Page 4 of Vegas Heat

The dealer, whose nametag reads Kelly, deals the hand, setting a card each in front of Mia, me, and Hottie McHotStuff, face up, and then she deals one to herself face down.

“What about you?” he asks Mia, and the slightest twinge of jealousy bolts through me that he’s talking to her rather than me.

I brush it off.

He’s just a guy at a table being friendly to the birthday girl.

Scratch that. He’s just ahotguy at a table being friendly to the birthday girl.

“I’ve played a couple times,” she says.

The dealer gives us each another card before placing one face-up on top of her other one that’s face down.

The dealer is showing a seven. I glance at Mia’s cards. She has a ten and an eight, and she waves her hand to stay.

I look down at my own cards. I have a three and a six.

“The object is to beat the dealer, and a nine doesn’t beat a seventeen, assuming she’s got a ten under there. So tap the table if you want another card,” the hot guy tells me.

“I thought the object was to get to twenty-one,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

He shakes his head. “You want to get closer to twenty-one than the dealer without going over. If she has a sixteen or less, she has to take another card.”

I tap the table, and she gives me a queen.

“Nineteen,” he says. “Wave your hand if you want to stand at nineteen.”

“What if I want another card?” I ask.

“Then I’m going to another table,” he mutters.

I giggle and wave my hand.

He has a twenty, so he stays, and the dealer flips over a ten, giving her a seventeen, which means we all win.

He holds up a fist, and I bump his with mine.

And then I freaking die right there on the spot as his hand touches mine for the first time. It’s a simple, friendly gesture, butin my semi-champagne-tipsy state, it feels like something else entirely.

My face flames as heat seems to engulf me, and a waitress comes by just then.

“A glass of champagne, please,” I order, and Mia gets one, too.

“Miller Lite.” He throws another poker chip on top of his pile.

“Do I need to do that, too?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Up to you. I don’t know your budget, but when I win, I stack one winning chip on top of the pile.”

I do the same, and Mia does, too. My budget went out the window when I sat next to Hottie McSexyPants.

Yeah, another glass of champagne is a great idea right about now.

We all win another round, and on our third hand, the dealer deals me an Ace. She sets my other card face down. “Why’d she do that?” I whisper.

“She’s teasing you,” he whispers back.

I don’t really know what that means, so I wait my turn. She flips my card over when it gets to me, and sure enough, it’s a jack.

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