I didn’t have to wait at the bar and hope to get noticed in less than twenty minutes? The wait was one of the reasons I liked tending bar at Copper Summit. I made everyone feel seen.
Gideon and the server waited for my answer. I needed food, but I didn’t want to be uncouth and ask ifthey had anything edible. Who knew what I’d get served in Vegas. “A Bloody Mary with extra celery and load up on the olives, please. Make it a whole salad.” I laughed nervously. The heat of Gideon’s stare was on me.
The server’s lips curled into a sexy smile. “Of course.”
“Oh—and can I get it with bourbon instead? Do you carry any Copper Summit in-house?”
Her smile dipped. “I’m sorry. No Copper Summit is served on Silver property.”
I rolled aReally?gaze toward Gideon.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Give her the Pappy, Sera.”
She dipped her head and was off.
“Pappy,” I scoffed, failing to be unimpressed.
“You don’t care for it?”
I adored Pappy Van Winkle. Daddy had splurged when we were all past the Bailey acceptable age for tasting bourbon and bought a bottle. Copper Summit was an excellent bourbon, but we were just starting to price our bottles in the mid-three figures. “It’s just how you casually ordered a thousand-dollar bourbon. For acocktail.”
The ghost of a smile was back, but his gaze intensified. “You’re mistaken. Sera knows the Pappy I mean is a bottle of twenty-four-year-old family reserve. It’s five grand a bottle.”
I choked. “What?” Excitement welled inside me until it pushed up through my chest and a smile exploded. “I don’t know if Daddy would be proud or horrified that I get to have Pappy in a mixed drink like it’s bottom shelf— Oh.” Five grand a bottle? “I didn’t tend enough bar this summer to afford that.” I couldafford the whole bottle, but I didn’t want to spend my savings on another company’s spirits. Both sets of my parents had instilled a sense of fiscal responsibility. My birth parents because of how they’d lost everything, and my adoptive parents because they couldn’t help themselves.
“You think I’m putting it on your tab?” His eyes glittered as he considered me. “You’re my guest, Autumn.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
There was a why. I just didn’t know it yet. My best guess was that he was a predator, and I looked like a scared fawn if there ever was one. Maybe he liked to toy with his kills. Maybe he was planning a bigger humiliation for me than getting rejected for my schoolteacher fashion style. Maybe. But I’d go down drinking damn good bourbon.
“Oh! I like this song.” I whipped my head back and forth, my hair flying. An electric dance song pulsed and a roar came from the dance floor.
Gideon had taken his suit coat off and hung it on the hook at the corner booth. The server had offered to take it for him. Was that a thing? His arms were stretched on either side. The Rosé Vintage he’d ordered was a Dom Pérignon. Half of the bottle was gone, and I was on my third bourbon Bloody Mary.
I popped a plump green olive into my mouth. I’d had close to an entire jar of olives, a full bunch of celery, and a pint of cherry tomatoes. Those were a delight to find impaled on a stick in my drink.
I wiggled to the music.
“I should find my friends.” I didn’t have to yell, this seat was fairly isolated, but I was fueled by Pappy. Still, I could shout, and I wouldn’t bother anyone.
The booth had a curtain! When I asked if the seats would glow under a black light, I’d gotten a funny look from Gideon. Was he regretting whatever he’d said to the bouncers?
“Why are you worried about your friends?”
I lifted a shoulder. I wasn’t missing them. I had zero messages on my phone. For the first two drinks, I’d asked Gideon about Silver and what his job entailed. He’d told me about upcoming renovations, which was crazy. The casino had opened only five years ago and it was considered outdated?
“They might worry.” I took a tomato off the spear.
Guilt was starting to build, making my neck itch, when he pointed to the dance floor. “Is your crew out there?”
I had to lean close to him to see the dance floor. This booth had a view of the whole club, but there were a ton of writhing bodies on the dance floor. I spotted Brittany’s topknot. Kaitlyn and Destiny were behind her next to an attractive guy with his shirt half-unbuttoned. He was either sweaty or he had a lot of hair product in. Either one was Destiny’s type.
“They’re doing well,” I said, a bit too chipper.
“You want to join them?” His voice was deceptively casual, but his gaze was shrewd.
