Hot Number (12 page)

When he answered, his deeply furrowed brow
told her this was no ordinary call. She sat up, suddenly
anxious.

He spoke no more than three sentences to
someone named Carmen, but it was enough to tell Sadie that Nick’s
mother had a problem. Ending the call, he dropped the phone onto
the bed and started to yank on his clothes.

“That was the woman who usually looks after
my mother when I’m not there,” he said in a tight voice. “Mom’s had
a pretty bad fall. She got up from bed without calling for help,
and then stumbled on her way to the bathroom. Carmen called 911
before she called me, and the EMT’s were just arriving as we hung
up. I’m going straight to the hospital.”

“I’m so sorry, Nick. I hope she’ll be all
right.” Sadie almost asked if she could go with him. She ached that
he had to leave her, but even more that he would have to go through
a potentially difficult night alone. His mother had only him to
depend on. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He looked up from buckling his belt and met
her gaze. A slight smile eased the grim set of his features.
“Thanks, but I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure she’ll be okay.
She’s one tough lady. Marine wife, Marine mother.”

She winced at the anxiety in his voice, but
knew better than to push. After all, what right did she have,
anyway? She barely knew him.

Nick shoved himself into the rest of his
clothes as fast as he could, then stuffed the cell phone back in
his jacket.

“Take care of yourself,” she said, trying not
to sound forlorn. “Call me if you get a chance, okay? I’ll worry if
you don’t.”

He crossed swiftly to the bed and leaned
over, caging her in his arms. “You don’t have to worry about
anything, Sadie. I’ll call, because I always finish what I
start.”

Sadie shot Cassie a disapproving glare as she
picked at the Cobb salad she’d ordered for lunch in the casino’s
outdoor cafe. “It really wasn’t funny at all.”

“Come on, Sade. You can’t blame me for
laughing when I picture the sheriff standing there with his dick in
his hand while his cell belts out the Marine Hymn.”

“Nice image, but wrong. It’s a special ring
tone for emergencies involving his mother, so he’ll recognize those
calls instantly.” Sadie wished she’d never confided in her friend.
Cassie, as sweet as she was, sometimes seemed to lack an empathy
gene. And she hadn’t meant to reveal so many details about last
night’s sexual encounter either, but Cassie had harassed her until
she said more than she should have.

“Relax. It’s not like the old lady died or
anything,” Cassie said with a dismissive shake of her head. “You
said it turned out to be just a sprained ankle.”

“No, I said a
badly
sprained ankle,
and multiple facial contusions. Nick told me her face had swollen
up like a purple balloon.”

His phone call at seven had woken Sadie from
a turbulent sleep. Nick had just left the hospital after ensuring
his mother would be moved from emergency to a room of her own,
where she was expected to remain for at least a couple of days. He
had sounded so weary that her heart had wrung for him.

Cassie wrinkled her nose in self-disgust.
“You’re right. I’m a total bitch, and I promise to go to
sensitivity training as soon as we get back home.”

“An excellent idea,” Sadie said, allowing a
half-smile to let her friend know her apology had been
accepted.

Cassie pushed her tortoise-shell sunglasses
back on her face as a slash of sunlight washed over their patio
table. “So, moving on to a more pleasant topic, we should try the
topless pool at the Mirage this afternoon. The guys there have to
be more interesting than the losers at
Skin
yesterday.”

Sadie didn’t relish the thought of
disappointing her friend, but the last thing she wanted to do was
spend another day lying around a pool with a few dozen horny guys
staring at her breasts. Not after what she’d done with Nick last
night. Not after the way he’d touched those very same breasts, and
made love to them with his hot mouth and skilled hands. Somehow,
exposing herself to strangers felt less right than ever. “Sorry,
Cass, but I want to have another go at the blackjack tables today.
Maybe I can keep this winning streak going.”

Cassie shrugged, looking bored and slightly
annoyed. “Suit yourself. I guess now that you’ve bagged your man,
you don’t need other guys checking out the merchandise.”

Sadie grimaced. “Delicately put, as always.
But I hardly think I’ve
bagged my man
. I don’t even know if
or when I’ll see Nick again.”

