Vegas, Baby

by Sandra Edwards

  He probably wanted a status update on the Bellmore reports. Or maybe he was her jokester.

  Was he capable of sending her a prank letter?

  No way. Not Gabe. The man wasn’t just her boss, he was her godfather for Christ’s sake.

  Passing her coworkers, she studied them. She didn’t have many fans in the department. That was no secret. But she didn’t think she had any enemies either.

  That’s why it had to be a joke. Unless she’d underestimated her capacity as an enemy-magnet.

  “I’m almost done.” She stopped, leaving about three feet of empty space separating them.

  “With what?”

  “Bellmore reports.”

  “Those can wait,” he said. “LaCall needs a ride.”

  Her breath swept away. “They’re releasing him?”

  “Yes. You go get him.”

  “Why me?” Her hand flew to her chest.

  “He’s your partner.” Gabe slid his hands inside his trouser pockets and backed a couple of steps into his office. “You go get him.”

  If he needed a ride, did that mean he had no one here in Vegas? The hypothesis swelled into curiosity. It was an appealing idea, but how did a guy like Eddie LaCall come with no baggage?

  Simple. He didn’t.

  * * *

  Rio breezed into Eddie’s hospital room. Her cop instincts on alert, she gazed around the space in a quick scan before settling on the bed. Or maybe she was just stalling before looking at him, knowing what she’d find.

  He was lounging on the bed, fully dressed, legs crossed. She surveyed the span of his body, from his booted feet up the length of his Levi’s. Her heartbeat hastened, giving the organ a workout it hadn’t seen in while. Well, at least until Eddie LaCall came to town.

  His sheer presence splintered her reserve and shattered her poise. A strange sense of yearning crept up her throat. Just lust, that’s all it was. She swallowed hard, shoving it back down inside.

  His black T-shirt didn’t help. It looked like a second layer of skin stretched across his chest. Muscular arms, bronzed with the color of his heritage, encouraged her fantasies. She fancied him sweeping her effortlessly into his arms.

  Stop it.

  Nobody had a right to look that good. And she shouldn’t be noticing. She was unable to halt the sigh accompanying her thoughts.

  “Somebody call a cab?” she said, scarcely above a whisper.

  “I knew you couldn’t stay away.” His teasing, and mostly accurate assumption, battered her already fragile nerves. He knew what he was doing, and that irritated Rio. “You missed your chance, Laraquette. You and me. Mouth to mouth. It could’ve been hot.”

  Laughter snorted out her nose. “Give me a freaking break.” She moved away, toward the chair on the opposite side of the room, thankful for the space she was able to amass between them. “I’m here to give you a ride. Don’t make me regret it.”

  “The doctor hasn’t signed my release papers yet. Do you mind waiting?” His dejected I-give-up look suggested there was some civility inside the man somewhere.

  “No problem.” She dropped into the chair, slung one leg over the other and glanced out the window. “I’m on the Fed’s clock.” She dragged her fingers through her hair and pushed it out of her face. Her gaze lingered at the window, and remained fixed on the concrete jungle outside with its lone palm tree swaying in the desert breeze.

  A slight sound, as if someone was moaning, drew her back to LaCall. His eyes were closed and his brow was drawn into a wrinkled show of pain. He must not be as fit as he wanted everyone to think.

  She sat up quickly. “You okay?”

  A sly grin spread beneath his closed eyes. “I’m fine,” he said, looking at her. His gaze fastened on her face, then moved slowly over her body.

  “Well, good.” She felt the muscles tighten around her jaw. She hated what this partnership thing was doing to her, turning her into a wimpy marshmallow.

  If only she could dispel the invisible web of attraction budding and expanding around the pair, connecting them. Letting the attraction grow wasn’t a good idea. Nothing good could come from a personal involvement with a coworker, much less her new partner—even if she and Eddie did bear a strong resemblance to a pair of lovers from another generation. That had to be it. She was caught up in the fascination of a story she’d heard. She countered the growing beast with sarcasm. “You owe me.”

  “Yes, I do,” he agreed. “I can’t begin to thank you enough for impeding Bellmore’s aim.”

