Her Secret Lover (What Happens in Vegas)

by Robin Covington

  “You have a gift and your words impact people. You saw that yesterday with your fans. Don’t waste it.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Saturday

  late afternoon

  “You got fired?”

  Kelsey flopped down on the lounge chair by the pool next to Sarina. Normally she would love the idea of kicking back by the pool on a day when she would usually be at work. Downtime was a luxury she hadn’t taken advantage of in the last few years. Now she had all the time in the world.

  “Yeah. I was cold busted fucking around with a guest. I knew the risk and I lost,” she said, shoving the box full of her personal items to the side of the chair. “I had ‘multiple orgasm hair’ and was wearing my clothes from yesterday. Lying wasn’t an option.”

  “Oh, Kelsey.” Sarina leaned over and grabbed her in a big hug, tightening her hold when Kelsey started shaking. The goddamn tears were back, and she couldn’t do a thing to stop them. Sarina was like a sister, her safe place, and she could fall apart with her and know that her secrets were safe. How many times had she sat in her bedroom, Sarina’s apartment, or by this very pool and poured out all the shit about her mother that she could never tell her father? Too many times to count. Family wasn’t only forged by blood—sometimes it grew from a liberal dose of laughter, tears, booze, and Ben & Jerry’s. “Honey, what did Micah say?”

  That made her cry a little bit harder. As she turned in her employee ID, emptied her locker, and was escorted off the property by a glowering Perry, all she saw was the look of complete and total disgust and hurt on Micah’s face. She’d hurt him. She’d known she would—she just didn’t know how much it would hurt her.

  “It’s over between us.”

  “What the hell?” Sarina asked, pulling back enough for Kelsey to see the shock on her face. “What do you mean it’s over? You only got started.”

  “I told him what I did, how I had agreed to help Babette, and he couldn’t forgive me.”

  “What an asshole.”

  She shook her head, unable to jump on board that train. “I knew what I was doing, knew the risk. He’d told me about being used by people, and I never had a doubt that he wouldn’t take it well if he found out. If I had thought he’d be okay with it, I would have told him right off the bat.”

  “Sure. I don’t disagree, but it’s not like you murdered his puppy or something,”

  Sarina’s ivory cheeks were flushed with her anger, red splotches of color on her neck giving away just how pissed off she really was. Sarina wasn’t hotheaded, no matter how many redhead jokes people made, but when she got really ticked off, you needed to duck and cover. Kelsey did not want Sarina going off on Micah—that would only make it worse.

  “I violated his trust. I lied to him.”

  “But you didn’t do it. You never handed over the goods.”

  “True. I decided that there was no way I could do it, but that doesn’t change the fact that I completely started our fling with a huge ulterior motive.”

  “When he heard you lost your job, he still kicked you to the curb? That’s a dick move,” Sarina cut her off when she tried to speak. “I’m sorry, it just is.”

  “I never told him I got fired.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because in the end it didn’t matter.”

  “Fuck that, Kelsey! He got you fired. It sure as hell matters,” Sarina said.

  “I got myself fired. Not Micah.” She stood up and leaned over to pick up the box of items, anchoring it on her hip and squinting in the late-afternoon sunshine. “I was a big girl, and I took the risk.”

  “Oh, but Kels.” Sarina stood and took the box, nodding her head toward Kelsey’s apartment. In her high-heel sandals and swimsuit, her best friend looked like a pinup from the 1940s, the kind guys used to paint on the side of their airplane before they flew off into battle. She was strong, and Kelsey knew she would be leaning on her so much in the next few days. “You cared about him, I saw it on your face. It’s got to be killing you.”

  Getting her keys out of her purse kept her face hidden, and she was glad for the excuse not to look at her friend. Losing her job was disastrous, potential financial ruination, but losing Micah cut to the quick, leaving her too raw and exposed for public viewing at this time.

  “It is. I…” A deep breath, and she let it loose. “I fell in love with him, and I was hoping…”

  She hesitated, knowing that if she said it out loud, it was somehow committing to the heartbreak. Fully admitting what she’d lost.

