Page 56 of High Roller

It’s a little on the shabby side, but I like it too. Owen or Luke wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this. The mental image of them sitting down at plastic-coated tables with laminated menus makes me smirk.

When we’re seated, we place our first orders and sit in uncomfortable silence.

“This is silly,” she finally mutters. “We’ve known each other for years. Having dinner together shouldn’t be weird.”

I laugh at her outburst. “You’re right. I’m the one making things weird. I apologize.”

“Can I ask you a question that might not be any of my business?” she asks.

I lean back and look her up and down, curious about what she might say. “Go ahead. I can’t promise I’ll answer, though.”

“How did you figure out who Lili was? I looked her up, and she’s not super in the public eye. It took some work to even find her social media pages.”

I frown. “Don’t be stalking her online, Mariposa. That’s dangerous right now.”

She folds her arms and scowls at me. “That’s not an answer.”

I drag a hand through my hair and pull the hair tie out, letting my hair hang free. “No, it’s not. I figured it out after I had… comforted her over her cheating husband. You saw the same bruises and scars I did. My protective instincts kicked in and I was going to find out who he was and kill him.”

The confession shocks her, but it’s only noticeable in the way her shoulders tense and one eyebrow lifts a little higher than the other. She doesn’t respond, so I continue. “I got up before her the next morning and went down to my office at the casino and pulled up her reservation. When I realized who she was, I was convinced she was a plant. I’m still not convinced that she isn’t, so don’t get too close to her, OK?”

“If she weren’t married to your enemy, I would like her. She’s easy to talk to,” Grace admits quietly.

I close my eyes and try to keep my face neutral. Maybe asking her to keep an eye on Lili was a bad idea. “She’s easy to talk to because she’s probably a skilled manipulator, Grace. Be careful.”

“I’m being careful. But I don’t think she’s trying to manipulate me. She’s as confused as I am about all of this. It’s clear she doesn’t like her husband much, though, so if you’re not a dick you can convince her to help you take him down.”

I lean forward and press a finger to her lips. A mistake on my part, because just touching her silky lips sends all the blood rushing to my dick. Still, I have to get my message across. “Don’t talk about that here, Grace. There are eyes and ears everywhere.”

She closes her eyes, and my hand moves to cup her cheek.

“Your lips are soft,” I say.

She nuzzles her cheek into my hand, and I’m tempted to drag her out of her and fuck her in the back seat of my car like a teenage boy. But if I fuck Grace, that’s not how I want our first time to be.

Our food arrives, and the moment is broken. We go back to making small-talk, and the conversation is less awkward this time. She talks about why she wants to be an obstetrics nurse, and I tell her about the first time I met Matteo because somehow, she’d never heard the story. I wanted to punch the bastard for how smug he was. But later I discovered it wasn’t smugness. It was just his defense mechanism.

The laughter Grace and I share tonight is what I’m surprised by the most, I don’t just sit around laughing with people. There’s too much to do in life to take the time for that.

When we’re done with our meal, I want to take her somewhere else, but I have no idea what to do, so I ask if there’s something she’s interested in.

She looks at her watch and gives me a sly smile. “I’ve never been to the mob museum.”

I look at her incredulously. “You want me to take you to the mob museum? A little too on the nose, don’t you think?”

She giggles, and it’s the most gorgeous fucking sound I’ve ever heard.

“That’s why I want you to take me.”

I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but I punch in the name of the museum on my phone and hand it to her. “Get the tickets while I drive.”

Grace takes my phone, and I observe out of the corner of my eye as she taps through the steps to buy two tickets to the Mob Museum. It’s a popular destination here in Las Vegas, but I’ve never been. I don’t see the point in a lot of these tourist activities. If I didn’t work in a casino, I would never be on the Strip.

“Victor, this is so out of character for you. Why are you being like this?” She hands me back my phone. I let my fingers linger on her hand before taking it and tucking it in the front pocket of my suit.

“I’m not sure, butterfly, but I’m trying to figure that out. Don’t worry about it too much. It’s like I said in my office the other night, we’re going to see where this takes us. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I don’t want to lose that. Talking with Luke about your car situation made me realize I haven’t taken good enough care of you these past few years. I’m sorry that I haven’t spent enough time with you as a friend. Since we’ve been in Las Vegas, we’ve spent so much time focused on work.”

She reaches out a tentative hand and brushes my shoulder with her fingers. “It’s okay, really. I came here to work for you. It only makes sense that our friendship took a backseat to that.”

---