Blissful Awakenings

by Penny May

  “Alright,” Courtney said in semi-mocking resignation. She took another step forward to get a better look at the table. “How about… eight and nine…?”

  “Eight and nine it is. Same amount?” The woman asked with a glitter of excitement in her eyes. When Courtney nodded, she signaled to the young man who placed the chips on the line between the two numbers.

  The wheel spun.

  Courtney clutched her champagne glass, not daring to breathe.

  “Eight!” The dealer—or croupier, as Courtney remembered from her gambling lessons—called out.

  The woman gave Courtney an appraising look. “See? I knew you were good luck the moment I laid eyes on you. I’m Hattie by the way,” she stuck out her perfectly manicured hand, “Hattie Singleton.”

  “Courtney,” she responded, taking the woman’s strong hand in her own.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Courtney.” Hattie let her hand go. “What’s our next bet, young lady?”

  Caught up in the game, Courtney stepped up beside her, forgetting her nervousness. They lost money on the next round when she bet on another single number, but she made up for it by betting more safely on all odd numbers and gained some of their winnings back.

  She was on a winning streak when a hand dropped on her shoulder, surprising her.

  “There you are,” Bo’s deep voice snuck under her defenses and gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling before she remembered that she was still pissed at him.

  “This nice woman is helping me learn roulette.” Courtney turned to indicate Hattie beside her.

  Hattie let out a deep belly laugh. “This young lady is helping this old woman win a lot of money. It’s only too bad we don’t get to keep it.”

  “I leave you alone for five minutes, and you manage to find the only other self-made billionaire in the room?” Bo shook his head, but the grin on his lips grew larger as he took Hattie’s hand in his and bent to brush a kiss over the back of it.

  “I haven’t seen you in a while, Ryans. What have you been up to?” Hattie asked when she’d reclaimed her hand.

  “Oh, you know. A little of this, a little of that.”

  Hattie leaned in. “I heard a rumor you were doing more in New York than picking up this young lady.”

  “Oh?” Bo raised his eyebrows, all innocence. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I’m sure you don’t. But if you are up to what I think you’re up to, let an old woman know. New York has a lot more to offer than Vegas does these days. There’s only so many roulette, craps, and poker rounds a woman can play before it all kind of loses its meaning. I’d take a Broadway show and dinner at Momofuku any day of the week over another game of blackjack.” She turned her attention to Courtney. “But you made this game a lot more interesting, young lady. I thank you for that. Hopefully dinner will happen soon, and then I can go home and sit with my dog and have a proper whiskey without all these prying eyes and ears.” She waved a hand around.

  Courtney looked up and caught several other guests watching their threesome before eyes hastily looked away. She hadn’t realized they’d been being watched. Or maybe they’d only started staring when Bo walked up.

  “Bets?” The croupier said with a slightly annoyed tone to let them know that they were holding up his game.

  “I think we’re done,” Courtney said quickly.

  At the same time, Hattie said, “Oh, how about just one more round before I lose all your luck to this big galoot.” She hooked a thumb at Bo.

  Bo’s mouth turned down at the slight which, of course, made Courtney smile as Hattie had intended.

  “Sure. Why not?” Courtney shrugged and turned her attention back to the roulette table. “We can bet on zero, right?”

  “We can…” Hattie’s neutral tone suggested that it wasn’t a great idea, but it wasn’t like she got to take the money home, so Courtney figured what the hell.

  “Okay, how about fifty on zero?”

  “As you wish, my lady.” Hattie winked at her and took the chip from her assistant, placing it on the square with the zero in it. When she turned back to Courtney, she said, “Nothing like taking a lotta risk with a little money, right?”

  The croupier gave the no more bets signal and started the wheel and ball spinning. Courtney glanced over at the game nervously. “I guess if a charity gets it all anyways, it doesn’t matter, right?”

  “Right you are,” Hattie murmured, just as mesmerized by the game as Courtney was.

  The ball fell into the wheel and began its manic staccato dance. The wheel’s rotation finally started to slow. Courtney’s mouth dropped open as the ball dropped into the zero slot on the wheel.