  “Hoping?”

  “I was hoping for the happily ever after in those books I love. I was hoping for the whole sappy, romantic, silly, movie-of-the-week shebang.”

  “Oh, honey…” Sarina’s big green eyes filled with tears, and Kelsey turned away, opening her door in an attempt to stave off a crying jag. If her bestie started bawling, then she would, too, and that would just be too pathetic.

  She grabbed the box from Sarina’s hands and took a deep breath, turning her mind to how she wanted to spend today and tonight. Getting fired and dumped called for a night of drinking and debauchery. Luckily, she lived in the town that was tailor-made for nights you’d never remember.

  “I’m in the mood to get drunk and vomit in some poor cabbie’s ride. You in?”

  Sarina’s face fell, her frustration written in the slump of her shoulders. “I can’t. I’m the only one working in the shop tonight. You want to come with me?”

  Kelsey thought about it. A night at home, watching TV, and drinking alone or hanging out in a sex shop with her best friend and all the local perverts? It was no contest. She had a long time in the future to lie around and wait for her broken heart to heal.

  “Sure. I’ll let you sell me a new vibrator. I think I’m going to need it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Saturday evening

  one hour before the Romance Convention Ball

  “I thought getting some regular tail was supposed to put you in a better mood,” Allen said as he rummaged in the fridge of Micah’s suite.

  Micah faced his reflection in the mirror and cursed as the stupid bowtie refused to cooperate for the ninetieth time. He stripped it off and tossed it back on the bed, hating this stupid monkey suit, and the prospect of spending his evening dressed up at the closing ball to the convention.

  He wanted to be gone, needed to be on the plane headed back to Bridger Gap and the life he lead before he fell for Kelsey Kyle and completely missed the fact that she was just like everyone else.

  “I called your pretty little concierge up here to get your shitty attitude adjusted.” Allen strolled across the living area, a beer in hand, and looking perfectly at ease in his tux.

  He really hated him right now. “You did what?”

  “I summoned your hot little genie in a bottle to come up here and chill you the fuck out.” He laughed and thrust his crotch forward. “A little rub here. A little stroke there.”

  Murder. Swift and bloody. It would solve so many of his problems right now. “Allen, butt out. Kelsey and I are done. I don’t need her, that’s why I have you.”

  “I’m not sucking your dick, dude. The fifteen percent you pay me does not cover sexual favors.”

  “Allen.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Shut the fuck up and listen to me.” Allen smirked, completely unfazed as usual and motioned for Micah to continue at the same time he lifted the bottle to his lips. “Kelsey was using me. She fucked me in order to get a VIP guest one-on-one time with me in exchange for a guaranteed spot in the management program here at the hotel. It was never about me. It was never real, and I don’t want her here.”

  Allen stared at him, the bottle poised in midair as he ran the data on everything Micah had just unloaded in the room. The shock he could deal with, but the last emotion that crossed his face was…pity.

  “Dude, that sucks. I know how much you dug this girl.”

  “Yeah, well…”

  The bris
k knock on the door, followed by a louder, male voice stating “concierge” interrupted their conversation. Micah didn’t want to get into a big heart-to-heart with Allen anyway; it would only put a glaring spotlight on what a fool he’d been.

  Allen walked over to the door and opened it, allowing the tall, dark-haired man to enter. He was dressed in the male version of the concierge uniform that Kelsey had worn, but his nametag boasted he was part of management.

  “Mr. Holmes, my name is Perry. I understand you requested assistance from Ms. Kyle but she no longer works here, so I came up to see if I could take care of your request.”

  Micah stared, not quite understanding what he thought he’d heard. “What do you mean that Kelsey no longer works here?”

  Perry squinted at him, transferring his confused gaze to Allen and then back to Micah. “I meant what I said. She is no longer employed by this hotel.”

  “What? When did that happen? Did she quit?” He knew he wasn’t giving the guy any time to respond, but this was a complete and total surprise. Kelsey loved her job. She had plans to move up the corporate ladder, and while she wasn’t guaranteed a spot because of her failure to deliver him to Babette, that didn’t mean she had to quit.

