Rory and Lorelai burn through about eight bucks combined when they come to a mutual realization after they each flush another dollar down the drain, getting nothing but a lemon symbol, a bar, and a seven in return.
"Slots suck," they chorus together, then laugh.
"Would you be up for something a tad more daring?" Lorelai asks.
"Whatcha got in mind?"
Lorelai turns about ninety degrees to the right and points at the stairs. "They've got card tables upstairs. We've gotta play blackjack, right?"
"Sounds fun," Rory comments. She leads the way, sashaying her hips, barely restraining a smirk when she feels her mom's gaze hone in on her ass and legs.
They wander around and simply observe for a few minutes before settling in at one of the tables offering blackjack.
"Ten dollar buy-in," the dealer announces as they sit down, joining a group of four. "New game is just about to start."
He swiftly dishes out the cards, and Rory tries not to smile too brightly at a decent starting hand--an 8 and a 3.
At the same time, Lorelai reaches her right hand under the table and slowly, slowly snakes it under her dress to squeeze her upper thigh.
Rory bites back a gasp at the unexpected touch to avoid interrupting the first person's round and thinks, "Two can play at this game."
So she lifts her left foot out of her high heel, lazily hooks it around the back of her mom's ankle, then runs it up until she's pressing it against the back of her knee.
The first person goes over 21 after taking just one card and the second stays after taking a couple, leading to Lorelai's turn.
"Daring move," Rory comments innocently when she elects to hit with 15.
"No risk it, no biscuit," Lorelai answers with just as much guile, clenching her free hand into a fist and pumping it slightly in approval as the dealer flips over a 4. He busts in his attempt to top her, and Lorelai cheers quietly as her pot of chips increases.
Dory has similar luck, getting another 8 to tack on to her starting 11, and the dealer can't best her, either.
They play a few more hands and come out slightly ahead when Rory nods toward one of the other tables.
"Feel like giving Texas Hold 'Em a shot?" she asks, then, before she can think better of it, follows up with, "Maybe put together a side bet?"
Lorelai's responding grin is all teeth. "What kinda side bet?"
"How about...winner gets to make the first move tonight when we get back to the hotel?"
"Sounds like a plan. Like getting more dessert from the pantry when we get to our floor, right?" Lorelai winks, and Rory deadpans back, "Yeah. For sure. Definitely what I had in mind."
"Well, then," Lorelai joins her in scanning for an open table, "may the best woman win."
She offers her right hand out and Rory takes it, shakes it, tries her best not to consider where it'll be later or what it'll be doing to her.
"How do you wanna do this? Best two out of three?" Lorelai asks while they approach one of the tables.
"Sure. Whoever has the best hand wins that round, even if someone else takes the overall pot."
"Okay," Lorelai agrees, settling into a free seat, and the guy next to her illustrates an appalling lack of subtlety in giving her a once-over. More like a twice-over with how long his eyes have roved up and down her body.
"Can I buy you a drink...?"
"Alex," Lorelai lies, inventing her new name on the spot. "And no, thank you, I'm good."
Fortunately, he accepts her hints, and Rory maintains her neutrality as best she can, willing the smugness of her victory to stay off her face as her mother shifts her seat closer towards her.
The dealer passes the cards out, and both Rory and her mother snap their hands out to grab them, peek at what they have to work with. Their easy, free play of blackjack is gone, replaced by intense competition and stony gazes that refuse to betray either advantages or useless cards.
They've not played games of deception with each other that often, and certainly not in such close physical proximity.
Funny thing is, it probably would've been easier for them to suss out potential tells before they bedded each other.
Because Rory can't stop admiring the show-stopping color contrast between her mother's dark lipstick and her fair skin, and Lorelai notices that her daughter's necklace rests right on the small patch of tasteful cleavage she's chosen to reveal.
Neither of them keep close enough track of their cards to know who's emerged victorious from the first two rounds, but Lorelai takes the whole damn pot the third time around with a full house.
"Time to turn in our tickets and chips and...cash out."
Rory can't suppress a groan at the all-too-appropriate pun.
"First of all, I just won us nearly a hundred dollars," Lorelai says. "And second, you love me."
"I do," Rory agrees easily, naturally, unconsciously, earnestly. "I really do."
___
Waiting to put that love on full display challenges both of them.
Lorelai guns it through a couple of yellow lights on the way back to the hotel, and Rory snaps, "Hurry up," at the three cars in front of them, as they're the only ones that have obeyed the speed limit for more than two seconds during their whole trip.
