by V. K. Sykes
Yesterday, she’d been higher than the Stratosphere Tower. She’d proved to herself that she could beat the house at blackjack. Even better, she’d started to believe she was a woman that a man like Nick Saxon could actually find desirable. But then, in a fit of anger, she’d self-immolated.
Sure, it was a righteous fit of anger. Nick may not have lied—at least not directly—but he sure hadn’t told her the whole truth, either.
Then again, she hadn’t exactly been straight with him, had she?
Cassie sighed, again breaking the brief silence. “Sade, knowing you, I doubt you’re going to leave town until you figure out what it is you want, and I’d be willing to bet Sheriff Studly isn’t out of the picture yet, either. But it’s your life, honey. Why don’t we have lunch around noon, and then hit the pool. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect. I’ll knock on your door at twelve.”
As Sadie got ready, she thought about when she should call Nick. Maybe later in the afternoon, after the pool. That would give him plenty of time to call her first, if he was going to. She didn’t hold out a lot of hope for that to happen, but a big part of her couldn’t help wishing like crazy that it would.
* * *
After a two-mile run through his neighborhood, followed by a long, hot shower, Nick felt he’d more or less rejoined the human race. And regardless of what happened today, life would go on. His mother would be home from the hospital soon, and would need even more care than before her fall. The casino went on—it never stopped—and he had an important job there, even though Buzz Carson had temporarily sidetracked it into a crazy witch hunt for Sadie.
Sure, he’d miss her goofy sweetness and that body that wouldn’t quit. He missed her already. But he had a job to do. And no matter how rough it might be, he was going to do it.
The operations center was busier than usual when Nick made it in at two o’clock. As he took a seat at the only unoccupied console, he suddenly remembered that rap star TinyZ and his entourage were due to check in this afternoon. Extra security personnel had been called back from their days off, and Buzz Carson had taken personal charge of the preparations for the rapper’s three-day stay. Though TinyZ was no gangster, he and his posse had a reputation for occasional, if fairly harmless, mayhem.
As Nick settled in at the console, his mood went from bad to worse as he observed the action swirling around him. Normally, it would fall to him to organize extra security for this kind of situation, as well as to plan out all the details. Instead, Carson had stuck him with the humiliating task of babysitting Sadie while he’d taken on the TinyZ operation himself.
There could be only one reason why Carson would make such a decision. He was setting Nick up, assuming he’d protect his so-called girlfriend by trying to cover up her card counting. Then Carson would nail his ass, because the bastard would for damn sure have at least one other guy monitoring Sadie, too.
As much as he was going to hate being the one to put Sadie’s name on the blacklist, Nick couldn’t give Carson an inch of rope to hang him with. And it wasn’t just because he couldn’t afford to get fired. This kind of crap was part of the job, and he’d known that from the beginning. Nobody—not Carson, not the general manager, not anyone—would be able to accuse him of slacking off or taking the easy way out. He’d never done that in his life, and he wouldn’t start doing it now, not even for Sadie.
He tapped the keyboard to bring the cameras from the blackjack section onto his screen. It only took a few seconds for him to discover that Sadie wasn’t playing. After checking a couple of more times over the next half-hour, he decided to head to his office to catch up on some of the paperwork that had been piling up.
At three o’clock, and then again at four, Nick returned to the console for another quick scan. Both times he saw no sign of Sadie anywhere on the casino floor. Given her reaction last night, he’d assumed she would defiantly plant her pretty ass at the tables as soon as she could, and he couldn’t help wondering whether she was all right. Her absence didn’t add up. Maybe she was even sick in her room.
He drummed his fingers on the console, silently telling himself he was acting like a moron. After a few minutes, he gave up and called housekeeping to check out her room. They got back to him right away: no Sadie.
Feeling antsier by the minute, he decided to take a quick walk through both the casino and hotel to look for her. Not that she’d want to see him, and he was a dope for still wanting to see her. But despite last night, and despite what he was going to have to do, he couldn’t help still feeling protective. Sadie might like to think she was as tough as brass, but he knew better. In a place like Vegas, she was ripe pickings for every kind of slimeball that crawled through the casino’s doors.