  Perry now added “uncomfortable” to his expression, shifting slightly on his very shiny, polished black shoes. “If I can be blunt, Mr. Holmes, she was fired this morning when we discovered that she was…involved with you.” He cleared his throat, not liking this conversation at all. “I presumed she told you when she came up here this morning.”

  Fired. Jesus.

  “No, she didn’t say a word about losing her job.” Micah rolled it over his mind, their conversation from beginning to end. She’d shown up devastated by something, and he’d held her until she told him about using him. They’d argued, he’d been pissed, and ordered her out. Not a word about her job. “She didn’t tell me.”

  “That’s something I would tell right away,” Allen said. “Talk about burying the lead.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Micah looked at Perry. “You had to fire her? There was no probation, appeal?”

  “No, sir.”

  “How did you find out? We were careful.” He wracked his brain to figure out how they’d been seen. The only time could have been this morning, but they’d been sure she’d fly under the radar that early.

  “She was seen leaving your suite this morning and it was reported by another guest.”

  “Another guest?” Allen asked, his voice full of disgust. “Who would care? It’s not like Micah’s got some girlfriend or something skulking around this place.”

  Allen was right; he had no one here who would care. No other guest who would go out of their way to report them to management. He stopped, looking at Perry when one name popped into his mind.

  “It was Babette.” Perry didn’t even flinch but a very small nod confirmed his guess. “She was pissed because I turned down her offer of a three-way.”

  “A what?” Allen almost spit beer across the room. “Seriously, why does this stuff happen to you? You never take advantage of the gifts God dumps in your lap.”

  Micah wasn’t going to debate the reality of God arranging a three-way for him with Allen. Ever.

  Perry spoke up. “I don’t know if you care, but Kelsey had the opportunity to keep her job.” He cleared his throat again, regret taking over his expression. “I wish she could have taken the out, but I understand why she couldn’t. The hotel…I lost a great employee today.”

  Micah was confused. “What could she have done? You said you had no choice.”

  “The guest who reported the two of you is very influential at the hotel, and they offered to not only speak to management about overlooking her violation of the policy but they would also give her the reference she needed for the management program.”

  “What did they want her to do?” Micah felt sick to his stomach. He knew.

  “They wanted her to hand you over. One-on-one time and from what you said, it wasn’t just for you to sit and read to them.”

  Allen snorted, and Micah threw him a dirty look. If he hadn’t been in the mood for Allen’s shit earlier, what he’d heard sealed the deal.

  “She turned them down,” he said, only a hair above a whisper.

  Perry nodded. “Flat.”

  It took him two seconds to pull his head out of his ass. Perry turned and walked toward the door, opening it with a flourish as he tapped his Bluetooth device in his ear and spoke in a low voice.

  Micah turned to find Allen grabbing his tux jacket off the back of a chair and slipping it on as he gave him a “are you kidding me?” look. “Of course I’m going with you to find her. If this girl can get you off that damn mountain once in a while, I’m her biggest fucking fan.”

  “Thanks, man,” Micah said, pressing his hand to his shoulder. “I hope she’ll give me another chance.”

  “Just do what the dudes in your books do, and you’ll be fine.”

  “There’s a cab waiting for you in front of the hotel,” Perry said.

  They hustled out of the hotel suite, beating feet down to the elevator. Micah’s entire body was strung so tight he might break if someone touched him right now. He knew that feeling would not go away until he had Kelsey back in his arms, in his bed, in his life.

  “Do you have any idea where she might be?” Allen asked as they stepped into the elevator.

  “I think so. Either her apartment, her mother’s room at Desert Rest, or her best friend’s store.”

  “What kind of store is it?”

  “A sex toy shop,” he answered, pulling up Kelsey’s phone number on the screen and making a call. He didn’t expect for her to answer but it was worth a try. He pitched forward a little when Allan slapped him on the back.

  “We’re going to a sex toy shop? Really?”