  “Well, well, well.” Hattie stared at Courtney, eyes narrowed in inspection. “You truly are a lucky one to have around.” She turned to Bo whose wide eyes were also flicking between the board and Courtney. “Didn’t know what you had there, didja, Ryans? You’re lucky I didn’t turn on my charm and steal her away from you. It would serve you right for leaving her alone in a room full of sharks.”

  Bo hid his surprise behind one of his ever-ready business masks. “I suppose you’re right, Hattie. What table have they got you at for dinner tonight?”

  “I’m not sure” She turned to the young man with her who was hastily retrieving their winnings. “Matt?”

  The man turned. “Oh, um, table seven I believe.”

  “Pity. We’re at table four,” Bo said with real regret. “It would have been nice to sit with you and your grandson.” Here he dipped his head at Matt in greeting, “and have a conversation we’d actually enjoy.”

  “Surely you’re not saying you don’t enjoy the lady’s company?” Hattie inclined her head toward Courtney.

  Bo backpedaled. “Of course not. It’s just—"

  “I’m only teasing, Ryans! Relax.”

  “Wait,” Courtney said, looking between the two. “You donate a ton of money, and then you don’t get to pick where you sit?”

  “No,” the two grunted in unison.

  To Courtney, Hattie said, “It was lovely meeting you, young lady. Keep this one on his toes, wouldja?” She jerked her head at Bo and gave Courtney a wicked grin. Her expression suddenly shifted to distaste as she saw someone over Bo’s shoulder. “Looks like a good time to find somewhere else to be.” She gave Bo a mock bow. “Good night and good luck, Ryans.” As she walked away, her grandson trailing behind her, Courtney heard her mutter, “You’re gonna need it.”

  Courtney scanned the room for what had prompted the last remark and Hattie’s sudden shift in demeanor. A woman who stood out from the crowd made a beeline toward Bo. She wore a vivacious red dress that left little to the imagination. In fact, it looked more like something that Courtney would wear to a private encounter at the Temple than out in public, but everybody had a different comfort level, she supposed. Unlike Hattie’s tasteful wine-red dress that blended in with the crowd, this woman was clearly working hard to stand out. The woman’s bright blond hair had been expertly styled in a complicated braid that lent some sophistication to her ensemble.

  Courtney’s immediate impression was that the woman was trying to be the sexiest and most interesting person in the room. Unfortunately, though she did stand out, it was for all the wrong reasons if the disapproving looks following in her wake were any indication.

  The woman practically dragged a man along behind her. Though he was better dressed for the occasion than the woman, his demeanor also screamed “trying-too-hard.”

  “Heads up,” Courtney murmured with barely any movement of her lips. She pasted on a fake smile as the woman reached Bo and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

  Bo’s eyes met Courtney’s, and she caught the dark look that barely concealed desperation before he turned with his own fake smile.

  “Kitty. What a surprise.” Bo’s dry tone sounded more like someone who’d just noticed a guest tracking mud through their house.

  “Bo!” Kitty exclaimed a little lo
udly while leaning in for a hug that Bo haltingly returned. “It’s so nice to see you!” The hug lasted a little longer than Courtney would have been comfortable with if Kitty were hugging her. If Courtney and Bo were really dating, she would have felt that Kitty’s hug lingered a little too long for someone who was just supposed to be an ex-girlfriend.

  But we aren’t dating, she sternly reminded herself.

  Finally, when Kitty pulled back from Bo, she glanced over at Courtney. Was it just Courtney’s imagination, or was there anger and jealousy in those bright blue eyes?

  “Who's your date, Bo?”

  Courtney decided to save Bo the trouble. “I’m Courtney.” She stuck out her hand, forcing the other woman to shake or appear awkward. After the look Kitty had given her, Courtney much preferred a handshake than risk the possibility of Kitty stabbing her in the back while giving her a hug.

  “So nice to meet you,” Kitty gushed. It was a little over the top.

