High Stakes

by Cheryl Douglas

  “Really?” Sierra smiled. “You gonna tell me the drinking and partying and endless supply of new boyfriends has nothing to do with him either?”

  Alisa couldn’t deny her ego had taken a hit when she found out her fiancé was seeing another woman, and it helped to know that other men still found her attractive. “Not everything I do is about him.”

  “You were with him for two years, honey. At your age, that seems like a lifetime. I know. I was your age once, remember?” Sierra squeezed her daughter’s hand. “Were you hoping he’d see those pictures and wish he’d never been stupid enough to let you get away?”

  Her mother had this way of zeroing in on a problem with laser-sharp focus, no matter how hard Alisa tried to conceal it. “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “You know you can tell me anything.”

  “It hurt so damn much,” she whispered, blinking back the tears. “Knowing that I wasn’t enough, that she had something I didn’t.”

  “Oh, baby,” Sierra said, stroking her hair. “You weren’t the one lacking; he was. Maybe she was the right woman for him, but he should have been man enough to tell you that before he slept with her. Alisa, that moment can only define your life if you let it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been trying to prove something to him for a while now. Every day is about getting back at him, not getting on with your life, and that’s what you should focus on.”

  She sighed. “I know; you’re right.”

  “You’ve been going out with all the wrong men for months now. These guys are selfish and immature, exactly like Nick. You need someone who’s responsible and mature. A man who’s been around enough to know that you’re special. Someone who’s gonna respect you for the incredible woman you are on the inside and value the treasure he’s found in you. That’s what you deserve, sweetheart.”

  “Spoken like my mother.”

  Sierra laughed. “Maybe, but it’s true. Your dad was young when we got together. He still had a lot of growing up to do. That’s why we grew apart. It took five years of being apart to realize we belonged together. But it doesn’t have to be that way for you. You can make the right choice the first time around if you’re clear about what you want and you’re willing to hold out until you find the man you deserve.”

  “I thought I had found the right man and look how that turned out.”

  “Maybe you just need a break from relationships for a while, but don’t avoid getting involved just because you’re scared.”

  “I am scared,” Alisa said, looking at their joined hands. “What if I make the same mistake again? What if I trust the wrong man and he breaks my heart, too?”

  “It’s a risk, but if you’re not willing to take that risk, you can’t expect to find happiness.”

  Alisa drew a shaky breath. “I think I’ll start with the business first, see how that goes.”

  Sierra reached down to kiss her cheek. “I believe in you. I know amazing things are out there waiting for you; you just have to be brave and face your fear head-on.”

  Chapter Two

  Alisa eased into her seat in first class, barely able to contain her excitement. She’d flown all over the world the past few months, buying inventory for her new, upscale retail store, and Las Vegas was her last stop before her grand opening next weekend. She’d heard great things about a funky new handbag designer from her contacts, and if she was as talented as her online portfolio indicated, her products would be the perfect addition to her boutique.

  Alisa had gone to great pains to ensure her retail haven was on trend, but incorporated enough classical pieces to appeal to the upscale middle-aged set as well. She bought the pieces she loved and could only hope her patrons would share her enthusiasm.

  A tall, broad-shouldered man with subtle silver streaks highlighting his black hair claimed the seat beside her. Wow. Alisa normally didn’t go for older men, but this guy exuded a sexy confidence that was impossible to ignore.

  She waited for him to glance in her direction, for a flicker of awareness or attraction to pass between them, but when he pulled a Harvard Business Review magazine out of his black leather briefcase, it was obvious he intended to ignore her.

  For some unknown reason, his rejection offended her. It shouldn’t. She wasn’t in the market for a man. She hadn’t indulged in bedroom recreation for months, not since she’d signed on the dotted line and promised not to disappoint her father or herself. She had to stay focused on her business. The first year was the most important. She knew it could be the launching pad for the future stores she hoped to have, or she could go down in a burst of flames. The latter wasn’t even an option. She had to succeed at this, and that meant she couldn’t afford any distractions.

  Opening the latest copy of Vogue, she tried to ignore the muscled thigh pressed against her bare leg. She was going for comfort when she’d selected the lightweight black cotton skirt and matching tank that morning, but she suddenly wished she opted for a little more coverage instead. Bare skin provoked naughty fantasies of being tangled up in the sheets with a certain sexy stranger. She realized she chose the wrong moment to look up when his light blue eyes captured hers in a look filled with enough sparks to set off an explosion.

