Money Shot (3 page)

“I’m always willing to help a damsel in distress.” He looked between the two of them, bemused.

“Well, the thing is, my friend, Jodie, here.” Lauren threw an arm around Jodie’s shoulder. Suddenly they were best buds. “She just found out her fiancé is cheating on her.”

Jodie didn’t even have a chance to chastise her newfound friend.

“Oh wow.” Mr. Martini looked fully at Jodie, brow knitted. “I’m so sorry.”

“So, could you just pose for a picture with her?” Lauren held up the phone, mimicking taking a picture. “Put an arm around her, act like you’re standing next to the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“Sure.” He gave her a strange, bemused smile, already sliding an arm around Jodie’s shoulders. “That won’t be difficult.”

“You don’t have to do this,” she pleaded, feeling herself shrinking against the man’s side. He was a head taller than she was and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. His hand on her shoulder felt strange—no man but Jason had touched her in years—and kind of hot, burning like a hot iron through the fabric of the dress.

“It’s my pleasure.” He smiled down at her and she instantly felt her knees go weak. Oh my God, what a smile! He had perfect, even teeth and his bright blue eyes smiled too.

“Say cheese!” Lauren snapped a photo, grinning at the two of them.

“Take one more.” Mr. Martini said, turning toward Jodie. She looked up, up into his face, smelling the alcohol on his breath, knowing he must smell it on her too. “Please don’t smack me.”

She blinked up at him, puzzled, but she didn’t have to wonder for long because then he was kissing her. Jodie vaguely heard Lauren squeal in delight, clicking away, but it was far, far away. Everything was far away—the sound of coins dropping into slot machines, the flash of the lights—except the man holding her in his arms, mouth pressed to hers.

It was a very sweet, chaste thing, his kiss. Something a brother might give a sister. His hands were at her waist, nowhere inappropriate at all—if a perfect stranger kissing you in the middle of a casino could be, in any way, said to be appropriate. So the poor man couldn’t have been blamed for what happened in the very next moment.

One minute, she was standing there, shocked, letting a strange man kiss her while Lauren snapped pictures. The next minute, her brain lit up, neurotransmitters being re-routed in entirely new, exciting ways she’d never experienced before. She didn’t understand it, couldn’t comprehend what was happening—she just reacted.

Jodie moaned softly against his mouth, arms going around his neck. His lips were so
soft
, so
different.
It had been ten years since she’d kissed another man. Her body melted against his, mouth opening in a gasp. He started to pull back, clearly surprised by her reaction, and she was too. But not enough to stop. Her tongue touched his and she shivered—no need to check the front of her dress now, she knew her nipples were rock hard. She could taste his martini, even the olive, their mouths opening wider as the kiss deepened.

The hands at her waist fell to her hips, then moved slowly downward as Jodie stretched up on her toes—even in heels, she was tiny next to him—to press her body more fully to his. Her hands moved in his hair and it curled around her fingers, the scent of him making her feel so weak she thought she might pass out, and might have, if he hadn’t been holding her.

It wasn’t anything chaste anymore, and it wasn’t just her kissing him like a desperate, drowning woman—now he was kissing her too, hands moving over the shimmering fabric of her dress, hands clutching her ass as he pulled her against him so hard, his long, lean lankiness almost hurt. She should have been shocked, appalled, horrified. Instead, she was instantly wet.

Aching, throbbing, sopping
wet.

And she wasn’t the only one turned on. Mr. Martini was wearing a suit and couldn’t hide the heat of his cock pressed against her, their bodies perfectly fitted together, the world completely gone in that one moment, that one kiss.

It was the sound of her phone in Lauren’s hand that startled Jodie, forcing her to break their connection. She remembered—where she was, who she was, who this man holding her was. Or wasn’t. She opened her eyes, feeling how flushed she was, cheeks burning. His color was high too, his eyes darker with a sort of hunger she recognized. It both excited and scared her.

“Excuse me. I have to get that.” Jodie grabbed her phone out of Lauren’s hand—the woman stared at them, mouth dropped open, and she couldn’t blame her. She couldn’t think of anything else to do but run away, so that’s exactly what she did. She ignored Lauren’s shock and Mr. Martini’s—well, everything—and bolted.

She avoided the bathroom, afraid Lauren would look for her there. Instead, she found an out of the way corner, sliding into a chair in front of a slot machine, trying to calm herself. Her hands were still shaking as she looked at her phone, ignoring the text from Jason and clicking through to her photos.

And there they were, she and Mr. Martini, lip-locked, making out for everyone to see. Lauren had snapped half a dozen photos—including one with his hands on Jodie’s ass. She blushed just remembering it, her fingertips going to her lips. They burned too. Her whole body was on fire.

“Send it to him.”

Jodie looked up, gasping, and found Mr. Martini leaning against the slot machine, looking down at her.

“Maybe he’ll realize what a fool he is.”

“Excuse me.” She stood, putting her phone away. “I have to… find my friends.”

He gave a little bow, waving her on, and Jodie wobbled—literally, wobbled—past him. She wanted to apologize—or perhaps rail at him in some sort of display of misplaced outrage—but she did neither. The casino seemed huge, everything too dazzling and loud. But she still heard her phone buzz again in her clutch.

“Goddamnit.” Jodie pulled her phone out, stopping in the middle of the walkway to read the text.

