Fool Me Once (First Wives #1)

His eyes told her he understood. With a tiny squeeze of her hand, he let her go.

Shannon tilted her head. “Thank you. Do you have a name other than Mr. Single?”

“You’ve been talking about me.”

Lori felt like she was sixteen years old, caught talking about the new kid in school. She tried to hide her embarrassment.

He reached across Lori. “I’m Reed.”

“Nice to meet you, Reed. This is my friend Lori.”

“Lori.” It sounded as if he was testing her name with the weight of the sigh he used when saying it.

The heat on her neck felt unnatural.

“Now that we have the names straight, what should I bet on now?”

The ball was already rolling.

“Let it ride on red.”

“I never let it ride.”

He stopped her hand from pulling her chips away. His lips moved close to her ear again. “What are you worried about, losing Sugar Daddy’s money?”

Before she could pull the chips away, the croupier waved a hand over the table, indicating she’d lost her opportunity to back out.

“Twenty-seven, red.”

She sighed, and once she’d been paid out, she removed her chips. Not that she worried about losing forty dollars. Hell, she was down two hundred and she’d only been in the casino for forty minutes. Gambling in general was outside her control spectrum. A little bit was fine, exciting even . . . but if any real money was involved, she’d probably break out in hives before the ball settled on a number.

“No guts to do it again?” Reed asked.

She pointed to the table. “Where’s your bet?”

“Touché.” He removed his wallet, placed a hundred-dollar bill on red.

The croupier made quick work of removing the cash and replacing it with several green chips.

Less than a minute later, twenty-one, red was called.

Lori stood back to watch, her hands tightening in on themselves with each rotation of the ball.

All she noticed was the color when the ball dropped.

Red.

Reed let it ride.

“You’re nuts,” she whispered.

Lori wasn’t sure if his reckless gambling was because of his cocky self-assuredness or if he was just a man using his money to flirt with her. Either one was slightly flattering.

Four spins later, Reed was up sixteen hundred dollars. Only then did he pull off the hundred dollars he started with.

“You’re going to leave it there?”

He shrugged with a grin.

The other players at the table were watching. Others were putting their money on black, muttering his luck was about to run out.

Lori held her breath, the ball bounced. “Twelve, red.”

Even Shannon was speechless.

Lori was sweating, and it wasn’t her money.

“You’re not a gambler,” he observed.

She looked up to find his eyes laughing at her. “Apparently not.”

“Sir?” the croupier caught Reed’s attention.

He smirked like it was a natural thing for him to leave three grand on the table riding on a color. “Leave it,” Reed told him.

By now a small crowd had gathered to watch.

Lori leaned in. “You’re crazy.”

He leaned closer. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone, Lori. You should try it.”

None of the other players placed bets on the table as the ball rolled.

“Three, red.”

“Dude is lucky.”

“Holy crap,” a man behind them said.

The noise grew around them as spectators took in Reed’s pile of chips, chips equaling six thousand dollars that looked like a pot of gold to Lori.

“Sir?”

“Well, Lori, should I walk away?”

Walk, hell, she’d be running.

Her heart sped and she found herself shaking her head. “Let it ride.” She couldn’t believe the words came from her lips. She wanted to retract them but heard an opposing counsel in her head shouting “objection.”

He winked. “You’re learning.”

Shannon leaned close. “Crazy.”

The croupier signaled his manager.

The delay in spinning the wheel had Lori looking around. She glanced at the plaque on the table indicating a five-thousand-dollar limit.

The manager spoke with the croupier and glanced at the previous winning red numbers on the digital board above the table. A single nod and the ball spun.

Lori gripped the edge of the table, her eyes following the ball, with suspended breath.

Just when the ball bounced onto twenty-one, red, it flipped out and settled on four.

“Four, black.” The deep tone of the croupier sounded as disappointed as Lori felt.

A collective sigh from those watching hummed in the air, and the six thousand dollars in chips were taken away.

Lori hung her head, her hands still buzzed with excitement.

Reed reached across the table, leaving the hundred dollars he started with at the croupier’s side as a tip.

“Well, that was fun,” Shannon said with a lift in her voice.

“How about that drink?” Reed asked Lori.

The music from the singles mixer was blaring through the doors of the ship’s nightclub.

Lori was keenly aware of the proximity of the man moving beside her. She hadn’t felt this high on a man’s attention in so long that she had forgotten how warm and fuzzies felt.

“There’s Avery and Trina,” Shannon said over the noise of the music and people.

The three of them weaved through the crowd until they reached the high-top table their friends were standing around.

Avery sized Reed up before saying hello. “Are you Mr. Single?”

Lori felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

He reached out a hand. “I’m Reed.”

Avery made a little growling noise and winked at Lori before introducing herself and Trina.

“You need one of these.” Avery took a pen and self-sticking nametags from the table and started to write down their names.

“What’s this for?” Shannon asked.

“It’s a mixer. We need to mix,” Avery said as if that explained everything.

It wasn’t long before a cocktail waiter took their order, delivered their drinks. There weren’t any real rules except one. Every time the bell rang, you moved to another person.

Lori started in front of Reed.

“You have a wild look in your eyes.”

She looked over to find Trina fidgeting while she spoke with a man twice her age who slid up beside her at the first bell.

“I do?” Lori didn’t meet his gaze.

Reed paused. “You’re worried about your friend.”

Lori watched for signs of distress on Trina’s face. “She’s, uhm . . .” Lori didn’t finish her sentence when the bell rang. Without another word, she rushed to cut off another guy walking Trina’s way.

“You okay?”

“This isn’t blending,” Trina pointed out.

Lori looked around, saw Shannon being hit on by a redhead. A single nod and Shannon got the hint. “It’s a twenty-minute meet and greet, and we’re done.” Lori made light of it and extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Lori.”

Trina smiled. “I’m being silly.”

The bell rang, and Shannon took Lori’s place.

Lori found Reed in front of her again. “Do you always take care of your friends?”

“Don’t you?” she asked.

“You’re assuming I have friends.”

She wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. The man had quite the poker face. “A man without friends . . .”

The bell rang.