  “Oh, I forgot about that.” Thank you for reminding me. Good. Now she was back to her old self. “You owe me double.”

  “What else am I indebted to you for?” His eyebrows rose with curiosity.

  “Bellmore reports.”

  The door opened and a nurse entered. A disappointing frown, upon seeing Rio, destroyed the woman’s smile. Her glare traveled away from Rio and turned to instant mush the moment her sights landed on LaCall. “Good news, Eddie.”

  “Tell me, Jennifer—” He matched her flirtatious tone. “Am I sprung?”

  “Yes, you are.” The declaration lingered on her voice. “Dr. Evans just signed your release. Take the weekend to rest up and you can report back to work on Monday.” She offered him a handful of papers along with a smile that said, here I am for the taking.

  “Thank you, Jennifer.” Eddie paused, reeling her in with his dazzling smile. “I’m anxious for freedom. Rio here has promised to cook me dinner.”

  Good response. Although presumptuous. Had he meant it the way it sounded? That’s the way the nurse took it. And it better be the reason he said it, for Nurse Jennifer’s benefit. No matter how much Rio might want to, she wasn’t going there.

  “Give me a couple of minutes,” Jennifer’s tone turned sharp and professional. “I’ll get a wheelchair so you two can be on your merry way.”

  “Ouch.” Eddie chuckled after Jennifer had disappeared into the hallway. Clearly, Nurse Jennifer wasn’t happy thinking Rio had access to something she didn’t.

  “I’ll bring the car around.” Rio pushed herself out of the chair and headed for the door.

  “Hurry up,” he said. “If Jennifer gets me alone in a wheelchair, I might miss our dinner date.”

  She stopped, held the door open and looked over her shoulder. “Oh, and in which one of your fantasies did I say I was going to make you dinner?”

  He looked like he was about to counter with some facetious remark, but she disappeared into the hallway depriving him of that glory.

  She giggled and sashayed down the empty corridor, proud of herself for one-upping him. Not even the drab walls, the color of mushroom stalks, could dampen her mood. Sumptuous thoughts of Eddie LaCall splattered her mind. Still laughing, mostly inside, she pushed the down button on the elevator.

  Realizing the corner she was fencing herself into, she forced herself to settle down. There was no room for romance in her life, especially with a partner—who looked amazingly like her long-dead ancestor. Fighting the invading and unwanted fantasies, she shook her head and tried to deny them entry.

  The elevator doors parted and a young woman about Rio’s height stepped out. They sized each other up, as women often do. She had the same slender oval face, but her hair was lighter, blonder than Rio’s, and her eyes were brown. Their bodies were the same though—tall, lean, and long-legged.

  A sense of rivalry cut through Rio, although she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it had something to do with this woman looking so much like her, enough that they could be sisters.

  Rio stepped toward the elevator. Something inside her shivered when the stranger passed her by. Rio tried shaking it off. She punched the first-floor button and forgot about her look-alike as soon as the doors closed.

  The elevator began its descent with a thud and Rio reached inside her leather bag, fishing for her keys. Finding nothing, she dug deeper and rooted around. No keys. Had she left them in LaCall’s room?

  What? She question
ed her bad luck. He would no doubt dish out some precocious comeback. Irritation stained her disposition as she rode the elevator back up to the fifth floor.

  Wisecracks, she could handle. She was ready for those. But she wasn’t so sure about the implications. His suggestive innuendos had her thinking all sorts of tempting ideas that should remain off-limits.

  Rio didn’t want to think about his mouth on hers. The heat of his bare skin against hers. His fingers trailing a path down—

  Trudging down the corridor, she tried to shake the thought out of her head. She hesitated outside Eddie’s room before pushing against the door. Remnants of the mental indiscretion burned hot against her cheeks, and she struggled to deny them re-entry into her thoughts.

  She entered the room and all she had worked for, every bit of good judgment she’d managed to acquire during the drawn-out walk down the corridor—it felt a lot longer this time—shot out in fifty different directions at the sight of her look-alike from the elevator standing over Eddie.

  The ability to speak was one of those precious commodities that’d jumped ship and she didn’t stand a prayer’s chance of regaining it for at least another five minutes.

