Ride: Hearts Wild Series

"And watch what? There's nothing in the theaters right now, and we have no way of getting there. Come on. Why not just pretend you're someone else for the night? If you want, we can even get you a new name and a wig from the boardwalk. You can be anybody you want."

She glanced at the glittery new machines again, her nostrils flaring. He was right.

Her only options were to spend the night on the casino floor or head back to that miserable hole of an apartment, and only one of those options came with free drinks.

"I'll watch you play, how about that?" she said.

"Fine. Come on." He made a motion like he was going to grab her hand, but just before their skin met, he pulled away again.

Scanning the rows of machines, he stopped short in front of an old, Adam West Batman game and shoved a twenty in the slot. Beside it, a Wonder Woman machine was clanging about all the chances she had to win, and she took a seat to watch him.

He slid into the chair in front of his machine, but before he pressed the button to begin, he shoved another twenty into her machine.

"Tonight, you can be Natasha. Natasha loves casinos and Wonder Woman." He winked and Zoe frowned back at him.

"You can't make me play." It wasn't that she was afraid. She knew herself well enough to know that the impulsive, addictive streak that ran through her father and sister had skipped her almost entirely.

No, it was more the futility of it. The idea that she could lose twenty dollars in just as many minutes. It was insane.

"It's my money, and you're mad at me to begin with," Ian argued, almost as if he could read her mind. "What have you got to lose?"

She glared at the screen then watched as he pressed the button on his own machine.

The joker appeared once, twice, and then… nothing.

"See?" She gestured toward the screen. "It's designed for this, you know…"

"Cock tease?" He offered, and she suppressed a laugh.

"Exactly. Even if I did play your money, nothing is going to happen." To prove her point, she slammed her hand on the highest roll—a five dollar spin—and the machine whirred to life.

The reels spun and spun, playing the cheery, 60s-style theme song as they went, and when the first reel stopped, it was filled with "Bonus" signs.

The next one did the same. And the next. And the next.

Her heart jumped into her throat, but she blinked at Ian, trying to remain nonplussed. "See? Nothing is going to happen. This last row will be—"

Nothing but bonuses.

The machine trilled a loud, metallic tune and then filled with glitter and explosions of sound and color. Wonder Woman flew across the screen in her invisible jet, and her golden cuffs turned all the Bonuses into Wilds.

She blinked at the screen again. Little, digital gold coins started falling from the top of the screen, pooling at the bottom until the number grew larger and larger. First two digits, then three, then four.

"Holy shit," Ian whispered, and it felt like the money never stopped. It just kept pooling in the corner, and she didn't know whether to be happy or irritated.

But as the numbers went up, there was obviously no choice. She let out a little squeal of delight and tossed her arms around Ian, sharing the moment with him as the numbers climbed higher and higher still. The people around them turned to watch and, when at last the machine stopped, she tapped the payout button and waited while her receipt printed.

Carefully, she pulled away from him, only slightly embarrassed of her reaction, and he stared at her arms as she slid back toward her machine.

The heat, the energy she'd felt? It had to have been from the moment, from the high of winning. It had nothing—absolutely nothing—to do with Ian himself.

At her side, a waitress appeared with a bottle of champagne. Zoe blinked up at her, confused.

"Complimentary champagne for your big win." The woman explained. Ian took the bottle gratefully, tipping the woman handsomely before she backed away again.

Zoe handed him her ticket. "That was your money. This belongs to you."

He shook his head. "Not on your life. It was worth it just to see somebody win for a change. You keep that money, but you have to buy at least one frivolous thing with it. Let's go."