Power Play: The Complete Collection

by Selena Kitt

“But aren’t you engaged?” Lauren raised her eyebrows as Jodie shook off her hands in the sink and went over to use the other air dryer. “I thought Kimber said you were planning a wedding?”

  “I was.” Jodie didn’t meet her eyes, rubbing her hands together under the warm air. “I found out just before I left for this trip that he’s been cheating on me. For the past six months.”

  “Oh no.” Lauren’s eyes widened in horror. “No wonder you’ve been so…”

  Her voice trailed off and Jodie gave a short little laugh. Apparently her bitchiness had been obvious.

  “I didn’t want to tell Kimber and ruin her bachelorette party, but I know I haven’t been much fun.” Jodie reached for her little purse, sitting on top of the hand dryer, and felt her phone vibrate. She opened it and saw Jason’s name on the front of her smartphone. “Jason again. He’s been texting me every hour how sorry he is.”

  “Well… maybe he is?” Lauren offered.

  “He hasn’t stopped talking to her on Facebook.” Jodie made a face, closing her clutch. “I have his password but he doesn’t know.”

  “Ah.” Lauren glanced up as a woman in a very short-skirted uniform—one of the waitresses—came into the bathroom. “So what are you going to do?”

  “Get drunk and try to forget about him.” Jodie headed for the door.

  “That’s a good plan for now,” Lauren agreed, following her out.

  The casino’s cacophony of noise and lights invaded Jodie’s senses as she came out of the bathroom. What she really wanted to do was go back to her room and sleep. The alcohol had made her tired and dealing with Jason every hour, along with trying to keep her secret from Kimber, was exhausting.

  “Hey, please don’t tell Kimber,” Jodie said as they weaved their way through the tables.

  “Oh I won’t.” Lauren jogged left, pointing. “Come on, let’s get one of those Long Island Iced Teas. They’ll give you a nice buzz.”

  “That’s okay, I’m already buzzed.” Jodie followed her anyway, halting at the bar when Lauren stopped to slide up onto a stool. “Besides, the margaritas are free.”

  “Oh, I’m paying.” Lauren smiled at the bartender as she ordered two Long Island Iced Teas, handing him over her credit card when he put them down on coasters in front of them.

  “So what do you do?” Lauren asked, sipping her drink through a straw.

  “I’m an editor.” Jodie played with the little umbrella, ignoring the buzzing from her clutch sitting on the bar. She couldn’t believe he was still texting her. Glancing around the casino, she wondered what Jason would think of Vegas—neither of them had ever been—and kicked herself for thinking it.

  Stop thinking about him!

  Might as well ask herself to stop breathing.

  Her gaze skipped over the slot machines, past the big roulette wheel, coming back to rest on Lauren, who was almost done with her drink. Jodie had barely started. She sipped through the long straw, people-watching. There was a young couple at the end of the bar that made her think of Jason. She ignored them. There was a guy in a suit sitting alone just a few stools from her on his cell phone.

  “Oh yeah? Freelance?” Lauren asked.

  “No, for Simon & Schuster.” Jodie watched the guy pocket his cell phone, calling the bartender over with a snap of his fingers.

  “Wow, really?” Lauren perked up, clutching Jodie’s arm. “Oh my god, I bet you hear this a lot but… would you read my book?”

  “You write?” Ugh, of course she does. And here Jodie had thought Lauren actually liked her.

  “I used to write in college. But then, you know, school. And the wedding. And then the baby.” Lauren gave a nervous laugh. “But now that my daughter’s a little older, I picked it back up again.”

  “What genre?” she asked, watching the bartender deliver a martini to the guy two stools down. She glanced at Mr. Martini, trying not to be obvious. He had answered his phone again, giving low, one-word answers. Yes. No. Two weeks. He had turned slightly toward them and he caught her eye, raising an eyebrow when he saw her looking at him. Jodie flushed, sipping her drink.

  “Young adult,” Lauren told her.

  Oh right, they’d been talking about books.

  “I can take a look,” Jodie offered. She didn’t really want to, but she felt kind of backed into a corner.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “It’s the least I can do for someone who loaned me a fifteen hundred dollar dress.” Jodie smoothed her skirt self-consciously, somehow feeling Mr. Martini watching her. She glanced over and found her intuition had been correct. He was still on the phone but his gaze was definitely pointed in their direction.

