Tally glanced up at Cash as he steered her through the casino to the VIP area. Multiple stares bit into the back of her head. Cash’s fame was something she’d always have to deal with, along with the envy it brought. It was hard, though, to ignore the hunger in the eyes of a few women whose greedy gazes followed him wherever he went. And because he looked particularly handsome that night, those stares seemed even more intrusive.

But after what he’d said before they’d left Rupe’s yacht, she felt secure in his love. She touched the sapphire stone nestling perfectly in her cleavage. It was just like Cash to buy an exorbitant gift, and although his extravagance sometimes made her a little uncomfortable, she knew it was his way of showing the depth of his feelings.

“This is fucking mint. How the other half live,” Emmalee whispered in her ear. And then she nudged her. “Correction, how you live now. Don’t think the rock around your neck has escaped my notice.”

Tally grinned and slipped her arm through Em’s. It was great having her there. She’d miss Cash when he started training the next day, and having Em and Rupe around for company would take the edge off her loneliness.

The concierge led them into a private room with a few gaming tables in the centre. A dozen or so patrons were already playing, chips stacked in piles in front of them, frowns of concentration drawing their brows low. Tally didn’t have a clue how to play cards, and she glanced around, hoping to spot a couple of slot machines, or at least a roulette wheel. Even she could manage that. But this was clearly where the serious gambling happened. No slots here.

“What’s the matter?” Cash said.

“I don’t know how to play,” she said, pointing her chin at the tables. “I was hoping for roulette.”

Cash curved an arm around her waist and kissed her temple. “Rupe wants to play a few hands of poker. Let me humour him, and then we can go through to the main casino.”

“Oh, no. It’s fine, honestly. Don’t do anything special for me.”

“But you are special, sweetness.”

“Jesus Christ,” Emmalee said. “If he blows any more smoke up your arse, we’re going to have to get the door widened to get your bloody head through.”

Tally stuck out her tongue as a waitress appeared with a tray of champagne, and even though it sometimes gave her a raging headache, she gambled that one glass wouldn’t hurt.

Cash and Rupe wandered over to one of the spare tables, and a croupier dealt the cards. As they casually tossed chips into the middle of the table, Tally’s eyes bugged at how much they were betting on each hand.

“High rollers or what?” Emmalee whispered. “That’s more than I make in a year.”

Tally nodded. This was wealth on a whole different scale. Even though she knew Cash had money, seeing the price of each of those chips—and how cavalier he was about spending them—brought into focus exactly how much money he had. An uncomfortable feeling stirred in her chest.

“Hitting home, is it, babes?” Emmalee said with a squeeze of her arm.

Tally’s answering smile was brief. “You know me so well.”

“I knew it would eventually. For you, that is. Me? I was born to be rich.”

“You don’t get much richer than him.” Tally nodded her head in Rupe’s direction. He had won a hand and was attempting to high-five the dealer, whose annoyance at his exuberance was barely hidden beneath her polite smile.

“I know.” Em sighed. “I wish I was attracted to him, but I’m not. He’s great company, funny, good-looking, but there’s no spark. It’s so frustrating.”

Tally laughed. “I can imagine.”

“Whatever you do, don’t mention him to Mum. She’d have me married off in five minutes flat, and sod the chemistry. But me, I need the feeling,” she said, emphasising her point with air quotes. “Like you’ve got with Cash, even though watching the two of you together is sickening.”

As though he knew they were talking about him, Cash glanced over his shoulder and cocked his head, signalling for Tally to join him.

She wandered over and rested her hands on his shoulders. “How’s it going?”

“Awful,” he said, briefly putting one hand over the top of hers. “I need my lucky charm. You.”

She watched him play, trying desperately to follow what was going on. His muscles were tense, the stress he was under having nothing to do with losing money. For Cash, it was all about winning the game, and at the moment, Rupe had the upper hand. She dug her thumbs into the base of his neck and massaged gently.

As the game went on, she began to figure out the rules. On the fifth hand, Cash’s luck seemed to turn. From that moment on, Cash’s whole body language changed. The average person wouldn’t have noticed the difference in him, but Tally did. His shoulders dropped, and he lounged in his chair, his legs splayed wide—a sure sign of confidence.

After half an hour, Cash had won back all the money he’d lost, and he gained a fair bit besides. But his success was to the detriment of Rupe, who lost every round and ended up significantly down. Rupe simply shrugged it off, swigged back the remainder of his third glass of champagne, and hit her and Emmalee with a winning smile.

“Okay, ladies. Who’s for the slots?”

“Ooh, yeah,” Em said, linking her arm through Rupe’s. They headed out onto the main casino floor, but as Tally began to follow them, Cash gripped her elbow, stopping her.

