The Affair

“I’m sorry for leaving you. It seems every time I turned around, someone had a question or something to say about the race,” he said a moment later.

“Don’t worry. I understand. This is your work. Niki kept me company.”

“I saw. I asked him to watch out for you.”

“Did you?” she asked, entranced by the image of his angled, bold face etched in shadow and moonlight, and the feeling of his body moving in subtle rhythm next to hers.

He nodded, his expression sober. “And then I got jealous when I saw him doing it,” he growled softly, capturing her lips again for another kiss. She felt his body harden next to hers, and the kiss deepened.

“You have absolutely nothing to be jealous of,” she told him breathlessly a moment later. “All I can see is you, Va

“For these weeks and days and hours?” he asked, a thread of sarcasm in his tone. One of his hands lightly skimmed over her lower back and the top of a buttock. Emma shivered.

“For these weeks and days and hours.”

“You’re mine.”

She smiled and pressed closer to him. “You know it’s true,” she chided.

“I still like to hear you say it.”

“I’m yours,” she whispered. His head lowered, and their mouths fused again.

“Almost everyone will have gone into the casino,” Va

“I’d like to at least have a look,” she said as they entered the palatial grand lobby of the hotel, and Emma glanced around eagerly. Va

“Of course. I keep forgetting you haven’t been here before,” he said.

“I’ve never even been to Europe,” she said.

“What?” he asked, his stride breaking slightly.

“It’s my first time. I have a passport because I was supposed to go to London for a trip arranged through my college after graduation. But then my mother died, so I never got to go. She had a small life-insurance policy, but funerals are a lot more expensive than I’d realized.”

He didn’t say anything as he led her to the entrance. There was a line to enter the casino, but Va

When they entered the bustling casino, Va

“I’m sorry about how busy I am. I’ll be a better tour guide, I promise,” he said quietly. “As soon as the race is over. And tomorrow, we’ve been invited onto Niki’s yacht. You’ll get a nice view of the local country from the sea.”

“We have been?” she asked excitedly. She noticed how sober he looked and squeezed his hand back. “Don’t worry, Va

He gave her a small smile and they proceeded into the casino. The atmosphere was electrical and chic. She recognized many of the faces she’d seen at the di

“Do you gamble?” she asked Va

“Not much anymore. Would you like to play?” he asked her politely, noticing her curiosity.

“Can we just watch?”

“Of course.”

They paused behind a table that was a little less crowded than the others. Va

“He’s a fool to keep ignoring you,” a man said near her ear in an Italian-accented voice. She glanced aside reluctantly and saw Mario standing very close. Emma stepped back to a more appropriate distance.

“The race is a pretty big deal,” she said lightly, turning her attention back to the table and the spi

“If you were mine, I’d make you my job,” he said quietly. He leaned closer yet again and whispered in her ear. “Do you know what I think? I think you’re lucky. I can sense luck from a mile away and I saw it in you the second you walked in to that restaurant tonight. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I have been utterly captivated by you since that moment.”

Emma’s eyes widened in amazement. Mario must play the part of a Lothario frequently, because he managed to make the corny statement sound completely genuine.

“Do you even remember my name?” she asked him with hushed incredulity.

He looked offended, but she had the distinct impression he was in fact fumbling for her name mentally. She resisted an urge to laugh, glancing anxiously to her left, where Va

“Take a chance with me,” Mario whispered hotly. “Luck should be with a wi

She held up her hand and stared blankly at what she held.

“Close your hand, you little fool,” Mario hissed, covering her hand with his, but not before Emma noticed what he’d given her . . .

A casino chip and a hotel room key. She stared from the items to Mario in stark disbelief. Had he really just propositioned her with Va

“I was just inviting her to play roulette, giving her a little gambling money. She looks as if she wanted to play, and I was trying to be a good host, since you were so busy,” Mario said, his anxious expression belying his cocky tone.

“Fu

Sensing his cold, sharp fury at Mario and not wanting there to be a scene, Emma tried to intervene. “It was just a misunderstanding,” Emma assured, putting her hand out to give the chip and the hotel keycard back to Mario. The men who had been talking to Va

“Damn straight, it was,” Va