Page 35 of One Night Gamble
As he took her hand and led her to breakfast on the balcony, talking to her about his dreams for the casino and how he wanted to shape Las Vegas for the future, she knew there was no turning back. She’d fallen for this man.
The man who had picked out clothing she’d love and taken the time to give her an olive branch, to make her more comfortable with what had transpired between them. She knew he wasn’t playing a game with her. And she so badly wanted to believe he was falling for her, too.
…
Last night had given Casey a glimpse into the kind of life he’d always craved. It had always been just out of his reach before he’d met Talia. But here she was. And this morning, he’d realized that he needed to make a few changes if he was going to make a life with her. He’d never let himself dare to dream he could find someone he could trust, a woman who would get both parts of him—the billionaire and the street kid. But Talia more than got it—she’d lived it, too.
He’d definitely need to get some food in his kitchen, so when she stayed over, he could cook for her. Ugh. He also needed to learn how to cook, at least have some idea of the basics.
It was like when he’d been invited to the high-stakes room for the first time. He’d realized his skills with the cards could only take him so far. He’d been a street rat with no polish and that had been evident in the way he’d talked and acted.
But he’d learned and adapted then, and he could and would do it again, for Talia.
She was squinting and he realized that the morning sun was shining directly on the balcony. Luckily, he’d had some sunglasses sent up with her necklace. He signaled the waiter who he’d asked to stay so he could refill their coffee mugs and juice glasses.
“Yes, sir?”
“Would you mind grabbing Ms. Spencer’s sunglasses from the console table in the living room? They are in the Tiffany case.”
As soon as the man left, Talia arched one eyebrow at him in that way she had that let him know she thought he was being autocratic. “Do you want to keep squinting?”
She shook her head. “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “But I’m learning.”
She leaned back in her chair, taking the sunglasses from the waiter when he returned. Casey dismissed the man, realizing that she’d been careful not to let her guard down while he was there.
Once they were alone, she glanced out at the strip. “Tell me more about your childhood. You grew up here?”
“Yes. But unlike you, my parents weren’t addicted to gambling,” he said. “My mom started working as a stripper then got addicted to meth.” She’d given him up when she realized a kid was holding her back. He’d been four, so he scarcely remembered her and he’d learned when he was eighteen that she was dead. But that wasn’t a story he was going to share with Talia.
It didn’t fit with his image. Being a street rat was one thing. Admitting that he’d been a boy that no one wanted, a kid that had been left behind like trash…that wasn’t what he wanted her to know about him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Casey. That’s rough. Is that how you ended up in a foster home?” she asked.
“Some people find me difficult,” he said blithely, hiding from the truth with a glib phrase. Anything to keep her from seeing the scars that he hadn’t realized, until now, he was still carrying.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Gran, I think I would have ended up in a home. My mom washed her hands of my dad when I was about ten. She left to go back east and she wanted me to go with her. But I couldn’t leave him alone and Gran was vulnerable. She’d believed everything Dad told her.”
She put her hands in her lap, twisting her fingers together. “I remember thinking Mom couldn’t leave our family. She wouldn’t. But she did. She divorced my dad and got married again six months later. I hear she has a new family. She sent Gran a card last year.”
“But not you?” he asked.
“Nope. I wasn’t expecting it. She’d told me I was dead to her the day she drove away.” She arched both eyebrows at him. “Not what you were expecting to hear, I’m sure.”
But it sort of was. Talia had a heart of gold. He didn’t have any trouble believing she’d been unable to leave someone she loved. It had been evident from the moment he’d met her at the grocery store. She’d been running an errand for her grandmother that would make her late for an interview for a job she wanted, but still, she did it.
She put those she cared about first.
And he knew that he wanted to be the man who put her first. He needed to be the one she turned to, not because she expected it, but because she didn’t. He tucked that bit of knowledge away for later.
Just like this morning, when he realized that she’d taken his gesture of having clothing for her as ego and surety that he’d have her in his bed again. But she didn’t know that through his entire life, and with every hand he’d ever been dealt, he played like he would win. Because he had only ever had his strength of will and his belief in himself.
Everything he had in his life had been hard won.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Her mother’s actions must have hurt her. He’d cried when he’d learned his mom had died and they’d had no relationship at all. “It doesn’t matter what they do to us, we always love our parents.”
She nodded. “We do. So many times, I thought about walking away from Dad or locking him out of Gran’s house. But he was my dad and Gran’s son and neither one of us had the heart to do that. So instead we took him back in, pretended he’d changed, and then cried on each other’s shoulders when he proved us wrong.”
