Page 4

When he asked me to stay here with him, I assumed he meant the blackjack table. But the longer we sit and play, the more I think he means something else entirely.

And the longer I sit beside him, the more I want whatever he’s implying.

“What did the dealer say to the deck of cards?” he asks me when the dealer starts to shuffle the six decks we’ve been playing with.

I glance over at him in confusion. Did the dealer say something and I missed it? “What?” I ask.

“I can’t deal with you anymore.” He laughs at his own joke, and I roll my eyes. “What?” he says, holding up his hands. “It’s funny!”

I twist my lips as I narrow my eyes at him. “It’s the cheesiest joke I’ve heard in a long time, my friend.”

“You got something better?”

“How’s a casino like a woman?” I ask. I know this one’s raunchy, but he’s been flirting with me all night, so I have a pretty good feeling he won’t be offended.

He squints at me a beat before asking, “How?”

“Liquor up front, poker in the back.”

He laughs. “Yeah, that was better than mine but I didn’t know we were on dirty joke terms just yet.”

“Dirty jokes are always fine by me,” I say.

He nods. “Okay, then how about this one? How do you make a pool table laugh?”

“How?”

“Tickle its balls,” he deadpans, and I giggle.

“That’s still pretty cheesy,” I say. “What’s the difference between a G spot and a golf ball?”

“What?”

“Men will actually search for a golf ball.”

Even our straight-faced dealer Kelly chuckles at that one.

“What’s the difference between a genealogist and a gynecologist?” he asks.

I shrug.

“A genealogist looks up your tree. A gynecologist looks up your bush.”

I giggle. “You’re getting better. I may have to teach you a thing or two.”

His eyes seem to heat over at the prospect of that.

My friends are watching from across the way, and they seem to be waiting on me. I’m not the girl who ditches my friends for some random dude no matter how hot he is, but I’m torn because just for tonight…I want to be that girl.

It’s strange, this connection I feel with Cooper. It’s the first time a guy has ever made me feel this way literally seconds after meeting him, but maybe that’s what twenty-one is. Legal to drink, gamble, and have one crazy night with a stranger.

“They’re waiting for you,” he murmurs.

“I know,” I admit. “But I don’t really want to go.” I glance sideways at him, and he grins with exactly zero modesty, so I decide to take him down a peg as I nod toward my cards. “It’s a hot table. I can’t quit now, not when I’ve nearly tripled my investment.”

He chuckles. “Is that the only reason?”

I shrug. “You got more than that?”

He leans in and presses his lips to mine again, and I’m immediately convinced.

“Does that count?” he asks when he pulls back.

Oh God yes, it counts.

An ache of need pulses between my legs, and I nod. “That’s uh…quite a convincing argument.”

He chuckles and leans back in his chair as we play the round of blackjack mindlessly, not focusing on the cards or the dealer but instead on each other. “The birthday girl should get what she wants on her birthday. So what do you want?”

You. The birthday girl wants YOU.

I bite my lip to keep from saying those words aloud as I scramble for a solution. “What are your plans tonight?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t actually have any.”

“Come with us to the club.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Nah, that’s not really my scene.”

I raise my brows pointedly. “It’s what the birthday girl wants.”

He chuckles and pushes his chips toward the dealer. “Touché.” He nods toward my chips as if to tell me to do the same. He stands then holds out a hand to me, and he doesn’t let go of it as he leads me toward the cashier. We cash in our chips, and then we walk over toward my group of friends.

“Ready for the club?” I ask, and I’m met with whoops and cheers. “This is Cooper. He’s coming with us.”

My friends are all pretty tipsy at this point—in fact, I think I’m most sober in the group of girls, and two bow out, heading up to the suite my dad booked for my group of friends here at this hotel tonight while the rest of us walk toward the other nightclub.

We’re carded before we go inside, and Cooper stops to say something to the hostess. She leads us to a table, and a minute later a waitress brings over a few bottles of champagne along with champagne flutes and a bottle of beer for Cooper.