  There was something going on with Eddie and elevator girl. What, Rio couldn’t be sure. But the tension was there, and all of it rushed toward her as if she were a magnet.

  Her chest constricted and she fumbled for words. “Oh, sorry.” The only ones Rio could come up with were tinged with a bite. “I forgot my keys,” she added, trying to rationalize her reason for returning.

  “Yeah, I know.” Eddie flashed that devastating grin of his and revealed her keys in his hand.

  “Well, I’ll just take my keys and get out of your hair.” In a desperate gesture, she grabbed at them. Eddie yanked them out of her reach.

  Exasperation, disappointment, even a twinge of jealousy flushed hot against her face. Feeling wholly out of place, and the butt of a thousand jokes between the two of them, she wanted to run before she embarrassed herself further.

  But then the girl question him. “Eddie, who’s this?”

  Uncertainty breathed out in a long, deep sigh. She knew the answer to that. His partner. Rio knew they were an impossibility, but she wasn’t ready to have it thrown in her face and in front of his girlfriend, or worse yet—his wife.

  Eddie grabbed Rio’s wrist, as if he knew the thoughts speeding through her brain. “This is my partner, Rio Laraquette.” His tone, calm and cool, blanketed her in a sense of security. But she recognized the bogus act. She was beginning to feel like a third wheel who harbored a secret crush, helplessly in love and hopelessly out of her league.

  “Well, isn’t that original. You have a river named after you.” The girl’s words, heavy with sarcasm, mocked Rio.

  Eddie ignored her snide comments. Why wouldn’t he? He surely wouldn’t get into a fight over his brand-new partner. And he wasn’t letting go of Rio’s arm either.

  She fancied that somewhere in the remote corners of his mind he knew Rio could kick the girl’s ass. Not that she would. But she could, and that was enough.

  “Rio, this is Naomi Thomas. I knew her in Phoenix.”

  “Knew me?” Naomi cackled, and Rio thought the girl’s head might explode. “That’s one way to put it.”

  Rio, still trapped in Eddie’s grasp, attempted to free herself. He tightened his grip.

  “Could you give us a minute?” he said to Naomi.

  “What?” Naomi’s eyes widened and her head sprang forward. “You’re asking me to leave?”

  “Yes.”

  Rio recoiled. Maybe Naomi’s head wasn’t going to explode, but her bulging eyes were on the verge of popping out. If that happened, they’d become projectile missiles headed straight for Eddie.

  The girl scared Rio, and she wasn’t afraid of much.

  She waited until Naomi was in the hallway. “Hey, look.” She paused, hoping to salvage at least some of her diminishing dignity. “I don’t want to get in the way of you and your girl.”

  “Jealous, Laraquette?”

  “In your dreams.”

  “That’s one of my favorites.”

  Bite me. She managed to contain the snappy comeback to just a thought, knowing what he’d do with that response.

  He stood, his mouth twisting with a devilish grin. “Did you bring the car around?”

  A scream charged up Rio’s throat. He knew she hadn’t brought the damned car around. A lacerating growl choked the shrieking urge to pieces.

  “Perhaps you should get a ride from your girlfriend,” she said, pleased at how nonchalant she sounded.

  He laid the keys in her hand, holding his palm against hers a bit longer than she liked. “Go get the car and bring it around front. I’ll be down shortly.” He scooped his cell phone off the nightstand. “I’m going to get rid of Naomi.”

  “Yeah, right.” Rio snorted and moved toward the door.

  “Can I drive?”

  “No,” she said without looking back.

  In the hallway, Naomi’s stare, long and cold and hard, felt like she was cursing Rio with some evil-eye voodoo crap.

  Rio shuddered, walked on past and gave her a quick, uneasy smile. Even without turning around she could feel Naomi’s glare burrowing a heated hole deep in her back.

  She prayed the girl would go back into Eddie’s room, as opposed to following her into the elevator.

  CHAPTER 3

  IN A matter of minutes Eddie LaCall’s problems had tripled. The single dilemma he had half an hour ago, an anonymous text message threatening “that bitch” was worry enough. He’d thought it was meant for Rio, but now that Naomi had shown up he wasn’t so sure.