  Micah nodded, disappointed when Kelsey’s voicemail clicked on. He ended the call. “Her best friend owns an adult book, film, and sex toy shop.”

  Allen hugged him, his voice muffled against Micah’s shoulder. “You are the best friend I could ever have. You get to get the girl and I get porn.”

  Micah laughed in spite of himself, determination to make Allen’s word come true replacing the doubt and worry in his gut. “Well, then let’s go get my girl.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Saturday night

  Sizzle and Pop Adult Toy Store

  “What is this?” Kelsey asked, holding up the box she was pricing for Sarina.

  Her friend’s head popped up over the countertop where she was arranging the sales bags underneath. She glanced at the box and smiled, her look stating that it was exactly what she thought it was. “It’s a pigtail butt plug.”

  Kelsey stared at the item for a moment. It was black, made of some kind of silicone, and had a curlicue pigtail on one end. It wasn’t her thing, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing she’d seen all night, so she slapped a sticker on it and grabbed the next one out of the shipping box.

  “I have to say that the Alien Area 51 sex doll with the three breasts and suction cup fingers is my favorite.”

  Sarina choked out a laugh as she rose from behind the counter, letting her eyes linger on Kelsey. “You seriously do not have to work. You’ve had a shit day, your heart was stomped on. You can hang out and drink the wine we brought with us.”

  Kelsey looked around the store. It was busy, the Saturday night crowd either picking up things for a hot date or something to make going to be alone a little bit easier. A young, twenty-something blond-haired couple that looked like they belong in a Hollister ad held a leather spanking paddle and a ball gag. A big, hairy dude with two huge ear gauges and tattoos everywhere she could see was looking at butt plugs with his twink boyfriend and occasionally giving the loner guy dressed in jeans and a polo shirt the “would you like to join us” glance. She’d bet money that they’d all be trying out that toy later this evening.

  The plan had been to go with Sarina, hang out, get plastered,
and pass out in her office. Sarina bought the booze and promised a ride home. Perfect.

  “Since I have to hit the pavement and find some work tomorrow, I can’t afford to waste tomorrow hungover.” She thought of her mortgage and her mom’s care and a frisson of panic slithered over her skin. “I really can’t afford it. I’ll get throw-up-on-the-sidewalk drunk when I know I have income.”

  “Bury your heartbreak in work?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” she said, trying to take a deep breath around the cold, burning lump of pain sitting on her chest. She had no idea that someone she knew for only a few days could become so vital, so essential to her happiness…but there it was. She’d have lots of time to regret her stupid mistake and losing the guy who had a shot at being “the one.”

  The bell over the door jingled and they both swiveled to see who was coming into the store. Sarina started in with her usual smile and “Welcome to Sizzle and Pop” when her grin completely dissolved, and she snuck a glance at Kelsey.

  They weren’t customers. It was Micah and his agent, Allen.

  “Kelsey,” Micah said, his expression lighting up at the sight of her. It made her glow inside too, a warmth that did a little to dull the pain. Hope jumped up into her throat and kept her from answering the question she heard in his voice.

  “Unless you are here to grovel and kiss her ass you can get the fuck out of my store.” Sarina charged at Micah, and everyone in the store swiveled to get a good look at the drama about to unfold in beautiful HD.

  Micah broke eye contact with her, glancing at Sarina. The confusion on his face clearly showing that he was trying to process what she’d said. “Umm…yes…I’m here to grovel.”

  “Well, good…” Sarina lost some of her steam. “It better be good. I’ve read your books, and you get them down on their knees begging well enough.”

  “You’re here to grovel?” Kelsey finally found her voice, standing and walking toward him, tossing the sheaf of price stickers in the general vicinity of the countertop. “How did you find me?”

  “We’ve been all over this damn town,” Allen said, speaking but running his hand with great interest over a lingerie set. “Your place where your buddy Aiden almost threw us in the pool, and then we went to see your mom.” He tore his gaze away from the silk and lace outfit. “Sylvia says hi and that your mom had a great day.”