by Rosanna Leo
When he held her, and he would again, he wanted her completely sober, willing, and excited. Not with tears streaking her face.
She touched his chest, trailing her finger down to his abdomen. “Maybe you could just help me with the zipper and turn your back while I change?” The look in her eye made it clear she wasn’t so fussed about the turn your back part.
“I would love to, but I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
“Alex, come on. You can’t tell me you’re not up for it. I know you are.”
“I am, and I wish we’d had more time at Covet tonight.” He cupped her cheek. “But it was never my plan to get you drunk, and it was definitely not my plan to take advantage of you. If I’d known you had those other drinks….”
“It was just a couple of tiny bottles from the minibar.”
“It doesn’t matter. Dana, you were just in tears.”
“I’m not crying now.”
“Will you please talk to me? I want to help you.”
“There’s only one way you can help me right now.” She touched his cock.
Her touch was electric, stimulating every nerve ending in his body. Goddammit. He hardened, in spite of himself.
“Please, Alex.” Her eyes watered again. “I need to forget.”
Gritting his teeth, he removed her hand. “Forget what?”
“Never mind. I know when I’m not wanted.”
“You are an incredibly desirable woman and I would like nothing more than to take you to bed and show you how much I want you. But right now, I think you need to talk to somebody, and seeing as you won’t talk to me, I’m going to call for your sister.”
Mumbling in discontent, Dana flopped down onto the bed and put her head on the pillow.
He took the opportunity to call one of his assistants at Covet and told him to look for Viola. She would round up Anise and the other women. After he made the call, he pulled up a chair next to the bed, facing Dana.
Her eyes were closed, and for a few minutes, she appeared to be asleep. But then she moved her legs, the long limbs sliding against each other, and opened her eyes. She looked right at him. “You’re still here, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve embarrassed myself.”
“Don’t be embarrassed.”
“Right. I guess women throw themselves at you left, right, and center, huh? You’re used to it.”
“You’d be surprised at how few women throw themselves at me. Nowadays, I barely need to duck when they fly past my head. I just step aside.”
“Ha ha.” Her lashes lowered. For a couple of long minutes, she seemed to be doing nothing more than contemplating his shoe. “Alex?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I’m here too. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Why do you care?”
“I’d rather have that conversation when you’re sober.”
“So you do want to have that conversation?”
He leaned forward, hands on his knees. “I do and we will, but right now, you need to rest.”
Her eyelids fluttered closed but the skin around them pinched, as if she was trying hard to shut out a bad memory. That, or she was fending off another bout of nausea.
He began to fidget. When he caught his knees bouncing up and down, he forced himself to sit still. Instead, he passed a hand over his face. Her perfume lingered on his fingers. So fucking sweet.
He wanted to smell her up close, to touch her and taste her again and show her pleasures she’d never known before.
It went deeper than animal attraction too. He was amazed he could feel so much for someone so quickly. Her pain made him feel sick inside.
He needed to take her pain away. It was that simple.
The sound of female voices outside the door drew him from his daydreams.
There was a knock. “Dana, it’s me. Can you let me in?”
Dana really had fallen asleep this time so Alex padded to the door. He opened it and put a finger on his lips. “She’s asleep.”
Bea and Jessica gawked but Anise’s eyes hardened. “I’d like to see her,” she said, pushing past him.
He stood aside.
Anise hurried into the bedroom and they followed. When she saw her sister on the bed, she ran over and crouched next to her. She ran a hand over her hair. “Honey? Dana, are you okay?” Her angry gaze darted toward Alex. “What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t hurt her. She just had a bit too much to drink.”
“She had one cocktail!”
“Actually, she told me she had a couple of drinks on her own before ever coming to the party. I had to leave to take care of something and she had more when I was gone.”
“What?” Anise paled. “This isn’t like her. She can barely tolerate half a glass of wine.”
“As far as I can tell, she’s been drinking much more than that since she got here. She was sick and wobbling, so I convinced her to lie down.”
“I bet you did.”
“I can assure you nothing happened.”
“Oh, right. Not a single thing happened in the VIP suite. Let me guess. You were all just sitting around, reading passages from the New Testament?”
Dana’s eyes cracked open. “Stop yelling at Alex.”
“I’m not yelling,” yelled Anise.
“He didn’t do anything wrong. He helped me. Now if you can’t say ‘thank you’ like a normal person, you can just leave.”
It meant the world that Dana would jump to his defense, but it didn’t make the ball of nerves in his gut dissipate. He didn’t want her to think badly of him, and the last thing he needed was to be accused of taking advantage of the situation.
Everyone got quiet. Jessica and Bea finally expressed their thanks, but Anise remained close-lipped.
It was clearly time to make his exit even though he hated to leave Dana to her sister. He doubted the inquisition was over yet. “I’ll leave you to it. Good night.”
“Wait.” Dana rose up on her elbow. When she let out a slow stream of breath, he knew lifting her head had taken a lot out of her. “Alex, thank you.”
“For what?” For leaving her alone and giving her a chance to get wasted? Hardly his best moment.
