Power Play: Jodie and the Billionaire Page 3

  Was that good or bad? Jodie watched him turn over a marker from “on” to “off.”

  “Now you want to roll an eight before you roll a seven,” a voice said low in her ear.

  Her knees turned to water before she even glanced over her shoulder and saw Mr. Martini. He reached around her to place two chips, both of them a color she’d never seen before, one on the “pass” line and another on the “come” line. Lauren gaped across the way and Jodie looked closer at them, realizing the different color just meant a different denomination.

  They were each worth five thousand dollars.

  Mr. Martini had just placed a ten thousand dollar bet.

  Now her hands were shaking even more as the stick man slid the dice in her direction.

  “That’s ten thousand dollars,” Kimber whispered in her right ear as Mr. Martini set up his chips—all of them the same color—on the tray in front of him to her left. The girls all made room and Jodie tried not to look at Lauren, who was definitely giving them a knowing look.

  “An eight… before a seven?” She gulped, glancing at him and he gave her an encouraging nod to accompany that drop-your-panties smile.

  Jodie closed her eyes and asked the dice, please no seven, please no seven, as she tossed them to the other end of the table. She didn’t open them again until she heard the woman at the other end scream.

  “Box cars! The lady rolls a midnight!”

  “Was that good?” Jodie glanced at Kimber, then back at Mr. Martini, confused.

  “She placed a high horn bet,” he explained. “The odds are thirty to one.”

  “Bonus money!” The stick man announced as the dealers started handing out chips. “Pay the lady fifteen hundred dollars!”

  The lady at the other end of the table beamed. Jodie kind of wished she’d made that bet, since it was her roll that had won it! Too bad she didn’t have anything to bet.

  “It’s a sucker bet.” Mr. Martini put chips down behind his on the pass line. She didn’t want to think about how much money he had on the table. “Embarrassing.”

  “I can do it again.” Jodie looked sideways at him, challenging.

  “You think so?” He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Okay, pick one of those numbers. Four, six, eight or ten.”

  “Eight.” She’d already rolled it—it was the “point,” the one she was supposed to roll before she rolled a seven.

  “Five on hard eight.” Mr. Martini lobbed a chip toward the middle of the table and the dealer placed the five thousand dollar chip on the eight. “Now, you want to roll eight the hard way. So if you roll two fours, we win. If you roll a seven, we lose.”

  “Right.” She tried to keep breathing as the stick man pushed the dice in her direction. Instead of sliding them close like he had last time, he left them in the “come” field—a metaphor that didn’t escape Jodie as she reached for them. The little mustached man watched as she stretched for the dice and she was very aware of how much cleavage she was showing.

  “I don’t think so.” Mr. Martini took her arm, pulling her back, and Jodie startled at his touch, seeing his eyebrows raised at the stout little fellow behind the table. “Don’t short-stick the lady.”

  “Short stick?” Jodie whispered as the mustached man with the curved stick reluctantly pushed the dice closer, past all the bets on the pass line.

  “He was trying to make you reach,” Kimber murmured on her right. “So he could see down your dress.”

  “Oh.” Jodie felt her cheeks redden as she picked up the dice, remembering the first time he’d made her reach for the dice.

  “Not that I blame him,” the man beside her murmured and she felt his hand press against her lower back, making her spine straighten. She could almost feel him looking down the front of her dress, but he was the only one who could from his vantage point. He’d protected her from other men looking, but he didn’t seem to mind doing it. Or touching, for that matter.

  “Hard eight wins it all,” he reminded her, taking a little step toward her so her hip rubbed up against him.

  “Hard… eight…” All she could think about was those two fours and the man standing beside her who smelled delicious and had a distracting, overly familiar hand on her lower back.

  She closed her eyes and asked the dice to obey. She’d done it before, while playing Yahtzee. They would be down to the last roll, and all she had left to fill in was a Yahtzee—five of the same number. All she had to do was close her eyes and ask. Sometimes she had a flash of a number—a six or a five—and somehow knew those would be the ones that came up. And sure enough, she’d roll all fives. Sometimes in one roll!

