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Category: Mainstream
Description: Sparks fly when Marina, a bright young card counter, meets rakishly handsome Miguel, a Las Vegas casino dealer. But while Marina is reluctantly seduced by Miguel's many charms, she also discovers some disturbing things about his past. Already entangled in this dizzying new romance, Marina will have to use all her brains if she wants to keep her heart intact.
eBook Publisher: Zumaya Publications, 2005 www.zumayapublications.com
eBookwise Release Date: May 2005

22 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [689 KB]
Words: 170596
Reading time: 487-682 min.

"If you're looking for a fun, sexy read, check out Susan DiPlacido's 24/7. I enjoyed the Vegas setting, all the gambling stuff (don't worry: you don't have to be a poker afficiando to follow), the somewhat edgier story and the sexy, unique characters. DiPlacido is a good writer who knows how to create an atmosphere and tell a story that you'll want to re-read many times."--Ladre

I go out and meet Miguel. He's already out there and he looks fresher. I can't tell where his mouth was bleeding, it must have been inside his lip. He straightened his shirt. I don't see any marks on his jaw where I know he took at least a couple of hits.

I get another guilty pang with that thought, but I shove it aside, reassuring myself again that he's just fine, after all.

But he's still tense, I'm sure of that.

"You sure this is okay with you?" I ask him.

"Anything you want, baby, anything you want."

So he puts his hand on the back of my neck as we walk along, we go in and grab a booth in the back of the bar area where it's darkest and where there's least likelihood of roaming Romulans coming up to us. When the waiter comes, I order a Warp Core Breech and Miguel tries to get one, too, but I tell him we'll share. He looks at me strangely. When it comes out, bigger than a goldfish bowl, purple and smoking all over the place, he smirks at me and says, "Now that is a fuckin' drink. Trekkie fucks know how to party, huh?"

As we lean in and start sucking away at our straws, I get some weird mental flash of us as if someone else was watching us. Like we're some sort of distorted, grown-up, Gen-X, sullied version of the Lady and The Tramp spaghetti scene.

Except that I'm no Lady. Or lady. And I just nearly got Tramp skinned alive.\