by Vella Day
Oh, God. She didn’t want to talk about herself, but it would be rude to ask him to mind his own business when she wanted to throw the same question back at him. It didn’t matter; she’d be heading home in a few days. The man intrigued her. “I’m the marketing director for a magazine in California.”
“Marketing? Ever considered trying your hand here? The casinos and resorts are always looking for good people.”
She wouldn’t say she was the best, but the subscription rates were up at the magazine, and it had won a couple of awards for their growing sales. “If I ever lose my job, I just might.”
“You have family back in California I take it?”
He probably wanted to understand why she wanted to stay there. “My parents live about an hour from me, and I have one sister who’s married with two kids, but she’s in Montana. You?” It was only fair he shared the hot seat.
“My mother lives not too far from here. No dad or siblings.”
Which meant he wasn’t a twin to her fantasy man. “May I ask what it is that you do at the casino? Are you the person who repairs the copy machines?”
“I do a little bit of everything, but I’m particularly good at repairing things.”
Maintenance perhaps, though his clean nails, perfectly tailored shirt, and expensive watch didn’t seem to fit. “Do you gamble?”
He smiled. “At times, but I mostly stick to the slots for fun.” He leaned forward on his elbows acting as if he was going to import some words of wisdom. “The first job I ever held was in a casino, and from then on, I was hooked. I was so enthralled with the excitement and pulse of the place that I’d spend my off hours watching as many games of chance as I could. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the house had the advantage. I learned so much through observation that by the time I turned twenty-four, I earned a job as a dealer.”
“Twenty-four is young. So you were always fascinated with the game of chance?”
He blew out a breath. “For as long as I can remember. My dad worked at a casino for most of his life. The Winning Streak didn’t even exist back then. During the summers, my mom had a job at one of the clothing stores, so Dad brought me to work with him. In those days, no one seemed to care that a kid was running around. Dad made me promise to behave. I kept quiet, watched, and learned.”
“I wouldn’t want my children to grow up in Las Vegas, what with all the weirdos running around.”
While she couldn’t be certain, she thought he winced. “Looking back, I wouldn’t give up that education for anything. But remember, Vegas has changed a lot since I was a kid.”
Now he had her curious. “What were some of your life lessons?” Perhaps she could learn something.
His eyes widened. Perhaps no one had asked him that before. “Desperate people do desperate things, and they often don’t think about the consequences until it’s too late.” Max held her gaze, acting as if he was talking more about himself than what he’d seen other people do.
“You mean spending money they don’t have in the belief they’re going to win big?”
“That’s one type of person.”
When he didn’t elaborate, she decided to move on. “Can I ask what you meant when you said no dad? You mentioned you were often by his side.”
Max glanced downward for a moment. “He had a heart attack and died when I was eighteen.”
Sympathy swept over her. “I’m so sorry. I might not see my parents every day, but I’m comforted just knowing they’re still around.” She dreaded the day she’d lose them. “What did you do after he passed? You were still young.”
He blew out a breath. “I had planned to go to college, but my mom was totally devastated and unable to work for a while, so I found a full-time job at the casino to support us. I started by sweeping floors, running errands, and anything else they wanted me to do.” He looked off to the side and blew out a breath. “But it wasn’t enough, so I did something stupid.”
So he had been talking about himself when he said desperate people do desperate things. “Did you gamble your savings and lose it?”
“Close.” He told her how he’d run up a huge debt with the casino and then borrowed money from one of the dealers to cover it. “If I hadn’t paid the dealer back, he would have made certain I lost my job and who knows what else.”
“I’m so sorry.”
A small smile lifted his lips. “I do believe that all things happen for a reason. The man who ran the casino where my father worked, offered to help me out by paying off my debt. That one act of kindness had a profound impact on me. I vowed that I’d try to help others if I could.”
That was wonderful. “I don’t make much, but I do give what I can to our local orphanage in town. I’m not adopted, but I couldn’t imagine being young and not having parents.”
“You’re a good person, Elise.”
Heat rushed up her face. “I try. So what happened after that man paid off your debt to that dealer?”
“I had to pay him back, and trust me the kind of stuff he had me doing, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I worked sixteen-hour days for seven months. That being said, being around the workings of the casinos, I learned a lot. As I mentioned before, by the time I was twenty-four, I became a dealer. Slowly but surely, I worked my way up to the high stakes tables. When I turned twenty-eight, I moved to this casino, which was a lot nicer than where I was.”
Their server came and delivered their coffees and took their order. “And you’ve been there ever since?” she asked.
“Yes, but I managed to receive my bachelor’s degree in business along the way.” He sipped his coffee.
“That’s really impressive.” And yet he repaired machines? At least he had his own office. Still, something just seemed off.
“Enough about me. Tell me what you like to do for fun.”
More about me? Oh, no. “I live a boring life. All I do is go to work and come home.”
“A beautiful woman like you? Surely you must date?”