  Had Bo really fallen for this lady’s fake act? Courtney wondered. But Olivia had apparently been taken in too which led Courtney to conclude that the woman must have dropped most of the charade now that she was no longer with Bo.

  Suddenly, Kitty stepped back and, with a big, go-fuck-yourself grin, put her arm around the man she’d dragged over.

  “Bo, you remember Ace Lockhart, don’t you?”

  Courtney did a double take. This was Ace Lockhart? The preening man looked more like he’d try to sell you a pyramid scheme or a timeshare than a multi-millionaire who owned Carnal Temptations.

  Bo stepped forward and shook hands with Ace. “Nice to see you again.”

  “What’s it been, two years since we were last in the same room?” Ace’s smirk should have warned Courtney of his next words. “It was in court, right? For the lawsuit you lost to me?”

  Courtney barely managed to keep from sucking in a surprised breath. She noticed that Ace had waited until Bo dropped his hand before adding that last part. Maybe he was afraid that Bo might physically retaliate by crushing his hand? Courtney wouldn’t blame Bo if he did.

  Before Bo could respond, Kitty gave a tittering laugh like a 1950’s housewife. “Oh, Ace. Don’t be crass.” Then, like a shark homing in on blood in the water, she fixed Courtney with a smile that seemed a little maniacal.

  “How did you two meet?”

  Since she was clearly asking her and not Bo, Courtney smiled and stepped closer to Bo. He took the hint and put his free arm around her back. “I won the contest to stay at Pleasure Temple. When I got there, I just kept bumping into this big guy.” She smiled up at Bo and was a little surprised at the little jolt of attraction that hit her when he gazed down at her.

  She had to force her attention back to Kitty whose jaw looked like it might snap from clenching so hard.

  “He finally asked me out to a real dinner date and the rest is history.”

  As if on cue, Bo squeezed her to him, then leaned down and brushed a brief kiss over her lips.

  Her brain short-circuited for a moment and all she wanted to do was find a private space where she could let go, forget her anger, and kiss him back.

  But she was still mad, damn it.

  Remembering they had an audience, she turned back, a little red-cheeked now, to Kitty and Ace.

  “Isn’t that sweet.” Kitty said, but if looks could kill, Courtney would have melted into the floor like the wicked witch. To Bo, Kitty said, “I’m so glad you settled for someone, Bo, rather than being alone forever after our difficult breakup.”

  It was all Courtney could do to keep from telling the woman to piss off.

  “And just think,” Kitty continued, “we’re at the same table tonight, so we’ll get to catch up over dinner.” She held Bo’s eyes for another second before turning back to Courtney. “I can tell you all the gossip on this one.” Then her voice dropped, and her lips twisted into a sexually charged smile. “I know all his secrets.”

  “How...interesting.” Courtney finally said when she could think of no other description to use. “Well, it was nice to meet you. It sounds like we’ll see you in a bit. Bo said he’d play me at a little blackjack, so we’re off to fulfill his promise.”

  With that, she carted Bo off before the other couple could protest.

  Chapter 12

  When they were safely tucked into a quiet corner and out of earshot from the rest of the guests, Courtney finally spoke her mind. “We are not eating with them. She is clearly an awful person.” She looked up at Bo, who looked faintly embarrassed at Kitty’s behavior, so she added, “Not that I can say much about dating awful people. Not after you met Daniel earlier.”

  Bo’s expression smoothed out. “He was kind of an asshole. To be honest, I was kind of surprised that you were with him.” He paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to continue, then said, “What did you see in him, anyways?”

  Courtney sighed. What had she seen in him? She wondered to herself. “I dunno. He was great when we first started dating. Flowers, texts, attention...and then it was like he just didn’t try anymore. I’m not sure when he went from being just uninterested in me to being a total dick.” Courtney shrugged. “What about you? What made you start dating Kitty?”

