Her High-Stakes Affair. Katherine Garbera
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closer.
They were in the main casino, where anyone could see them. She inched away from him. “No. Why should I?”
“No reason. Mine is thirteen. Want to use it this time?”
“No. I’ll take fourteen.”
“Okay,” he said, reaching around her to drop a few casino chips on the table.
“What are you doing?” she asked. What did it say about the man that he had a pocketful of casino chips?
“This is on me.”
She shrugged and placed her bet. She put her chip only on the number, not bettering her odds by playing the color.
“You’re going for the bigger payoff just like a real gambler would,” he said.
He had no idea. She’d watched her father at the roulette table for so long that she’d played the way he would. His words didn’t reassure her, and it took all of her courage to stand her ground and not turn and run from the casino. Her hand actually trembled as she saw the croupier begin the play.
Scott captured her hand and rubbed it against his T-shirt-clad chest. “Don’t sweat it, honey. This is just for fun.”
She looked up at him and felt the waves of reassurance in him. Despite his playboy image and the way he seemed to glide through life unaffected, she sensed a rock-solid part of this man.
“I know.”
“When I win, I’m going to take you for a ride on my Harley out into the desert with the warm wind blowing all around us. Then we’ll have dinner at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican place.”
That didn’t sound dangerous. It sounded fun, thrilling. She’d never been on a motorcycle and a part of her had always wanted to ride one. Especially if she was pressed up against Scott’s back. She’d have an excuse to touch him and not have to worry about the consequences for once in her life, not taking the same safe route she’d always chosen.
But he had dared her—and she couldn’t pass it up. “I don’t know what I’ll do when I win. Probably something safe and boring.”
He smiled at her then. His expression was so tender that the sounds of the casino faded away, and there was only the two of them. “Nothing with you could be boring.”
She turned away from the intensity in his eyes and focused on the table. The ball jumped and bounced and finally landed on fourteen. Raine couldn’t believe it.
“I won.”
“I saw,” he said. His arms came around her waist and he held her to him. “Maybe my luck is rubbing off on you.”
“I didn’t realize that luck felt like a muscled, masculine body.”
He dropped a fierce kiss on her lips. “Luck comes in all kinds of packages.”
She had the feeling he was talking about more than slot machines and Vegas winnings. “Bad luck sure does.”
“Hey, no talk of bad luck,” he said.
“I can’t believe this. You lost,” she said. And she won. After years of carefully avoiding taking any kind of risk, the first time she bet someone, she won.
“I know.”
She stepped away from him, fighting the urge to dance around. She won. For the first time she could understand the appeal of gambling. But she realized her euphoria had as much to do with the fact that she was with Scott as it did with winning.
“Does this ever happen to you?” she asked.
“About as often as I make it with my alien lover.”
She laughed and felt free in a way she hadn’t in a long time. Scott reminded her of what life could be when she let go of the tight control she kept on herself.
“What now?”
He picked up her winnings. “Let’s go cash out, and then the rest of the night is up to you.”
The glow of victory still hung around Raine as they stepped away from the cashier and she pocketed her winnings.
“So what’s the plan? I think we’ve got a few hours until you have to be in the editing room.”
She glanced at her watch, then tipped her head to the side, studying him. “How do you feel about going to Red Rock? They have a nature trail that’s supposed to be pretty awesome and it’s not that far from here. I haven’t had time to check it out yet.”
“Sounds good. I’ll drive, unless you want to?”
“No, you can drive. I’m sharing the production van with Tim and Leslie.”
Just then Scott became aware of a group of three women who were eyeing him. He knew the second they recognized him. They took a few steps toward him, but Scott wrapped his arm around Raine and made for the exit. She shoved her elbow against his stomach but he refused to budge. He suspected she was worried about Joel or someone from the show catching them together, but he liked the way she felt tucked up against him. “You have a choice.”
“Of what?” she asked as they left the casino behind and walked out into the warm spring afternoon.
He put on his sunglasses and led her toward the employee parking garage. Hayden kept the top floor of the garage for his own private vehicles and allowed Scott to store his there, as well. Sometimes Scott thought his entire life was just one long travelogue as he moved from one location to another.
“Of how you want to go,” he said, leading her to the garage elevator. He pressed the button for the top floor and then inserted his security key to access the parking level.
“I keep a Hummer H2, a Porsche Boxster and a Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle V-Rod here. I don’t think we can off-road at Red Rock so the Porsche or the bike would be a better choice.”
“Your cars cost more than my house does back in Glendale, California.”
He shrugged. “It’s just money.”
She put one hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes. “Not to everyone.”
“Is this going to be an issue?”
She said nothing, and he knew it was. He’d dated women with Raine’s outlook before. Some women honestly had a problem with the insane amount of money he had. He recognized it could be an issue and he hated that because the money was part of who he was.
“I started working when I was nine months old,” he explained.
She dropped her hand. “I know.”
“Then you can’t expect me to be poor. I spent my entire childhood earning that money.”
“Should I grovel for forgiveness?”
Realizing he had his own problems with this issue, he forced himself to relax. “Maybe later.”
“I have money issues in general. It was just a shock to hear you rattle off your list of vehicles.”
“Can you get over it?” he asked teasingly.
She tipped her head to the side and gave him one of those looks of hers that cut past all the images he’d cultivated over the years and burned straight to the bone. He should probably stay here in Vegas where he fit in. Out in nature he always felt more like the fraud he was. No longer the actor on a set but out in the elements.
“Yeah,” she finally said. “I can get over it—especially if you let me drive the Porsche.”
“Didn’t you hit the security rail with the production van yesterday?”
She wrinkled her brow. “That story was grossly exaggerated. No damage was done to the van.”
“I’ll think about letting you drive my car on the way back.”