Thirty minutes later, he felt a foot on his ankle that slowly moved up his calf. Surprised, he glanced around the table and caught the vixen gleam in the eye of the dealer. “My shift’s over soon,” she informed the group, but her gaze lingered on Jackson.
The dealer was attractive and had a good sense of humor. He wondered if he would have taken her up on her offer in other circumstances. At the moment, he couldn’t even consider it.
He was just about to fold and walk away when Lori appeared beside him. “How’s it going?” she asked.
“Not bad,” he said. “I was just getting ready to leave.”
He felt the dealer’s foot fall from his ankle. “Does the lady want in? Are you two together?”
“Yes,” Jackson said.
“No,” Lori said at the same time, then looked at him. “I don’t want to play. I just came to watch.”
“I was telling her that you and I are together,” he said. “We just got married.”
The group around the table crowed and oohed and ahhed.
The dealer smiled. “Just married and you’re here on the floor. I would think you would have better things to do.”
“Soon,” he said, slipping his arm around Lori’s waist, feeling her stiffen in surprise. With his other hand, he scooped up his chips. “Thanks. Have a nice evening,” he said and led Lori away.
“What was that about?” she asked, staring up at him.
“The dealer was extra-friendly,” he said.
She gave him a blank look. “How? Did she give you extra chips or something?”
He couldn’t swallow a chuckle. “No, but she wanted to give me something else.”
Her eyes widened. “She solicited you?”
“It was more of an invitation than a solicitation.”
“Hmmph. That’s-” She broke off, as if she couldn’t come up with the right description. “Bold.”
“Vegas isn’t known for subtleties.”
“True,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the dealer with a frown.
“Let’s cash in my chips and I’ll take you to a club,” he said, wanting to get her in a better mood.
She met his gaze again and slowly smiled. “That could be fun. We can dance.”
“Dance?” he said. “I thought you wanted to dance on a table. I’m not dancing on a table.”
“I was joking about that. You don’t have to dance on a table.”
“I don’t dance.”
She sighed. “I guess that means I’ll have to find someone else to dance with me.”
Shit. He was going to have to dance.
Twenty minutes later, Jackson was wedged intimately between Lori and someone else he’d never met in his life. The dance floor was packed with writhing bodies, and he and Lori were positioned in a dark corner. The good news was that the moves he made were so limited, no one could see that he couldn’t dance.
Lori spun around, wiggling her ass and jiving to the music while Jackson shifted from one foot to the other. She rocked her booty against him, clearly unaware of her effect. He would have to be inhuman not to grow hard from the way she brushed him.
She emanated exhilaration. Throwing her head back and laughing, she danced with abandon. Her sense of freedom written on her face, she turned and looped her arms around his neck and shimmied against him. Torn between pushing her away and pulling her against him, Jackson couldn’t stop looking at the expression of sensual joy on her face.
“Do you like it?” she asked, raising her voice so he could hear her.
He hated it. Except for the way she was rubbing against him. “Do you?”
“I love it,” she said, removing her arms from his and spinning around again. She rubbed her booty against him and he got so hard he felt as if he would explode. Even though their marriage was a business arrangement, he couldn’t help thinking about the natural follow-up to the ceremony. The honeymoon night, which in Jackson ’s mind meant nonstop hot sex.
The fast song ended and a slow one began. Lori turned to face him and met his gaze for a long moment. Unspoken thoughts, desires, wishes, and fears flowed from her to him and back again. The next second, she moved against him and slid her arms behind his neck.
Jackson automatically wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her flush against him. He knew he was playing with fire, but she was making it all too easy. Breathing in the scent of her hair, he skimmed one of his hands up her back, under the curtain of her hair to the nape of her neck. He felt her shiver in response.
She lifted her head and nuzzled his neck. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, and when he slid his knee through her thighs, she opened for him.
Jackson felt his arousal roar through him like a fire out of control. He wanted to feel her naked breasts in his hands, against his skin, in his mouth. He wanted to feel her bare, silky thighs opening for him with no fabric or barriers between them. He wanted to slide inside her and appease the hard ache she caused. He wanted to fill her up so that the only thing she could think about was him.
In some last corner of his mind, his rational self reminded him that this could be just a dance for her. Just because she was rubbing herself against him like a sex kitten didn’t mean she wanted to go all the way. Especially with him. Maybe this was more about the three margaritas she’d drunk than him.
That last thought should have taken the teeth out of the gnawing, growling need that seemed to consume him. Maybe it would have, if she hadn’t stretched up on tiptoe and pressed her mouth against his.
Every muscle in Jackson ’s body tightened. How was he supposed to turn this down? She slid her tongue over his bottom lip and his heart stuttered in his chest. Mentally swearing, he felt like a dog pulling at chains. One seemed to rip free, and he devoured her mouth, plundering her, kissing her the way he wanted to take the rest of her.
Lori made him too aware of his sexual need. She’d done it from the very beginning, and at this moment with her so close to him, he felt as if he were on a steep cliff over the ocean. It wouldn’t take much to push him straight over the edge.
Jackson couldn’t deny or hide the rough, edgy want for her anymore. He needed her to see it and feel it so she would either back away or decide she wanted him. He pressed his hand against her lower back, so that she rubbed against his aching erection. He waited for her response, expecting her to pull back.
Instead, she undulated against him and slipped her tongue inside his mouth. Jackson thought he might explode right there on the dance floor. He sucked in a mind-clearing breath but inhaled her sultry scent along with the oxygen.
He lowered his mouth to her ear. “Sweetheart, if you don’t want to finish this in bed with me, then we’d better stop.”
She stopped and looked up at him, her eyes full of the same arousal that raged through him. He counted the seconds until she said something. One. Two. Three.
“I don’t want to stop,” she said. “Maybe we should head back to the limo.”
“I’m not going to ask again. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she said without a heartbeat of hesitation.
Jackson immediately took her hand and led her out of the club. The night air was cool, but not cool enough to slow him down. With the limo parked just steps away, the driver spotted them walking toward him and he opened the door.
“The Bellagio,” he said to the driver and helped Lori into the back seat. He pushed the privacy panel closed, and before the driver pulled out of the parking lot, he pulled Lori onto his lap.
They kissed with feverish intensity. He slid his hands underneath her shirt, searching for her full breasts. She immediately followed his lead and tugged at the buttons of his shirt, skimming her hands over his chest. The sensation drove him crazy. It was all he could do not to rip off his jeans and hers and drive himself inside her. He had never felt this overwhelming need for a woman before. Never.
Swearing under his breath, he pulled back. “We’ll be at the resort in a few minutes,” he said for his benefit as much as hers. “Which room? Yours or mine?”