"I can't let you help me like that. It wouldn't be right."
"It wouldn't be right for me to leave you to wonder the streets of Vegas. The place is called Sin City for a reason. Even if you were to call your family, you'd still need to be somewhere at least for tonight for them to pick you up. It's a lot quicker, and safer, if I help you. It honestly isn't any trouble."
"Don't you have plans with your friends?"
"Not exactly. We were kind of supposed to be at my aunt's third wedding. Our plans were open to change from about ten a.m. this morning."
"Third wedding?" She had to ask.
"Yes, it's her thing. Every family has one strange relative. We got Aunt Lily. I'm certain I'll be at her fourth wedding. So hey, what do you say?" He smiled. "Will you let me help you?"
There was a twinkle in his eye. His help would mean getting home safely. Not having to worry about where she would sleep tonight and if she would be safe. The only real problem would be having to face her family.
She nodded and said, "yes. I don't think I could ever thank you enough. You must give me your number so I can contact you to pay you back."
"Don't worry about that."
"But I have to -"
"No. Honestly, don't worry about that."
"Thank you." It was unreal that he was willing to help her like this. She would be indebted to him for the rest of her life.
"No problem. So what do you want to do? Hotel or airport?" The warmth of his smile echoed in his voice.
"Airport." It wasn't hard to decide. She just wanted to get home, and get there as quickly as possible.
"Okay, airport it is." The waitress came over to them with their desserts which looked truly delicious with its abundance of chocolate. "Can we go after this?"
"Of course," she laughed.
"I love chocolate. Chances are I'll lose all my teeth by the time I turn thirty, but it's worth it." He gazed longingly at the giant sundae and smiled.
She returned the smile.
While they ate, she listened to him talk. He told her about investment banking and his excitement about his internship. He then followed that with his love for sailing.
His light-hearted and carefree manner made her feel human again. And like any other nineteen-year-old girl talking to a good looking, normal guy, she hung on every word, savoring his company.
"You ready to go?" he asked as she finished her last spoon of ice cream.
She sighed and looked deeply into his kind eyes. "Are you sure about this?"
"Come on." He smiled, standing tall and proud. Towering her petite height. She guessed he had to be at least six foot four.
When they got outside and hailed a taxi, she marveled at how good it felt not to be alone anymore. Being with him gave her the strength to think about how she was going to face her family.
The city was fully alive, and the lights that illuminated the strip looked as glorious as she'd always heard. She saw every color imaginable as they passed by in the taxi. Luminous greens, electric blues, ruby red, bursts of pure gold and showers of silver, and a fiery orange lit up the Himalayan, reminding her of the Golden Gate Bridge at night.
Lexie couldn't believe she was going home. She simply couldn't believe it. This would be a new start for her. The whole time that she'd been with Adam and her escape from him had taught her a valuable life lesson. She promised herself that she'd never fall into that trap again.
When they got to the airport, he surprised her further by booking a first class ticket for her on the next flight, which was leaving in four hours.
"Let's go wait over here." He pointed over to the lounge and started walking in that direction. She followed and sat next to him on the bench nearest the floor to ceiling windows.
"I'll never be able to thank you enough for all you've done for me. I'll pay you back as soon as I can." She offered, resting her hands in her lap.
He laughed. "No, seriously don't worry about it. How about you focus on getting back on your feet."
"You got me to Vegas, saved me from being thrown out of the hotel, took me to dinner, paid for the taxi here, booked me a first class ticket, and you stayed with me the whole time. I have to pay you back."
She focused on him carefully as he shook his head and a slow easy smile crept along his sensual mouth.
"It's a gift. Just accept it." The twinkle in his eyes warmed her heart. "We have a four-hour wait. Please don't tell me we're going to spend it debating about money." His smile widened.
She pulled in a breath. "You're going to stay with me? For four hours?"
He raised his brows and gave her an askance look, "This is Vegas, doll. Not Kansas. Look at that guy over there." He tilted his head inconspicuously to the right. Lexie looked and saw the guy he referred to. Decked out in full black and sunglasses with his hair slicked back with far too much gel, and a thick gold chain. "Looks like the kind of person who'd kidnap you and steal your liver. And that guy," he turned to the right slightly, raised his thick brows sharply and shook his head with distrust. "Looks exactly like the child catcher."
The man did, with his broad felt hat and pointed nose. Lexie grimaced and looked back to Mr. Pretty Boy as she started to laugh. For the second time tonight the laughter came naturally from within. From the place that used to be her.
"So yes, of course I'm waiting with you."
Lexie was so overwhelmed by his kindness. She'd never met anyone like him before, and while she didn't know him well enough to establish his reasons to show such kindness to a stranger, she didn't need to know him to see that he cared.
"Thank you."
He tilted his head to the side. "You're very welcome. So ..." he paused for a few seconds and looked at her. "We have four hours."