The Desert Oasis complex covered an entire city block. Finding someone inside it quickly bordered on the impossible, but he persevered. He checked out the blackjack pit every fifteen minutes, fanning out from there to hit the shopping mall, the restaurants and bars, the spa and the art gallery. Fighting a growing sense of urgency, he stopped by the front desk to make sure she hadn’t suddenly checked out. If she had, his life would have been a whole lot easier. But she was still registered, and the sharp stab of relief at that news caught him low in the gut. He wasn’t prepared to think about what exactly that meant.
Once he’d finished with the interior of the complex, Nick moved outside, stopping first at the topless pool in the faint hope she might have returned there—to spite him, if nothing else. He hadn’t a clue what he would say to her. Maybe he wouldn’t say anything. He just knew he wanted to find her, and to know she was safe.
As usual, Skin overflowed with young men in various states of inebriation. The guys were mostly ogling the twenty or so women who bared their breasts in the name of personal freedom and the perfect tan. From the shade of the cabana bar, he scanned the pool area. Despite his anxiety to locate her, he was surprised to find himself hoping Sadie wasn’t there. After the past two days, he didn’t much like the idea of other guys slavering over the breasts he’d gotten so up close and personal with.
Yeah, Saxon, you’re not only a moron, you’re a jealous moron.
In a few seconds, he saw her halfway down the north side of the pool, soaking up the slanting rays of the afternoon sun. The fact that she had the whitest skin in the place made her easier to spot. Nick swallowed hard as he saw her wearing only the bottom half of the skimpy bikini she’d had on the last time—a strip of purplish red fabric that covered too damn little of her curvy body. Her blond friend sat perched on the lounger next to her, slathering suntan lotion down her shapely legs.
Well, at least she doesn’t have a circle of drooling idiots surrounding her today, he thought with a grimace. Not yet, anyway.
Nick shot the breeze with the bartender, hesitating as he thought about the half-dozen security cameras that blanketed the area. But he’d been assigned to monitor Sadie, so he figured he’d be able to come up with a decent explanation if Carson got on his ass for talking to her at the pool.
He decided to risk it.
* * *
Sadie had spied Nick as soon as he barged through the hotel door into the Skin pool area. Not that it took much of an eagle eye to pick out a tall, incredibly hot man wearing a business suit and black wingtips polished to a military shine. It was hardly inconspicuous attire at the sun-drenched European pool.
She’d wondered if he’d notice her. And if he did, would he come over and talk? Her heart had thudded against her breastbone as she cast a few surreptitious glances his way. Despite the heat, Nick looked cool and totally in control in his tailored, lightweight suit that showcased his muscular body. When Sadie snatched a glance around the pool deck, she noticed she was far from the only woman checking out the sheriff’s rugged good looks.
Nick laughed as he talked to the bartender at the cabana bar near the entrance, then turned his head directly her way. Her mouth suddenly went dust-dry with nerves.
“Cass, don’t look now,�
� she hissed, “but the sheriff is standing at the bar, and I think he just spotted me.”
Cassie started to swivel, then stopped herself. “You don’t want to talk to him, do you? Leave it to me. I’ll tell him to get lost if he comes anywhere near here.”
Sadie grimaced. “Actually, I kind of hope he does come over.”
Cassie looked torn between incredulity and resignation. “I knew this would happen, but I still can’t believe it. A few hours ago, you wanted to murder him!”
“I know, and I’m still mad as a nest of hornets. And, yes, I’m probably crazy, but I want to see him again.”
Cassie sighed and shook her head. “You’re nuts, all right, but it’s one of the reasons I love you. I’ll take a swim and get out of your way. But you’d better not let him push you around. Seriously, Sadie. You’ll regret it if you do.”
“Don’t worry. He probably won’t even come over. I’m not exactly going to stand up and wave to him.”