  Jodie asked silently and tossed the dice, waiting for the reaction before opening her eyes, but she knew from the way his hand moved on her back, sliding down lower to squeeze her ass.

  “Eight! Pay the field! Hard eight wins!”

  The table erupted in screams. They were drawing quite a bit of attention, people stopping to watch who weren’t even placing bets—although some of them were getting in on the game. They were at the most crowded craps table in the place.

  “Well goddamn.” Mr. Martini swore under his breath as the dealer placed a whole stack of chips in front of the bet he’d placed on the eight.

  “I’m lucky at dice,” she said, almost apologizing. “I guess a girl’s got to be lucky at something.”

  “That’s quite lucky.” He chuckled, sliding the chips toward him. “You just won me forty-five thousand dollars. And that was just on the hard way bet.”

  Jodie couldn’t breathe. She gaped at him.

  “I think a shooter deserves a tip for that!” Kimber remarked boldly. “Don’t you, Mr. Cole?”

  Jodie blinked at her, confused, until she realized Kimber was talking to Mr. Martini. Did she know him? How? All of the bachelorette party girls were watching with interest. The triplets were practically drooling. Lauren couldn’t keep from grinning, making Jodie remember that surprising kiss from the man beside her.

  “I do indeed.” Mr. Martini—who was apparently Mr. Cole?—called for change and tipped the stick man and the dealers and then slid a thousand dollar chip in front of Jodie. The forty-five thousand he’d won on the hard bet he pushed onto the “pass” line.

  “Oh, no…” Jodie shook her head, pushing the thousand dollar chip back toward him. “I can’t.”

  “Bet it then.” He nodded toward the table. “You’re the lucky roller, right?”

  “Oh, I still roll?”

  “You roll until you crap out,” Kimber explained. “This time you want to roll for a seven or an eleven again.”

  “Seven and eleven are good again?” Jodie wrinkled her nose in confusion. “This game is so complicated!”

  A phone rang and Jodie rolled her eyes, sure it was Jason, but the man beside her dug into his trouser pocket, pulling out his phone.

  “I need to take this. Hold my place?” he asked the stick man who gave him an assenting nod. Then the man Kimber had called Mr. Cole dipped his head to murmur in Jodie’s ear, “I’ll be right back.”

  “What the hell?” Kimber exclaimed as he stepped away from the table, gripping Jodie’s upper arm so hard it hurt. “Don’t you know who that is?”

  Jodie shook her head but Kimber rushed on.

  “That’s Dorian Cole! He was Forbes’s number two most eligible billionaire bachelor last year!”

  “Number Two?” Jodie smirked, glancing over her shoulder at the man talking on the phone just a few feet away. “Who was number one?”

  “Some prince who lives in Germany.” Kimber waved her question away. “I only paid attention to the ones who I had a shot with.”

  “Right, like you had a shot with Dorian Cole?” Lauren interrupted. Kimber stuck her tongue out at her.

  “What does he do?” Lauren asked, leaning in, eyes bright. She was the only one who knew that Jodie and Jason weren’t an item anymore. The only one who knew that Jodie and this very rich billionaire had unexpectedly shared a ve
ry intimate moment recently.

  “He’s some sort of entrepreneur. He invests in inventions I think.”

  “Well he sure seems to like Jodie,” Lauren remarked.

  “He’s a player.” Kimber slanted her eyes, glancing back at him. “You better be careful. I don’t want to have to explain anything to Jason when we get home!”

  “You won’t have to.” Jodie stood up straighter as the stick man called for last bets. “Jason cheated on me. We broke up.”

  “What?” Kimber gaped at her but couldn’t ask any more because Dorian Cole had returned to the table, phone back in his pocket, making another bet on the “pass” line as the stick man slid the dice toward Jodie.

  “Come out roll!” The stickman was careful to push them close this time and Jodie picked them up. Looking at that forty-five thousand dollars on the line made her sweat. She thought, please, please, please, seven or eleven and threw the dice, holding her breath.