  Lauren laughed. “My husband is going to kill me for buying it. We don’t make the kind of money they do.”

  “Yeah, neither do we…” She swallowed, correcting herself. “I mean, neither do I.”

  “I just wanted to fit in.” Lauren shrugged. “But they’re kind of snobby aren’t they?”

  “Yeah,” she agreed. “I love Kimber. She’s been my best friend forever. But…”

  Lauren nodded. “Yeah, we’ve kind of grown apart too.”

  The little clutch Jodie had borrowed vibrated on the bar. Jodie grimaced, reaching for it, knowing it was him. Of course it was.

  “I’m going to throw this phone in the garbage, I swear to god,” she muttered, seeing Jason’s text on the screen. More apologies, as if he could make up for in volume what he lacked in loyalty.

  “Want me to text him back and tell him he’s a giant dick?” Lauren glanced over her shoulder at the phone. “You look so awesome, you should take a selfie and send it to him.”

  “Ha. No.” Jodie opened the clutch again, ready to drop the phone in, but Lauren had grabbed it from her hands.

  “Yes! Show him what a great time you’re having!” Lauren had already opened the camera. “Hey! I have an idea!”

  “What are you doing?” Jodie gaped as Lauren motioned to Mr. Martini, waving him over.

  “Hey! You!” Lauren smiled and waggled her fingers at him. “Can you do us a favor?”

  Jodie got her first full-on view of the man and nearly fell out of her chair. She’d never had a reaction like it before. Her heart lurched in her chest, her mouth went dry, her hands got clammy and she was pretty sure her nipples got instantly hard—but she didn’t want to look down and call attention to them by checking.

  She’d never seen such a beautiful man in all her life, outside of a magazine.

  “Can I help you?” His voice was smooth, like velvet, as he approached.

  Jodie thought her reaction couldn’t get more embarrassing, until he got closer and she caught a whiff of his cologne. Or something. Whatever it was, he smelled all-man. She felt like that cartoon she-wolf with her eyes popping out of her head and jaw dropped, and turned back to her drink for something else to do with her mouth.

  “Hi, listen…” Lauren smiled, cocking her head at him. “Wow, you’re cute. You’ll do. We just need a teensy weensy little favor.”

  “Lauren,” she warned, holding her hand out for her phone. Jason had texted again. She could see his name on the screen.

  “I’m always willing to help a damsel in distress.” He looked between the two of them, bemused.

  “Well, the thing is, my friend, Jodie, here.” Lauren threw an arm around Jodie’s shoulder. Suddenly they were best buds. “She just found out her fiancé is cheating on her.”

  Jodie didn’t even have a chance to chastise her newfound friend.

  “Oh wow.” Mr. Martini looked fully at Jodie, brow knitted. “I’m so sorry.”

  “So, could you just pose for a picture with her?” Lauren held up the phone, mimicking taking a picture. “Put an arm around her, act like you’re standing next to the most beautiful girl in the world.”

  “Sure.” He gave her a strange, bemused smile, already sliding an arm around Jodie’s shoulders. “That won’t be difficult.”

  “You don’t have to do this
,” she pleaded, feeling herself shrinking against the man’s side. He was a head taller than she was and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. His hand on her shoulder felt strange—no man but Jason had touched her in years—and kind of hot, burning like a hot iron through the fabric of the dress.

  “It’s my pleasure.” He smiled down at her and she instantly felt her knees go weak. Oh my god, what a smile! He had perfect, even teeth and his bright blue eyes smiled too.

  “Say cheese!” Lauren snapped a photo, grinning at the two of them.

  “Take one more.” Mr. Martini said, turning toward Jodie. She looked up, up into his face, smelling the alcohol on his breath, knowing he must smell it on her too. “Please don’t smack me.”

  She blinked up at him, puzzled, but she didn’t have to wonder for long because then he was kissing her. Jodie vaguely heard Lauren squeal in delight, clicking away, but it was far, far away. Everything was far away—the sound of coins dropping into slot machines, the flash of the lights—except the man holding her in his arms, mouth pressed to hers.

