Chapter 13 #2
"Oh, well, I love making you blush." He winks at me. “Though most times I like it when it's in the bedroom.” I smile at him and just shake my head.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Laurence." A man in a black suit hurries over to us and holds his hand out.
"Good afternoon, Dmitri. Good to see you again. This is—" he pauses, "my girlfriend, Willow." Dmitri looks surprised but nods and smiles at me.
"Nice to meet you, Willow."
"It's nice to meet you, as well." My heart flutters at the introduction, and I look over at Sebastian in surprise. When Dmitri finally walks off, I poke him in the stomach.
"I'm your girlfriend?"
"I know. I should have asked you first. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to rush anything. I just felt it at that moment." He looks as if he feels nervous and worried, and I quickly touch him on the side of his arm.
"I like the term," I say. "I’ve never been called a girlfriend so quickly before in my life."
"I guess I’ve never been someone’s boyfriend so quickly before either.
" He chuckles. “This feels like it’s going really fast between us, but this is a really special trip, and I wanted you to know that it’s not just about sex.
I wanted you to know that there’s a deeper, more real emotion.
I just like spending time with you, and while I do love being with you and sleeping with you, I don’t want you to think that you’re my plaything.
I don’t want you to think that I brought you to Vegas just for some kinky fun.
I wanted you to know this is more than just that for me. ”
“It’s more than just hot sex for me, as well," I say with a wink, and he shakes his head and chuckles.
"Oh look, there’s an ATM," he says. "You want to get some money?"
"Sure," I say, walking slowly, my heart sinking.
I put in my card and type in my PIN, quickly checking my balance so that he can’t see the number on the screen.
My heart sinks when I see that I have a little over three hundred dollars.
I really shouldn’t be taking out any money to gamble, but maybe—if I get really lucky—I’ll quadruple it, and then it will have been worth it.
I decide to withdraw one hundred and forty dollars, even though my subconscious tells me that I’m taking out far too much money. But I know I can’t take out twenty dollars; Sebastian would laugh at me.
I grab the twenty-dollar notes and hold them up to him.
"I got my money. I’m ready to gamble."
"Awesome," he says. "Do you want to play a couple of games before we check into the room, or would you like to go to the room first?"
"I don’t mind. You choose."
"Let’s play some blackjack and then we can head up. If you didn’t know, I absolutely love gambling."
"I didn’t know that, but I’m glad I do now."
"Yeah, I think it’s the adrenaline rush. There’s nothing like winning a couple of hundred thousand dollars."
"A couple of hundred thousand dollars? Wow."
He chuckles. "Well, I play high tables."
"Let’s not play at any high tables today," I say, smiling. "I don’t think my money’s going to stretch that far."
"No worries," he says, giving me a sideways glance. "I’ll let you keep your millions."
"Yeah, thanks," I say, laughing. "Funny."
We head inside to a room to the right of us, and he guides me over to a table. We take two seats.
"Hi, we’d like to cash in, please," he says to the croupier standing in front of us.
"Sure. Money on the table, please."
I put my cash on the table and look around.
The room is loud, and there are many people gambling—some concentrating on the cards in their hands, others flirting with people at their tables, and many just drinking.
A lady walks up to us with a small smile in a very tight top.
"Hi, welcome to the Bellagio. Would you like something to drink? "
Sebastian answers and nods toward me. "What would you like, Willow?"
"A Coke, please."
"Sure, and for you, sir?"
"I’ll have a gin and tonic," he says.
"I’ll be right back."
"Isn’t she going to ask for a card?" I ask him, and he just shakes his head.
"The drinks are free when you gamble."
"Oh, wow," I say, my eyes widening. “I’m shocked that they would give away drinks for free.”
"They make it back by all the money that we lose," he says.
"Oh. I don’t know what to say to that." My heart sinks as the croupier gives me my chips, and I really hope that I don’t lose them.
"Fifteen-dollar buy-in," the dealer says, and I place my chips forward. Fifteen dollars seems like a lot of money, but I’m not going to say anything.
"Well, let’s make some money.” I smile at Sebastian, and he chuckles.
He pulls out a couple of hundred dollars and gets his own chips.
We play a couple of rounds, and I realize that even though the game of blackjack is quite simple, it’s really hard to get twenty-one—and it’s really hard to beat the dealer.
Within ten minutes, I’ve lost all my money, and I think I’m going to hyperventilate.
I feel like I’m going to throw up. I’ve never wasted so much money so quickly.
Money that could have been used for my hotel. I feel guilty.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sebastian leans forward and touches me on the shoulder. "Your face is pale. Shall we get you some water?"
"I’m okay. I’m just surprised that I lost all my money so quickly." My voice cracks. "We weren’t even playing for an hour."
"It’s okay. What did you have, like three hundred dollars?"
He looks confused. He wouldn’t understand why losing any money would be a big deal.
"It was less than that," I say, licking my lips. "Can we go to the room? I’d like to splash my face with some water and just relax for a little bit. Maybe I’m just a little tired from the flight."
"Sure," he says, jumping up. He grabs my hand, and we head toward the elevator.
"Oh no," I say, stopping dead. "I forgot—we didn’t get our drinks yet. Will she be mad at us? Oh my gosh, I feel so bad. We can go back if you think we should wait."