Cassie had barely made it out of her chair before Nick started to move their way. She grabbed the magazine in her lap and pretended to read, even though her hands shook with nervous excitement.
“Hey, pretty lady. Mind if I sit next to you?”
Startled, Sadie jerked her head up to meet the leering grin of the blond guy she’d seen watching her for a while. Figures. She was just about to politely reject him when she glanced over and saw Nick steaming toward them, looking ready to maim. It occurred to her that the sheriff’s reaction to the situation could be very instructive.
“It’s certainly a free country,” she replied in a cheery tone of voice.
“That chair’s taken,” Nick growled from ten feet away before the guy had a chance to sit down.
The man, a square-jawed thirty-something, was at least six inches shorter than Nick. But he whipped his head around, looking ready for an argument if not a fight. “Yeah? I don’t see anybody here.”
Nick glared at him through his shades. “I’m here.”
The guy sized Nick up, and Sadie could tell he was quickly rethinking his own aggressive posture. “Whatever,” he said. “But I might just complain to the management about you.”
“I am the management,” Nick said with a cold smile. “And thanks for your cooperation, sir.”
The man muttered under his breath and turned to leave. Sadie couldn’t help letting a whisper of a giggle slip from her mouth. Nick looked down at her, his mouth in a hard line.
“That guy could get you in trouble, Sheriff. You’re not supposed to be running around intimidating hotel guests, you know.” She gave him a mischievous smile to show she was yanking his chain. And it was pretty funny, because Nick’s testosterone-fueled reactions were nothing if not predictable.
“I’ve got bigger things to worry about than jerks like him.” His jaw looked like it had been carved from a block of marble.
Nick didn’t seem to find the situation amusing at all. His response jolted her, until she remembered all the things he had on his plate. “I’m sorry. Your mother, of course.”
“That and other things.”
She silently castigated herself. How could she have forgotten the pressure Nick was under? His mother needed so much care, and he worried about her constantly. And even though he’d been a big jerk in treating her so cavalierly, she did understand he had a difficult job. “Would you like to sit down and talk about it?” she asked softly.
“I shouldn’t, but to hell with it.” He glanced up toward the thin steel poles that had security cameras bolted on them. “It’ll have to look like the conversation is all business, though.”
“Okay, I’ll stare at one of the cameras and scowl like a harridan when you talk. How’s this?” She knitted her brows and turned down her lips in what she thought of as her pissed-off Sadie look.
“Perfect,” he said with no trace of a smile. He took off his shades and sat on the edge of the chair, bracing his hands on his knees. All business, for sure.
Self-consciously, she raised herself to a sitting position and faced him, resisting the instinctive urge to cover her breasts by crossing her arms. To his credit, his gaze never dropped from her face. “I’m sorry—” she started.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said at exactly the same time.
She started to smile, but remembered just in time to scowl. “You took the words right out of my mouth, Sheriff.”
He nodded, equally unsmiling. “I should have realized you’d be bent about the surveillance. That type of security is such standard practice around here that I forgot that somebody completely new to Vegas wouldn’t likely be aware of it. I figured you’d be a little ticked off, but I didn’t really think it through. I’m sorry I treated it so lightly.”
Sadie parsed his words, liking what she was hearing. He avoided mentioning his failure to warn her, but maybe he needed to work up to that. “I appreciate that, Nick. And as for me, I think I overreacted. I should have stayed so we could talk it through. I hope you understand how hurt I was, though.”
“I do,” he said.
She waited for him to expand on that, but he didn’t. “You’d think the casino would have more substantive priorities than harassing a little nobody like me, wouldn’t you?” she finally prompted, deepening her scowl for the cameras.
Nick didn’t flinch. “Look, it’s just the way it is, Sadie. It doesn’t make any difference whether you and I like it or not. These places get to make up their own rules and do pretty much they want, subject only to oversight by the Nevada Gaming Commission.” His lips curved into the barest hint of a smile. “If you want privacy, you’ve sure as hell come to the wrong place.”
