Cassie and I are making our way through one of the casinos, where the metallic jangling of virtual change and the bright lights on the tops of the machines are bursting with color.

We had a long talk with her parents and brother. They told me she’d already given them a heads-up, days ago, to not believe anything they read in the papers. This meant we had to actually convince them that what happened on stage last night actually was real, and not orchestrated.

The thing that convinced them was the fact that Cassie really had dropped out of the pageant and would really be going home empty-handed.

“I think you made a lot of girls happy by quitting,” I say, taking her hand in mine. “You really thinned out the competition.”

“I suppose so,” she says, digging around in her purse. “All I know is that I am done with pageants. It’s not my life’s calling, anyway.”

“And what is your life’s calling?” I ask, pulling her closer to me.

“I don’t know yet,” she replies with a smirk, “but I have a few ideas.”

Cassie slides her arm around me and keeps digging around in her purse with her other hand.

“What are you looking for in there?” I ask, peering down at her.

“I wanted to put a twenty in one of the machines,” she says, looking at me and smiling. “You always hear about people who never gamble, and then on the way out of the casino they throw a twenty in a machine and end up winning.”

“That’s a fantastic idea,” I say, rubbing my hands together. “Are any of the machines calling to you?”

“Not really,” she says, scrunching up her face, “let’s just pick one randomly.”

She leads me by the hand to the nearest vacant machine, where she perches on the edge of the chair and slides her money into the slot.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she says to me as she looks down at the buttons. “It is highly unlikely that we will actually win.”

“Come on Cass,” I say, “you have just as much a shot as anyone else.”

I put my hands on her shoulders from behind her and dig my fingers gently into her skin. She is more relaxed than I think I’ve ever seen her.

“Here I go,” she says, pushing a button to place the maximum bet with her twenty dollars.

We watch the machine intently, and I have to admit, I get a little bit excited. Cherries scroll across the screen at lightning speed, and for a minute I think we actually might win something.

A little bell goes off and I raise my eyebrows as she whips her head up to look at me.

“Twenty bucks!” she says excitedly, clapping her hands.

“Wait,” I say, “twenty dollars? But that’s what we started with.”

“I know, but that means we didn’t lose anything!”

Cassie pushes the button to redeem her twenty bucks and pulls the crisp white voucher from the machine, holding it between her fingers like she’s won a million dollars.

“Not bad,” I laugh, putting my arm around her, “now let’s get you home before you make a bad habit out of this.”

“Would you mind holding this for me until we find a machine to redeem it?” she asks, handing me the voucher.

“Sure,” I reply, sliding it into my back pocket.

I feel so damn good with Cassie Blake on my arm. And I know this is just the beginning for us, which feels even better.

I exhale, feeling so damn free and so damn certain about what’s going to come next.

“Hey,” I say as we keep walking, “we still have about a half hour before our bus leaves.”

“What do you want to do?” she asks, “get a snack? Smoothie? Frozen yogurt? Soft pretzel?

I look down at her, pull her close to me, and press my body against hers. She already knows what I’m thinking.

“We don’t even have to be careful anymore,” she breathes, putting her arms around my neck slowly.

“We were never all that careful to begin with,” I reply, putting my hands on her hips, allowing them to roam over her curves. I spot a small area off the main casino, labeled “High Rollers,” and grab her hand to bring her over to it. There’s no one here, and the entrance isn’t being guarded. I take that to mean we can just go in.

“What are we doing?” she asks mischievously, checking behind us as I pull her away from the crowds.

“What the hell do you think?” I ask, spotting a mens’ room.

I flash a look and raise an eyebrow toward her, and her face instantly flushes and becomes pink. She bites her bottom lip and looks up at me sheepishly.

“You wouldn’t,” she says softly, looking behind us again.

“Why are you checking to see if anyone is watching, if you don’t think I’d do it?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugs sweetly.

“Only if it’s nice,” I say, pulling her toward it.

We tumble into the bathroom and I shut the door behind us, locking it quickly. But it isn’t a bathroom - the room we find ourselves in is a small lounge, and I think there are probably bathrooms behind one of the doors on the wall off to the right, but where we are there’s a wall of mirrors, dim, golden lighting, and a black leather couch.

I pull her close to me, taking her ass in my hands and pushing her against the wall.

“So is this nice enough?” I growl, kissing her neck, “or do you want me to stop?”

My fingers find the edge of her panties and I slide them past, feeling her sticky sweet juices already making her so fucking wet.

“It’s nice,” she moans as I glide my fingers against her clit, “really nice.”

We only have time for something fast, so I put her down and spin her around, pushing her hands against the black, textured wall.

“Stay right there like that,” I say, kneeling down behind her, pushing her dress up around her waist and yanking her black lace thong down.

She has soaked through her panties, and I find her tight hole with my tongue, pressing my way inside her as I massage her clit in small circles.

Her breathing picks up quickly, and I reach down to take my cock out as I stand.

“You like it fast and dirty like this, don’t you?” I growl, pressing my lips to the back of her ear. I line up up my cock with her soaking wet, tight hole and slice through her, making her head fall back against my chest.

“Yes,” she moans, “I like it.”

“You’re gonna stay with me, right Cass?” I groan, pushing in and out of her as hard as I can, “you’re gonna move into my apartment with me where I’m gonna screw your brains out every damn night.”

“Jason,” she moans lightly, “are you asking me to move in with you?”

I smile to myself. I guess I am. But that’s not all I want her to do.

“Yeah baby,” I groan, feeling her pussy tense up around me. I keep my fingers on her clit, hitting it from every angle I can, trying to push her to an orgasm as fast as possible. “Now cum with me right now.”

“Oh fuck,” she moans, her hands slipping down the wall. She steadies herself on her elbows and I explode inside her, shooting myself deep inside as I take her hips in both of my hands and press her ass up against me.

I let out a deep breath as my cock sputters and jerks inside her.

She rests her head against my chest as I wrap my arms around her waist. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this damn satisfied before.

No, scratch that - I have never felt as damn happy as I feel right now, in every way.

And I’m going to keep her just like this, begging me for more every day and night, and giving her everything she wants until she’s absolutely spoiled.

Because whatever she is - beauty queen, prom queen, or the girl next door - she’s mine now, and she always will be.