Let It Ride by Katherine Garbera

intact. And she knew that the only way to do that was to remember that love, like fortune, could change on a roll of the dice. Only the savviest gambler should contemplated letting their heart ride on the outcome.
    She took a deep breath and pushed aside her feelings. Deacon was funny, with a wry self-deprecating wit.
    “My mom lives in Henderson. That’s the city we’re approaching now.”
    She glanced down. The small city was very different from the air than Vegas. “Are there casinos there?”
    He banked to the left, taking them around the outskirts of town. “Nah. It’s an industrial town.”
    “Did you ever live there with her?” she asked. Deacon talked so little about his personal life that she still felt as if she didn’t really know him. But what did it matter? she asked herself. She was leaving tomorrow.
    “No,” he said.
    “Why not?” Something in his voice touched her deep. And she knew she wasn’t going to leave Vegas and the Golden Dream without leaving a little piece of herself behind.
    “Because I want the good life,” he said in that wry way of his that made her feel as if she should know more than she did.
    “And do you have it?”
    “A lot more than I did when Mom and I went our separate ways. But at least then, I had freedom and a chance to make it big.”
    “Obviously you made the most of that chance.”
    “Not even close,” he muttered.
    “Deacon?”
    “Nothing, angel. Leave it alone.”
    Feeling put in her place once again, she stared out the window. Maybe he knew she was scheduled to go home tomorrow and wanted to remind her that their relationship would be ending. Maybe he—
    He reached over, pushed the mike away from her mouth and cupped the back of her head. Leaning over, he kissed her hard and fast.
    She stared at him. “What was that for?”
    “For not having the words you might want to hear from me.”
    “I’m not looking for the words, Deacon. I had them once and they weren’t sincere.”
    He said nothing and she realized that his silences meant more than she’d previously thought. She wasn’t building castles in the air. She was building hopes around the fact that this man with the shattered soul would take a chance on an ordinary girl.
    She watched the landscape rolling underneath them. Soon they were approaching another city. “What’s that?”
    “Boulder City,” he said. “The only city in Nevada without legalized gambling.”
    “Are you scandalized?”
    “Yeah, but not about that,” he said. “The city was constructed while they were building the Hoover Dam.”
    “Why’d you learn to fly?” she asked as he banked the chopper and flew it directly over the historical district of Boulder City.
    “One of my first jobs in Las Vegas was working at a tourist attraction on the strip that offered aerial tours. The guys who were pilots made more than us regular stiffs, so I started taking lessons.”
    “Do you always get what you want?” she asked. His willpower and self-control was amazing. There were a number of things she wanted—slim thighs, a nice car, a man who’d love her for her. But she’d never been willing to work up a sweat or to bypass something for her home or a fancy car. And she’d never been able to risk her emotions on man.
    Not even Jeff, her ex-husband, had been worth the chance. A big part of her was afraid that like the other fairy tales that had disappeared with childhood, the myth of forever love was going to prove elusive.
    “Kylie?”
    “What?”
    “I asked if you wanted to tour Hoover Dam. I made arrangements to land at a heliport near here.”
    “I’d love to. I’ve never been.”
    He nodded and concentrated on landing the chopper. She watched him and tried to determine if this was an elaborate scheme that Deacon had done more than once. Was this the way he treated all the women he was interested in? Was this part of a smooth operation to seduce a willing woman? Or was this something more?
    She was afraid to believe it