I took the elevator down to the casino and headed to the blackjack table first. I sat down at the only seat available. A seven-seat table where I was the only woman sitting.

“What’s the minimum bet?” I asked the sexy dealer.

“Twenty-five dollars.”

“Of course it is.” I grinned. It figured that Simon would have a high minimum in his hotel.

I took three hundred from my purse and set it on the table. Pushing it towards the dealer, I asked for three hundred in chips. He set them down in front of me and the game began. I lost the first few hands and was down about two hundred dollars.

“Well, I guess this is all I have left,” I said as I put my last hundred down.

The sexy dealer smiled at me as he distributed the cards and I won. Doubling the bet, I won again. Third time was the charm as I got up from the table and walked away with a wad of cash. Time to move. Couldn’t stay at a table for too long. I headed to the poker table. Two hours had passed and Simon was still MIA. Flashbacks of times like these started flipping through my head when I was in Vegas with Brendon.

Just like blackjack, I lost the first few hands of poker. Steadily increasing my bets, I began to win. Time to go back to the blackjack table. Pulling out only a hundred bucks, I took a seat and bought some chips. As I placed my bet, I felt two hands lightly grip my shoulders and a voice whispering in my ear.

“I thought you were playing slots.”

“But this is much more fun.” I smiled as I won.

“Are you ready to go back to the room?” he asked.

“No. I’m not done here. Why don’t you have a seat and play,” I said as I patted the chair next to me.

“Fine.” He sat down and pulled out a wad of cash.

Simon lost every hand he bet on. I won and won big. My bets increased with each win and my time was up. I collected my chips and got up from my seat.

“I’m ready now.” I smiled over at Simon.

He got up and placed his hand on the small of my back as he walked with me over to the cashier.

“That’s an awful lot of money you won.”

“It wasn’t all from blackjack. I hit the poker table too.” I grinned.

After cashing in my chips and walking away with five thousand dollars, he lightly took hold of my elbow and whispered in my ear, “I think you just ripped off my casino with that photographic memory of yours.”

“How do you think I paid for part of my tuition at Cornell?”

“Unbelievable, Gabrielle. Just fucking unbelievable.”

Chapter 16