  “Good afternoon,” he said, beginning a lazy perusal that started with her bare, bronzed legs and ended where it had started, fixed on her eyes.

  Alisa was too shocked by her physical reaction to his scrutiny to respond to the casual greeting. She was used to male admiration, but when a man was this obvious, she usually felt irritated, not warm and tingly all over.

  His eyes zeroed in on her bare left hand, and he smiled, revealing a flash of white teeth and disarming grin so sexy it should have come with a warning label. No man had a right to be this handsome. It simply wasn’t fair to the poor unsuspecting girl seated next to him with no hope of defending herself when endless hours filled with nothingness stretched out before them.

  “Your boyfriend must be crazy to let you travel to Sin City all by your lonesome.” His voice was low and raspy, filled with sexual innuendo and promise.

  “I, uh…” Spit it out, damn it. “Don’t have a boyfriend.”

  He licked his full lips as his intense eyes outlined her face. “Husband, fiancé… lover?” His voice deepened even more as he uttered the last word, sending thrill bumps skittering across her bare skin.

  “No, no, and…” She drew a shallow gulp of air into her lungs, but the word still sounded breathless. “No.”

  “Damn, I really need to fly commercial more often. I had no idea what I was missing out on.” He smiled again as he extended his hand. “Liam.”

  She hadn’t expected his hands to be calloused or rough, and they weren’t. He was obviously accustomed to sitting behind a desk, and that suited her just fine. She loved elegant, refined men, and he more than filled the bill. “Alisa.”

  He brought her hand to his lips and seemed in no hurry to tear his mouth away as his eyes remained fixed on hers. He turned her hand over and she couldn’t chase away the image of his tongue flitting across her pulse point.

  “Tell me about yourself, Alisa.” He finally released her hand as he shifted slightly in his seat to face her.

  “Um, well, I’m from Nashville.”

  He smiled. “I suspected as much.”

  Since they were flying out of Nashville, it was a safe assumption. “How about you? Where are you from?”

  “Home base is San Francisco, but I travel a lot for business.”

  She should be relieved. San Francisco was a safe distance from Nashville, definitely too far for a casual fling. “What do you do?”

  He smirked, as though her inquiry amused him. “I’m in the hospitality industry.”

  “That’s nice.” She sensed he was a private person, guarded even, so she didn’t want to delve too deep, but she couldn’t resist the urge to repeat the question he’d asked earlier. “Since you asked me, it only seems fair. Wife, fiancée… lover?�
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  He chuckled as he plucked an invisible speck of lint from his tailored dress pants. “No, no, and no.”

  “Hard to believe,” she muttered, treating herself to the same brazen onceover he’d given her.

  He quirked a dark eyebrow while giving her a lopsided grin. “I am married…” He watched her expression carefully. “To my career. Not much room in my life for anything else, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh, I see.” That was fair warning if ever she’d heard it. Not that she needed to be put on notice. They lived in different states, and she was far too busy with her new business venture to even consider acting on the undeniable attraction between them, no matter how tempting indulging in one night of careless fun might be. But according to her father’s terms, anything that could land her in the tabloids was off-limits. Of course, they wouldn’t have to worry about that if they were tucked away in a private hotel suite. She cursed her errant thoughts. She’d never engaged in a meaningless one-night stand, and this wasn’t the time to start, not when her entire future was still up for grabs.

  Her father made it clear: one slip up and he wouldn’t hesitate to pull the plug on her financing. He called it tough love. She called him a control freak, and they agreed to disagree.

  “So, what do you do, Alisa?” The way he said her name felt like a caress drifting across her skin, and she could imagine her name on his lips while he was lost in an intimate moment.

  She crossed her legs as she cursed her overactive imagination. What was it about this man that made her think about big beds, subtle strokes, and long, lazy mornings without a care in the world? It was painfully obvious as she watched his index finger skim his lips. He was six plus feet, two hundred plus pounds of temptation no woman in her right mind could resist.

  “I’m in fashion.” She cleared her throat as she closed her magazine and placed it in the seat pocket in front of her. “Actually, I’m opening my first boutique next week. It’s called Alisa’s.”

  “Of course it is.” He followed suit, tucking his magazine back inside his briefcase. “What made you decide to get into the business?”

  “I modeled for several years, and I’ve always loved fashion.”

