Shine Not Burn(16)

“I’ll do what I can,” said the cowboy, nodding once.

I watched my mentor walk away, wondering what he meant by that. It sounded nice. I liked the idea of having a lot of potential. There were people who’d known me for years who’d never say such a thing about me, but they weren’t allowed to ruin my night. Not tonight. I pushed their ghosts out of my head.

The cowboy held the back of the stool I’d been saving for him. “Are you staying?” he asked.

I stood there, my face suddenly flaming red and my body screaming for more of him than just a blackjack partner or victim of my clutziness. What the hell. “Sure. I have to finish this game, right?”

He nodded. “Take this seat.” He motioned at the one with his chips in front of it.

I took it, feeling the sweat break out under my arms when he claimed the seat recently vacated by my busted buddy.

“Do you want to see my cards? Your cards, actually?” I asked. I fingered the chips in front of me for a few seconds and then jerked my hands away, resting them in my lap.

“Hands on the table, please,” said the dealer, frowning at me.

I threw them up to rest on the padded bar in front of the pile of chips, afraid I was about to get arrested for attempted cheating.

The cowboy lifted up first the cards on the left and then the ones on the right. He whistled his appreciation. “Well done, Lady Luck.”

He was close enough that I could smell him. For the first time in all the years I’d known Candice, I fully appreciated her habit of leaning in to inhale people’s scents. I wanted to get his man-scent up into my brain. It was doing something to me that I’d never experienced before.

Pheromones. My eyes widened. I was totally being drugged by this guy’s manliness. How easy can a girl get? Maybe that should have offended my feminist self, but all it did was make me want to bury my nose in his neck. I glanced at him, biting my bottom lip in consideration. Am I tipsy enough to do it? He was leaning over looking at the cards, and it would be so easy.

I bent at the waist just the slightest bit and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply but slowly so he wouldn’t hear it. When I opened my eyes, his face was just a few inches from mine.

“Are you okay?” he asked, humor tipping up the corners of his luscious mouth.

“Uhhh … yeah. Are you okay?” I looked down at his crotch. “Did you take care of yourself in the bathroom okay?” Half a second later I choked on my own tongue. Did I actually just say that?

He chuckled softly. “I got my pants as dry as I could, all considered, if that’s what you mean.”

I nodded, afraid to speak at this point. Who knew what would come flying out of my mouth next. I was dangerous with this many cocktails in me.

The dealer distracted me from my embarrassment, turning over our hands and paying out or taking money. I looked at his cards. He had an ace, a three, and an eight. I counted furiously in my head. Eleven, three, that’s fourteen plus eight that’s … twenty-one? No! Twenty-two! Is it twenty-two? I looked at the cowboy. “What’s that mean?” I asked, pointing to the dealer’s cards.

“He busted. Anyone not over twenty one wins, and you get a little extra for having blackjack.”

I watched as the dealer pushed a pile of chips over in my direction. “Congratulations,” he said. “Must be beginner’s luck.”

My mouth dropped open. “That’s … six hundred dollars,” I whispered. I’d never won any money in my entire life. Every penny in my bank account was hard-earned.

“I hope you’ll stay,” said the cowboy, pulling six chips out from in front of me to put on the table. He put three in front of my spot and three in front of his.

“I don’t have any money,” I said. I’d left all my cash with Candice and it sure wasn’t six hundred bucks.

He looked at the pile in front of me. “Sure looks like you do.”

I smiled, my jaw a little off kilter as it dropped open. If this was his flirting game, I had to give him credit. It was original, even though it did feel a tiny bit like solicitation of prostitution. “That’s your money, not mine.”

He shrugged. “It’s play money. Win or lose, the goal is to have a good time.”

“Oh, I can have a good time in Vegas, trust me. And it doesn’t even take a lot of money either.” The cocktail waitress walked up with a tray and two drinks.

“Where’s your friend?” she asked, looking at the faces around the table.

“He left. But I’ll take his drink,” I said, moving back so she could put them on the table in front of me.

“I’ll take a Bud on your next trip by,” said Mack.

She gave him a sexy smile and cocked her hip out at him. It irritated me more than I wanted to admit. “Coming right up. Can I get you anything else to go with that Bud?”

He looked right at me. “I have everything I need right here, thanks.”

My throat closed up at the innuendo I prayed was coming out of his mouth. But he couldn’t possibly be talking about me. The only thing he knew about me was that I was a klutzy chick who liked to spend his money. Not the best makings of a girlfriend candidate.

I wanted to slap my own face with the direction my mind was going. Girlfriend material? What the hell is wrong with you? You’re in Vegas for chrissake! Get control of yourself. Tonight is not the night for lifeplan action. But a one night stand? Maybe … I sat up straighter and looked at the table, lifting up my card at the corner.