  It was a very sweet, chaste thing, his kiss. Something a brother might give a sister. His hands were at her waist, nowhere inappropriate at all—if a perfect stranger kissing you in the middle of a casino could be, in any way, said to be appropriate. So the poor man couldn’t have been blamed for what happened in the very next moment.

  One minute, she was standing there, shocked, letting a strange man kiss her while Lauren snapped pictures. The next minute, her brain lit up, neurotransmitters being re-routed in entirely new, exciting ways she’d never experienced before. She didn’t understand it, couldn’t comprehend what was happening—she just reacted.

  Jodie moaned softly against his mouth, arms going around his neck. His lips were so soft, so different. It had been ten years since she’d kissed another man. Her body melted against his, mouth opening in a gasp. He started to pull back, clearly surprised by her reaction, and she was too. But not enough to stop. Her tongue touched his and she shivered—no need to check the front of her dress now, she knew her nipples were rock hard. She could taste his martini, even the olive, their mouths opening wider as the kiss deepened.

  The hands at her waist fell to her hips, then moved slowly downward as Jodie stretched up on her toes—even in heels, she was tiny next to him—to press her body more fully to his. Her hands moved in his hair and it curled around her fingers, the scent of him making her feel so weak she thought she might pass out, and might have, if he hadn’t been holding her.

  It wasn’t anything chaste anymore, and it wasn’t just her kissing him like a desperate, drowning woman—now he was kissing her too, hands moving over the shimmering fabric of her dress, hands clutching her ass as he pulled her against him so hard, his long, lean lankiness almost hurt. She should have been shocked, appalled, horrified. Instead, she was instantly wet.

  Aching, throbbing, sopping wet.

  And she wasn’t the only one turned on. Mr. Martini was wearing a suit and couldn’t hide the heat of his cock pressed against her, their bodies perfectly fitted together, the world completely gone in that one moment, that one kiss.

  It was the sound of her phone in Lauren’s hand that startled Jodie, forcing her to break their connection. She remembered—where she was, who she was, who this man holding her was. Or wasn’t. She opened her eyes, feeling how flushed she was, cheeks burning. His color was high too, his eyes darker with a sort of hunger she recognized. It both excited and scared her.

  “Excuse me. I have to get that.” Jodie grabbed her phone out of Lauren’s hand—the woman stared at them, mouth dropped open, and she couldn’t blame her. She couldn’t think of anything else to do but run away, so that’s exactly what she did. She ignored Lauren’s shock and Mr. Martini’s—well, everything—and bolted.

  She avoided the bathroom, afraid Lauren would look for her there. Instead, she found an out of the way corner, sliding into a chair in front of a slot machine, trying to calm herself. Her hands were still shaking as she looked at her phone, ignoring the text from Jason and clicking through to her photos.

  And there they were, she and Mr. Martini, lip-locked, making out for everyone to see. Lauren had snapped half a dozen photos—including one with his hands on Jodie’s ass. She blushed just remembering it, her fingertips going to her lips. They burned too. Her whole body was on fire.

  “Send it to him.”

  Jodie looked up, gasping, and found Mr. Martini leaning against the slot machine, looking down at her.

  “Maybe he’ll realize what a fool he is.”

  “Excuse me.” She stood, putting her phone away. “I have to… find my friends.”

  He gave a little bow, waving her on, and Jodie wobbled—literally, wobbled—past him. She wanted to apologize—or perhaps rail at him in some sort of display of misplaced outrage—but she did neither. The casino seemed huge, everything too dazzling and loud. But she still heard her phone buzz again in her clutch.

  “Goddamnit.” Jodie pulled her phone out, stopping in the middle of the walkway to read the text.

  Please believe me, it’s over with her. I’m sorry. Text me back.

  A slow, hot rage filled her chest as she stared at the words. Over? Just a few hours ago, she’d logged into his Facebook—Jason’s passwords were too easy to guess, something always having to do with playing World of Warcraft—and had seen a message to Nicole about how much he loved her. And now he wanted Jodie to believe it was over?

  It was over all right.

  She texted him back.

