He winks at me, which is bold for him. I like that bold Axel is back even if his confidence is currently built off the fact he thinks he's a luckless loser. He turns his sculpted torso back to the machine, reaches up, and cranks the lever old school, even though you can now just hit a button on the machine instead. The machine spins and flashes and makes a bunch of annoying noises.
Four Leaf Clover. Seven. Top Hat.
Not a winner.
He pulls the handle again.
Another non-winning combination.
Again.
Same thing.
He looks up at me with the biggest ‘I told you so’ look on his face. Billy is standing behind Frankie, but watching us. He points. “See? Statistics don’t lie, people. We’re all losers here.”
“You’re a World Champion two times over,” I remind him. “What’s the English expression I’m looking for… Shut the fuck up.”
Everyone crows with laughter, including Axel. I squeeze his shoulder and lean down, whispering in his ear. “Just so you know, even if you aren’t lucky here, I can guarantee you’ll be lucky later. If you want.”
A visible shiver ripples down his spine and his hand jerks as my lips ghost his neck. He pulls the lever inadvertently.
Four Leaf Clover. Four Leaf Clover. Four Leaf Clover.
The machine erupts in bells and whistles, sirens and lights. The total on the counter starts spinning and ends at $5,000.
“Axel Walsh just beat the odds,” Billy hollers as he laughs.
“Guess I’m your lucky charm, just like you’re mine,” I tell him.
He turns three shades of pink before covering his face with his hands and laughing into them while everyone around him jumps and cheers.
19AXEL
I’m so damnhot my shirt is sticking to me but if you think I’m leaving this dance floor you are dead fucking wrong. Because I’m chest-to-chest with Gabriel and his hips are bumping mine as his arms are draped lazily over my shoulders and it’s the closest to heaven I’ll probably ever be.
“You arehard,” I whisper-shout into his ear.
“Because you aregorgeous.” He pushes his hips against mine again and I feel his length, solid and thick against my pelvis.
After my big win, we cashed out and Lucia and Frankie insisted we go dancing. So now here we are, two and a half hours after midnight, in the middle of a packed dance floor at a club in the bowels of an off-strip hotel. I'm drunk and horny and, for the first time in way too long, happy. And it has nothing to do with the five grand in my pocket either.
“You are the one who looks like a model right now,” I tell him and yank him even closer with my arm that’s wrapped around his waist. “You’re hotter than a crocodile sunning himself on the equator.”
Gabriel laughs, tipping his head back and exposing that long, thick neck of his. My mouth waters at the sight. I bet it tastes salty and delicious and if I nuzzle him there he'll still smell like that aftershave he wears which is dark and sensuous like leather and sandalwood. I do it without even thinking. Nuzzle him and let my tongue slip out and taste his skin. My thoughts were spot on and, oh God, I could come from it.
He digs the long, strong fingers of his left hand into my hair, gripping it and pulling my head back. It's a little rough and a total turn-on. "You keep that up Axel, and I am fucking you tonight.”
“Is that a promise or a threat?”
I’m playing with fire. And my feelings are a puddle of gasoline. If they ignite, this will end badly. I amnotsupposed to have feelings here.
“It’s both,” Gabriel replies, leaning in so close our lips are almost touching. “I want you, Axel. So much I can barely breathe.”
And that’s it. Those words and the soft yearning look in his midnight blue eyes are the match that ignites my feelings. The stupid things that have gotten me into nothing but trouble every time I give in to them. “I want you too. More than I can stand.”
He’s holding my head now, between his hands, and our lips brush but then suddenly there’s another hand gripping my shoulder from behind and pulling me backward. It’s my best friend. Or should I say former best friend because the title should definitely be stripped from Billy for interrupting this moment. “We’re heading home, and I think you two should too. Before you’re bounced from the club for having sex in public.”
“We weren’t having sex,” Gabriel replies. “Yet.”