Please believe me, it’s over with her. I’m sorry. Text me back.

A slow, hot rage filled her chest as she stared at the words. Over? Just a few hours ago, she’d logged into his Facebook—Jason’s passwords were too easy to guess, something always having to do with playing World of Warcraft—and had seen a message to
Nicole
about how much he
loved
her. And now he wanted Jodie to believe it was over?

It was over all right.

She texted him back.

It’s over. Between you and me. O.V.E.R. I want you out by the time I get home. And change your FB password, asshole.

Jodie pulled up the most damning picture she could find of her and Mr. Martini—the one with his hands decidedly on her ass—and attached it before she hit “send.” Then she wandered, dazed, back to the blackjack table. Lauren waved her over and Jodie gave her a look that said, “Don’t you dare!” praying she hadn’t already told everyone about their encounter with Mr. Martini. Lauren just smiled and nodded, asking the dealer to hit her one more time.

“Kimber, listen.” Jodie slipped behind her friend, putting her chin on her shoulder. “I think I’m going to go up to my room…”

“Noooo!” Kimber protested, turning to grasp her friend’s hand. She was very drunk. They all were. “I know blackjack is boring. Let’s go play craps! You guys, Jodie is the best dice player in the world. Seriously!”

The girls squealed and gushed at the thought of doing something new. Jodie just stared at Kimber in disbelief.

“I’ve never rolled craps in my life,” she protested as Kimber dragged her over to an open craps table.

“No but you whipped our butts at Yahtzee,” Kimber reminded her with a laugh.

“I don’t think that’s the same thing.” Jodie looked over at Lauren for help but the other woman just shrugged as the girls got settled in front of the table, stowing their little purses and drinks on the ledge under the table and placing their chips in the racks.

“Sure it is, all you have to do is roll!” Kimber nodded toward the dice. “Come on, Jodie!”

“Seven out!” The short, stout man with a fat, handlebar moustache behind the table announced, using a curved stick to wrangle the dice. The whole table groaned unanimously. There were two other men behind the table paying off bets. The girls took up one end of the table, but there were a half dozen people already playing at the other end.

“New shooter! New shooter!” The mustached man winked at Jodie. He’d obviously heard Kimber’s comments. “Place your bets!”

Jodie understood blackjack and roulette, but she didn’t know the first thing about craps. The green board with all the numbers on it made no sense to her at all. People were setting chips down all over the place.

“Pretty lady gonna shoot the dice. You ready, sweetheart?” The stick man pushed five sharp-cornered red dice with white spots on them in Jodie’s direction but he kept them just out of her reach, dropping her a sly wink.

“Uhh…” Jodie gulped. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Lucky first time roller here!” The stick man announced. “Choose your lucky two!”

Jodie had to reach far over to grab two dice. They felt good in her hands. She’d always been good at dice, Kimber was right. Her sisters had loved to play Yahtzee, but they hated playing with Jodie, because their youngest sibling always won. Jodie didn’t understand their anger and frustration when the dice didn’t do what they wanted. She just “asked” the dice in her head as she shook them in her hand and most of the time, they did as she requested.

Of course, this wasn’t Yahtzee. She didn’t even know what she should ask for!

“One hand. Keep the dice low, try not to hit the chips, but throw ‘em hard enough so they hit the back wall of the tub—the rubber alligator.” The little man explained, pointing to the other end where the raised rubber did, indeed, look like the back of an alligator. He was also admiring Jodie’s dress, she could tell. Or what was in the dress. “You want a seven or eleven.”

“I thought a seven was bad?” She frowned, remembering everyone’s disappointment when the dice had come up seven.

“Seven or eleven are good only on the first come-out roll,” Kimber explained, putting a chip on the table in a space labeled “pass” on the green felt.

Jodie still didn’t understand but she “asked the dice” for a seven or an eleven as she shook them in her hand and rolled. They bounced down to the end of the table, hitting the opposite end before coming to a rest on the surface.

“Lucky seven!”

A woman down at the end of the table clapped her hands, turning to kiss the man beside her.

“I told you!” Kimber squealed and grabbed Jodie’s hand, squeezing hard as the dealers paid out the bets.

“Do it again, little lady.” The stick man wrangled the dice down her way.

She picked them up, making her little wish, and rolled.

“Lucky seven again! Big red!”

“Dang, you weren’t kidding!” Lauren exclaimed as the dealers paid out again. “I should have bet more! I might win back the cost of that dress!”

“I’m still rolling,” Jodie reminded her with a laugh. More people had joined the game and were placing bets all over the place. The triplets were really getting into it, putting lots of chips down. She still didn’t understand what she was doing, but even with the noise and confusion, the excitement was kind of fun.

“Come out roll!” the stick man said as Jodie tossed the dice to the end of the tub. “Eight the hard way! Mark the eight! Point is now on the eight!”

Was that good or bad? Jodie watched him turn over a marker from “on” to “off.”

“Now you want to roll an eight before you roll a seven,” a voice said low in her ear.

Her knees turned to water before she even glanced over her shoulder and saw Mr. Martini. He reached around her to place two chips, both of them a color she’d never seen before, one on the “pass” line and another on the “come” line. Lauren gaped across the way and Jodie looked closer at them, realizing the different color just meant a different denomination.