face, letting my thumb run lightly over his cheek. ‘Yeah, well, you’re proving to be a bit of a surprise to me, too, Eddie Fletcher.’ Grabbing his hand I started pulling him towards the sound of a barrage of slot machines coming from the hotel casino. ‘Come on. We’re wasting valuable gambling time here.’
Clutching a fistful of money, I sat myself down at a random machine, Eddie behind me, the closeness of his body something I was used to now. It kind of felt odd if he wasn’t there.
‘I’ll go get us a drink,’ he said quietly, leaning over so his mouth was practically touching my ear. It was an action that sent a lovely sensation coursing through my body. ‘You get started, okay?’
I turned my head to smile at him, my mouth catching his in a quick but still unbelievably hot kiss. And I couldn’t help but let out another of those unfamiliar, tiny gasps as I watched him walk over to the bar, that sexy swagger meaning mine wasn’t the only head that was turning.
Back off, bitches, he’s mine!
Smiling to myself, I turned back to face the machine, carefully sliding a note into it, watching as that first attempt at a win failed. But so what? I had a feeling I’d already won the best prize of the night. Hitting the jackpot here would be nothing but a bonus.
‘Any luck?’ Eddie asked, handing me a beer.
I shook my head, concentrating on my next attempt. Which also failed.
‘Here.’ He leant over me again, his body touching mine from behind as he reached out to take a note from my hand, sliding it into the machine. I could feel his breath on my cheek, his beard rough against my skin, and I had a sudden urge to just pull him down and kiss him until our mouths ached. But I took a drink of beer instead, my head spinning slightly, telling me I was probably on the edge of being drunk now.
His luck was no better than mine, as far as the slot machines were concerned, and I smiled as he swore quietly, making no attempt to pull away from his position behind me. ‘Lady Luck ain’t smiling on us tonight, darlin’,’ he sighed, his fingers trailing lazily along the back of my neck.
Flip!
I wasn’t sure if he was aware of exactly what he was doing to me, but I could feel myself heading in a direction I still wasn’t sure I should be heading in. I needed a bit more time to think about this.
Grabbing my beer and stuffing the money down the front of my dress, I took his hand, dragging him over to the roulette wheel.
‘Oh, we’re going bigger now, are we?’ He smirked, and I threw back a slow smile.
‘You have no idea how big I intend to go tonight.’
‘Feel like giving me a clue?’
I shook my head, digging out a handful of chips from my bag. ‘Stick these on red.’
He looked at me. ‘Any particular reason why?’
I shrugged. ‘I like red.’
‘Good enough,’ he said, turning to place the chips on the table. I slid my arms around him from behind, resting my head against his shoulder, breathing in the smell of leather and cigarettes as the wheel turned, round and round, faster and faster, until it inevitably slowed down, that tiny white ball jumping in and out of the red and black compartments. It was actually quite strange, the level of excitement that small ball could create, but as it finally settled in red even I couldn’t stop myself from giving a shriek of delight and high-fiving Eddie. This was fun!
‘Red again. Or do you want to choose this time?’ I asked, my excitement reaching child-like proportions now.
‘No. What the lady wants, the lady gets.’ Eddie smiled, his eyes meeting mine for a brief and surprisingly intense second. Enough time for me to know, for sure, that I was done with the alcohol for tonight. I really needed to keep my head as clear as possible. I could cope with slightly woozy, but any more than that and I knew I was going to forget too much of tonight. And I didn’t want to forget any of it.
‘Stick it on red then, handsome,’ I whispered, lightly kissing the back of his neck.
‘You’re killing me here, darlin’,’ he murmured, reaching behind him to rub my bottom. Oh yes! No way did I want to forget this night!
I felt his hand slide into mine as the ball once more bounced into the red, and I let out another tiny squeal of excitement, squeezing Eddie’s hand probably a touch too hard.
He let go of me, leaning forward to retrieve our winning chips, scooping them up and dropping them into his pocket.
‘Come on, kid. We’re quitting while we’re ahead.’
‘We are?’
I let him take my hand again as we headed out of the casino. And it wasn’t until we were back outside in the hotel’s sprawling foyer that he stopped, swinging me around to face him, reaching out to cup my cheek in his hand. ‘You ready to call it a night yet, darlin’?’
I stared up at him, those dark eyes of his boring into mine, that intensity I’d sensed before coming back with a vengeance now. ‘I’m not sure,’ I said slowly, and then inwardly shook myself, taking a very quick, very deep, breath. ‘Tell you what… Let’s go grab a whisky or something. Outside.’ I didn’t really fancy another drink, but I didn’t feel much like letting him go just yet, either. And this was the only compromise I could come up with on the spurofthemoment.
‘Suits me.’ He shrugged, letting me lead the way out to the pool bar. But the second we were outside he stopped, pulling me back into his arms. ‘What are you scared of, Lana?’ His mouth was already closing in on mine, and I felt my heart start to beat faster. Harder. Louder.
‘I’m not scared of anything,’ I breathed, grabbing onto his jacket collar to steady myself as my knees started weakening again. I was still putting that down to Eddie. To this. To everything that was happening. Was that what I was scared of? This?
‘I think you are,’ he whispered, his hand in the small of my back, pressing me against him.
‘I thought we were getting a drink?’ And I wasn’t entirely sure why I was almost pulling back from this, because it felt good, being this close to him. It was everything I wanted. Everything this night had inevitably been leading up to.
‘In a minute.’ His voice had a beautiful, gravelly tone to it now, probably due to the cigarettes and alcohol he’d been indulging in tonight. It was so sexy I almost moaned out loud. ‘I’m not finished here yet.’
I closed my eyes, letting my hand fall loosely around his neck as his mouth lowered down onto mine, kissing me so slow and so deep I didn’t ever want to come up for air.
‘You are such a bad influence,’ I groaned, his mouth moving to my neck, brushing over it so gently, so lightly, it was crazy!
‘You don’t know how bad I can be,’ he growled, swinging me around so I was backed up against the wall, at his mercy, silently willing him to do all manner of unspeakable things to me, right there and then. I didn’t really care. Not anymore.
‘I’d quite like you to show me,’ I whispered, taking hold of his t-shirt and pulling him against me, smiling as my mouth rested against his. ‘Right now.’
Kicking my hotel-room door shut behind me, our lips still locked together, I fell back against the wall, my fingers burying themselves in his hair as we kissed. And kissed. And, oh God, we kissed!
‘You okay?’ he asked, pulling away only slightly, his breathing heavy, his fingers running lightly along the top of my dress.
‘I’m fine,’ I whispered, aware that my chest was heaving, and whether