Page 38 of Forever Fighting
“Great. Learn on someone else’s time. Let’s go!”
Roman is about to kill the man, but I hold up my hand and shake the dice in my other. “Come on, magic dice. Roll me a six. It’s my husband’s birthday, and he deserves to be a big winner.”I laugh at that. For some reason, I find the fact that Roman is my husband hilarious. I think I’ve officially lost it.
I blow on the dice and shoot them down the table, only to have one hit the wall and fly up and out. It knocks into the guy on the end, who is too busy flirting with the woman beside him to dodge it in time.
“Oh my god!” I cry, covering my mouth with my hand. “I’m so sorry!”
The dealers put their hands over the table, and the pit boss comes and retrieves the dice, examines them, and puts them back on the table with the others for me to choose two new dice from.
Without the same fanfare, I shoot the dice down the table and hit an eight. Everyone cheers because there’s a lot of money sitting on eight, including my twenty-five-dollar chip.
“Woohoo!” I high-five the cowboy next to me, who suddenly wants to be my best friend. “See. Trust the process,” I tell him.
“I will after you roll a six.”
“Fine. I’ll try. “I roll three more times and finally land on the six to thunderous applause. “I won!” I jump up and down, screaming like a mad woman. I jump on Roman, who catches me. “You won too!”
He beams at me, holding me securely in his arms. “Nice job, kid.”
I plant a big kiss right on his lips. I don’t know where it comes from. Or why I do it. It wasn’t consciously thought out, and it wasn’t anything like our sloppy wedding kiss that didn’t even count as a kiss. It just happens in the excitement of the moment, but it surprises us both.
For a moment, we simply stare at each other, blinking. I can taste his breath against my lips, sweet from the wine at dinner, the scent of his spicy cologne coloring my vision and making everything hazy. Then his eyes dip and hold on my lips. Almostlike he’s not sure what to make of what I just did, though there is something darker there too.
A strange, warm flutter fills my belly and pulses across my skin. I climb out of his arms, blow out a silent breath, and get my shit together because it’s still my turn to roll the damn dice.
But fuck. I just kissed Roman.
Like full-on-the-mouth kissed him.
And I didn’t… hate it. It wasn’t as weird or awkward as I thought it would be, and certainly not gross. Quite the opposite of gross actually. And this time, he didn’t look as horrified as he did the first time I tried to kiss him, and I didn’t miss his mouth and get him on the chin.
Still… that’s not something that can happen again. He obviously knows that. It’s not as though he tried to kiss me again or anything.
I twist my wedding band around my finger. Ugh. I’m a mess. That’s all that was. Aftermath of Adam, being in Vegas, and let’s not forget the fact that I married Roman on a drunken whim. It could also be the bottle of wine we split at dinner, and the vodka soda I’ve been nursing since. I don’t drink a lot, and this is the second night in a row.
I’m gonna owe my liver an apology when I’m done with this city.
I roll the dice and of course, crap out.
“Do you want to play more or are you all done?” he asks, his lips close to my ear as he speaks.
I shiver, and what the motherfuck is my body doing?! “I think I’m done for tonight.”
We have one more day here, and then we head on to Mexico. But maybe that’s a bad idea. Maybe I should just go home. A week at a resort with Roman suddenly feels a little… shaky. Almost like a honeymoon even though it’s not. Except what home would I return to? I’m living with Roman.
“Are you tired or should we walk for a bit?”
“Let’s walk for a bit.” I think that’ll help clear my head.
He guides us through the casino toward an atrium that’s designed to be a fairy garden. It’s pretty and magical, and I’m instantly enchanted, going from set to set and taking it all in.
“Do you remember when you came to visit me in Paris, and I bought you that small tea set?”
I cough out a laugh at the memory. “Yes. And I see what you’re saying because that tea set those fairies are using looks just like it.”
“This time I don’t think you should try to smuggle a wheel of cheese into Mexico.”
“God, remember that?” I nudge his arm with my elbow. “The customs agent in Paris definitely knew. He just didn’t want to deal with the paperwork. Besides, bureaucracy shouldn’t stand between Americans and good dairy. He understood the assignment.”
