Power Play: Jodie and the Billionaire Read Online Free PDF Page A

know him? How? All of the bachelorette party girls were watching with
interest. The triplets were practically drooling. Lauren couldn’t keep from
grinning, making Jodie remember that surprising kiss from the man beside her.
    “I
do indeed.” Mr. Martini—who was apparently Mr. Cole?—called for
change and tipped the stick man and the dealers and then slid a thousand dollar
chip in front of Jodie. The forty-five thousand he’d won on the hard bet he
pushed onto the “pass” line.
    “Oh,
no…” Jodie shook her head, pushing the thousand dollar chip back toward him. “I
can’t.”
    “Bet
it then.” He nodded toward the table. “You’re the lucky roller, right?”
    “Oh,
I still roll?”
    “You
roll until you crap out,” Kimber explained. “This time you want to roll for a
seven or an eleven again.”
    “Seven
and eleven are good again?” Jodie wrinkled her nose in confusion. “This game is
so complicated!”
    A
phone rang and Jodie rolled her eyes, sure it was Jason, but the man beside her
dug into his trouser pocket, pulling out his phone.
    “I
need to take this. Hold my place?” he asked the stick man who gave him an
assenting nod. Then the man Kimber had called Mr. Cole dipped his head to
murmur in Jodie’s ear, “I’ll be right back.”
    “What
the hell?” Kimber exclaimed as he stepped away from the table, gripping Jodie’s
upper arm so hard it hurt. “Don’t you know who that is?”
    Jodie
shook her head but Kimber rushed on.
    “That’s
Dorian Cole! He was Forbes’s number two most eligible billionaire bachelor last
year!”
    “Number
Two?” Jodie smirked, glancing over her shoulder at the man talking on the phone
just a few feet away. “Who was number one?”
    “Some
prince who lives in Germany.” Kimber waved her question away. “I only paid
attention to the ones who I had a shot with.”
    “Right,
like you had a shot with Dorian Cole?” Lauren interrupted. Kimber stuck her
tongue out at her.
    “What
does he do?” Lauren asked, leaning in, eyes bright. She was the only one who
knew that Jodie and Jason weren’t an item anymore. The only one who knew that
Jodie and this very rich billionaire had unexpectedly shared a very intimate
moment recently.
    “He’s
some sort of entrepreneur. He invests in inventions I think.”
    “Well
he sure seems to like Jodie,” Lauren remarked.
    “He’s
a player.” Kimber slanted her eyes, glancing back at him. “You better be
careful. I don’t want to have to explain anything to Jason when we get home!”
    “You
won’t have to.” Jodie stood up straighter as the stick man called for last
bets. “Jason cheated on me. We broke up.”
    “What?”
Kimber gaped at her but couldn’t ask any more because Dorian Cole had returned
to the table, phone back in his pocket, making another bet on the “pass” line
as the stick man slid the dice toward Jodie.
    “Come
out roll!” The stickman was careful to push them close this time and Jodie
picked them up. Looking at that forty-five thousand dollars on the line made
her sweat. She thought, please, please, please, seven or eleven and
threw the dice, holding her breath.
    “Easy
six,” the stickman announced, corralling the dice. “Mark the six.”
    “Well
we didn’t win.” She frowned, watching as the “off” marker get flipped over by the
stick man to “on” and then placed on the six.
    “You
didn’t lose,” Dorian explained. “Now you just want to roll a six before you
roll a seven.”
    “I
think I’m getting the hang of this.” She smiled at him as more people joined
the table, placing more bets.
    “You
want to make another sucker bet with that, Miss Lucky?” He nodded at the
thousand dollar chip sitting on the pass line.
    “I’m
lucky at dice but…” She shook her head. “Not that lucky. It’s Jodie, by
the way. Jodie Miller.”
    “Dorian
Cole.”
    “Dice
are in play.” The stick man slid them all the way down for Jodie.
    She
looked around the table, feeling