  What if they knew why he was here? What if they thought Naomi was a way to get to him? Was he prepared to sacrifice her for his own selfish purposes? Could the end ever really justify the means?

  Damn it. She picked a hell of a time to decide, all on her own, that he wanted her with him. And that brought about his third problem—Rio Laraquette had erected an impenetrable wall around her the minute she saw Naomi at his bedside.

  Getting close to Rio was crucial. The closer the better. Now that Naomi had interfered with his plans, he’d have to think fast and do some critical damage control to get his new partner back where he needed her, totally enamored and trusting.

  He had to get rid of Naomi, for both their sakes, and it wouldn’t be easy. The girl was accustomed to getting what she wanted.

  She stalked back into the room. The anger in her eyes tapered into desperation and sadness. He almost felt sorry for her. Naomi Thomas, for the first time in her life, probably wanted what she could not have. Him.

  “Naomi,” Eddie said. “Go home.”

  “I can’t.” Her coffee brown eyes were beginning to swim inside a pool of liquid anguish. Her body swayed, she was fighting the tears.

  “You have to.”

  “You need me.” Her voice elevated and tightened. “I need you.”

  “What I need is for you to go home, Naomi.” He kept his tone calm and even. He’d learned early on, matching her hysterics only encouraged her.

  “It’s her, isn’t it? You want me to leave because of her?”

  “You have to go home. I’m wrapped up in something dangerous here and I don’t want you involved.”

  She sucked in a shallow sigh, and said, “You do care about me.”

  “Sure, I care about you, Naomi. But like I told you weeks ago,” he said, “I’m just not in love with you.”

  That stung. He saw it in her eyes. They turned cold and hard.

  Eddie didn’t have time to soothe Naomi’s ego. He had a job to do, one that required getting closer to Rio. Much, much closer. Something he couldn’t do as long as Naomi was around.

  He said goodbye, shooed her out the door and hoped, for her sake, that she’d take his advice and return to Phoenix.

  Nurse Jennifer escorted Eddie downstairs in a wheelchair to where Rio was waiting in a 1961 red Corvette. He
could appreciate the beauty of both the car and its driver. What man in his right mind wouldn’t approve of and admire a fully restored, vintage Vette? His father would have.

  Eddie didn’t want to start getting all sentimental now. He turned to Rio, who’d opened the passenger door for him. “Sure you don’t want me to drive…?” He let the words trail off onto a path of playful laughter.

  “Get in the car, LaCall.” Her voice was edged with control.

  He did as she instructed, but sooner or later he would finagle his way into the driver’s seat. Inside the car and out.

  She was mostly quiet while they drove to a quaint café downtown. She’d said she was hungry. Her silence was probably due in large part to Naomi’s sudden and unexpected arrival.

  People can’t help who they’re attracted to, but they do have control over their actions. Rio Laraquette might not want to admit it, but Eddie saw that she had a thing for him. Whether or not she’d act upon it was another matter.

  Lunch was going pretty well. Eddie was torn between the effects of the pain killers and his desire to eat. Rio talked about a lot of stuff, but the meds kept most of it from registering inside his mind. He thought of many things to talk about but couldn’t keep focused long enough to settle on any one idea. Olivia came to mind but it probably wasn’t a good idea to let anyone know his weakness. For now he’d keep Olivia right where she belonged, inside his heart.

  Some drunk guy stumbled and fell into a waitress carrying a tray full of drinks. Rio suffered the worst of it, getting soaked. It pissed Eddie off more than it bothered her.

  Maybe he reacted as such because he felt the need to save her, because he thought he owed her. But if he really wanted to impress a girl like Rio, he’d have to do better than yelling at an overworked waitress in an overcrowded restaurant.

  Rio had pummeled a guy to save Eddie’s life, a virtual stranger, but showed amazing reserve when personally insulted by Naomi and doused by the waitress’s tray.

  It wasn’t until the meds began to wear off and Rio announced she needed to drop by her place to change that he decided he should go back and drop the waitress a big fat tip. Thanks to her, he was getting a look inside his new partner’s apartment.