Seduce Me - J. Kenner Page 0,14

did it go?” I ask Jamie as we walk through the casino toward the hotel’s main shopping area.

“I think it went great. Gloria said she’d call me about more interviews, so…”

She trails off and I pull her into a hug. “Jamie, that’s awesome.”

“Potentially awesome,” she corrects, but she’s grinning happily.

All around us, men and women are seated at blackjack and roulette tables or standing around the craps table. Dozens of them are playing slot machines, and the din is brutal. For that matter, so is the smoke that fills the air.

It’s not even lunchtime, and yet this area is buzzing as if it were late at night. I suppose that’s the idea of Vegas, but my idea of decadent runs in a more private direction, and I smile to myself as I look forward to dinner tonight with Damien and every wicked thing that will come after.

We walk a bit more before I pause and glance around. We’ve reached an intersection, and I’m trying to figure out which way to go. As far as I can tell, the basic design of pretty much any casino is to not provide an easy exit. That way, once someone is in, they have no choice but to stay and gamble.

“Starfire Promenade?” Jamie asks, pointing toward a sign that directs us to the left.

“That’s it,” I say. “Let’s go.”

We reach freedom in another five minutes, and emerge from the casino’s relative dark to the well-lit sparkle of this high-end shopping promenade. It takes up three levels and every designer imaginable seems to have a storefront here, along with a variety of boutiques, restaurants, and even small galleries.

“What are you shopping for?” I ask.

She glances sideways at me. “You’re not shopping?”

I think of my closet back home, which is about the size of my college apartment and completely stuffed with the clothes and jewelry that Damien is always buying me. Sometimes I think he won’t be satisfied until I own at least one of everything.

“I might look for a present for Damien,” I say. “Then again, in this weekend’s reality, I don’t have a Damien in my life.”

“You’re still playing?”

“Sure,” I say. “It’s fun. I take it you and Ryan aren’t?”

Jamie lifts a shoulder. “Playing, sure. Pretending we picked each other up at a bar? Not anymore. Pretending other things…” Her voice trails off with a hint of a naughty lilt. “Well, a lady never kisses and tells. Or fucks and tells. Or blindfolds and tells. Or—”

“Jamie!” I slap my hands over my ears, laughing. “Stop. Please, stop.”

She shrugs good-naturedly. “Hey, you asked.”

I’m pretty sure I didn’t, but I don’t press the point.

“There,” she says, pointing to a display of embroidered jeans in the window of one of the fancy boutiques on the other side of this wide walkway. “Let’s check it out.”

“Sure,” I say and follow her. As we’re about to go in, a dark-haired woman rushes past us as she hurries to catch up with friends. Seeing her reminds me, and I turn back to Jamie. “I had that feeling again,” I say. “When I was by the pool this morning.”

“What? Someone you know?”

“I have no idea, but yeah. It’s a little disconcerting.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Jamie says. “Or if you really are seeing someone familiar, they’re probably just snapping pictures of you for Twitter. The price you pay for being married to a god of the universe.”

I scowl, but have to concede she has a point. Since marrying Damien, I’m regularly all over social media.

“Listen, go on in,” I say, pointing toward the store. “I want to look next door.” The jewelry store window has a display of emerald and diamond jewelry, and I would love to find earrings to match the stunning anklet that Damien gave me when we first got together.

“I buy denim, you buy diamonds,” she trills. “That pretty much sums up the differences in our lives these days.”

I just laugh. “Oh, those aren’t the only differences.” I start to count on my fingers. “Beach house. Limo. Private jet. And don’t forget the chocolate company in Switzerland.”

“Well, now you’re just being mean.” She hip butts me. “Catch you in a few.”

I grin, watching her go, then head into the store. It’s larger than it looks from the outside and surprisingly crowded. A uniformed security guard stands at the door looking bored.

Glass shelving lines the walls full of pricey decorator items like handblown glass vases and porcelain statuary. The center of the space is made up of glass display cases arranged