Fool Me Once (First Wives Series Book 1)(12)
“Thirty-one black.”
Shannon high-fived Lori. “Whoop, whoop!”
Her five-dollar chip sat on the line between thirty-one and twenty-eight.
“Next round is on you,” Lori teased.
Shannon collected her money and generously placed her bets. She glanced up. “Where did he go?”
“Who knows?” Lori looked at her hand of dwindling chips, promising to walk away if she didn’t win on the next turn of the wheel. Just then her skin prickled and her palms started to itch.
“Red.” His voice came from behind her, his lips close to her ear.
She forced herself not to smile. “You’re sure?” she asked.
The croupier spun the wheel and released the ball.
“Forty-eight percent sure.”
She looked up and down the table, remembered the green zero and double zeros. She put twenty on red and scattered another twenty bucks on various red numbers.
“No more bets.”
The ball started to bounce.
Lori held her breath.
“Fourteen, red.”
“Okay, then. I guess I owe you a drink,” Lori said as she peeked over her shoulder to find Mr. Single staring.
“Hello.” Shannon peered from Lori’s other side.
“Hello,” he replied, then narrowed his eyes. “Aren’t you—”
Lori panicked and lifted a finger to his lips as if she had a right.
His amused eyes widened as he reached to touch her hand.
“My friend is on vacation.” Lori hoped her words kept him from bringing unwanted attention to Shannon. “Far away from home.”
His eyes told her he understood. With a tiny squeeze of her hand, he let her go.
Shannon tilted her head. “Thank you. Do you have a name other than Mr. Single?”
“You’ve been talking about me.”
Lori felt like she was sixteen years old, caught talking about the new kid in school. She tried to hide her embarrassment.
He reached across Lori. “I’m Reed.”
“Nice to meet you, Reed. This is my friend Lori.”
“Lori.” It sounded as if he was testing her name with the weight of the sigh he used when saying it.
The heat on her neck felt unnatural.
“Now that we have the names straight, what should I bet on now?”
The ball was already rolling.
“Let it ride on red.”
“I never let it ride.”
He stopped her hand from pulling her chips away. His lips moved close to her ear again. “What are you worried about, losing Sugar Daddy’s money?”
Before she could pull the chips away, the croupier waved a hand over the table, indicating she’d lost her opportunity to back out.
“Twenty-seven, red.”
She sighed, and once she’d been paid out, she removed her chips. Not that she worried about losing forty dollars. Hell, she was down two hundred and she’d only been in the casino for forty minutes. Gambling in general was outside her control spectrum. A little bit was fine, exciting even . . . but if any real money was involved, she’d probably break out in hives before the ball settled on a number.
“No guts to do it again?” Reed asked.
She pointed to the table. “Where’s your bet?”
“Touché.” He removed his wallet, placed a hundred-dollar bill on red.
The croupier made quick work of removing the cash and replacing it with several green chips.
Less than a minute later, twenty-one, red was called.
Lori stood back to watch, her hands tightening in on themselves with each rotation of the ball.
All she noticed was the color when the ball dropped.
Red.
Reed let it ride.
“You’re nuts,” she whispered.
Lori wasn’t sure if his reckless gambling was because of his cocky self-assuredness or if he was just a man using his money to flirt with her. Either one was slightly flattering.
Four spins later, Reed was up sixteen hundred dollars. Only then did he pull off the hundred dollars he started with.
“You’re going to leave it there?”
He shrugged with a grin.
The other players at the table were watching. Others were putting their money on black, muttering his luck was about to run out.
Lori held her breath, the ball bounced. “Twelve, red.”
Even Shannon was speechless.
Lori was sweating, and it wasn’t her money.
“You’re not a gambler,” he observed.
She looked up to find his eyes laughing at her. “Apparently not.”