a pack of gum!
“It’s blackjack. I know that you know how to play this because we’ve played it on the plane.”
Sloane nodded, feeling a little better. At least with blackjack, there was a touch of skill to it.
And yet, fifteen minutes later, all of her chips were gone while there was a huge stack of chips sitting in front of Josh.
“Here,” he gave her another ten chips.
“No!” She shook her head. “I’m not gambling anymore.”
Josh nodded to the dealer. Since they were the only two people at this table, there was a bit more leeway. If the table were full, the dealer would be stricter about the pace of play, the other gamblers demanding a faster pace.
He didn’t let her quit. She won some hands and lost others, but Josh won consistently, his stack increasing steadily while her stack remained pretty much the same. But at least she didn’t lose any money.
Every time she checked her fluted glass, it seemed to be full, no matter how much she drank. But after a few hours, she didn’t want any more. And even more surprising, she was actually having a good time! Josh teased her whenever she pulled back on a hand, trying to coax her into being more adventurous. But she remained cautious with his money, shaking her head as he continued to win.
“How do you do that?” she asked when the dealer slid over another large stack of chips. She had no idea how much money was in front of him now, but she suspected that it was well over her annual salary.
There was a crowd cheering in one corner and Sloane looked over at the table. “Oh no!” she gasped, seeing Rayne and Pepper in the crowd. But upon closer inspection, Sloane realized that they weren’t in the crowd, the crowd seemed to be surrounding her sisters!
“What’s going on?” Sloane asked Josh, missing the look of heat that flared back to life in his green eyes when she touched his arm.
“I don’t know. Let’s go find out,” he said and lifted his hand. Immediately, a servant appeared with one of those wooden boxes, but this time, it was empty.
“Cashing out,” he said to the man, who bowed…actually bowed!
He handed over Sloane’s chips too. “Ms. Abbot is cashing in as well.”
She shook her head. “I’m not cashing in anything. Those aren’t my chips, they are yours.”
Josh ignored her, nodding to the servant who immediately moved away with all of their winnings.
“You won them,” he argued, putting that hot hand to the small of her back again.
“Umm…not really,” she whispered, wondering if he were burning a hole in the simple, black dress she was wearing. His hand…she could feel each of his fingers and the slight pressure that he applied in order to tell her which way to go. And because it was Josh, she followed his silent instructions until they reached the table in question.
It was craps, she realized. This was one of the more complicated games, in her opinion. There was no skill. Just pure luck.
The crowd seemed to magically part when Josh stepped closer. Sloane almost snickered at the quick respect he garnered, but that hand smoothed up her back. In warning? She looked up at him and saw that he watching Rayne and Pepper.
“Do it again, Pepper!” Rayne exclaimed, her cheeks bright with excitement.
Pepper bounced, of course, and blew on the dice, then tossed them down the craps table. There was a long moment of breathlessness as everyone waited, watching the dice as they tumbled to a halt against the back wall of the table. Then there was a huge roar of applause and surprise when the dice turned up as sixes.
“Was that good?” Sloane whispered to Josh.
He leaned down and murmured, “They’ve just doubled their money as well as everyone else’s.”
Pepper was jumping up and down, completely unconcerned with her lack of sophistication. Even Rayne was almost bouncing. Both were grinning from ear to ear and looked a bit dazed.
“Again?” Pepper asked, glancing at Rayne.
Rayne bit her lower lip, then laughed, both of them shaking their heads. “No. We’ve probably won about a hundred dollars now, so let’s quit while we’re ahead.”
Both of them scooped up their winnings and laughed as the rest of the crowd tried to get them to change their mind. “You can’t stop when you’re on a streak,” one man protested.
Pepper and Rayne simply smiled, beguiling the men and causing the women to gnash their teeth in jealousy.
The staff member with the