"It’s okay," he says. "She can give them to someone else. Come on."
He pulls me toward him and rubs my shoulders. "You look really upset, Willow. I can tell by the way your eyes don’t have that light in them that something’s wrong. Please, tell me."
"I guess I just didn’t expect to lose my money so quickly. I mean, it was fun, but—"
"How much did you lose?" He frowns. "Did I miss something?"
"It was only a hundred and forty dollars, but to me..." My voice trails off. I don’t want to say that it was half of my net worth because that sounds pathetic.
"Oh, that’s not so bad, right?" he says as we wait for the elevator.
"Yeah, I guess for a lot of people it wouldn’t be."
He frowns slightly, and I watch as he grabs his wallet from his pocket. His gaze lingers on me in a contemplative fashion.
"Hey," he says, and I watch as he opens his wallet and pulls out a stack of hundred-dollar notes.
"W-what are you doing?" I stammer as I look at him.
He hands me a bunch of notes, and I take a step back.
"This is for you, Willow."
"No, Sebastian." My voice is loud now. "That is far too much money. I don’t want any of your money. I cannot take your money—especially not to gamble with."
"It’s only ten thousand dollars," he says, laughing. "That’s nothing to me. I want you to have fun on this trip, and I don’t want you to worry about money."
"Oh, gosh. I mean, I guess it is for you."
"Sorry, what?" he asks, staring at me.
"I just don’t want money to come between us."
"Look, Willow. I understand that you’re not really a gambler and you don’t want to lose your hard-earned money.
Plus, you’re my girlfriend now, and I want to spoil you.
I want you to have this ten thousand dollars so that when we play some more blackjack, you don’t have to look like you’re about to die if you lose it. "
"Why do I feel like I’m in the movie Indecent Proposal?" I say, shaking my head.
"It’s not a million dollars I’m offering you," he chuckles. "Plus, we’ve already fucked."
"What?" I roll my eyes at him. "Really?"
"I mean, I’m just saying—doesn’t Demi Moore get offered a million dollars to sleep with Robert Redford?"
"I mean, yeah, but—"
"Nothing. I’m only giving you ten thousand, and you’re my girlfriend, and we’ve already had sex, so—"
"So what are you saying?"
"I’m saying this doesn’t make you some sort of escort or prostitute. It just makes you my woman."
"I guess I still don’t want to take it, Sebastian."
"I understand," he says, "but I want you to take it."
"Why?"
"Because I like you. A lot."
"I like you, too," I say.
"I would hope so, seeing as you’re my girlfriend now." He chuckles.
"Well, it’s not like you actually asked me."
"If I’d asked, what would you have said?"
"I mean, I guess I would’ve said yes. I just didn’t expect you to put a label on us so quickly. I feel like men never want to do that."
"Do you think I’m moving too fast?" he asks.
"I know for a lot of people they would think everything is moving really quickly, but it just feels right to me."
"Honestly? It feels right to me, as well," I say softly. "I’m not going to question it because it just feels magical."
"I had a feeling you would feel the same way I do. You’ve just been really easygoing and great about everything. To be honest, I’ve surprised myself. I don’t normally move this quickly either, but there’s just something in the way that you make me feel."
"I make you feel special, huh, Sebastian?"
"You do.”
“You know, after my last situationship—which was really just this random guy that I met—I guess I was ready for something fun and magical. I guess I was just ready for someone like you."
"I guess I came along at the right time, then,” he says, nodding slowly.
He pulls me into him and presses his lips against mine. I run my fingers down the side of his face. He pulls back slightly, grabs my neck, and looks at me.
“You’ve captivated me, Willow. You’ve captivated me in a way that makes me question my own sanity. Sometimes when I look at you, I can’t quite believe that you’re real.”
“I 100 percent understand." I nod slowly. "I was actually thinking that when we were in the limo."
"You were?" he asks, and I nod again.
"When I was looking at you sitting there… it just felt surreal. I couldn’t believe this is my real life—that I’m with you, and you seem to feel the same way that I do."
"You want to check out the suite now?" he whispers in my ear.
"Definitely," I respond.
He grins, and I can feel my heart on fire. Everything feels perfect—but that also makes me slightly uncomfortable, because nothing in life is ever perfect. And sometimes, when I look into his eyes, there are flashes of uncertainty that I see, and I don’t understand why.
"You okay, Sebastian?"
He looks down at me and frowns. "Yeah. Why would you ask me that?"
"I don’t know. I’m not sure if you called me your girlfriend because you didn’t want me to feel like some sort of hoe, and I don’t know if you think we’re moving too fast, or if you regret bringing me here."
"Not at all," he says. "In fact, I’m on cloud nine. Does that make me sound crazy?"
"No. But then maybe I’m crazy, as well."
"I guess maybe we’re both a little bit crazy, right?” He kisses me on the cheek.
"That’s what I always say.” I nod in agreement and laugh.
"I guess you’re the sort of woman who takes the bull by the horns and just rides it, huh?" His eyes are dark as he stares at my lips.
"Well, right now, I don’t want to ride a bull," I say, running my fingers down the side of his chest.
"Oh?" He looks down at me, his voice low and throaty. "What do you want to ride?"
"You, big boy."
I rise on my tiptoes and kiss him.
"I’m ready to ride you all night long."