  “Easy six,” the stickman announced, corralling the dice. “Mark the six.”

  “Well we didn’t win.” She frowned, watching as the “off” marker get flipped over by the stick man to “on” and then placed on the six.

  “You didn’t lose,” Dorian explained. “Now you just want to roll a six before you roll a seven.”

  “I think I’m getting the hang of this.” She smiled at him as more people joined the table, placing more bets.

  “You want to make another sucker bet with that, Miss Lucky?” He nodded at the thousand dollar chip sitting on the pass line.

  “I’m lucky at dice but…” She shook her head. “Not that lucky. It’s Jodie, by the way. Jodie Miller.”

  “Dorian Cole.”

  “Dice are in play.” The stick man slid them all the way down for Jodie.

  She looked around the table, feeling the pressure of everyone’s eyes on her. It was disconcerting to say the least. And that forty-five thousand dollars sitting there? It made her sick to her stomach thinking about losing it, even if it wasn’t hers.

  “Shooter’s still looking for a six!”

  Taking a deep breath, she picked up the dice and thought six, six, six. She could see it in her mind, three pretty dots making diagonal lines across each die. Her fingertips tingled as she let the dice go, heart caught in her throat. The dice were so far away she couldn’t see what came up and had to wait for the reaction of the crowd or the stickman’s announcement.

  “Four easy.” The stickman pulled the dice in. “An eighter from Decatur.”

  It was like listening to a foreign language that Jodie, somehow, was beginning to understand.

  “So nothing happens?” she asked, watching everyone placing more chips on the table.

  “Not for us,” said Dorian. “You’re still rolling for a six.”

  The excitement had the table absolutely buzzing. People were smiling and happy—winning. Their enthusiasm was catching. She tried not to put too much pressure on herself but somehow she felt responsible because she was the one who had the dice in her hands. It was ridiculous, of course. It was all mathematical odds, right? There was no such thing as luck, not really.

  “Jodie!” Kimber nudged her from the other side, all wide-eyes. “What is going on?”

  She’d almost forgotten about the girls. They were all staring, whatever bets they’d placed completely forgotten. The excitement of Dorian Cole at the table, paying close attention to one of their own, had completely trumped gambling.

  “Apparently, I’m shooting craps.” Jodie laughed, realizing she hadn’t even thought about Jason, or her constantly vibrating phone, in almost half an hour. That had to be a record.

  “Quite well, in fact,” Dorian added. His hand moved to her lower back again, shifting her closer, and she let him. It felt incredible to have a man—a very handsome, very rich man—flirting with her, clearly attracted to her, especially in front of all of these rich, snobby women. Well except Lauren, and, she supposed, Kimber.

  “You ready to roll that six?” He moved her hair aside to ask her, close to her ear, and she shivered. “If you do, you’ll double that forty-five thousand.”

  “No pressure.” She shifted nervously, hearing the stickman calling for last bets.

  “Don’t worry. I can afford to lose it.” He chuckled, his breath warm.

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

  “Nervous?” he asked, pressing her against the table with his body.

  She nodded, swallowing as she glanced around, everyone’s gaze turning toward her as the dice started making their way down the table, guided by the curved stick.

  “Excited?” he whispered, his thigh between hers. Oh God, the feel of him, the heat of his words, the memory of his mouth, soft and wet and open on hers. What in the hell was happening?

  She nodded and gave a little whimper, trying to concentrate. She was standing at a craps table in the middle of Caesar’s Palace and this man was practically bending her over the table in front of everyone. A slow flush heated her cheeks at the thought. Her nipples were so hard they hurt and she noticed the stickman noticing as he deposited the dice in front of her.

  “Does it make you wet?” Dorian whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear, making her close her eyes with a silent plea for strength. She thought her knees were actually going to give out and was grateful for the weight of him behind her, pressing her flush against the table.

  “Yes,” she admitted, lips barely moving as she opened her eyes with a shuddery breath, blinking at the bright green felt on the table. He was right there, hands on either side of the table beside her, body snugged tight to hers, his mouth against her ear.