“You okay, ace?” she said.

“I am now. I like to win.”

“You don’t say.”

He tilted his head. “Are you mocking me, sweetness?”

Tally held her thumb and forefinger in the air, about half an inch apart. “Maybe just a tad.”

He laughed and slipped an arm around her waist. “Right. Let’s go and play roulette.” Cash pocketed his chips and led her to the nearest roulette table. The croupier swapped his chips for different-coloured ones.

“Why did she do that?” Tally asked, nodding at the stack of chips Cash put in front of her.

“You mean swap? Because everyone needs a different colour. Otherwise, how would they track which ones belonged to which player? See, yours are red. Mine are blue.”

“Oh, yeah. I hadn’t thought of that.” She picked one up and turned it over in her hand. “How much is each chip worth?”

Cash pressed his lips together in a slight grimace. “Two hundred and fifty euros.”

Her eyes widened as she did a quick count of the chips. “Cash, this is far too much money,” she whispered, pushing the majority of the stack over to him. He moved it back.

“It’s peanuts.”

“Peanuts?” she choked. “For you, maybe. Not for me.”

He leaned down, his mouth close to her ear. “Yes, for you. You’ve moved in. What’s mine is yours now. Get used to it.”

She shook her head. No point arguing with him—at least not here—but sometime in the not-too-distant future, they were going to have to discuss the thorny issue of money. Although she’d let Cash pay for everything since they’d got back together, the main reason was that she wasn’t earning at the moment. But she planned to put that right soon. Pete had already asked her to write an article for an upcoming feature in the paper, and she only had to say the word for him to put the feelers out for more work. As soon as she had money coming in again, she would want to contribute, even if it was only paying for the odd meal out. Yet she knew, without even having the discussion, Cash wasn’t going to be happy. Well, too bad. He’d hooked up with an independent woman—he’d have to learn to deal with it.

She started as low as she could, placing a single chip on red. The odds were two to one. Cash, on the other hand, stuck a wedge on three different numbers. The croupier spun the wheel, and once it had reached a certain speed, she tossed in the ball. Tally watched it go round and round, and eventually, the ball dropped onto the track. It bounced a few times before settling on red twelve.

“I won,” she exclaimed, shaking Cash’s arm.

“You did. Well done, baby,” he said as the croupier cleared away the losing bets, including all three of Cash’s, and passed her two chips. Easy as that, she’d doubled her money. She’d never been a gambler, but she could see the allure and how simple it would be to get drawn in.

She played a few more rounds, her excitement as well as her risk-taking increasing with each spin of the wheel. But when she noticed the stack of chips reducing in size, she decided to cut her losses.

“Sure you don’t want to play a little more?” Cash asked. When she declined, he swapped their chips, and they went off in search of Em and Rupe. After a few minutes walking around the casino, Tally spotted the two of them at the craps table. A huge crowd had amassed, and from Tally’s limited vantage point, Em was doing pretty well and had certainly enchanted the onlookers.

Tally watched as Em blew on the dice and held them up in front of Rupe. He blew on them too, then Em threw the dice down the table. They bounced at the end before coming to rest. There was a slight pause before a huge cheer went up.

“Guess she’s won,” Tally said to Cash over the noise. He nodded and eased his way through the crowd, towing her behind him. When Em spotted them, she waved madly.

“There you are. Come on, Tally, give it a try.”

Tally shook her head and pressed the dice back into Em’s hands. “No, you go.”

Em shrugged and threw the dice once more, launching herself at Rupe when she won again, the two of them whooping and hollering like a pair of kids.

Tally grinned up at Cash. This was such a fun night. The smell of the casino, the noise of the crowd, and Cash’s firm body close by all contributed to the excited fizzing in her stomach.

After they’d watched Em and Rupe for a while, Cash’s arms snaked around her waist, and he tugged her gently away from the crowd.

“Let’s go,” he whispered.

“Okay, I’ll grab Em.”

“No,” he said, his teeth gently grazing her earlobe. “Leave them. Rupe will take care of her.”

Tally leaned into him, intense need unfurling in her abdomen. Cash’s hot tongue traced a path from her earlobe, down her neck, and she held back a groan.

“Come on. I’ve had to wait hours to do what I wanted to do ever since you walked out of the bedroom in that dress.”

“And what’s that?” she teased.

“Sweetness, don’t tempt me, because you know I have no boundaries.”

She clenched her core in an attempt to control the flood of desire. Cash didn’t wait for her to agree. He simply swept her out of the casino. When he flicked his wrist, a car pulled up, and he eased her inside.