Gambling on Love (Stories of Serendipity #6) Read online

  He slammed in and out of her, clutching her legs against his shoulders, a look of intense concentration on his face, as he watched her boobs bouncing with his thrusts. Kathy could feel herself again. Another orgasm. This one impossibly more intense than the last. Her body spasmed under his, as she completely lost control, clutching with her hands, squeezing with her legs, shuddering uncontrollably. She scratched at his shoulders and cried out, as he increased his pace, before freezing on top of her, and then slamming back in one last time, eliciting another round of shockwaves through her highly sensitized flesh.

  He stretched out next to her, spooning her in what was left of the cooling water.

  “I hate to say this now, but I’ve heard that sex in water’s really not good for you.” Breathless with exertion, Luke’s voice sent a tickle across her shoulder.

  “But what a way to go…” She replied dreamily.

  Connor had been pissed about the water. They’d cleaned it up in the bathroom, but it left a water stain on the ceiling in the room below, Connor’s kitchen. And Luke had to replace sheetrock. Not that Kathy had minded. Watching the powerful strength Luke exuded, when he worked on stuff like that, really made her think of his vigilance, and how he would care for a family. She couldn’t wait for the day she could watch him fix up their own house. Someday.

  A someday that would never happen now. Kathy wondered if she should have listened to Luke, hear what he had to say. Was there something she could have done before it all went to shit? Probably. She could have been willing to compromise with him, wait another year, maybe. She could have moved to Houston. She could have said yes to the proposal.

  It was too late. Once he heard what she was doing in Vegas, he’d be through with her. There was no way he’d want her now.

  She had to do something to get Luke out of her head. Now that Kathy was undeniably frustrated, what with her own fantasies and the underlying subject matter of the day’s proceedings, she decided to just go out and find some fun.

  Selecting a slinky sweater dress that sort of hid her money belt, and a pair of heels, she decided to splurge on a cab to save her feet for dancing, if she decided she felt like letting loose. She stuffed a small wad of money in her bra, adjusted the girls and let herself go out. The cab ride showed her the stark error in judgment with picking her hotel. As soon as it crossed over onto the strip, Kathy could see the difference as if it was a completely different country. Her hotel was lit up, but not like this…

  The cab let her out at the Bellagio, and Kathy kept her eyes to the ground so she didn’t gawk too much at the opulence. She asked directions to the club that Darrin had suggested and was led immediately to a raucous, dimly lit area blocked by bouncers. She knew how to work a line. If nothing else had gone right today, she could at least do this. Thankfully, the bouncer let her in without any questions, and after paying the big city cover charge, Kathy immediately went to the bar to order a double whiskey sour.

  Once she paid for her overpriced drink and surreptitiously shoved her money back into her bra, she surveyed the club. It was pretty nice, by Serendipity’s standards, but definitely not the nicest place she could imagine. But with a name like the Bank, you probably had to own one to be able to really party here. The DJ was good though, and she caught herself bouncing in her chair to the beat reverberating through her insides, as she watched the dance floor. Her first drink went down smoothly, and while she wondered if there was actually any alcohol in it, she waved to the bartender for another before turning to watch the dancing.

  She tried not to fidget with her Old Navy dress while she watched women much younger than herself slink around in silky sheaths. She fingered a tendril of her hair that had escaped its messy up-do, wondering if her highlights showed up under the blue lighting.

  Even though she bounced, she still missed Clarissa, the DJ at the Gin, who was likely to play Copperhead Road, followed on the heels of Donkey Butt. She was sure this was not a place where she could go up and suggest the DJ play something she could line dance to.

  A memory of teaching Luke how to do the Cupid Shuffle drifted through her mind, along with the goofy smile on Luke’s face as he watched her feet, trying vainly to mimic her directions. She closed her eyes and smiled sadly to herself.

  “Hey! You made it!” A familiar voice turned her head, and Darrin stood next to her, holding out her drink. The only man who’d made the short list so far.