She wasn’t sure if it was tacky to mention her failed relationships, but he had asked. “Let’s say, I’m in between men. You?”
“The same. Most women find my workaholic personality to be inconvenient. Remember, casino employees work all hours since Vegas never sleeps.” The smile he tossed her disappeared as he looked toward the entrance.
A man wearing red face paint rushed toward their table. His golden eyes were quite intriguing, but she couldn’t imagine wearing stage makeup all day long. She did like his little devil horns, however.
“Sorry to interrupt, Max, but we have a little issue with a few of the machines.”
Max’s jaw tightened. “I’m sure someone can handle it.”
“It would be best if you came.”
Maybe Max was the head of maintenance, spending most of his time directing others.
His features hardened, and then he faced her. “I am so sorry.” He pulled two twenties from his wallet and placed them on the table then withdrew his phone. “I want to make this up to you. Can I call you?”
Warmth and excitement coursed through her. He could have excused himself and forgotten about her, but he didn’t. Elise believed that the two of them had connected on a deeper level. When Max shared the story of his dad’s death and his gambling problem, the pain in his eyes had been real.
“Sure.” She gave him her cell phone number.
“I’ll be in touch. I promise.” The sincerity of the last two words had her heart jumping up and down.
As Max left, she thought about skipping lunch and walking back to the casino with him, but the devil man acted like some disaster had occurred, and she didn’t want to be an inconvenience. If some of the slots malfunctioned, the casino would lose money.
Before she could decide what she wanted to do, the food arrived. Elise was about to tell the waitress to take back Max’s meal when she spotted Regina and Samantha coming toward her. As happy as she was that they were there, it was a bit embarrassing that he
r wonderful man had disappeared.
“Hey, there, where is he?” Regina asked looking around.
“There was some kind of emergency at the casino that apparently only he could take care of. He didn’t elaborate,” she said. “Have you two eaten?”
“Not yet,” Samantha said.
“Max isn’t coming back, so you might as well split his meal. He already paid for it.”
“So is this your fantasy man Max?” Regina asked as she slid across from her.
Boy, did she have a lot of explaining to do.
5
Max was not happy that Draco had interrupted him. “This better be good.”
The demon glared at him. “Charles asked that I find you.”
If the head of security sent him, it must be important. Charles had been the one who’d suggested they hire the demon in the first place, claiming the old saying Keep your friends close and your enemies closer applied. Draco had tried to rip them off once by enlisting the help of some genius vampires who excelled at game theory and statistics. The con was brilliant. Draco had ten kids who were able to win repeatedly, but each one not so big that the house would notice. However, Charles began to see patterns and eventually the ring of vampires was caught.
When the vampire council found out that Draco had exploited their kind for his own good, they threatened to send him back to Hades. Because the vampires owed the tigers a few favors, they agreed they wouldn’t kill Draco, but only if Max kept him on a tight leash.
Max figured Draco could be useful and asked the demon to work for his casino for five years in exchange for what he stole. Since then, he’d provided valuable intel that had resulted in several people being arrested for fraud. Max didn’t trust the man in the least, especially since he could move faster than shit, hear better than any shifter he knew, and was able to scorch someone with a flick of his hand.
However, one false move on Draco's part, and Max would deliver him to Igor Schiller, the head vampire.
Max hoped that whatever issue was happening in his casino right now, he could take care of it quickly and return to Elise. It wasn’t as if he had a lot of time to build a relationship. Not only would her senses sharpen with each passing hour as the full moon approached, she might even sprout hair in places unbecoming a woman. Worse, she might become ill and disoriented. If that happened, she’d probably run to the Emergency Room, and who knows how they’d treat her or what they’d think, as there weren’t many humans who were aware of shapeshifters or any kind of otherworld creatures.
Max had already decided to come clean about what he’d done, but he wanted to establish a rapport between them first.
“You dating that girl?” Draco asked as they stepped into the casino.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Draco kept trying to fix him up with his daughter, Sari, but a succubus didn’t appeal to him. Succubae might be beautiful, but they were deceitful, luring men to the dark side for their own gain. Draco’s daughter was one of the more powerful ones, which was why he’d always steered clear of her.
“Security is my business.”
Max cocked a brow. “Elise isn’t a threat.”
“That so? Seems to me she’s caught your attention. No sooner did you walk out with her than three goons came in and tried to mess with some of the slots at the back of the casino.”
He should have told him sooner. “What did they do?” Nothing pissed him off more than vandalism.
“I caught them before they could install a magnet to disrupt the dials. I’m thinking for my quick reaction time, my sentence should be cut short.”
“Don’t hold your breath.”
“You think your woman came here to lure you out?”
“Don’t be absurd. She has nothing to do with any thieves. Even if I had been here, it would have happened.” The demon was up to something.
“You never know. I never see you leave the casino during the day without telling Charles you’re going.”
He didn’t have time this morning to deal with the demon.
When they reached his office, he faced Draco. “If I need help with anything, I’ll let you know.” It was time to find out what really happened.