"Four hours, what are we going to do?" She was beginning to feel more comfortable with him and actually looked forward to spending the time with him.
"Well, I seem to know a lot about the bad things that's happened to you. Why don't you tell me some of the good things? What do you like?"
Wow, it had been awhile since she thought about what she liked. To answer that question, she had to think back, to just before she met Adam. When life had been great.
"I like science fairs."
"Of course you do." He chuckled. "What does one do at such a thing?"
That question was like unleashing a child in a sweet shop. Lexie talked until she grew more tired. She was wondering when sleep would catch up with her. But, she didn't want to sleep when all she had left with her handsome stranger was a handful of hours. She remembered resting her head on the edge of the chair and saying something about fruit loops, and then she drifted into a deep sleep. The next thing she knew she felt her shoulder being shaken gently.
As she opened her eyes she feared waking up in that dark old apartment Adam kept her in, only to find that the last few hours were a dream. Instead, she woke to find herself resting against Mr. Pretty Boy and staring up into his eyes. Being this close she noticed that his green eyes had hints of brown around the iris.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." She shuffled over feeling embarrassed. Lexie hadn't meant to fall asleep and hoped he didn't think she was rude.
"It's okay." He smiled down at her. "Your flight's started to board."
Her flight. She straightened and looked at him. So this was goodbye.
She looked ahead to the gate where her flight number flashed in neon green. When she returned her gaze back to him, he was already looking at her.
"So, this is where we part I suppose." He stated. He stood up and helped her get up. Lexie was desperate to go home, but she didn't want to say goodbye.
"I've never met anyone like you before." She gazed up at him. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances. I'm not normally such a ... mess."
He shook his head. "You're not a mess. There's nothing better looking than a person whose about to make a fresh start. But, yes it would have been nice to meet you under different circu
mstances." He turned up his smile a notch revealing a dimple in his left cheek that she hadn't seen before. "Maybe we'll see each other again."
"Yeah." She beamed at the thought.
"And, I'll take you somewhere better than the diner."
"Really?" She smiled up at him in awe.
"Yeah, just picture it. You and me at The Bellagio."
"The Bellagio?" It was one of the best hotels in the world, and the restaurants were envied. Even she knew you had to book well in advance to make a reservation. It would be truly amazing to go there.
"Uh -huh. You'd love it there. We could eat and dance."
"I love dancing. That sounds amazing. Just like a real..." She got carried away in the vision and forgot herself.
"A real date." He filled in. Her cheeks flushed, and she couldn't hide her embarrassment.
Poor her, she could only dream of going on a date with a guy like him. Look at him with his arresting good looks and perfect physique that exuded masculinity and perfection. Lexie was certain the women he dated all either looked like models or Barbie dolls. He could do a hundred times better than her.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to imply that you were asking me out." She felt she should apologize.
"Oh but I was, I just skipped the asking part since it was a fantasy." He smiled.
"Oh, what? Really? Me?" She knew her face was completely red now.
"Yes. Will you?"
"Yes, of course." In her battered mind that had been through hell, she thought she could live a little in the fantasy that he'd just asked her out. She could pretend if only for a few seconds that everything was normal.
"Cool. So back to the vision." He slipped his arm around her in a possessive gesture and held up his other hand as if he were pointing out something. "You, me, at The Bellagio on our date, eating whatever we want and dancing. Then we must have chocolate."
The call to board the flight was announced again. They both looked to the gate and saw that the line of people boarding was getting shorter.
He released her, reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and took out a wad of cash rolled up. "Take this." He held it out to her, but all she could do was look at him in complete astonishment. "Take it," he said with more insistence.
"No. It's too much." She shook her head.
"It's two thousand dollars. It should be enough to keep you going for a while. Please for heaven's sake get a taxi when you get to San Francisco and get something to eat."
She continued to stare at him in disbelief. When he saw her reluctance, he took her bag from her and stuffed it inside along with a pen. "You never know when you may need a pen." He handed the bag back to her.
"I....'" she was shaking her head.
"Come on you need to get on that plane." He slipped his arm around her again and ushered her towards the gate, stopping just before what remained of the line. "You'll be okay." He assured her.
"Thank you so much for everything." A tear ran down her cheek. He lifted his hand to touch her face, wiping away the tears that continued to stream.
"No more tears. Go and have a nice life, and get yourself back into MIT. You can still use your talents and abilities to change the world and save people's lives."
She nodded. "I'll try." She supposed there was no harm in trying. It would be a dream come true to get the chance to go back there.
"No. Don't try. Just do it."
"Okay. I'll do it." She smiled.
"Promise?"
"I promise." As she gazed up at him, she found herself getting lost in his eyes again. He made her forget that just days ago she'd been running away from Adam and the torturous life she'd had. He made her forget everything and made her feel like any girl would who'd just met the most amazing guy in the world.
Heat spread throughout her body as he ran his finger along her jaw. How could it be that she'd met the most amazing guy in the world and she was seconds away from leaving him?
