Shine Not Burn by Elle Casey

mouth exercises, trying to limber my jaw up so I could talk like the educated woman I am.
    He caught me doing it and chuckled.   “Could you hold these for me?” After he deposited all the chips and the shoes into my hands, I took a step down the hall, headed to my room .
    “Whoop!” The sound came flying out of my mouth when he surprised the crap out of me and swooped me up into his arms, carrying me in a cradle made of his strong arms.   Long strides brought us down the hall towards the last room on the right while the money rattled away in the plastic cup.   I was literally being swept off my feet, and if it hadn’t been for the spinning of the hallway, walls, floors, and ceiling, it would have been the highlight of my night.
    Please let Candice and Kelly be on their way out!
    He put me down on my feet at the door and leaned on it with one hand, pulling me up against him with the other.   I was breathless with the kissing that ensued, barely able to hold my thoughts together.   Down the chips and shoes went again, scattered all over the floor and on my feet.   I only opened my eyes a few times during the kissing to keep the spinning room under control.
    “Wait, wait,” I said, as a door down the hall opened and voices came floating down the corridor.   I knocked on my door, desperation showing through in the rapid-fire tap, tap, tapping I was doing.   I was incapable of playing it cool right now.   Cool?   Say hello to Fool.
    “You don’t have a key?” he asked.
    “Where in this dress do you think I’d be able to hide a key?”   My chest was practically heaving with all the heavy breathing I was doing.   I was completely flustered and frustrated, my hands refusing to sit still.   I could feel his six-pack through his shirt.   His muscles actually rippled when I touched them.   The bulge in his pants was huge.   I needed to see this man naked soon or I was going to have a stroke brought on by pent up sexual desire.   Like spontaneous combustion but without the gas or the fire parts.
    He ran his fingers past my ribs to my back.   “Hmmm, no key here.”   His fingers went down to my rear end.   “Not here either.”   Putting his hand just under my right breast, he smiled.   “And not here either.”   He grabbed my ass once and let go.   “You’re right.   You don’t have a key.”   He grinned, making me grab his face in my hands and kiss him all over again.
    The door rattled and we jumped apart before I could start my next move, namely feeling up his bulge.   I forgot Kelly’s shoes were there on the floor and somehow got tangled up in them when I tried to turn around.   I fell to the side as the door opened, landing in Mack’s open arms.
    “Well, well, well.   If it isn’t The Lady Gambler and her cowboy hero,” said Candice, sounding a little put out and a lot mischievous.
    I pushed off Mack’s chest to get back on my feet and bent down to grab Kelly’s shoes.   When I stood up, I swayed on my feet, the room doing a full spin in front of me. Mack put his hand on the small of my back and stepped forward to put his body closer to mine.   It was comforting to know that if I fell, he’d be there to catch me.
    “Whoopsy.   Sorry, lost my balance there.”   I grinned at Candice, trying to play off the fact that I’d shown up in our room with a random guy.   “What took you so long?” I asked, walking past her and dragging Mack in by the hand.   “I waited forever.   Look what I won.”   I held up the chips he’d gathered off the floor for a second before dumping them on the table.   Several of them rolled off an fell to the floor.
    “Nice.”   She only had eyes for Mack.   “And you won some chips too?”
    I moved so I was standing next to him.   “Ha, ha.   I didn’t win this cowboy, I beat him at blackjack.”   I snorted out a laugh at the frown on his face.   I gestured to the cowboy and then at my friend.   “Candice, this is Mack.