  Now it was Bo’s turn to sigh. He took a quick swig of his quickly disappearing whiskey before saying. “About the same. She seemed interesting and was fun. She asked me questions about my interests and listened to what I said. It took me a while to realize that she didn’t really have any interests of her own. If I took an interest in something, she immediately did, too. It would have been fine except she started to feel a little fake. Eventually it felt like she was just there with me all the time to make sure I didn’t take an interest in other women. When I started to make time just for myself, that made her cling to me even harder. Then the marriage talk started.” He shuddered. “I’m not against marriage, but…it just didn’t feel right with her.”

  Courtney downed the rest of her champagne. “I get it. I always thought it was inevitable that I would marry Daniel one day, but I never pushed him to ask because…I guess I just wasn’t really that excited about the prospect of marrying him. Huh.” It was odd to realize that here and now. “I guess we both dodged a bullet, huh?”

  A staff member appeared before Courtney like magic, taking her empty glass and handing her a fresh flute of champagne. When he was gone, Courtney held her glass out to Bo.

  “Here’s to breaking it off with shitty partners.”

  He clinked his glass against hers. “Here, here.”

  They were quiet for a moment, sipping their drinks before Courtney stated, “Just so you know, I’m still mad at you. But other than Hattie, you’re the only person here that I know, so we’ll just have to get through this night together.” She looked out at the crowd, watching as Kitty loudly spoke to another couple who looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but there.

  “One thing’s for sure, we are not going to sit with Kitty and Ace tonight,” she added as she scanned the room. “Who did you get our table number from?”

  Bo’s brows drew down for a brief second, then he leaned in close to Courtney and, using the hand holding the whiskey glass, he pointed across the room. “See the woman over there by the double doors?”

  He was so close that his breath moved a tendril of hair, tickling Courtney’s neck. It, along with his close proximity made her want to pull him close again. Instead, she forced herself to nod, and he stepped away, putting space between them again. She sternly reminded herself that she was still angry at him and kept her hands to herself.

  “She’s got the list of seat assignments,” Bo said. He’d caught a whiff of Courtney’s subtle perfume mixed with the vanilla scent of her shampoo. It had been a bit of a struggle to step away, but he’d forced himself to do it. He might not be guilty of what Courtney thought he was, but that didn’t mean her anger was misplaced. Just that she was mad at him for the wrong thing.

  “Got it.” Courtney gave him a quick appra
ising and saw some emotion flicker through his expression before she could identify it. If they’d been a real couple, she would have asked about it. Instead, she asked, “Will you be okay while I go work my personal assistant magic and get us a different table?”

  “I’ll be fine, but thanks for the concern.”

  Courtney couldn’t tell if he was annoyed or amused, so she just nodded and left him to fend for himself.

  The thing about being a personal assistant was that sometimes you had to take care of difficult tasks that required a little bit of persuasion. Courtney had once had to sweet talk her boss’s way onto a booked flight. That little bit of magic had actually involved booting another first-class passenger, yet Courtney had accomplished it.

  It also occasionally involved telling a few white lies.

  As she approached the woman Bo had pointed out, she recognized some clear signs of severe stress as the woman stared down at her clipboard with wide, panicked eyes. Uh oh. In Courtney’s experience with event planning, this was how she would personally react to being asked to move someone to a different table.

  It looked like someone had already been making requests to switch tables. Hmm.

  Courtney shifted her initial plan of addressing the situation head on and decided instead to try a simpler route.

  Making her voice as warm as possible, Courtney said, “Hi. I couldn’t help but notice you seem a bit stressed out. Is everything okay?”

  Before looking up, the woman said, “Why does everyone always wait until the last minute to demand changes to the seating arrangement? Dinner starts in ten minutes!” With that, she looked up and a look of shocked horror crossed her face as she recognized Courtney and realized she’d just spoken her inner thoughts out loud.

  “I mean,” she quickly backtracked and schooled her features into a mask of calm, “is there something I can help you with?”

  “Actually, I was going to ask you the same thing.” Before the woman could brush Courtney off, she quickly added, “As a personal assistant who’s organized many an event, you seem like someone who’s been thrown one of those last minute, curveball demands. Maybe I can help by switching seats with someone?”