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Holy fuck .

I can’t remember the last time I felt this sort of magnetic connection with another person. She’s younger than me, but age is just a number, right? She looks like she’s in her mid-twenties, eight or so years younger than me at most.

Maybe I felt it with Stacy back when we first met seven or eight years ago, back before she cheated on me and everything went to hell…but I don’t remember ever feeling it with her.

And it’s not just that.

She has no idea who I am.

There’s something insanely hot about that.

And she’s not just hot—though, to be fair, she is hot with her almost black hair falling in soft waves down to the middle of her back and the black dress she’s wearing that showcases her mouthwatering tits and perfect little ass. She’s also adorable and wide green eyes that make her look like she stepped out of a movie about princesses and the way she looks at me with curiosity like I’m a tiger who could pounce at any second.

Is it any wonder I had to know what she tasted like?

I wasn’t disappointed.

Champagne mixed with cherries. Sweet with just the slightest edge of spice.

She’s piqued my interest, that’s for sure.

But I’m only in town for another thirty-six hours, and she’s here celebrating her birthday. It’s not like we’re two people destined to end up together.

That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun over the next thirty-six hours, though. Except for the dinner date I have planned for tomorrow night.

“Feel free to do that again any time,” she says, and her cheeks fill with color again.

I chuckle. “How long you in town for?”

“I live here,” she says.

“I thought locals stayed off the Strip.”

She shrugs. “We do, but we make exceptions for birthdays.”

I laugh. “You staying here tonight?”

She nods. “The seven of us are sharing a suite upstairs. You?”

“I’m staying here, too. Just tonight and tomorrow night.”

“Where are you heading to after that?” she asks.

“Home in San Diego.”

She presses her lips together and nods, and I can’t help but think I detect a little disappointment there. Maybe I’m projecting. Maybe I want her to be disappointed I’m not sticking around longer.

“Are you in town on vacation?” she asks.

I shake my head, wondering how to word the complicated situation that brought me to town. “A buddy invited me to town to talk about a job offer,” I say, minimizing the extent of what really went down tonight.

Her wide eyes flutter up toward mine. “Are you going to take it?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. What do you think I should do?” I don’t know why I ask her. She doesn’t know anything about my situation or what the job even is.

She chuckles. “Do you like what you’re doing now?”

I nod.

“Then ask yourself whether you’d like the new job more.” She shrugs. “Do whatever will bring you the most joy.”

The way she says it so simply makes me think this is a conversation I’ll revisit time and time again over the rest of my life. Honestly, it’s solid advice for any major decision. Do whatever will bring you the most joy .

I think tonight…this girl is what will bring me the most joy.

“What about you?” I ask. “What do you do?”

“I’m in marketing,” she says. “I also occasionally substitute teach dance classes for a friend whose sister owns a studio.” She glances up and waves to her friends across the way, and it’s clear they’re waiting for her to join them.

“Stay with me.” I’m not sure why I’m not quite ready to let her go yet. She should go celebrate with her friends. She should make memories with them…not with me, a dude passing through town.

Her brows dip. “Where?”

I lift a shoulder, not sure whether I mean in my hotel room with me or here at this blackjack table, but I just came from a sex club owned by a good friend of mine who offered me a job playing ball again, and I’m still a little fired up from that, if I’m being honest. Add in some beer and the high of winning at the blackjack tables plus a gorgeous woman who has definitely caught my attention, and I feel more than a little out of sorts at the moment.

I just told myself I want to jump back into both games, right?

It's been too long since I’ve had sex, an even longer time since I’ve spent the night with a stranger, and it might be just what I need to kickstart my dating life back into gear.

I lean in a little closer to her. “With me,” I say, and I press a soft kiss just below her ear.

She shivers, and I know she feels it too. How can she not? It’s too powerful to be one-sided, and she’s been giving me the nonverbal cues since the second she sat down.

The way she scrambled to sit beside me when I told her I’d teach her how to play.

The way her nostrils flared when I addressed her friend.

The way she leans in a little closer to me with every glass of champagne she finishes.

The way she sticks her chest out when I glance over at her, like she’s trying to make those tits look even more appealing than they already do.

The way her knee keeps bumping mine, and I’m pretty sure it’s on purpose.

The way she gasps softy every time I find some excuse to touch her.

I want to make her gasp like that when I have her writhing naked on my bed as I drive into her.

I blow out a breath as I try to get Indiana Bones, the pocket rocket under control…an impossible feat with Gorgeous Gabby beside me.

These are inappropriate thoughts…but like I said, it’s been a while.

Stacy and I broke things off a year and a half ago. She stayed in the house I still own in Los Angeles, and I moved to San Diego, where I took a job working as the co-programming director for StrongFitKids, an organization that promotes active and healthy lifestyles to kids through a series of health and fitness programs. The hot chick who was my partner at work, Kaylee, became my close friend when we worked and lived together in San Diego, but she was from Vegas and ultimately moved back. She was never a real option anyway since she was hung up on another dude.

Incidentally, she’s my dinner plans for tomorrow—along with her husband, who plays football for the Vegas Aces. We still work together, but we’re no longer co-programming directors out of the same office. Instead, she and her husband took the content Kaylee and I created and repurposed the StrongFitKids program to fit into the chain of fitness clubs her husband owns.

I had a friends with benefits situation with another woman in San Diego, but we broke that off nearly six months ago.

Jesus, has it really been that long since I’ve had sex?

The pocket rocket says yes. It’s been a long and lonely six months, but I’ve been busy with work.

Or so I’ve said. It’s an easy excuse to avoid the complications that come with relationships, but diving into work rather than trying to meet somebody just pushes the goals I always wanted for my future further and further away.

It’s complicated and complex, and I know one night with a girl like Gabby won’t solve anything, but maybe it doesn’t have to be just one night.

Not if I’m coming back to Vegas to play for the Heat.

Not if she’s from here.

If it’s meant to be, it’ll be.

Or maybe I rock her world for a few hours and we both leave in the morning with smiles on our faces. Right now, I’m enjoying drinking beer, playing blackjack, and laughing with the gorgeous woman by my side. I guess we’ll see where the night takes us.