“Yes, Ms. Bennett?”
“Could you connect me to Landon Chestnut’s room?”
“Please hold on.”
She heard the connection and moments later, the ringing of his phone. Her heart was beating erratically. She still hadn’t figured out what she would say when he answered. Moments later, she hung up because he had not answered. So she got out of bed and went to take a shower. Landon usually ate a big breakfast and if he hadn’t ordered room service then hopefully, he’d be downstairs in the hotel’s restaurant.
Less than an hour later, she was on her way downstairs. Before going to bed last night, she had taken the time to call her mother and Michael to let them know she had made it safely to Vegas. She’d also called her two older brothers and Kelly.
Stepping off the elevator, she walked over to the hotel’s restaurant and glanced around in awe. It was beautifully decorated with its own Christmas tree that was as golden as the interior walls of the palace. “Will you be dining alone?” a smiling restaurant attendant asked.
“I’m actually looking for someone. A handsome black male who’s probably eating alone”
The young woman nodded and smiled. “There are several men who fit that description in here. If you’d like, you can take a look around. Maybe you’ll recognize the person you’re looking for.”
“Thanks.”
She walked through the restaurant but didn’t see him. What if Landon had decided to try one of the other restaurants or even a café on the strip? Knowing he had to return at some point, she decided to have a message delivered to his room. It would be there whenever he got back.
She walked back over to the restaurant attendant. “I didn’t see him, I’m afraid. So I guess I’ll be eating alone.”
As Monica was being shown to her table, she passed a table with a man sitting alone. She glanced at him and he smiled and winked. Then she remembered seeing him last night. He’d been with that group of men on the elevator who’d been staring at her, making her uncomfortable. She quickly broke eye contact with him. The last thing she wanted was to give the man any ideas she might be interested.
When they reached her table, she sat down, and the waitress handed her a menu. “Thanks.”
She was looking over the specials, trying to decide if she would order from the menu or choose the buffet, when suddenly, someone slid into the other chair at her table. She frowned. It was the man whose table she’d just passed. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I was eating alone, and it appears you are too. I see no reason for us not to share a table,” he said. “I’m Warren Duke, by the way. And you are?”
Monica glared at the obnoxious man. “It doesn’t matter who I am. I didn’t invite you to dine with me, so please leave.”
Landon returned to his booth after having hit the buffet table. He’d done some damage—the food piled on his plate looked fantastic. One of the things he liked about the Peachtree Private Investigative Firm, was that whenever he had to travel, he was always booked at some of the best hotels. And it didn’t get any better than Caesars Palace.
He had slid into his seat when he overheard a conversation through the restaurant’s wall. He had to be imagining things—that woman sounded like Monica. He shook his head. There was no way Monica was here in Vegas. It had to someone who sounded like her.
He could see why he’d think he heard her though. After all, she was constantly on his mind. He went to bed thinking about her, he dreamed about her and he would wake up thinking about her. He hated that even after almost a week apart, she could still mess with his mind.
The missing person’s case he’d been working had kept his mind occupied for a little while. But now that his assignment was over, she filled his mind again. Even though he tried to forget the cruise, and the woman who’d brought him back to life, he couldn’t. And he was very much afraid that he never would.
Landon was sprinkling pepper on his eggs when he heard the woman’s voice again saying... “If you don’t leave, I will tell the waitress that you’re harassing me.”
He froze. That woman sounded way too much like Monica for him to ignore. And it sounded as if she was in the same type of situation Monica often found herself in, with men making unwanted advances. Was fate messing with him again?
He decided to verify once and for all that the woman was not Monica. She couldn’t be. But even if the woman wasn’t Monica, she was being harassed. And he had no problem stepping in and telling the man to take a hike.
Tossing his napkin on the table, he stood and walked around the wall.
Monica glared. The man had the gall to smile at her, as if he didn’t care that he’d royally pissed her off. “Go away. Now.”
The man’s smile widened. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re cute when you’re angry?”
“Is there a reason you’re harassing this lady?”
Monica jerked around to look at the man who’d approached her table, and who now stood glaring at the man who’d taken it upon himself to sit with her without being invited. “Landon!”
He looked at her but didn’t smile. Instead, he turned back to the man and said in a firm voice, “Leave.”
Evidently, the guy quickly figured out that Landon was not someone to mess with and quickly stood and said, “Hey, she didn’t say she was with anyone.” Then he rushed off.
Landon watched him leave and then turned to her. “Monica, what are you doing here?”
“I was looking for you.”
His expression became unreadable. “I don’t know why you would do that. We have nothing to say to each other.”
Then he turned and walked off.
Monica called after him. “Landon, please wait.”
Turning around, he asked, “Yes?”
“You might have nothing to say to me…but there’s a lot that I need to say to you.”
“I’m not interested.”
