Adam Cole had announced that they would be spending the first night of the vacation in the casino that was part of the resort they were staying in. It hadn't been the most surprising news Alexa had ever gotten. Of course her client wanted to flaunt how much money he had by gambling a bunch of it away in front of her and whatever other business types they might bump into. Still, that was none of her concern. As she had been reminded several times, her job was to look good and act stupid. Insecurity was presumably the reason that Cole couldn't countenance being in a relationship, even a fake one, with an intelligent woman.
Well, he wants me to look good, let's see what he thinks to this, Alexa thought as she looked in the mirror in their room's luxurious bathroom. They were staying in what was called The Sapphire Suite. It was on the top floor of the hotel, and provided a truly breath-taking view of the ocean and the beach, which was only a walk of a minute or so from their location. The suite had every convenience and luxury money could hope to buy, including a complimentary bottle of champagne, and an incredibly large bed that Cole had promised her they would make full use of. What amused her was that he seemed to think she was actually looking forward to sleeping with him, rather than doing it as part of a booking that he had paid a lot of money for.
Happy with the white sleeveless dress that showed plenty of cleavage and leg, and with her hair and makeup that she had spent more than an hour doing, Alexa opened the bathroom door and walked out into the room. She found Cole standing in front of a mirror on the far side of the room, using it to perfectly fix the tie he was wearing. He had changed into a black shirt and a dark grey suit, and had put his hair up into what Alexa was fairly sure she was supposed to call a man bun, as awful as that sounded, and looked.
Hearing the bathroom door open, Cole turned to face her and smiled with his customary arrogance. "How do I look?" he asked.
A gentleman would have complimented me before asking about himself, Alexa thought behind the smile that she gave him. "You don't polish up too badly."
He laughed loudly. "I kind of like your attitude, Ms Bliss. But none of that when we're in public."
"I know," she smiled sweetly. "I'll be all doughy eyed, trust me."
"You're fucking beautiful, you know that?" Cole said, walking over to her, looking her up and down.
"Thank you," she said in the same sweet voice. "Hopefully it'll be enough to make your friends jealous. That's our mission, right?"
"Until we get back here later, yeah."
Tactful, Alexa thought as she picked up her clutch from the chair she had left it on. "I'm ready when you are," she announced.
"Then let's go. I must remember to call you Lexi."
"Lexi Kaufman," she added.
Cole nodded. "Right. Okay then, Lexi Kaufman, let's go and see how our luck is tonight." He led the way to the door, and for once did the gentlemanly thing by holding it open for her.
"Would you believe I've never been in a casino before?" Alexa said as she walked out of the room.
"Really? That is a surprise. I'd have thought you'd be in places like that all the time in your line of work."
"I know. Obviously I go to a lot of social functions and things like that at expensive hotels and stuff, but never at a casino. I guess we'll see if beginner's luck is a thing."
"I guess we will. We'll also see if there's anyone down there I know. It wouldn't surprise me. A lot of people in or associated with the oil business vacation here, especially at this time of year."
And I'm sure they sit around into the small hours impressing each other with how important they think they are, Alexa thought while they waited for an elevator.
Shortly, they were down in the lobby, walking over to the casino entrance which was on the right hand side. Alexa was now in her character for the week, requiring her to act like she was a sweet and loving girlfriend to Adam, but was about as dumb as a box of rocks.
"How do we pay when we make bets? Are we going to need cash?" she asked him, walking with her arm linked with his.
"No," he chuckled. "I'm going to open a line of credit for the week. Ideally it'll end up with them owing me money by the time we leave, but I doubt it."
"You never know. You're very good at this kind of thing, baby," she said, looking up at him with a sweet and innocent look on her face.
"Christ, you're good at this," he said under his breath.
"Of course I am, that's why I charge so much," she muttered back.
"Here's our first stop," Cole said, approaching the cashier's cage. As a returning customer, it didn't take him long to get a line of credit opened, and with that done, they were free to start browsing the casino.
"So how does the line of credit work?" Alexa asked. She spoke in character, although it was a question she genuinely wanted an answer to.
"When we sit at a table, I tell the dealer I want to use my line of credit. There's a form to sign, then I can get all the chips I want."
"That's cool!" she exclaimed loudly.
"Yes, it is. It's basically an interest free loan, so long as it's paid off within fourteen days. Obviously I'll pay it off before we leave."
"I see," Alexa said, sounding like she was too dumb to grasp what an interest free loan was.
The first set of tables they came to were Blackjack tables. It was a game Alexa honestly didn't understand, so she had no difficulty looking slightly confused as well as interested as they walked by.
"That's Blackjack. Maybe we'll come back there later," Cole said.
"This is Roulette, that I do know," Alexa said, looking ahead to the next area they were about to come to.
"That's right, sweetheart," Cole said, an air of condescension about him. "Shall we play?"
"I don't know how," she said, looking up at him with the doughy eyed kind of expression she had promised him.