They breeze through the lobby, stopping just long enough to drop the keys off with the attendant on duty before calling for the elevator, each barely resisting the urge to touch the other on the way up to the fifth floor.
Lorelai fumbles with the key fob to enter the hall for a second, swipes it, then holds the door open for Rory.
They don't run, not in heels, but they nearly speed-walk to their room, glad that neither staff members nor other guests are clogging the hall.
Lorelai gets there first by virtue of her longer legs, presses the key card to the door, and yanks it open just as Rory arrives.
"Put this on," she instructs, reaching around the handle for the Do Not Disturb sign. Rory slides it into place on the door handle, makes sure it's facing outwards, and slips inside.
The door shuts with a soft click and Rory's immediately pressed up against it, with her mother's hands gripping possessively at her waist.
"Happy birthday, Rory," she purrs, leaning in close, hungry for contact.
"Thanks, Lorelai."
Lorelai pulls her in smoothly, kisses her hard, and Rory responds in kind, instinctively hitching her right leg around her waist, nearly groaning into the start of their make out session as her mother glides into the open space between her legs.
"Happy birthday, dear daughter," Lorelai whispers, breathing the words into her ear before tugging on her earlobe with her teeth, "happy birthday to you."
She licks a stripe up the side of Rory's neck, kisses her way down to her collarbone, tugs the shoulder of her dress off and suddenly, unexpectedly drops to her knees.
"Oh, fuck," Rory sighs as her mother hikes up her dress and ducks under it, kissing on each of her thighs before progressing to bites.
Lorelai tugs her panties to the side, then reaches her hands around either side of Rory's waist to grab her ass as she offers the briefest of licks, just barely pressing the tip of her tongue to Rory's wetness.
"You tease," Rory breathes out, mirroring her mother's own grabbing motion by digging her nails into her hair, pressing her face closer to her pussy. Lorelai rewards her with a beautiful moment of eating her out--Rory hears her swallow some of her juices and she's about to beg for more--before she pulls back, wipes her mouth off with the back of her hand.
"Mom!" Rory whines, nearly stamping her foot in frustration.
"Winner gets to be in charge to start, we said," Lorelai taunts her. "Plus, if I didn't stop, we wouldn't get to our lingerie swap, now would we? But don't worry," she adds before kicking her heels off and springing back up to her feet. "You'll get to have your way with me soon enough, birthday girl."
She offers Rory a messy kiss and a delicious taste of herself, then goes over to her suitcase to grab the Victoria's Secret bag she'd stashed in it. Rory does the same, trades with her mom, and says, "I have a little surprise for you, so I'm gonna get changed in the bathroom."
"Ooh, a surprise? Just for me? Can't wait to see what it is."
Rory stuffs the strap-on into her VS bag, glad that the store associate had chosen a large one for what would probably be a very small amount of lingerie, blows her mother a kiss, and gives her a saucy wink on the way to the bathroom.
She unpacks her mother's selection and...
"Wow."
She holds up the sheer, floral-patterned red lace bra and panties carefully, as if they might fall apart at her very touch, and treats the red thigh high stockings with similar gentility.
She slips off her dress and drapes it over the railing with the towels, unhooks her bra, and puts Lorelei's choice on. The stockings follow, and then...
Rory's heartbeat speeds up as she adjusts the harness for the strap-on so it fits snugly around her waist, and she nearly gasps when she gets it fully on.
Seeing the black, veiny, silicone strap in the mirror is one thing. Looking down to study, appreciate, and love the sight of the massive bulge protruding out and stretching the crotch of her panties away from her body is another.
"Thank you, April," she thinks, reflecting back on her clandestine trip to Love Boutique--her initial awkwardness at entering and the swift, immediate desire to dash out of the store; the brief flare-up of embarrassment at admitting she was looking for a strap-on and then adding that she wanted a bigger one; the unfamiliar mix of fear and adrenaline as April, the senior clerk at the store, bantered and maybe even flirted with her to find out that "bigger" meant nine inches; and finally, the excitement at picking out the toy she eventually selected, along with the anticipation she felt when April said, "Hope your partner likes it," and winked when she'd cashed her out.
"She will. She definitely will," Rory tells herself as she adjusts the strap. She considers tucking it between her legs to conceal its true size, but decides to display it proudly. After all, it took guts to buy the thing in the first place and put it on in private, let alone sneak it on this trip and wear it for her mom.
"Might as well make it extra appealing," she thinks, fingering herself for a brief instant--just long enough to get some the tip of her pointer finger coated with her wetness to rub on the head of her toy.
"You all changed?" Rory calls.