* * *
“Max sounds wonderful,” Regina said as she scooped up the last of the eggs on the plate.
That was part of the problem. “He is.”
“So why the gloomy face?” Samantha asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t seem to get it out of my head that he’s the same man as the one in my dream.”
Regina snapped her fingers. “I bet he is. Well, kind of. Remember when Samantha was telling us how she put a whoopee cushion on her boss’s chair for his birthday?”
“Yes.” Elise didn’t know what this had to do with Max.
“And some man bumped into her on the steps to the casino? I looked over at him, and thought he was a hottie.”
She nodded as she recreated the scene. She grinned. “I remember him. I thought he was hot too.” Pixel by pixel, his face formed in her mind’s eye. “He was wearing a suit.”
“Yes,” Regina said with a big smile on her face.
“So I saw this man Max at our hotel, and subconsciously used his face as my fantasy man. I’ll have to ask if he remembers bumping into us at our hotel.” Relief rushed through her at finally having figured things out.
“You said he’d call you again. You can ask him then.”
“You bet I will.”
The back of her neck burned and she rubbed the ache.
“You okay?” Samantha asked.
“I think so. I have a little headache that’s all. Maybe it’s because it’s so bright outside and rather noisy in here.”
Her friends looked at each other. “Not to me. Are you sure you aren’t coming down with something?” Samantha said with worry in her voice.
“I hope not.” She waved a hand as if to erase her comment, though her body seemed to be more sensitive to her surroundings. “Even if I’m getting a cold, I’m not going to let that stop me from having a good time if he asks me out again.” Elise plastered on a smile.
Just as she was about to polish off her coffee, her senses heightened and she turned toward the exit. It was him!
Max approached the table with a red rose in his hand. “I was hoping you were still here.” He handed Elise the flower and heat raced up her face.
“Thank you. Ah, ladies this is Max.”
Samantha smiled then shot a knowing glance at Elise. “We have met.” Max’s mouth slightly opened and his eyes darted to the side as if he was trying to place where. “You bumped into me at the El Paradisio. You seemed lost or something.”
His shoulders relaxed and his eyes sparkled. “Of course.”
Relief washed through her. So Elise had seen him before. As the girls suggested, she must have imprinted his amazing good looks on her fantasy man. At least she didn’t have to worry about being crazy. She just wished she could figure out how everything had seemed so real under hypnosis.
Her friends introduced themselves. “Nice to meet you, Max, but Sam and I should be getting back to our gambling. Hope you don’t mind we ate your lunch.”
“I’m glad it didn’t go to waste, but you can stay, ladies. I don’t want to interrupt your time together,” he said.
“We’re good,” Regina responded. In a flash, her friends rushed toward the exit.
Max scooted across from her. “Sorry about the interruption. I didn’t mean to drive them away.”
“No problem. My friends were just keeping me company.”
“I stopped by to see if you’d be interested in going to a big cat rescue center. It’s been closed for a while, but it just reopened.”
The thought of spending time with Max made her body tingle. “That sounds wonderful. When?”
She then flushed, wondering how he knew about her obsession with anything relating to cats. While she didn’t have time to own a kitty, whenever a picture of a cat—big or
small—was posted on Facebook, she couldn’t keep from looking.
“How about now?”
Her pulse spiked. She’d go anywhere with him. “I’d love to. I’m a big cat lover.”
He grinned. “Oh, yeah? Then you’ll love these animals. They’re quite tame and enjoy being petted.”
That would be a dream come true. “I can’t wait.” Once outside, he hailed a cab. “You don’t drive?”
“I do, but I can enjoy our time together more if I’m not distracted by traffic.”
How sweet was that? Perhaps it was the glitz and glamour of the Strip—or from being with Max—but she could feel the sizzle of excitement radiate inside her. Elise needed to be careful not to get too carried away. It would only make her return back home that much lonelier.
As they headed out of town through the old part of Vegas on Freemont Street, Max pointed out some of the more famous landmarks, including where his dad had worked when Max was young. “Back in the day, this was all there was to the town. We didn’t have the pyramid, the Eiffel Tower replica, or the New York City skyline.”
It was all so fascinating. As they left town, she leaned back and relaxed. There was something about this man that calmed her, yet thrilled her at the same time. She just hoped she wasn’t superimposing her dream man onto him.
About fifteen minutes later, the cab driver pulled in front of a rescue compound.
“Here we are.”
Max paid the man, helped her out, and then said something to the driver before leading her into the compound. “In case you’re wondering, there is a lion rescue center not far from here, but this is for tigers only.”
“I like tigers.” Assuming they were like the one she’d imagined.
“Good.”
The air was redolent with hay and grass and smelled sweet. Several beautiful animals lounged behind a fenced off area that contained large rocks to climb on, a section of grass where she guessed they might sleep, a few shade trees, and a water feature. All in all, the tigers looked well cared for.
A young man exited the building. “Max, good to see you.” He glanced at Elise. “Is this your first time here?”