  “Hi there. Yeah, I made it.” She forced her memories down and returned his friendly smile, taking her drink from him. Taking a sip, she nodded to him. “You clean up nice.”

  He looked down at himself. He’d changed into a pair of fitted jeans that hung loosely on his frame and paired it with a sport jacket over a really tight tee shirt. It showed off some muscles that Kathy hadn’t noticed earlier. His hair was tousled still, but this time it was gelled that way, as if he had intentionally given himself bed-head. The look was good on him.

  “Yeah, well…” He grinned sheepishly at her, and took a swig from a beer bottle. Kathy noticed he had nice hands, though they were smooth, as if he didn’t do much with them. She tried to remember what he did for a job, but the interviews seemed to mesh together in her head.

  “Tell me what you do again? I’m sorry, I can’t remember.”

  “I’m in finance. It’s boring, really.”

  “So, you work with numbers? I’ve never really had much of a head for those.”

  “Logistics mostly.” He hung his head sheepishly. “I try to be a professional gambler, but I haven’t managed to come up with a system to consistently beat the house. What do you do?”

  Maybe she should re-think this. A man who gambled every day might have some sort of tendency toward addiction that she didn’t want passed down to her child. It was a depressing thought, as Darrin was the only viable candidate at the moment. “Nothing right now. I was a restaurant manager, but I quit recently, so I’ll be looking as soon as I find a place to live.” Wow. Her life sounded incredibly depressing.

  “While you’re pregnant?” He asked, disbelief evident across his features. She nodded. “Wow. You’re something, you know that?” Apparently coming to a decision, he shifted tactics. “You want to get out of here? Let’s go somewhere quieter. There’s a café down the street?”

  It sounded good, but she’d just paid an outrageous cover, and her drink was still fresh. The doubt must have crossed her face, because he continued. “It’s a crowded place, and we’ll stay on the strip. Good lighting.” She hadn’t even been thinking of that.

  Kathy downed her drink, and decided to let him buy the coffee or pie or whatever they were going to get at the café to make up for her lost cover charge. “Sure.”

  He smiled, holding out his hand to her. She took it, noticing again the lack of electricity between them, but his smile was warm and he didn’t seem dangerous.

  Once outside, he didn’t let go of her hand, leading her down the street towards the corner. She looked over at him, and the play of lights across his face gave him a mischievous look.

  “You ever feel dumb?” They’d reached the corner, and he turned right, heading towards a coffee shop a block down the road.

  “What do you mean?”

  He kept walking. “I mean, you fly half way across country, take out a personal ad for a baby daddy, meet up with a bunch of strange men in one of the most dangerous cities in the US, go out alone at night…” He stopped walking and put his hands around her waist, pushing her backwards, while his voice lowered to nearly a whisper. “Tell a complete stranger where you hide all of your personals…” His mouth covered hers to muffle her protests, as his hands dropped to the hem of her skirt, yanking it up to her breasts. To a casual passerby, they would seem like an amorous couple, getting too frisky. From out of nowhere, he produced a knife and held it to her throat, while his other hand clasped both of hers above her head. He was stronger than he looked, and he’d caught her so off guard, she couldn’t have screamed if she’d thought of
it. He used the knife to cut away her money belt, where not only her money was, but her driver’s license and credit cards as well. Dumbfounded, she watched him slip the knife between his teeth and reach into her bra, rummaging around for the cash she’d stashed there, too. “Thanks, Kathy.” He flashed his bright smile at her, as he waved the wad of cash and her brand new Smartphone in her face, and he was gone, disappearing into the shadows around her.

  A sob escaped her throat, as the enormity of what had just happened sunk into her. She’d been robbed. At knifepoint. In a matter of seconds. Without her ID, she couldn’t even get home. She didn’t even have money for a taxi back to the hotel.

  Pulling down her dress and straightening herself the best she could, Kathy did a mental inventory and felt like a complete fool. Her heart pounded painfully against her chest, and Kathy couldn’t catch her breath. She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. Everything she’d done in the past few days came back to her. Darrin was right. She’d left herself in a supremely shitty situation. Everybody had told her so. But she wouldn’t listen, so convinced that this would work.