“For holding my hair back.”
Her tired voice flipped a switch in him. With those few words, he was transformed from a protective man into an overprotective beast. He wanted to banish her sister and friends, claw her to him and hold her in his lap. However, he controlled his inner grizzly bear. “You’re welcome. I hope you feel better.”
She nodded and lay back down. He walked out of the bedroom and over to the suite door.
Anise followed. She gripped the door, suddenly more intimidating than his biggest, meanest bouncer.
“Just so you know,” he said, “I didn’t realize she’d had those drinks. I wouldn’t take advantage of her.”
“Good night, Alex.”
Thanks to her tone and bitter smile, when her words reached his ears, they sounded a lot more like Fuck you, Alex.
“Good night.”
Exhausted and uncomfortable, he headed to the elevator.
The party might continue into the early morning but it would have to continue without him.
Chapter Seven
“I don’t know.” Anise held up a purse in the Fendi shop at Caesars Palace the next day. She inspected the bag’s intricate stitching. “It costs a lot and it’s really showy. Do you think it screams, ‘I just got divorced and now I’m on a spending spree?’”
“Hell, yes,” said Bea. “Since when is there anything wrong with that?”
“You should treat yourself,” agreed Jessica.
“I’ve been treating myself since I got here. Two new outfits and three pairs of shoes. Maybe the purse is a bit much.” Anise put the purse back down on the display.
Bea picked it up again and placed it in her hands. “Buy the purse. You’ll regre
t it if you don’t.”
“I guess you’re right. It’s a good thing we go home in a couple of days. I can’t believe how quickly the week is flying by.” Anise smiled but it faded when she glanced at Dana. “What do you think? You’re awfully quiet this morning.”
“That’s because this is her second walk of shame this week.” Jessica laughed.
Dana slid her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose. “The only thing I’m ashamed of is having one too many drinks. It was a good thing Alex was around to help me to my room.”
“Oh, right,” Anise drawled. “Alex, your savior.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do I have to spell it out?”
“Look, like it or not, he did help me when I was sick.” Dana stiffened. “I just don’t like the fact I put him in that position.”
Anise put her hands on her hips. “Which position was that? The one where he put a drunken woman in bed without telling her family first?”
“Anise, you’re not being fair.”
“I’m being sensible. What were you thinking? Alex could have done anything to you in that room. For all I know, he put something in your drink.”
“He didn’t. He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Um, excuse me,” Anise argued. “But how would you know? You know nothing about the man.”
“What do you have against him anyway? He’s been good to us.”
“And now we know why.” Anise waved her hand in the direction of Dana’s body. “He wants a piece of this.”
“Just give it a rest, would you?”
“Someone around here needs to keep a clear head. I always thought you were that person but I guess my turn has come.”
“A clear head, I don’t mind,” said Dana, “but I could do without the lectures. We’re in Las Vegas, for God’s sake. At any given time, there are over a hundred people in the general vicinity who are drunker than I was last night.”
“I just think Tommy would be extremely worried if he knew you’d put yourself in that position,” continued Anise. “What are you going to tell him? Are you going to tell him?”
“Why should I?”
“He’s your fiancé! He’d be out of his mind if he knew. I never should have left you alone in that private room.”
Dana sighed. “Anise, give it up. I promise you, Tommy isn’t concerned about me at all.”
He had texted her another three times before breakfast but no one needed to know that. Three more cryptic messages about needing to talk to her as soon as possible.
“Well, I just think if roles were reversed,” said Anise, her voice cracking, “and you were sitting at home, you’d want to know you could trust him.”
Since when was her sister so concerned about Tommy anyway? They’d always gotten along but Anise had never been the sort to leap to his defense in any matter.
The sudden shift in loyalty stuck in Dana’s craw.
“Uh, guys.” Bea put a hand on both their shoulders. “We’re supposed to be having fun.”
“And people are watching.” Jessica waved at a couple of women who’d stopped to observe the argument. “Thank you, ladies. Next show is at seven. We’ll pop some popcorn. Bring your friends.”
The spectators walked away.
Anise scratched the side of her nose, a nervous habit she’d had since she was a kid. She reached for Dana’s hand. “I’m sorry. My older sister side got out of hand.”
“No kidding. I’m usually the one lecturing you.”
“Don’t I know it?” Anise shook her head. “Dana, I don’t trust Alex. He’s from a different world than we are. He’s used to people doing anything he wants, giving him anything he wants. For God’s sake, he snaps his fingers and everyone bows before him. Did you see all those people fawning over him? And that VIP room was just pretentious. I said it before and I’ll say it again. It was fake. Everything about that whole scene was fake.”
“It’s a nightclub. It’s all about fantasy.”
“Fantasy is fine, but you have a man at home waiting for you. Have you told Alex about that little piece of reality?”
Dana was silent. Once again, she wanted to explain but she couldn’t do it here, in a purse shop.
