Page 113 of The Wildest One

The second I got inside, I was blasted with a breeze of the freezing air-conditioning. I didn’t even shiver; the cold air was needed. Not because the desert sun had steamed up my skin—although there was that—but because Beck had.

I moved through the lobby and passed the archway of the casino. I wasn’t a gambler. I worked hard for my money. I didn’t like the thought of wasting it on something that could gobble it up with one pull, but for some reason, the sound of the machines and the lights and music were calling to me.

The first row of slots I came to had large decorative coins hanging from the ceiling above them, along with massive four-leaf clovers. There were digital leprechauns dancing across the screens.

I didn’t feel like luck had been on my side lately.

Maybe the slots could change that.

I grabbed a five out of my wallet and fed it into the opening near the center of the machine. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I searched for a handle to pull, but there wasn’t one. But there was a button labeledSpin, and I hit it. The wheels inside turned, and when each one landed, I waited for a noise, a siren—anything.

There was nothing.

I did it four more times with the same result, and when I located the box that listed how much money I had remaining, it showed zero.

I hadn’t won a single round out of five?

Fuck my life.

I made my way out of the casino and into the elevator that brought me to my floor. Once I got off, I went down the hallway, and in front of my suite, I dug through my bag for the key card. My fingers touched the sunscreen and tablet and walletand bottle of water before I found the small rectangular piece of plastic.

Just as I was waving it in front of the reader, I heard the sound of flip-flops.

I glanced down the hallway, the same way I’d done yesterday when I was checking into my room. And just like last time, Beck was there.

Oh God.

He had on a pair of swim trunks and a short-sleeved button-down that was open, his skin glistening and already tan.

And those muscles … they tightened as he walked.

He was heading to his room. Because of course he was. The one that was regrettably next to mine.

Would I forever have to fight these temptations?

And my feelings?

What about what Ginger had said to me? How eventually Beck would get tired of waiting for me and be with another woman.

Would I be able to handle that?

Would I live with a lifetime of regret?

I turned around and pushed my back against the door, watching him get closer.

My body was warming again despite the hallway being as cold as the casino. My skin was actually tingling. That spot between my legs, throbbing.

There was only one man whose arms I wanted to pull me against him.

To kiss me.

To touch me.

“Locked out of your room?” he asked.

“No.”

“Then what’s going on?” He stopped at his door, his hand on the knob, the other one holding the key card. His gaze eventuallybecame fixed on mine. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Do you have something you want to say to me?”