"Um." Her crazy imagination had taken over.
"What?" he asked in a soft voice.
"Would it... be okay to kiss you?"
He smiled wide. "Yes, but only if I can kiss you since I was about to anyway."
She smiled too. "Really?"
He answered with a smile and reached for her to pull her closer. When his soft lips met hers, it sent sparks of electricity throughout her entire body. Slowly, she indulged on him as he thrust his slick tongue across her warm wet mouth giving her something she'd never had before. He tasted like desire and passion and...
The announcement for the last call for boarding on the intercom broke them apart.
He reached out to cup her face. "Take care of yourself."
"I'll always be grateful to you." She had to let him know.
He kissed her forehead and released her, stepped backward. It was time to go. Time to start over.
He stared at her as she walked away. Before she turned the corner to leave for good, she looked back one last time just to remember what her handsome angel looked like.
And then she left.
Chapter 3
Twelve years later....
Sam gazed at his father and groaned inwardly. He honestly wasn't ready to do anything too demanding, not yet. He'd just started to feel comfortable again with his work.
"I think I'm needed here." He stated, lacing his fingers together. "I just started the restructure for the companies in Washington."
He slumped back against the soft leather office chair and gazed across at his father sitting behind his large mahogany desk. Sam watched him steeple his fingers together with that tentative expression that was almost annoying at times. It was the expression he used when he'd come up with some idea he thought would be helpful to Sam in some way. He'd gotten that way after Sam divorced Jessica.
He wished his father wouldn't blame himself for that, and for the way things turned out. And, he also wished his father would drop this crusade to help Sam fix his life. This new idea of his was one of those things. His father wanted to send him away on a project. Since the divorce, or rather since his accident, Sam had only worked around Chicago and Washington. Washington was the furthest he was willing to go and had no real desire to go anywhere else.
His father knew this, and yet he felt it was a good idea for him to take on some project where he'd need to relocate for a while. That was how he'd began their conversation. In the old days when Sam wanted to get away from Jessica he would have jumped at the chance. She would have most likely celebrated too because it meant she could bring her men to the house while he was away.
Right now, Sam wasn't in the right frame of mind for anything too strenuous. He wasn't himself - hadn't been for a long time - and was averse to being anywhere that was far from home.
"Sam, you're suffocating here," his father stated, lifting his chin. "An opportunity like this would be good for you." He offered one of those encouraging fatherly smiles that said he was just trying to help.
"Look dad. I don't want my personal life affecting my work. If you want me to go on a project, it has to be because I'm needed, not because it will be good for me." Sam eyed him with seriousness. He had to be real with him. They had a company to run. St. John & Co. was doing well as always, and Sam wanted it to continue to do so. He didn't want some opportunity just because it would help him in any way. There were plenty of talented, qualified people here that could go instead.
"That is exactly what's happening here. I can assure you." His father held up his hands. "In fact I've held off on asking you to do too much because I wanted you to have the time to get back on your feet." He glanced over at the wooden cane Sam used and his green eyes filled with sadness.
He ran his hands through his short-cropped hair and rested them on the back of his neck. "Dad, I think I'd be more comfortable staying here." That was a nicer, more professional way of saying he didn't want to go.
"Son, your talents are wasted here." He leaned back and pulled in a steady breath. "As your father, I can't sit back
and watch you slip away. But, as the head of this company, I have to send the best I have when I have a high profile business opportunity. I'm about to embark on an amazing acquisition and believe me when I say I need your skills. I need you. There is no way that I can do this without you. It'll be a waste if you aren't with me on this." His father really knew how to butter him up, and get him interested.
"Okay, now you have my attention." Sam smiled, leaning forward with keen curiosity.
In the past, his father had bought some very interesting companies, and Sam had the opportunity of working right alongside him. He enjoyed working for his father, always had, and had excelled here. Sam was one of the most qualified, and specialized, investment bankers in the country. His area of specialty was risk management and loss prevention. His father was in the habit of buying companies that were on the verge of going bust and fixing them up. The fixing up part was where Sam stepped in. He was like a bloodhound when it came to finding the source of a problem that could cause detrimental financial loss. There was nothing he couldn't fix. No loss he couldn't rectify. To hear that his skills were actually needed reeled him in like a fish attracted to bait. Even in his deep depression.
"Dad, who'd you buy this time?"
His father tilted his head to the side and smiled. "Cervantes."
"You're kidding. Cervantes?" This was beyond interesting, and far beyond anything they'd ever embarked on. "Cervantes the research lab?" He just needed clarification, because of the shock that filled him.
His father laughed. This was definitely something else. They'd always bought other investment companies, financial businesses, and property development companies, but never a research lab. And one of that prominence. It was the best in the world, but they'd fallen in serious trouble. On the news, Sam heard that they were being shut down and bought out by Silvermans.
Complete Me Page 4