When he called her that morning, Nick hadn’t
said a word about getting together again. But that was
understandable—he’d been at the hospital all night, and it would
have been completely insensitive of her to press him. Besides, he’d
made a point of saying that he always finished what he started, and
she took heart from that. She could only hope the interest he’d
shown in her last night would hold up under the blazing light of
day.

Cassie snorted. “Are you kidding? The way
that guy looks at you, with those freakin’ midnight eyes? Take it
from me, girlfriend—you’re going to see him again. Hell, if you
want to know the truth, I’m a little pissed that your wild week
looks like it’s going to turn into a shack up week with Dudley
Do-Right, even if he is a stud. You’re supposed to be cutting
loose, not getting it on with the law.”

Sadie crossed her fingers that Cassie had it
right about Nick wanting to see her again. One taste of the sheriff
had only served to whet her long-stifled appetite. But as for her
wild week, she didn’t think she’d been doing too badly. “You’re
worried about my not having a wild week? Okay, let’s see.” She
started counting with her fingers. “One, I’ve been in Vegas less
than forty-eight hours, and I’ve won three thousand dollars at
blackjack. Two, I almost broke my neck and caused two major scenes.
Three, I got thrown out of the casino and dragged away for
questioning. Four, I bared my boobs in front of dozens of
strangers. Oh, and five, I just had a cosmic orgasm with a guy I
hardly know. For a geeky math professor, I’d say that’s reasonably
wild.”

Cassie laughed. “Well, now that you put it
that way…” She pointed a finger at Sadie. “But stop calling
yourself a geek, because you’re not. You’re just not very
experienced.”

Sadie returned her smile, trying to exude a
confidence she knew would probably disappear the moment their plane
landed back in Chicago. The moment she had to face the fact that
she hadn’t won the Eagleton Prize, and that her career and her life
were both stuck in neutral.

She thrust the unwelcome thought away. “And
that’s what we came to Vegas to change, right?”

“Exactly. You go, girl.” Cassie gathered her
things and rose from the table. “Since you’re abandoning me, I’m
off to the Mirage by myself. Call me later this afternoon.”

“Sure.” Sadie signed off on their bill and
followed Cassie through the glass doors that led back into the
hotel. As Cassie headed for the exit, Sadie wandered down the
arched center hallway of the Desert Oasis toward the casino.

As much as she loved her friend, Sadie
relished the prospect of having the day to herself, especially
after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
She was having trouble sorting through her conflicting
emotions—especially about Nick—and Cassie’s cavalier attitude was
beginning to grate on her nerves.

And, as tacky as it might seem, the thought
of a spending a full afternoon at the blackjack table held an
irresistible, almost forbidden thrill. She knew that yesterday’s
winnings could have been as much about luck as skill. Whatever it
was, her success had sent an intoxicating rush through her that
begged for a repeat performance. She’d never been good at anything
but math and science—not relationships, not hobbies, not anything
outside of her work. Figuring out blackjack wouldn’t exactly win
her the Nobel Prize, but it felt incredibly good all the same. Yes,
her father and her department colleagues back in Chicago would be
horrified, but it was only for this one week. She would swear
Cassie to silence before they went back home, and no one would ever
be the wiser.

After all, that’s why they had come to Vegas
in the first place, right?

She strode through a set of automatic glass
doors and came to a halt just inside the casino proper. The bright
sunshine of the Nevada noonday vanished, replaced by the
never-changing twilight of the gambler’s paradise. Bells clanged
from the slot machines, and loud voices called out encouragement
over at the craps tables. An anxious excitement stirred low in her
gut, and she had a fleeting moment of trepidation, almost like a
warning fluttering across her senses.

A waitress with a loaded tray of drinks
brushed by, breaking the spell. Sadie took a deep breath and pushed
herself forward. The one thing she would
not
do was chicken
out. She would not play it safe. That was what the old Sadie Bligh
would do—cash in her three thousand, take it home and invest it in
a bank term deposit. The new Sadie Bligh would lay it on the line
and play until she lost it all, or it was time for her flight home,
whichever came first.

