“And I’m telling you, you’re my lucky charm.”
She shook her head as I gripped her free hand. “We already know you’re good at slots. Let’s try a different game. Craps maybe.”
She looked uncertain, though excitement danced behind her eyes. “I have no idea how to play that game.”
I winked. “Which is going to make things that much more fun.”
SYDNEY
“Come on! Let’s do this!” I blew on the dice as everyone cheered me on.
Then, I flung the dice down the table with one hand, and it hit the other side wall of the table. When it landed on the point, I cheered and squeed and jumped for joy.
I’d been rolling for the last thirty minutes, and now, I was surrounded by dozens of people watching because there was no more room on the table to play.
The dealer placed my winnings in front of me, and I grabbed them and put them on my stack of other chips.
I felt like a gambler on theOcean’s Elevenmovie, an addict needing my next hit.
I smiled, all teeth, as Austin rested a hand on my hip. I was getting used to having him by me, the warmth of his hands on my body. And the excitement in the air only exhilarated me. I wanted him closer.
“I think I’m going to bet big on the next one,” he said.
“Shooter! Shooter! Shooter!” the table roared.
I rolled and it landed on ten. I hadn’t crapped out yet, and I was determined to hit the next point.
“Place three thousand on ten!” someone yelled out.
His hand squeezed my side, only fueling this giddy need within me to win, win, win.
My knees bounced, my fingers twitched, and my eyes widened—probably making me look as though I was crazy.
“Syd, you do what you want to do,” he said.
I turned to face him, pursing my lips. “It’s going down, Austin Brown.”
“Austin who?”
I shrugged. “I just felt like rhyming at this particular moment.”
It was as though I were drunk, high on the rush of winning.
He tapped my nose with the lightness of his fingertips. “I support this one hundred percent.”
He leaned into me, and I rested against him as the dealers paid out the other players. When everyone was ready, I reached for the dice and threw them against the opposite wall.
It was as though I were watching the dice roll in slow motion.
Then, it hit.
Ten.
And I screamed so hard that I strained my vocal cords.
“Austin!”
I jump-hugged him, and he picked me up, wrapping his only good arm around me as though I weighed nothing. I was elevated in the air, and my heartbeat was pounding in my chest. Not from the exhilaration of hitting the point, but by the closeness of our bodies. His nose dipped into my neck, in the crook of space between my ear and shoulder, and he breathed me in.