He wiggles his eyebrows at me as the waitress hands me a glass of the champagne, and I can’t help but laugh—and at the same time, I can’t help but wonder why he’d do this for me. It’s not exactly cheap to get last-minute bottle service at a club, and he doesn’t even know me.

I head out to the dance floor with my girls, and he hangs back at the table, sipping his beer. I spot a woman approach him, and she walks away a few beats later. A man approaches him, and they get to talking for a minute.

Admittedly my eyes keep edging over toward the table to see what he’s up to.

He’s talking to another guy, and they fist bump.

Does he know these people? Who exactly is this handsome mystery McHottie who’s taken an interest in me tonight?

And why me?

Because I happened to sit down at the table beside him?

I finish my glass of champagne and realize it doesn’t matter why it’s me.

I’m just going to count myself lucky that it is.

I head back for a refill, and two of my friends, Kelly and Becky, follow. “We’re going to head upstairs,” they say. Mia and Chelsea are next, and Mia makes sure I’m okay before she heads upstairs. And that’s it. That leaves Cooper and me all alone in a club filled with people.

“Dance with me,” I demand, and he chuckles and nods.

He follows me out to the floor, and suddenly our bodies are pressed up against each other as the mass of people out here moves and sways with the beat. His hands find my hips, and I link my arms around his neck. His eyes burn down into mine, and I get the strangest sensation like I already know him. I know I’m safe with him even though I just met him tonight, and my gut instinct about people is usually spot on.

He seems like a good guy, and even though I’m slightly champagne-drunk, I’ve got enough wits about me to know I can trust him.

Our dancing starts playful but quickly turns sexy as he shoves his hips toward mine. I feel his erection against my side, only confirming how much want and desire pulls between the two of us. Someone bumps into him, sending him careening a little closer into me, and then no space separates our bodies as his leg comes between both of mine. I grind down on his leg, a side effect of the champagne that I’d normally be way too reserved to do with a virtual stranger, but tonight all bets are off.

He wants this.

I want this.

Heat consumes the space between us, and tingles light up my spine as my tummy flips. His lips collide with mine again, and this kiss is hot and desperate in the middle of a crowded dance floor. It’s sexy and nearly illicit as his tongue batters mine, his fingertips digging into my hips as we continue to sway to the beat of the song. I feel so much more than just attraction coming through this kiss, like attraction is just the spark that’s going to light this inferno between us…like it’s leading us somewhere bigger than just tonight.

I still know nothing about him. He’s staying here at this hotel, so I don’t have high hopes for more than one night together.

But it still feels like the type of opportunity I can’t let slip by. If my dad has taught me anything over the last three years, it’s that we can’t live life with regrets. We can only take what’s right in front of us.

He drags his lips from mine, across my cheek and toward my ear. “Spend the night with me.” His voice is raspy and filled with some unspoken promise, like he can somehow see into my thoughts and he feels the same way…he doesn’t want to let this chance slip by, either.

I nod, and he grabs my hand. He weaves through the throng of people and leads me back out to the hallway.

“Hey, that’s Cooper Noah!” some guy yells at him, and Cooper simply nods at the guy, tightens his grip on my hand, and leads me through the hotel.

I hear other people say his name, too, and maybe this was happening earlier and I was too tipsy to notice, but all the dancing has sobered me up a little.

We arrive at a bank of elevators, and I think about that name. Cooper Noah. It’s vaguely familiar, like I’ve heard it before, but I have no idea who he is.

“How do all those people know you?” I ask softly.

He twists his lips. “You really don’t know?”

I shake my head, and the doors open in front of us. A couple gets off, and we step on. The doors seal us into isolation, and he walks toward me, backing me up against the mirrored wall. His blue eyes focus down on my green ones. “God, you’re gorgeous,” he murmurs. “And you don’t even know who I am.” His mouth crashes down to mine, and as much as I want to ask more questions, it seems his kiss offers the exact sort of distraction he’s going for.