The word “does” came out sounding like “dosh,” and it hit me that she was starting to get tipsy.
Alanna hid a smile. “Not usually. It’s a fairly intense space for gaming. Very serious players.”
“Well then, thanks but no thanks,” Nina grinned at her. She hitched her thumb toward me. “We’re here for the party, you know? Been working super hard. I want to get crazy.”
Oh yeah, Nina was definitely a little drunk. Usually, I found drunk people annoying. I got enough of it from the guests on the ship…but Nina? She was just so cute like this.
“Excellent, understood,” Alanna nodded. “The you’ll want to make your way to our main gaming space. It’s quite spirited. You’ll be in good company.”
“Perfect! But not before I finish this…” she pointed at the plate in front of her and leaned closer to catch the chef’s eye. “What’s it called again?”
“It’s a tartufo,” he answered.
“Sogood!” Nina pounded her spoon on the table, and a laugh broke free from my chest.God, but she shouldn’t be this endearing. “Everything was. Can I just stay here and keep eating forever?”
She listed back and forth in her seat.
Oh hell. I was in for quite the night with Little Miss Tipsy.
We finished up, and when I stood to leave, I felt like I was on a boiling sea. The ground went wavy, and I had to lock my knees to keep from stumbling.
Hold on. WasItipsy too?
No, impossible. I always keep track of how many drinks I have, and tonight I’d only had…damn it, I couldn’t remember. It couldn’t have been more than four.
Or was it five?
I wasn’t even sure what they were serving. All I knew was that every tumbler went down smooth and easy.
“To the craps table!” Nina demanded, pointing ahead like a general.
I chuckled. “So you’re in charge tonight, huh?”
She fluttered her eyelashes, exaggerated, at me. “Yeah,” she practically purred. “Do you think you can handle it?”
Fuck. “I can handle anything you can dish out.”
Another giggle. “We’ll see.”
Nina stumbled, and I reached out to steady her. My hand landed on her waist and remained there even after she was back on two feet. My rule-following business brain told me that resting my hand on the sweet, soft curve of her hip for longer than two seconds bordered on inappropriate, but whatever had been in those tumblers convinced me that holding on was a fantastic idea.
She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled, which seemed to convey that she thought so too. I moved my hand to the small of her back and left it there under the guise of leading her through the busy kitchen.
We made it to the main gaming floor in one piece, even though Nina held onto the escalator with two hands, like it was an unsteady amusement park ride.
I leaned closer to her as we descended into the chaos. “Are you okay?”
She giggled. “Absolutely! Areyouokay, Mr. Can’t-Walk-In-A-Straight-Line?”
I jerked backward. “What are you talking about?”
She snorted. “Nothing.”
I covered up the fact that I tripped getting off the escalator by speeding up into a jog, then reached back to take Nina’s hand.
To steady her, of course, but once I was holding it, I didn’t want to let go.
We wound up at the noisiest craps table in the entire casino. Nina was ready to throw money down immediately, but I convinced her to stand back for a few rounds to let the table cool down. Interrupting a good run was considered bad luck, plus I wanted to give her a crash course in the game.
