way down the stairs.

“I was. But I don’t lose at cards,” he said.

“You did when we played,” she said.

“Did I?”

“Didn’t you? Was it all a lie? Has everything just been one big game to you?” she asked.

“No. Talia, please, this isn’t going at all the way I want it to,” he said. “I’m not good with words. You know I’m an orphan…”

She shook her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t try to play on my emotions. It feels cheap, and I always thought you were better than that.”

God, he had no idea how to fix this. He took a step toward her but she backed away. It was the first time he’d seen that indomitable spirit that was so much a part of her dampened and he hated himself for doing this to her. He wanted to make things perfect for Talia—not show her that he was a douche like her old man.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant I have no couth, you know? I want to say the right things but words aren’t what I’m good at. Let me show you how much you mean to me,” he said, trying again to get close to her but she stepped away.

“You showed me when you opened that deck of cards,” she said. “What if you had lost?”

“Talia, Brown Eyes, I never lose,” he said.

She shook her head. “You just did.”

And at that moment, he knew he’d said the wrong thing. But he had no idea how to play it any different. If he could get her back into bed where he could show her with his body what she meant to him, he might have a chance. But it wasn’t looking likely.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?” she asked. “Because guess what?”

“What?”

“You’re not the first man to say those words to me. Most of my childhood I was told, ‘Don’t worry, kiddo, I’ll double your lunch money, I never lose.’ You know what? He did lose. Maybe not that week or the next, but eventually I had no lunch money. And I had to ask for free lunch or worse, ask Gran,” Talia said. “You are going to lose eventually. And I’m going to be the one who pays for it.”

“Never. I’m not taking anything from you,” he said.

All the color left her face and her hands shook as she stalked past him and picked up her keys. “You would have taken my job if you’d lost. And what about us? I’m not playing a game. I’m not interested in being a prize that you won in a childish bet with your friend.”

“I wasn’t playing for you,” he said. “That thing with Darien was for him. It had nothing to do with us. I would never put you out of your job. I want you in my life. I felt like I was fighting for everything last night when you were trying to break it off with me—”

“I was trying to, and I should have stuck to my guns. My gut was saying this was a bad idea from the moment I walked into my final interview and saw you sitting at the table. I knew I should have gotten the hell out of Jokers Wild.”

She took another step toward the door, but he caught her hand, pulling her off balance without meaning to. He steadied her, then stepped away. “Don’t go. Not like this. Give me a chance to explain. To make things right.”

She shook her head. “Everyone knows better than to bet against the house, Casey. For a while I forgot, but I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

“I’m not the house,” he said. But how could he convince her when he’d already damned himself with his own stupid actions? What had he been thinking? All he’d wanted was to get rid of Darien so he could move on with his morning with Talia. He had been on the cusp of having it all, having everything he wanted with her. And now, it had been snatched away from him.

At least the cards weren’t that hard to read. They fell where they did and he’d gotten lucky when he’d drawn the ace. But in his heart, he knew that she was his. It had been more than luck guiding his hand to that ace. It was fate.

How could Talia not see it?

“I’m the man who wants to spend his life with you,” he said, coming back to her and trying to make her see the truth in his eyes.

“For how long?” she asked.

“Forever,” he admitted, baring his soul in a way that he never had before.

“Are you sure you don’t want to high card me for it?” she asked, pain and sarcasm in her voice.

…

Talia knew that she had hit below the belt with her last comment, but he deserved it. She’d expected to be let down by her father. And when she’d first met Casey, she’d taken his measure and decided that he was cut from the same cloth. But he’d wooed her and shown her a side of him that was different.

She felt like an idiot, and she had no one but herself to blame for that. But that didn’t stop her from loving him. She put her hand over her heart and staggered backward. How could she still love him?

She’d heard him betting with his friend, risking their future on a card. What was wrong with her? Was she so broken that she thought she didn’t deserve to be loved?

“If you’re going to be irrational about it, then there is no point in talking,” he said.

She heard the anger in his voice, and his betrayal stung a bit more. He should have been angrier when he’d talked to Darien. He should have figured out a way to appease his friend without putting their relationship on the line in a card game. Risking it all on a whim. “You started this. I didn’t force you to try to settle things with Darien with a deck of cards. But that is what your gut led you to, isn’t it?”

He tightened his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah, it did. When the chips are down, I fall back on what I know to strengthen my position.”

She got that. She hadn’t before this moment, but she finally thought she understood Casey. It wasn’t just that he wanted to win, or that he was good with cards—it was that taking chances was the only way he knew how to navigate through life.

She’d seen the tattoo and the table in his foyer and how every part of his life was embossed with cards. She should have known better.

“Sorry, you’re right,” she said. “I should leave.”

“I don’t think you should,” he said. “I’m not very good at relationships and I’ve done everything I can—”

“Don’t. You didn’t do everything. You risked it all on a card because you wanted to one up Darien. You couldn’t trust that I cared about you enough to make this work, could you?” she asked.

She walked over to him and realized she was on the verge of crying and she didn’t want that. Not now. She wanted to keep it together until she was alone.

“I am leaving. If I were to stay, I would lose something I could never get back,” she said, knowing she had to put a higher price on her own self-respect. She’d never forgive herself if she stayed with a man who would gamble her love away. She walked to the door, then looked back as she opened it.

Casey wore an expression she’d never seen before but she couldn’t analyze it—not at this moment, when her world was crumbling. “Goodbye, Casey.”

“Goodbye, Brown Eyes.”

She walked into the hallway and closed the door behind her, holding on to the handle for a moment, her legs shaking. She heard the sound of something hitting the door and then smashing to the floor, followed by a round of cursing.

She had the feeling they were both losers in this and later that might matter, but at this moment she just needed to get away. The tears started to flow down her face and she forced herself to walk to the elevator. When she got on, she went directly to the bottom floor, and to her car.

She didn’t drive toward Henderson and the Glen View Senior Community because she didn’t want to see Gran until she had herself under control. She just pointed her car east and drove, just needing to get away from Vegas.

She followed the road for about thirty minutes and then pulled off to the side. She couldn’t control her tears, or even see where she was going. But she knew that there was no outrunning this.

There was no other place she wanted to be than in Las Vegas. And with Casey.