As she crossed into the blackjack area, she
noticed that the tables with low minimums were nearly full, while
the high roller tables were sparsely occupied. Fortunately, the
hundred dollar table she’d played last night was operating, and she
breathed a little sigh of relief. Not that she harbored any
superstitions, but she couldn’t help a little genuflection toward
the gods of gambling luck. She always operated better in her
comfort zone, and right now she was so far outside that zone that
even a little thing like playing at the same table helped to steady
her nerves.

Taking a middle seat, Sadie nodded to the
dealer and her three tablemates. Scanning the pit area, she noticed
a different boss from the one that had given her the evil eye last
night.

Another good omen.

She won the first hand with an ace-jack, then
proceeded to lose the next five straight. Another win, then three
more bad hands that had her down six hundred dollars in less than
fifteen minutes. It was hardly an auspicious beginning. If she’d
started from scratch, she probably would have already fled the
field of battle by now. But she reminded herself to have patience.
Worst case scenario: she’d lose the three thousand and quit.

That uneasy feeling in her gut stirred again.
At least I hope I’d have the sense to quit.

An hour passed quickly with more mediocre
hands. She counted the cards meticulously, but shoe after shoe
failed to go hot. As the dealers rotated, she glanced at her watch.
Already four o’clock. Two hours had passed, and she’d managed to
lose nine hundred dollars. She counseled herself to stay patient,
but her cocky self-assurance from last night had evaporated. The
pervasive gloom that had haunted her since the loss of the Eagleton
threatened to steal into its place.

A new dealer came on, and he shoved the long
stack of cards across the green felt, inviting her to make the cut.
As Sadie stuck the marker into the stack, she glanced up to her
left and her stomach dropped. Last night’s pit boss, Ms. Laser
Eyes, had taken over—no doubt as a result of the four o’clock shift
change, she noted with more than a little chagrin. But maybe her
puny accumulation of chips today might make the woman less inclined
to treat her with suspicion.

As long as Sadie continued to break even, the
pit boss seemed content to stroll around the tables, her haughty
glance resting briefly on each player. But finally a shoe got hot,
and Sadie immediately doubled, and then tripled, her bets. Two
shoes later, she got another hot one. Taking a deep breath and
letting the excitement wash through her in a reckless surge, Sadie
starting laying down four hundred-dollars at a time. Pit boss be
damned. This was why she had come here, and she wasn’t about to
back away now.

By six o’clock, her stake had grown to five
thousand, and Ms. Laser Eyes looked ready to throttle her. When the
young woman touched the wireless transmitter on her hip and spoke
into her headset microphone, Sadie had no doubt she was the subject
of discussion.

She picked up her chips, knowing it was time
for a break. Reckless she might be, but there was no point in being
stupid. After a quick trip to the restroom, she grabbed a Caesar
salad at the casino deli, sat down at a table, and called Cassie.
She tried both her room and her cell, but got voice mail both
times. She wondered if Cassie had scored this afternoon at the
Mirage pool. For both their sakes she hoped it was true. Cassie
would be happy, and Sadie would be happy for her, and also a lot
less guilty about leaving her on her own.

What didn’t make her happy was that Nick
still hadn’t called, even though she’d given him her cell number.
All afternoon, even while totally engaged at the blackjack table,
she’d been nagged by a low-grade worry that he might leave her
hanging. Her anxiety seemed entirely illogical when she dissected
it— Nick had pursued
her
last night, after all—but that
didn’t stop her stomach from twisting with insecurity.

Dammit.
She hadn’t come to Vegas to
stew about a guy, no matter how hot he was. She wasn’t going to let
Nick or anyone else spoil her fun.

Throwing the rest of her salad in a trash
container, she headed back to the casino. This time, she took the
precaution of squeezing in at a different table, one with only a
single seat vacant in the middle. Unfortunately, Ms. Laser Eyes
spied her immediately. Sadie had read that a player who
significantly changed his betting pattern in the middle of a shoe
always triggered the attention of the dealer and pit boss. The only
way she could see to possibly get them off her back for a while was
to keep betting big amounts, regardless of the heat level of the
shoe. So, she played every hand at four hundred, and started to kid
around with the men on both sides of her as if she was just some
feather-headed babe playing for a lark, not to win serious
money.