He turned and kept walking but didn’t leave the restaurant. Instead, he seemed to be heading somewhere on the other side of the wall. That meant he was in here dining. She must have missed him in the buffet line when she’d scanned the restaurant before.
“Are you ready to order, miss?”
She glanced up at the smiling waitress, knowing exactly what she was going to do. She hadn’t come all this way to have Landon ignore her. He was going to hear her out. Afterward, if he didn’t accept her apology, it would be on him. But at least, she’d have tried.
“Yes, I’m getting the buffet. I found the person I was looking for earlier, so I’ll be joining him at his table, if that’s okay. He’s just sitting on the other side of the wall.”
“Alright.”
After the waitress left, Monica gathered her belongings and stood. Landon was about to find out just how determined a Bennett could be.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
LANDON COULD BARELY KEEP his hands from shaking with the anger he felt when he picked up his fork. Monica was here in Vegas, and she’d said she had come looking for him. Too late. He didn’t want to hear anything she had to say.
He had been missing her so much, and yesterday had taken its toll. So he had done something he had told himself he would not do—call her. He had needed to talk to her, to hear her voice. To plead with her once again. That’s when he’d discovered she had blocked his number.
The fact that she’d gone that far to make sure they couldn’t connect again, enraged him. And he was still angry. He couldn’t think of a better way to let him know that the days they had spent together on the cruise meant nothing to her. She had pretty much told him they hadn’t, but a part of him had hoped she might soften her stance. But now, he couldn’t care less. A man had his pride, after all.
Holding his fork steady, he began eating, wondering how she’d known where he was. One of the guys in the firm had to have told her and the only one who would do such a thing was Duan. He would be making a call to his friend as soon as he finished eating breakfast.
He had just picked up his coffee to take a sip when Monica slid into the booth seat across from him. He drew in a deep breath. Her scent had attacked his brain cells earlier, and it was bombarding them now.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked harshly.
“What does it look like?”
Her comeback surprised him. She had snapped at him the same way he’d barked at her. If he hadn’t been so angry, he would have found it amusing. “You do know you’re invading my space the same way that guy had been invading yours.”
She shrugged. “Not really. There’s a major difference.”
He shouldn’t ask but he couldn’t help himself. “And that difference is…?”
She didn’t say anything for a minute, and then she smiled. “He doesn’t love me. You do.”
He felt as if someone had sucker-punched him. If she thought for one minute that she could waltz her way back into his life, breaking down his defenses by throwing his love for her back at him—the love she had rejected—he’d just have to set her straight.
He was about to tell her that very thing when, as if she’d read his mind, she said, “Believing you still love me is what gave me the courage to come here.”
He didn’t say anything. Doing so would start a conversation between them, and he didn’t want to talk to her.
What he wanted to do was finish his breakfast and get the hell out of here. He hadn’t come to Vegas for this. But then again, it really hadn’t mattered where he went. Monica would have been on his mind anyway. Wasn’t it better to deal with this in person, instead of suffering through memories he couldn’t let go of?
Why did she have to look so beautiful in the morning? He recalled asking himself that question every morning, especially those mornings he would wake up beside her.
“I think I’ll have buffet as well.”
He almost told her to have whatever the hell she wanted, and to just leave him alone, but he couldn’t. Especially when she stood and walked over to the buffet station. His gaze followed her, though he wished it wouldn’t. He’d missed her curvaceous body, now on display in the tight jeans she had one. And her hair... He was barely able to resist reaching out to touch the curly strands that hung around her shoulders.
He sighed deeply. This would be a good time for him to get up and leave, while she was gone. But something deep inside him would not allow that. It was as if he was rooted in place. He had told her he hadn’t wanted to hear what she had to say. But maybe he was wrong. He would hear her out, tell her it was too late for them and then send her on her way. He hoped.
Landon hadn’t denied that he loved her.
That very thought gave Monica some semblance of hope, though Landon wasn’t giving her much else. She’d guessed that winning him back wouldn’t be easy, but at least now, she had a chance. She honestly hadn’t known what to expect when she arrived in town.
Now she knew she loved him so much that she’d do whatever it took to win him back, even if she had to fight for him. And she’d do it the only way she knew how—the way he’d taught her. In the same way he’d gone after her heart, she intended to recapture his. Right now, he didn’t seem all that happy to see her, and she knew he didn’t want to hear what she had to say. But she would handle him—she had to, although she wasn’t sure how. She’d never handled a man in her life.
Unable to resist temptation, she glanced over her shoulder to glance at where Landon sat. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him looking at her. Her body grew hot as she recalled other times that he’d looked at her that same way. Her gaze drifted over him and she felt a pang in her heart with each lingering visual caress across his face.
He was such a handsome man, but there was more to him than mere surface beauty. Landon Chestnut was a man any woman would want. He knew how to make a woman feel both feminine and safe. He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of guy. How stupid she’d been to even think of letting him go and waiting for something that might never come later. He loved her and she loved him. That had to be enough.
