Page 8 of Vegas Heat

I want to make her gasp like that when I have her writhing naked on my bed as I drive into her.

I blow out a breath as I try to get Indiana Bones, the pocket rocket under control…an impossible feat with Gorgeous Gabby beside me.

These are inappropriate thoughts…but like I said, it’s been a while.

Stacy and I broke things off a year and a half ago. She stayed in the house I still own in Los Angeles, and I moved to San Diego, where I took a job working as the co-programming director for StrongFitKids, an organization that promotes active and healthy lifestyles to kids through a series of health and fitness programs. The hot chick who was my partner at work, Kaylee, became my close friend when we worked and lived together in San Diego, but she was from Vegas and ultimately moved back. She was never a real option anyway since she was hung up on another dude.

Incidentally, she’s my dinner plans for tomorrow—along with her husband, who plays football for the Vegas Aces. We still work together, but we’re no longer co-programming directors out of the same office. Instead, she and her husband took thecontent Kaylee and I created and repurposed the StrongFitKids program to fit into the chain of fitness clubs her husband owns.

I had a friends with benefits situation with another woman in San Diego, but we broke that off nearly six months ago.

Jesus, has it really been that long since I’ve had sex?

The pocket rocket says yes. It’s been a long and lonely six months, but I’ve been busy with work.

Or so I’ve said. It’s an easy excuse to avoid the complications that come with relationships, but diving into work rather than trying to meet somebody just pushes the goals I always wanted for my future further and further away.

It’s complicated and complex, and I know one night with a girl like Gabby won’t solve anything, but maybe it doesn’t have to be just one night.

Not if I’m coming back to Vegas to play for the Heat.

Not if she’s from here.

If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.

Or maybe I rock her world for a few hours and we both leave in the morning with smiles on our faces. Right now, I’m enjoying drinking beer, playing blackjack, and laughing with the gorgeous woman by my side. I guess we’ll see where the night takes us.

CHAPTER 4: GABBY

When he asked me to stay here with him, I assumed he meant the blackjack table. But the longer we sit and play, the more I think he means something else entirely.

And the longer I sit beside him, the more I want whatever he’s implying.

“What did the dealer say to the deck of cards?” he asks me when the dealer starts to shuffle the six decks we’ve been playing with.

I glance over at him in confusion. Did the dealer say something and I missed it? “What?” I ask.

“I can’t deal with you anymore.” He laughs at his own joke, and I roll my eyes. “What?” he says, holding up his hands. “It’s funny!”

I twist my lips as I narrow my eyes at him. “It’s the cheesiest joke I’ve heard in a long time, my friend.”

“You got something better?”

“How’s a casino like a woman?” I ask. I know this one’s raunchy, but he’s been flirting with me all night, so I have a pretty good feeling he won’t be offended.

He squints at me a beat before asking, “How?”

“Liquor up front, poker in the back.”

He laughs. “Yeah, that was better than mine but I didn’t know we were on dirty joke terms just yet.”

“Dirty jokes are always fine by me,” I say.

He nods. “Okay, then how about this one? How do you make a pool table laugh?”

“How?”

“Tickle its balls,” he deadpans, and I giggle.

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