  It’s over. Between you and me. O.V.E.R. I want you out by the time I get home. And change your FB password, asshole.

  Jodie pulled up the most damning picture she could find of her and Mr. Martini—the one with his hands decidedly on her ass—and attached it before she hit “send.” Then she wandered, dazed, back to the blackjack table. Lauren waved her over and Jodie gave her a look that said, “Don’t you dare!” praying she hadn’t already told everyone about their encounter with Mr. Martini. Lauren just smiled and nodded, asking the dealer to hit her one more time.

  “Kimber, listen.” Jodie slipped behind her friend, putting her chin on her shoulder. “I think I’m going to go up to my room…”

  “Noooo!” Kimber protested, turning to grasp her friend’s hand. She was very drunk. They all were. “I know blackjack is boring. Let’s go play craps! You guys, Jodie is the best dice player in the world. Seriously!”

  The girls squealed and gushed at the thought of doing something new. Jodie just stared at Kimber in disbelief.

  “I’ve never rolled craps in my life,” she protested as Kimber dragged her over to an open craps table.

  “No but you whipped our butts at Yahtzee,” Kimber reminded her with a laugh.

  “I don’t think that’s the same thing.” Jodie looked over at Lauren for help but the other woman just shrugged as the girls got settled in front of the table, stowing their little purses and drinks on the ledge under the table and placing their chips in the racks.

  “Sure it is, all you have to do is roll!” Kimber nodded toward the dice. “Come on, Jodie!”

  “Seven out!” The short, stout man with a fat, handlebar moustache behind the table announced, using a curved stick to wrangle the dice. The whole table groaned unanimously. There were two other men behind the table paying off bets. The girls took up one end of the table, but there were a half dozen people already playing at the other end.

  “New shooter! New shooter!” The mustached man winked at Jodie. He’d obviously heard Kimber’s comments. “Place your bets!”

  Jodie understood blackjack and roulette, but she didn’t know the first thing about craps. The green board with all the numbers on it made no sense to her at all. People were setting chips down all over the place.

  “Pretty lady gonna shoot the dice. You ready, sweetheart?” The stick man pushed five sharp-cornered red dice with white spots on them in Jodie’s direction but he kept them just out of her reach, dr
opping her a sly wink.

  “Uhh…” Jodie gulped. “I’ve never done this before.”

  “Lucky first time roller here!” The stick man announced. “Choose your lucky two!”

  Jodie had to reach far over to grab two dice. They felt good in her hands. She’d always been good at dice, Kimber was right. Her sisters had loved to play Yahtzee, but they hated playing with Jodie, because their youngest sibling always won. Jodie didn’t understand their anger and frustration when the dice didn’t do what they wanted. She just “asked” the dice in her head as she shook them in her hand and most of the time, they did as she requested.

  Of course, this wasn’t Yahtzee. She didn’t even know what she should ask for!

  “One hand. Keep the dice low, try not to hit the chips, but throw ’em hard enough so they hit the back wall of the tub—the rubber alligator.” The little man explained, pointing to the other end where the raised rubber did, indeed, look like the back of an alligator. He was also admiring Jodie’s dress, she could tell. Or what was in the dress. “You want a seven or eleven.”

  “I thought a seven was bad?” She frowned, remembering everyone’s disappointment when the dice had come up seven.

  “Seven or eleven are good only on the first come-out roll,” Kimber explained, putting a chip on the table in a space labeled “pass” on the green felt.

  Jodie still didn’t understand but she “asked the dice” for a seven or an eleven as she shook them in her hand and rolled. They bounced down to the end of the table, hitting the opposite end before coming to a rest on the surface.

  “Lucky seven!”

  A woman down at the end of the table clapped her hands, turning to kiss the man beside her.

  “I told you!” Kimber squealed and grabbed Jodie’s hand, squeezing hard as the dealers paid out the bets.

  “Do it again, little lady.” The stick man wrangled the dice down her way.

  She picked them up, making her little wish, and rolled.

  “Lucky seven again! Big red!”

  “Dang, you weren’t kidding!” Lauren exclaimed as the dealers paid out again. “I should have bet more! I might win back the cost of that dress!”