  “Win,” he whispered.

  “Dice back in play!” The stickman announced as Jodie reached for the dice in a trance. She wasn’t thinking about anything except Dorian when she rolled—his hands, his mouth, the hard press of his cock against the curve of her ass. Just his trousers and the thin material of her dress separated them, and everyone—everyone—was watching.

  “Ten easy! Big Dick!” The stickman shouted, making Jodie’s whole body flush with heat. She expected Dorian to say something, like he had about the stickman “short sticking” her, but he didn’t.

  “The six and the four,” Dorian murmured, chuckling. “They call it the ‘big dick.’”

  How fitting, she thought, all too aware of the man’s throbbing erection against her ass. She thought his kiss had been a surprise, making her instantly wet, but this was something else altogether. Her pussy wasn’t just wet, it was aching, pure torture between her thighs. It was overwhelming. It made her want him to fuck her. Right there. In front of everyone. Somehow the audience made the whole fantasy even hotter.

  “What’s that ‘come’ all about?” Jodie asked, watching people put more chips on the green felt in the section marked “come.”

  “If you’re a good girl, I’ll teach you about that later,” he replied, shifting his weight. It was a casual thing, but it made his cock rub against her ass. A little shiver went through her as she imagined him inside of her, impaling her, inch by glorious inch. She could imagine the already-shocked bridesmaids watching in horror and dismay as Dorian Cole bent her over, shoved up her skirt, yanked her panties aside, and just took her.

  “Now win for me,” Dorian whispered, his breath coming almost as fast as hers as the stickman called for last bets and slid the dice their way. No one could hear them over the crowd they’d drawn. It felt like the whole casino had surrounded the table to watch.

  His words thrilled her. Jodie picked up the dice, everything tingling, from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes. She looked at the dice in her hand and asked them in her mind for a six. A pretty six, any way they wanted—two threes; or a one and a five; or a two and a four—it didn’t matter. As long as the numbers added up to six, she’d be happy. The whole table would be happy. Dorian would be happy.

  “Six easy, pay the line! Pay the line!” The stickman announced and the place erup
ted like they were at a concert and the main act had just taken the stage.

  “We won!” Kimber screamed, turning to Jodie and kissing her cheek. “Oh my fucking god, you lucky little dice whore, we won!”

  Jodie couldn’t help laughing as the girls all hugged, jumping around. People around the table smiled, high-fiving. Behind her, the man who had made her wet made her even wetter by grabbing her around the waist, burying his face in her neck and breathing deep.

  “You lucky little dice whore,” he whispered, kissing her neck, the words sounding completely different out of his mouth than they had coming out of Kimber’s.

  “Your winnings, sir.” The dealer nodded toward the equal stack of five-thousand dollar chips he’d put on the table next to the first. Jodie felt faint realizing they represented ninety-thousand dollars, all put together.

  “Parlay.” Dorian didn’t take his nose out of Jodie’s neck, where he was making her cotton panties so wet it was shameful. “We’re still going.”

  “I’m sorry sir.” The dealer shook his bald head, pushing the chips off the pass line toward him. “There’s a fifty-thousand max on the pass line.”

  “You won’t let it ride?” Dorian’s head came up and Jodie shivered at the tone of his voice. He didn’t sound happy at that—not at all.

  “Let me make a call.” The dealer reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. They watched him make the call as the stickman called for people to place their bets. She couldn’t believe it was still her—she was still rolling. How long had it been?

  “Sir, this is…” The dealer got quiet, listening, glancing up toward the ceiling. Jodie followed his line of sight and realized he was looking at a camera. Of course, they were all over the casino. “Ninety thousand… That’s right… Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll let it ride, Mr. Cole,” the dealer said with a smile, sliding the chips all back onto the pass line. Just that action made Jodie feel a little ill. “Ninety on the pass.”

  “Holy fuck,” Kimber whispered beside her. “Jodie, if you crap out…”

  “Shut up.” Jodie nudged her, throwing her a withering glance. “Don’t you dare jinx me!”