Page 12 of One More Time
‘Really?’
‘Yeah,’ said Nicky. ‘Currently none, for the record.’
She nodded. ‘Same.’Thank God.
He added, ‘There were two that were official. Then another one that … Well, let’s just say there were NDAs involved and technically – according to the law – it didn’t actually happen. But don’t ask, I can’t tell you who. She’s famous.’ Man, he enjoyed playing with her.
‘Oh, now you have to tell me!’
‘NDAs, remember?’ he taunted, unable to withhold his grin.
‘Twenty questions? Very vague?’
He shook his head.
‘I’ll get it out of you. I can be very persuasive when I want to be,’ she teased.
He had no doubt of that. None at all.
After Nicky paid and they left the restaurant, he still hadn’t had enough. There were still questions he hadn’t figured out how to ask her. Things he’d wanted to say for decades that he still didn’t have the courage to voice. He needed more time.
In a bid to keep people at bay, Nicky yanked the sleeves of his shirt back down over his wrists and pulled a black ballcap from his back pocket. He pulled it down low over his eyes. The tats and the face tended to give him away.
‘What’s this?’ Lucy said, looking him over. Then her ridiculously blue eyes flashed with understanding. ‘Ah, incognito mode.’ She smiled.
Nicky rolled his eyes. ‘Yeah, something like that.’ Jesus, he really was from a different planet. Thing was, normal was always just right there. On the other side of his ballcap. On the other side of the cameras everybody had in their pockets these days. So close, but always just out of reach.
As they walked on, Nicky leaned into her, both to be heard over the jangling and bleeping of the ever-present slot machines, and to get a better dose of her. He took a moment to inhale deeply, like a creeper. He was so close that he could smell the dessert coffee on her breath, and beyond it to something spicy and floral, skin-warmed and deep.
‘Want to take a walk?’ he asked finally.
‘Outside?’
‘Inside? Around the resort?’
She leaned into him, resting a hand on his forearm. He felt her breath on his ear, trailing down his neck. It sent a shiver of pure pleasure straight to his cock.
Jesus.
Nicky couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a strong reaction to a woman.Maybe never?
‘Sure,’ she breathed.
They ambled around the casino floor, people watching. He only caught three or four people staring athimthen turning excitedly to the person beside them. There would probably be some fuzzy pictures floating around the internet after this, but he didn’t care. As long as people didn’t intrude.
Nicky took Lucy’s hand to guide her around a drunk guy who was very excited about winning a hand of blackjack and then just never let it go.
Their walk was just as silent as the one they’d taken earlier. This time, though, the heaviness between them wasn’t awkwardness, it was only the weight of their intertwined hands. The quiet wasn’t a burden, more like potential than apprehension. It wasn’t much, but he’d take it.
They meandered without any real direction for a length of time Nicky couldn’t quantify. He had no desire to look at his phone, felt no urge to measure the experience.
Eventually they settled into idle chatter, then to conversation. They walked and they talked. He made her laugh a few times.
She was still so damn smart and quick, and so fucking pretty. And she was reallythere. Lucy. The girl who had lived for so long in his memory and his dreams.
Somehow, in the formless haze that is casino time, they landed at Lucy’s end of the fortieth floor. At her door, she pulled the hotel keycard from her clutch with a flourish.
‘I’ve got it now,’ she said, as a triumphant smile tried to make it to her eyes.