A few moments later, she returned to the table with a full plate. He didn’t say anything when she sat back down across from him, or when the waitress came with her tea. Once the woman walked off, she realized Landon had already finished eating. He had no reason to remain at the table with her. Would he leave?
To keep him there, she decided to start a conversation. She didn’t know what else to do. “What did your family think about you not being home for Christmas?”
He had been glancing around the restaurant and her question caused him to refocus his attention on her. The moment he did so, she felt her body throb. Her reaction to him hadn’t lessened any.
He took a sip of his coffee. “I didn’t ask them what they thought.” Then he put his cup down and asked, “What do your parents think of you not showing up in Atlanta? If I remember right, those were your plans.”
She held his gaze and was glad that he was finally talking to her. “Yes, those were my plans. I told them something important had come up, something I had to take care of. I didn’t give them any details.”
When the waitress appeared and asked if he wanted a refill on his coffee, Monica held her breath. If he didn’t, that meant he’d likely leave her sitting here alone. She released a deep breath when he nodded and held out his cup.
Monica wanted to believe the reason he was still sitting here was because he still wanted her. And she needed to let him know that she needed him, too. Not just for today but for the rest of her life.
She was about to say something, when he took a sip of his coffee, then licked his lips with his tongue. She immediately recalled other things that tongue had done, to her mouth as well as other parts of her body.
“Is anything wrong, Monica?”
She snatched her gaze from his lips and met his eyes. He’d obviously caught her staring at his mouth. Drawing in a deep breath, she decided to be honest with him. “Yes, there’s something wrong. There’s a lot wrong. If you have some time, I’d like to tell you what those things are.”
For a minute she thought he’d tell her he didn’t give a damn about what was wrong with her. But thankfully, he instead, said, “I have time. So what’s bothering you?”
Monica gave him an appreciative smile, then she glanced around. “Is there someplace we can talk privately?”
Landon glanced around as well. “I doubt it.” He then looked back at her, as if that was the end of it. It was obvious he wouldn’t be suggesting they go back to two obvious places—his room or hers.
She decided to take the initiative to do so. “We can talk privately in my room, Landon. Unless you don’t trust yourself alone with me.”
“I have no problem being alone with you,” he said bluntly.
At that moment he signaled for the waitress. “Yes?”
“Charge both meals to my room,” he told her.
“That’s kind of you, Landon, but I can pay for my own breakfast.”
He looked genuinely bothered that she had even suggested such a thing. “I’m sure you can. But I’m paying for it.”
The last thing she wanted to do was ruffle any more of his feathers, so she ducked her head and said, “Thank you.”
Landon walked beside Monica, wondering if he needed his head examined. Why the hell had he agreed to go back to her hotel room? He could have easily asked the concierge if there was a small meeting room they could use. So why hadn’t he?
It was too late now, he thought, as the two of them stepped onto the elevator.
There were others inside, so he and Monica didn’t say anything until they reached her floor. He wasn’t surprised it was the same floor as his room. He wondered if she knew that. In fact, when she came to a stop in front of her room, he saw that it was right next door to his. Is that why he’d gone to bed thinking he was inhaling her scent? Could such a thing penetrate walls?
He followed her inside and immediately noticed her suite was identical to his. Landon suddenly recalled overhearing
one of the hotel attendants say the hotel was booked solid this week. He glanced over at Monica. “When did you decide to come to Vegas?”
She looked at him over her shoulder as she dropped her purse on the coffee table. “Yesterday.”
He lifted a brow. “How did you get a room? The hotel is booked solid.”
She eased down on the sofa. “Duan Jeffries made all the arrangements. When I told him that I needed to talk to you, he said there was no way I’d get a room this close to the holidays, but he said he could manage it for me. I was on standby for eight hours in St. Paul and didn’t arrive here until close to midnight. I called your room a couple of times when I got here but you were out.”
Landon nodded. There was no need to tell her he’d been out walking the strip until close to three this morning, trying to get her off his mind. He eased down on the love seat across from her. Whatever she’d told Duan must have sounded pretty damn convincing for his best friend to have not only told her his whereabouts, but also to make sure she had a place to stay when she got here.
“So, what did you want to tell me?”
He tried to push the thought from his mind that he honestly hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed her until now. Being alone in this suite with her reminded him of the way it had been between them on the cruise. Sitting across from him wearing only jeans and a pullover sweater, she radiated so much sexiness that he could actually feel the air being snatched from his lungs.
“I want to apologize for how things ended between us on the cruise.”
Landon frowned. “Why? You only told me how you felt, just like I told you how I felt. Unfortunately, we weren’t on the same page. I wanted forever and you wanted a bed partner to make up for all those orgasms you’ve never had. I got it.”
THE BENNETTS' CHRISTMAS (The Bennett Family and the Masters Family Book 6) Page 28
