There, much better.
Heather pulled the lever.
Nothing.
“Maybe I’m not doing it right,” Jase suggested, this time putting both hands on her shoulders and kneading the muscles in a brilliant effort to win her some pennies.
That should work for sure. She pulled the handle. One buffalo. Two buffalos. Three buffalos.
She sat taller. Jase’s hands stilled their massage.
Four buffalos.
She let out a huge “whoop,” and the light on top of the row started flashing. The machine made the sound of a billion pennies crashing through the chute, and the number counter of her winnings whirred along. And along. And along.
It kept going.
And going.
“Oh my God, I hit the jackpot.” She jumped from her seat and tossed herself at Jase.
He stepped back on one foot, catching her in his embrace.
The machine rolled to a stop. “How much did I win?” she asked, breathless.
He checked the meter. “Forty dollars.”
She did an internal fist pump. “Hot damn.”
Forty dollars and a neck rub.
“I’m not even going to tell you what you could’ve won if you’d done the max bet.” He bit at his bottom lip. “Ready to go again?”
“Hell. No.” She clicked the cash-out button and removed her card. “We are done at this casino. That’s the problem with gambling, you get sucked in when you should stop. I mean, I’ve multiplied my five dollars eight times over. Time to call it a night.”
“It’s still only five thirty,” he said, deadpan.
She gave him a not-gonna-gamble-my-winnings look. “Well…what do you want to do?”
He stepped close to her, right up in her space, reaching for her ponytail, pulling it over her shoulder and toying with the end of it. “I have an idea.”
Oh. The ponytail-pulling kind of idea could be really fun. “That would make us the worst chaperones in the history of chaperoning.”
“And?” He raised an eyebrow in her direction.
Well, his grandmother was occupied for a while and they had nothing to do.
“And I think it’s a fantastic idea.” She grabbed his hand and beelined for the elevators to their suite.
He’d insisted they get one of the three-bedroom variety with a sitting room. That way they could keep an eye on Babushka and Morty. Heather and Babushka bunked up in one room, Jase in another, and Morty in the third.
She paused at the jewelry store just outside the bank of elevators. “Oh. Look.” She took an inventory at the glass, glancing over all of the glittering diamonds. “We should go in.”
Just because she was going to have fun with Jase didn’t mean she wasn’t going to buy herself that promise ring. And she’d neglected shopping for it for way too many days.
Still scanning the rings in the window, Jase laid a hand at her waist. “Do you want to come with me, or stay here and stare at the pretty things?” he whispered against her ear.
His breath against her earlobe caused her blood to heat and her nerves to go haywire. “Come with you. Definitely come with you.”