  She’d just assumed this time was like every other time that her desires seemed to go against everyone else’s ideals. Sure, most of the other times had been a mistake, but they hadn’t seemed so dire… Following Dan to Dallas for the docent job at the Art Museum had been a mistake, but not one she couldn’t recover from. In fact, she’d recovered marvelously. And Clown school had ended up not being what she thought it was, but she’d still come out of it knowing how to juggle. Or the time she’d agreed to take care of a friend’s dog who’d gone on vacation but never come back. Opening up all those joint accounts with Aaron, only to have him run up a huge credit card debt and then take off.

  She was so fucking stupid.

  Kathy stood there, her hands wrapped around herself, trying to get her bearings. She was several blocks away from her hotel, so slipping off her shoes, Kathy pointed herself where she thought she should go, and went.

  Her walk went by slowly. Kathy tried to keep her head down, but she had to look up every now and then to get her bearings. Every time she did, she regretted it. Once she thought a man was coming out of the shadows at her, but it was a presumably homeless man lurching to his feet to plod in the opposite direction. Another time, she was sure she saw an exchange of drugs and money.

  Even when she didn’t look up, she couldn’t go by completely unnoticed. A couple of times, she scurried past men who called out to her, panhandlers or worse. She wasn’t sure, she didn’t stop to talk to them.

  After walking for an hour, she realized she had no idea how near her hotel she actually was, so Kathy found an all-night convenience store to go inside and ask directions. After looking her up and down, the clerk pointed down the street. “Six blocks. You sure that’s your hotel?”

  Kathy nodded, put her chin back down and continued her walk, willing her feet to move faster.

  “Hey, lady!”

  She didn’t stop moving, but looked up as a teenaged boy ran up next to her.

  “You got money for me to buy my sister milk?”

  “No. I just need to get back to my hotel.”

  “Come on, lady. It’s just a dollar or two.” The child’s voice turned petulant, and Kathy wheeled on him.

  “I’ve already been robbed tonight. I got nothin’ for you, kid. Why do you think I’m walking? Think I’m stupid or something?” Dropping her head, “Never mind. Don’t answer that.”

  The kid turned the other way, grumbling something about tourists under his breath.

  Five more blocks to go…

  Chapter 7

  Luke had been pounding on Kathy’s door all night, intermittently. He’d at first decided she’d gone out, probably to pick up a man, or she was out with one of her “applicants.” The thought had torn him to shreds, so he’d refused to believe it. And he’d pounded again. Then he’d decided she was sleeping really deeply, so he pounded louder. Then he’d wait, thinking she’d be back soon. He’d get tired of waiting and pound again. Eventually, a man opened the door next to hers and asked him to stop, so Luke just sank to the ground and waited.

  He was losing his mind, feeling impotent, not being able to do anything. Who knew what had happened to her? It was four o’clock in the morning, and while people were still out on the streets, he knew Kathy wasn’t one for staying out until the wee hours of the morning unless she was with somebody or something had happened to her.

  Neither of those options appealed to Luke.

  It had been two days since he’d slept, but he wasn’t about to fall asleep on this carpet. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, and Luke again sent a mental plea to Kathy to please come back to him. He needed her out of this place. He needed her with him.

  Luke hadn’t brought clothes with him, he’d been in such a hurry to leave Serendipity and get to the airport in Dallas. Instead, he’d bought clothing in the gift shop at his hotel, showered and come straight over to Kathy’s room. So he sat here, wearing a discount tee shirt proclaiming, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” with sweat pants with Las Vegas in large print up the side of one leg. It didn’t matter. They were clean, and sort of matched. At least they were before he’d sat on the floor.

  Each time the elevator dinged, Luke looked to see who came out of the doors, his heart in his throat. Each time, as Kathy didn’t emerge, he swallowed it back to its rightful place.