“Alex and his celebrity friends might be able to fly around the country at a moment’s notice and party all night long,” said Anise, “but people like us have responsibilities. At the end of this week, Alex can still frolic all he wants on the Strip. A month from now, he’ll have forgotten all about you and will be in the pool, sitting on a floatie with one of those bikini-clad honeys. Not us. In a few days, we’ll go back to our regular lives. I don’t want you to get caught up in the fantasy and ruin what you have with Tommy.”
She had nothing with Tommy. “I’m not getting caught up in the fantasy. I promise.”
Yeah, right. She’d called the man Zeus.
“Are you sure?”
She’d never been more unsure in her life.
Dana understood what her sister was trying to do. Anise only wanted to save her from messing up her life.
If only she knew how messed up it really was.
A pregnant woman and her husband walked into the Fendi shop just then. As she crossed the threshold, the woman touched her belly and squealed. “John, the baby’s kicking!”
Dana stared at the woman’s swollen tummy.
Her husband rested his hand on her protruding stomach, his face bright with amazement. “Oh, man. That’s incredible. Our little guy has strong legs.”
Dana’s hand moved to her belly.
No man would ever touch her with the same sense of wonder. She would never lay in bed with her husband, feeling for kicks under the covers.
The pregnant lady and her husband walked by Dana. As they passed, she heard the husband tell his wife, “I’m so proud of you. You’re just amazing.”
“Are you even listening to me?” Anise touched Dana’s elbow. “I wish Tommy was here to talk some sense into you.”
Dana yanked her arm away as all her rage finally issued in a loud grunt. “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. All I ever hear about is fucking Tommy. You know what your precious Tommy would do if he was here? He’d make a run for the door. That man could not care less about what I get up to with Alex Markov, or anyone else. In fact, he’d probably encourage me to sleep with him, and you know why? Because then I’d be someone else’s problem!”
“What the hell?” Anise stood shell-shocked, and so did Bea and Jessica. “What are you saying?”
“Tommy dumped me. Okay? Let’s be real clear on that. He dumped my ass.” She lowered her voice, running out of steam. “Months ago. I stopped being the woman of his dreams, and God help the woman who takes my place. Tommy made it perfectly clear he has a certain type. You can stop worrying about whether he’s pining over me at home. He isn’t. I owe that man nothing. Not my loyalty, not my respect, and definitely not my faithfulness. He doesn’t need them. He doesn’t care.”
Everyone in the store fell silent.
“So I don’t need your lectures, sis. Save them for someone else. I’m a free bird, and this bird has places to fly.”
Before Anise or anyone else could respond, Dana turned and walked out of the shop.
***
“Hey, Patterson. Leon wants to see you in his office first thing.”
Bill Patterson was just about to take his first slurp of coffee when he heard his co-worker’s summons from down the hall. He lowered his cup, sighed, and turned around.
What the hell did his editor want now?
Probably to ride his ass some more. Leon Parkes had complained about Bill’s quality of work for some time.
Everyday, the Strip is littered with famous people, most of them misbehaving, and you can’t find me a story?
He was trying, God knew he was trying. Bill had basically tried to camp out in the vicinity of Vice, going there at all sorts of odd hours, but he still hadn’t dug up any dirt on Alex Markov. At least nothing that hadn’t been heard b
efore.
It didn’t help that Markov’s security team was on to him. He’d tried to sneak in a couple of times over the past two days but had been escorted out promptly. They knew his face too well. There were days when he imagined they had his picture pinned up in the security office. Wade Kennedy and his fellow goons probably threw darts at it on their breaks.
He needed to step up his game.
He knocked on Leon’s open door. “You wanted to see me, boss?”
Leon barely glanced up from his laptop. “Come in. Shut the door.”
Bill shut it. This couldn’t be good. Leon always kept the door open.
“Take a seat, Bill.”
As he pulled up a chair, it squeaked on the floor, making him wince.
The editor made a steeple of his hands and hit him with his laser glare of death. “You promised me a story on Markov. Where is it?”
“I’m working on it.”
“You’ve been working on it for months, but all you’ve brought me is photos of the man walking through Vice, and not even good ones at that. Not exactly incriminating evidence.”
“This is the sort of story that takes time. I’m building up a relationship of trust between me and a couple of the employees.”
“Bullshit. I hear you can’t even get through the door anymore.”
Bill hung his head. He had no real explanations for why this wasn’t clicking. It never used to be this way. When he was a younger man, his journalistic exploits were legendary in this town. He was the one who’d discovered the actress Eleanor Fisher was cheating on her doctor husband with a male stripper. The woman was a Hollywood outcast now thanks to his photos, and rightly so. If you were going to flaunt your ass all over the Strip, you deserved every moment of shame that followed. He didn’t take her to that nudie bar. He wasn’t the one who told her to get plastered. He just took the pictures.
And what about that time he outed Dr. Mike Flanagan, the respected Vegas plastic surgeon? The LGBTQ community had been up in arms about him outing the man. Tell that to his long-suffering wife of thirty years.
Bill was good at his job and it was for one basic reason. He understood that every person who walked the planet was dirty. Scratch anyone’s polished veneer and you’d see the pile of ugly secrets underneath. Everyone had a story, and most of them were vile.
