Chapter 1
“He took her hand and gave it a small peck, before asking her if she wanted to be his girl,” I muttered, typing the letters. The string of words just flowed out of my brain and into the laptop, but it wasn’t anything to be even remotely happy with.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Delete!” I firmly pressed the button on my keyboard and erased about a couple of hundred words. I just stared at the letters, wondering how on earth I could make this interesting again. My writings had sucked the last couple of days.
No scrap that, the last couple of months was more like it.
Ever since I broke up with my boyfriend a few months ago, things had gone downhill, and I didn’t mean with me. I just couldn’t put out anything worth reading. My entire entrepreneurship of writing, publishing and selling my own books had come to an abrupt halt and hadn’t picked up since. It wasn’t because I was sad or depressed; I just lacked the inspiration to come up with something that was worthwhile.
Some idiotic voice in my head told me it was because of the sex, or lack of thereof. I hadn’t had any good sex since a long time, and even my ex couldn’t satisfy my needs. It was like my smutty side had completely dried up and all that remained was a sappy, laughable version of me, which of course, was reflected in my erotic novels.
I heaved a sigh again and took the last sip of wine from my now empty glass, before saving the small bit of work I’d written. It was a waste of time. I just couldn’t do it right now.
I got up and put on some high heels, and then grabbed the keys and went out. It was quiet in the hallway. Most guests were probably already downstairs, blowing away their money on cheap slot machines that would never yield them anything but regret, which was exactly what I was planning to do as well.
Shame, I know, but what else am I supposed to do?
My life was not something I was thinking about right now. I was only twenty three, but I was living it, that was all I knew and cared for. Trying out the cards at the poker table, enjoying the music and liquor, while writing away in my little hotel room above the casino. It wasn’t much, but it beat the heck out of staying in some lousy, one-shop town where everybody knew my name, even though I was anything but famous. I enjoyed my privacy and needed a shot of the wild life, so that’s why I came here.
I walked to the elevator and pressed the button to go down, but when the doors started closing, a man held his hand in between.
“Wait,” he said, and wriggled his way in until the doors opened again and he passed through. Eyeing him, I noticed he was wearing a fancy suit. He had a strong physique, I could tell that much from his broad appearance and the nicely fitted fabric. He was probably somewhere around twenty six. His square, stubbly jaw moved up and down as he chewed on a toothpick.
“Excuse me,” he muttered. He briefly looked at me with his big, blue eyes. He stepped beside me and our arms grazed each other, sending tiny shocks through my body. We were both facing the door, waiting for it to close again, but time felt like it had stopped. This stranger, whoever it was, had a weird effect on me I couldn’t ignore.
While the elevator went down, I glanced sideways at him. He had short, wavy hair, a bit honey colored, and I couldn’t help but think about running my fingers through it. My eyes drifted down toward his big hands, imagining they were all over me. Of course my lusty brain told me to look at his package, which was abundant, to say the least.
Julie, what in the world are you thinking? Stop it!
My eyes shot back up to his face again and only then did I notice he was staring right back at me.
My cheeks flushed, my body shivering from the heat. I cleared my throat and turned my head quickly.
Dear God, I hope he didn’t see that. I know he did though.
I heard a muffling sound and from the corner of my eyes I saw him flash a smile.
The intercom told us we’d arrived and the door opened. The guy stepped outside, took the toothpick out of his mouth and threw it in a nearby trashcan, before hurrying off though the lobby. It took me a while to get my composure back.
I straightened my cut out dress and patted my hair down before stepping out into the casino lobby. It was packed with people playing poker at the tables, rolling the dices, taking their chance at roulette and there were hundreds of people sitting behind the slot machines.
I went to the cashiers and exchanged some money for chips. Deciding I’d squander my time playing a game I’d never win, I settled for roulette and enjoyed my time betting on red, because it was my favorite color. I never won anything, of course.
When more than a half an hour had passed, I exchanged my last chips for coins and used them on the slot machines, drinking one glass of wine after the other. I was a sucker for the drink that heated my throat and eased my senses. It wasn’t like I was supposed to be somewhere anyway and my writing wasn’t going anywhere either.