Page 26 of One Night Gamble
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it. But if things don’t work out, I need you to agree that I’ll have some say in what we do next.”
“Great. Let’s celebrate,” he said, putting his hand on the small of her back and leading her back into the room. He snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handed one to her.
“To us,” he said.
She arched one eyebrow at him.
“What?”
“Isn’t that a bit premature?”
“Not really. I have always operated as if I have a winning hand. It’s worked so far,” he said.
She nodded. “I have never really done anything like this before. But I have made dumb mistakes. I hope this—”
“Don’t. Let’s just enjoy this. I think we could at least be friends,” he said with all the honesty he had. He didn’t want to go back on the road because that had become a slow death. But he had never wanted anything—not even a winning hand in a high-stakes tournament—as much as he wanted Talia.
“I’ll try,” she said with a tentative smile. “So, what’s Nicholas got planned?”
“I have no idea. He has been working on it for the last few weeks but, as I said, he plays his cards close to the vest.”
“Does he tell you how he does his tricks?” she asked.
“Definitely not. And he’s touchy about calling them tricks,” Casey warned her.
“Dude,” Darien said, coming up to them. “I’m so glad you are already here. Nicholas is pushing it. You know I had to give my name at the door? I mean come on.”
“He’s just making sure that no one gets in who wasn’t invited,” Casey said. “Dare, this is Talia Spencer. I think you’ve emailed but not met.”
Talia held her hand out to him and he shook it. “Rio speaks very highly of you. Every day, I hear more about the plans you all are working on. I love that you have broken the racers into different personalities and then are working with the games developer to come up with different experiences for the four personas.”
“Working with Rio is a lot of fun. He had a lot of great ideas and I’ve been lucky enough to come up with ways to implement them. I’m excited about the stuff we have in the pipeline for your part of the Jokers Wild. The community that Rio and I are building is going to be great. From a Vegas kid’s perspective, I think the dirt bike course and lessons are going to be a gold mine. But I’m sure your finance department has already told you that.”
Darien arched both eyebrows at her. “They have. What does a guy have to do to get a decent drink around here?”
“Go to the bar and order it,” Casey said, putting his hands on Darien’s shoulders and turning him to face the bar.
Darien gave Casey the finger as he walked away. Talia stood quietly next to him. “What are you thinking?”
He knew there was a solid connection between him and Talia or he wouldn’t have made this gamble. But his friend was rugged and very male. He’d heard from more than one woman at a club that Darien had a wildness about him that drew women like moths to a flame.
“You and Darien and Nicholas have a really solid friendship. I didn’t realize you were more than business partners.”
“We are. Since you and I are going to be dating, I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
…
Talia had a lot of fun that evening. The illusion that Nicholas had unveiled had been breathtaking and she knew when he debuted it at the Jokers Wild Casino, it was going to immediately become one of the most popular shows on the strip. It was everything that made a good illusion—intriguing, mysterious, and, of course, thrilling.
The reaction from the people in the room left no doubt that the illusion—the newest piece of his show at the Jokers Wild—was going to be a huge success.
“I wonder if he’d consider doing a kids’ camp, showing them how to do illusions?” Talia said as she stood between Casey and Darien.
“Uh, no. He’s not a teacher,” Casey said. “He doesn’t have the patience for dealing with kids.”
“Do you think we could hire someone?” she asked.
“That’s a good idea. Someone like Rio would be perfect,” Darien said. Darien was on his fourth Jack and Coke and Talia could tell by the way Casey watched his friend that he didn’t normally drink that much, or that quickly. She wasn’t sure which—she just noticed that Casey was watching him.