  He’d texted Amy that he was at her hotel, but didn’t tell her Kathy wasn’t here. He didn’t want to worry her sister needlessly. However, Amy wouldn’t take his vagueness for what it was, an attempt to alleviate her stress. She had relentlessly texted him until he finally told her he couldn’t find her, and since then, she’d texted him every ten minutes asking for updates. Finally, he’d turned his phone off. Kathy hadn’t responded to his texts or phone calls in weeks. In fact, he suspected she’d changed her number when she went on this expedition of hers.

  Again, he hoped to God she was okay. At this point, he would rather she’d found another man to spend the night with. The alternatives racing through his mind were so much worse.

  Luke rubbed his gritty eyes, and leaned his head against the wall behind him, fighting sleep. If he fell asleep here, no telling what would happen to him. And that thought got his mind going again to all the calamities that could befall Kathy in this city. Scenes from CSI-Las Vegas ran through his head. She could be lying in a gutter somewhere, raped and crying alone. She could have been shot trying to make change with a pan-handler. She could have become a victim of a rogue magician on the strip. She could have decided to try her hand at cabaret and fallen on the wrong side of a love triangle with the stage manager. Or worse, she could have tried dealing cards and gotten blind-sided by a shark.

  A pair of scratched, bare feet came into his line of sight.

  “Luke?”

  His eyes tracked up a pair of beautifully familiar legs, the frayed hem of a much too short skirt, and memorable pleasure pods to the most stunning face he’d ever seen. Puffy red eyes, rimmed with streaks of mascara, peered at him from under long lashes, framed by her strawberry blond hair, which stuck out in all directions.

  Finding a hidden well of energy, he leapt up and gathered her in his arms. “Kathy.” He breathed her name, as she sank into his arms.

  “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so sorry. This was all a terrible mistake. I’m so stupid. Oh God…” Her words disintegrated into sobs and Luke held her, making ineffective shooshing noises.

  “You’re alright, now. I’ve got you. Let’s get your things.” He pushed her to her door, not letting go of her. He finally had her, and he’d be damned if he was letting go. But he had to get her out of this place.

  “I can’t-hic- go anywhere…He –hic- stole my –hic- ID…my money…” He barely understood her through the sobs, but he thought he got the gist of what she was saying. And he saw red. Knowing there was a “he” involved cut down the scenarios a bit, bu
t not much.

  “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you? Do you need a hospital?” He let out a gust of pent up air when she shook her head no. His other question, the main one, did you have sex with him, went unasked. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  “I’ve got a room in a different hotel. That’s where we’re going.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward her hotel room to get her things.

  It was as if being with Luke had been something of a catalyst. She went limp with fatigue, he hoped.

  “Are you tired, or did somebody give you something?” He was trying to be calm, but all of the scenarios of what-ifs were still crashing through his mind, even though he had her now.

  “Exhausted…although he could have…but that was hours ago…I’ve been walking forever…”

  In her room, Luke threw everything in her suitcase, trying not to think about where all the stains came from. He was a guy. It took a lot to disgust him. Right now, he was totally grossed out.

  “Where are your money and things?” He found her purse, but it was nearly empty. His question however, brought a fresh round of sobs, so he chose to not pursue the line of questioning. There would be plenty of time to get answers once he got her out of here. He grabbed her hand and her suitcase and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

  He paid for her room with his credit card, surprised that she’d spent as much on drinks in the restaurant as she had on the room itself. Hailing a cab, he bundled her into it and told the cabbie to take them to the Bellagio, where he’d gotten them a real room. She seemed content to snuggle next to Luke, sniffling the entire drive. He noticed her eyes were closed, but Luke didn’t think she was sleeping. When the driver dropped them off, Kathy opened her eyes, looked around, and groaned.

  “What?”

  “I’ve been here already…”

  Images of what could have taken place at this hotel crashed through his head at a dizzying rate. His fists clenched and he gritted his teeth together, in an effort to not punch something. “I really don’t want to know about it right now, but I suppose you can tell me later, if you must.” He pulled her nearly limp body against him and led her towards the elevators and up to his room.