He was quite right, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be irritated by the thug-like practices. “No wonder they can build all these absurd monuments to excess and greed,” she said, waving her hand toward the sea of hotel towers. “They make up the rules like feudal barons. Take from the poor and give to the rich.”
As soon as the words passed her lips, she wanted to slap herself. Nobody forced her or anybody else to gamble away every cent of their spare cash in the vain hope of striking it rich. In her case, of course, she simply wanted to beat the bastards at their own game. At least that’s what she thought it was.
“I never go near the casinos except for my job. I work too hard for my money to throw it down a slot machine, or blow it at a table,” he said as his gaze scanned the area around them. He seemed to do that about every thirty seconds.
Her irritation climbed another notch up the scale. Could he at least try to keep his focus on her? “And when someone like me comes along, someone who gets lucky for a while, they can arbitrarily decide I’m no longer welcome in their playground,” she said in a biting tone. “That’s the score, isn’t it?”
“Well, that’s Vegas.”
“Well, that sucks,” she shot back.
Nick didn’t try to hide the obvious heat in his dark eyes as they momentarily focused on her naked breasts. “Only if you let it.”
“That’s easily said, isn’t it? But some people have difficulty controlling their impulses. Or maybe gambling compensates for something missing in their lives. It’s not like they’re able to simply turn it off and walk away, just because you think they should. And if it’s just for a little while, and if nobody else gets hurt, why is it so wrong?”
He studied her, his face impassive. “We’re talking about you, right?”
Her stomach lurched as she realized she’d said too much. What had possessed her to grind away at the same miserable subject that had landed them in trouble last night? Plus, this was hardly the time or place to have a serious discussion.
“Nick, how late are you working tonight?” She winced at the plaintive tone to her voice.
He looked away again. “I’ve got kind of an open-ended assignment. I’ll probably be here late.”
She frowned. What did that mean? “Then...perhaps we could resume our conversation at the end of your work day?”
&nbs
p; “Sounds good, he said with a nod. “Meet you at the blackjack pit?”
At the blackjack pit? She peered at him, but she couldn’t see any judgment or disapproval on his face. Had he really given up trying to convince her not to gamble?
Whatever. She wasn’t going to push it, not when they’d managed to get this far. “Fine. If I’m not there, you have my cell number.”
Nick rose from the low-slung lounger, bringing his groin almost level with her face. Her fingers twitched with the impulse to cup his package.
Sadie almost groaned out loud at the absurd thought. Since when did her hormones make her IQ plummet fifty points?
Since you met Nick Saxon, that’s when. She looked up, going all soft inside as his protective gaze swept over her.
“Be careful out there, Sadie. I mean it.” Nick turned and walked away, his long stride quickly carrying him out of sight.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Nick gave himself several mental kicks in the ass on his way from the pool through the casino, across the hotel lobby and up the elevator to the operations center. What the hell had he been thinking? Hunting Sadie down, coming on like a jealous boyfriend, and then drooling over her like a St. Bernard? Maybe he hadn’t literally drooled over her, but his cock had threatened to punch a hole in the front of his pants.
It was totally insane how much he wanted that woman, and seeing her again—practically naked, all creamy white skin and generous curves—had brought that roaring home. As he flicked his eyes over her body, all he’d been able to think about was how he’d caressed her in the shower while he drove into her from behind. What he should have been thinking about was how Carson would soon force him to confront Sadie about her card counting and then blacklist her, and how much she would hate Nick for that.
The inevitability of that result gnawed away at him with surprisingly sharp teeth. Sadie was clearly still angry and hurt, but she had obviously more or less forgiven him. He’d almost fallen off the lounge chair when she asked him, in that tentative, almost-shy voice, when he got off work. He’d forgotten for one rash moment that they couldn’t really have any future together. And in that moment he’d grasped at the opportunity to be with her again, even though he’d recognized only seconds later how hopeless and messy the whole thing would quickly become.
