Gentleman Sinner

Over the past few days, we’ve sunbathed, drank, chatted constantly, and we went all out to visit as many of the hotels on the Strip as we could. Cocktails at Caesars Palace, dinner at the Aria, and a few spellbinding shows. It ate up the time, but it also distracted me from Theo. Finally, I can say that my first girlie holiday was everything it should be, and what I dreamed it would be. We haven’t seen much of Denny, but Kyle has kept regular company with us. I can’t be miffed about it, since Jess was so understanding about my unexpected situation. Besides, Kyle has been good fun. Extra good fun for Jess, judging by the smile on her face when they returned to the pool after sneaking off for an hour yesterday.

It’s our last night in Vegas. As I gather up my purse and head to meet Jess, I contemplate the frame of mind she might be in. She went down to the lobby an hour ago to say goodbye to Kyle, who’s heading home to Georgia. I find her at the bar, and when I’ve parked my arse on a stool next to her and ordered my drink, I chance a peek at my friend, finding her grinning across the bar. I look over and see a tall blond bloke. ‘Missing him, I see,’ I quip, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly in the most sarcastic fashion.

‘Who?’ She looks at me seriously.

I straighten my lips and collect her drink, handing it to her. ‘Never mind.’

She rolls her eyes and dives into her glass. ‘A summer fling, Izzy.’ She swings a determined look on to me. ‘It’s our last night. Let’s see Vegas out in style.’ Grabbing her glass, she downs the lot and eyes me in instruction to follow, which I do willingly. We both gasp and slam down our empties, then jump down from our stools. Linking arms with me, she marches us towards the casino floor.*We really are seeing Vegas out in style. I have no idea what I’m doing, but each time I kiss the dice, the guy next to me rolls what he apparently needs to win a stack of cash. So I keep kissing the dice while being plied with alcohol by the waitress tending the table.

‘You’re on fire, Izzy!’ Jess declares, as everyone around the table laughs.

I shrug and kiss the dice once more when they’re held under my nose, as Jess slides on up next to a South African man at the table.

Yeah, she’s really missing Kyle. I, however, really do miss someone. I smile, unable to stop the warm, fuzzy feeling that the knowledge I’ll be seeing him again brings. Walking away from him in the foyer of the Cosmopolitan was harder than it should have been. What will happen when I get home? The prospect excites and frightens me.

Everyone starts cheering again, knocking me from my thoughts, and I blink and look to my left, finding the man whose dice I’ve been kissing for the past hour is grinning at me. ‘I don’t know where you came from, but you’re not leaving this table.’

‘Actually, I need the Ladies’,’ I say, placing my empty glass on a nearby ledge. ‘Give me two minutes.’ I dart off to the nearest restroom.

After washing my hands and refreshing my lipstick, I turn to make my way back on to the floor, bumping into Jess at the door. ‘Hey, you okay?’ I ask as she scurries into a cubicle and shuts the door.

‘Yeah, you made me need to pee, too.’

I smile and decide to add a bit of blusher while I wait for her. I hear the chain flush and turn my attention to the entrance of the Ladies’ when someone walks in, recoiling when I find a man – the guy whose dice I’ve been kissing all night. ‘Um, the men’s is on the other side.’ I laugh, but he does not. In fact, his jaw is rather tight.

‘Get back to the table.’

‘Excuse me?’ My blusher brush pauses midstroke of my cheek as he approaches, getting way too close.

‘You said two minutes. You’ve been five.’ He looms over me hostilely. Is he playing a stupid intimidation game? For a second, it works, and my heartbeat annoyingly picks up. But I soon order it back down to steady. I lived on the knife’s edge for too long. I refuse to let this arsehole intimidate me. I move to walk past him, ready to collect Jess and get out of here.

‘Whoa, little lady.’ My path is blocked, and he takes my arm, holding it a little too firmly to be friendly, and my firm stance falters, wretched flashbacks threatening to come forward. God damn me. Little lady?

‘Get your fucking hands off me,’ I seethe, determined not to let my vulnerability show. Never. Tugging my arm from his grip, I take a step back. ‘And get out of the damn Ladies’, you creep.’ An angry red mist starts to distort my vision, and I blink to clear it, just in time to see him catapult back and hit the deck. What the hell?