"This one's easy. I'll show you." Cole led her to the nearest table and spoke to the dealer, obtaining a stack of chips in short order. He handed a small portion of them to Alexa so that she could play too.
"Thank you," she smiled before turning her attention to the table, where a round of betting had just ended. "So, how does it work?"
"Simple," Cole said. "All you have to do is bet on where the ball is going to land. You see the numbers there below the wheel? Cutting out the more complicated options, you can either bet on a specific number, or you can bet on red, black or green. You can also bet on odd or even, or on first twelve, second twelve or third twelve."
Alexa noticed that she had already caught the eye of a couple of rich-looking men in their fifties sitting on the opposite side of the table. Cole was already starting to get his money's worth, showing off the eye candy he had with him. As shallow as that seemed to her, it was one of the things he was paying a lot of money for.
"I don't understand much of that," she replied, although she actually did. "Hey, look, it landed on red!"
"Yes it did," Cole said, looking like he was enjoying himself as more eyes glanced in their direction. "Now we can bet. What do you want to put your chips on?"
"Hmm. It just landed on red, so I think I'm going to bet on black."
"How much do you want to bet?" he asked her.
Alexa handed him back all of the chips he had given her moments before. "All of it."
"All of it on black? Okay then, if that's what you want." Cole leaned over and placed her bet.
Alexa saw one of the other men make eye contact with her client, giving him a 'bless her' kind of look. The man then put some of his own chips on black. "The lady says black. I'll go with her."
"Beginner's luck, here we go!" Alexa said excitedly when the dealer announced the end of the round of betting.
"Black ball, baby!" Cole said, clearly enjoying himself. Alexa reminded herself that it was in fact his money that she was gambling with, and he seemed to get quite a thrill out of it.
The wheel began to slow down, until the point where the ball dropped into the black 22 slot.
"Yes!" Alexa cried, raising her arms triumphantly. Mindful of her character, she looked up at Cole and beamed. "Honey, I won!"
"Yeah, babe, you did," Cole said, leaning down and giving her a peck on the lips.
The dealer slid over a stack of chips to Alexa. It was significantly larger than the one she had started with.
"Adam Cole, I thought that was you!" a man said loudly behind them.
Alexa and Cole both turned around to see who it was. She saw a tall man in a grey suit and a white cowboy hat. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. Much like everyone in the room, he gave off the aura of money.
"JBL," Cole said, shaking hands with the man. "I wondered if I might bump into you here."
"You know me, I practically live in this place half the time."
With evident satisfaction, Cole moved on to introducing Alexa. "John, this is my girlfriend Lexi Kaufman. Lexi, meet John Layfield. He's also in the oil business."
"Hi," Alexa said, giving the new acquaintance one of her best smiles.
"Hello, Lexi," Layfield said, making no secret of the fact that he liked what he saw. If he only knew her true identity and line of work, he might have been interested in making a booking, she thought.
"It's Lexi's first time in a casino, and beginner's luck seems to be working for her," Cole said.
"I bet on black and I won!" Alexa said triumphantly, showing off the chips that she had just picked up from the table, sounding like a total bimbo in the process.
"Congratulations!" Layfield said to her before looking back at Cole. "I've got my yacht here this week. Jillian and I are planning to take it out tomorrow afternoon for a few hours. Why don't you join us?"
Alexa assumed Jillian was either Layfield's wife or mistress. There was probably a fifty per-cent chance either way. An afternoon on a yacht did sound like a good time though, even if it necessitated playing brain dead.
"Sounds great to me," Cole said without bothering to ask Alexa what she thought. His girlfriend's opinion clearly was even worth pretending to consider. "How about a round of golf in the morning? We'll make a day of it."
"You're on!" Layfield said enthusiastically. "I had a round earlier; went round in eighty playing off a five handicap."
"That doesn't mean anything to me," Alexa said, being perfectly honest while speaking like an air head.
"Don't worry, babe, you can drive the cart," Cole said, making it sound like he was bestowing a gift on her.
"Sounds like fun! I can't wait!" she said, managing to sound hyped about it. She stood by trying to look interested while the men made arrangements for the next day, then Layfield bid them farewell and headed off in the direction of the Blackjack tables.
"Expertly done," Cole quietly when his acquaintance was out of earshot.
"Glad I've mastered the art of sounding as thick as clotted cream," she replied with an eye roll.
Cole sniggered. "Hey, don't be like that. You're doing a great job and you're sexy as fuck. I can't wait to get back upstairs later."
Ah yes, and bang my brains out, as you put it, she thought. "Can't wait," she replied with a cheerful smile.
Cole took her arm once more. "But first, let's find someone who can bring us a drink or three."
A/N: Many thanks to everyone who left a review last time! As ever, if you have an idea for a future moment of Bliss, feel free to contact me.
Alexa might not be having a great time with this booking, but she's doing well. Next time, her first night with Adam Cole, followed by their day with JBL and Jillian. How do you think things will progress?