  He chuckled. “A model? Why am I not surprised?”

  Alisa bristled at the way he said the word model. She was used to being labeled because of her chosen profession. The fact that she’d chosen to make her living in front of a camera earned her a reputation as shallow, self-indulgent, and spoiled. “In case you’re wondering, I kept my clothes on.”

  “I never had any doubt. You’re obviously a classy lady.”

  The compliment was a mild balm to her wounded ego, but she wasn’t willing to let him off the hook that easily. “Why do you have such a low opinion of models?”

  He laughed. “Let’s just say I’ve dated my fair share, and they all seem to fit into a certain mold.”

  She’d spent enough time around models to know he was right. They definitely shared common characteristics. Maybe that’s why she wasn’t strong enough to go the distance. “Sounds like you’re stereotyping.”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged. “But I call it like I see it. I won’t apologize for having an opinion, even if you don’t happen to share it.”

  Of all the arrogant, egotistical men she’d met in her life, this man claimed the prize. “Excuse me, I’d like to use the restroom, if you don’t mind.” When she came back, she intended to tune in to the movie, so she could tune him out.

  Liam Bryson cursed his big mouth. Speaking his mind was part of who he was, and he knew people judged him because of it. They’d called him opinionated, arrogant, insufferable, stubborn—the list went on, but those qualities helped him build one of the most exclusive boutique hotel chains in the world, so he refused to apologize for the attributes that made him successful.

  But when he realized his unwarranted opinion had offended Alisa, he immediately wished he could retract his words. He’d lumped her in with all of the other women he’d dated, and it was obvious to him in the few moments they spent together that she was nothing like them. She was special. He didn’t know how he knew, and he didn’t question it. He trusted his instincts, and he knew he had to find a way to get back into her good graces, because even if he never saw her again after their plane touched down, he didn’t want her to think poorly of him.

  He hadn’t considered another person’s opinion of him in years, and he’d never, ever gone out of his way to impress a lady. He’d never had to, not when the prospect of accessing his bank account seemed to be the only enticement they needed.

  He stood up to let Alisa slide into her window seat and impulse prompted him to settle his hands on her waist and pull her flush against his chest as he whispered in her ear, “I’m sorry.”

  He heard her slight gasp the minute she felt the evidence of his arousal, but he couldn’t hide his attraction to her, and he didn’t want to. He wanted her to know, without a doubt, what she was doing to him. “I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t mean it, sweetheart.”

  They were getting too close, too intimate. They were still strangers, yet to the casual observer, they must look like lovers intent on making up after a harmless spat.

  Her hands closed over his as she slid his hands off her hips. “Excuse me.”

  He watched her slide a set of pink earbuds into her ears as she glanced at the overhead screen. If she thought he would be dismissed that easily, she obviously didn’t realize who she was dealing with. He tugged on the cord and smiled when she scowled at him.

  “Leave me alone. I want to watch the movie.”

  He glanced at the screen. “I’ve seen this one. You want me to tell you how it ends?”

  “No, I want you to go back to your magazine and pretend you never met me.”

  “Impossible,” he whispered. He risked a glimpse of her mouth and immediately wished he hadn’t. She’d obviously touched up her lipstick and brushed out her long blond waves while in the restroom. Her mouth was pink and full, glossy and moist. Whether she realized it or not, she was begging to be kissed, and he was barely able to walk the fine line of propriety. “Let me make it up to you by buying you dinner tonight.”

  “Are you serious? I’m not having dinner with you tonight or any other night.”

  “Why not? Are you afraid?”

  She crossed her arms and looked at the billowy clouds floating past their window. “Afraid of what?”

  “This thing between us.” He crossed one leg over the other and leaned in closer. “It’s intense. You can’t deny that. Come on, Alisa. You’re single; I’m single. We’re both staying in Vegas. Are you telling me you wouldn’t rather spend the evening with me than holed up in your hotel room, munching on expensive peanuts and watching pay-per-view movies until you fall asleep?”

  Her lips twisted into a scornful smile. “You’re assuming I’m going to be alone. Did I say that was my intent?”

  He felt it rip through him with the ferocity of a lightning bolt, fast, furious, and totally unexpected. Jealousy. Never in his forty-four years had he ever been jealous when one of his lovers threatened to find someone else because he was spending too much time at the office. How could the thought of this relative stranger spending the night in another man’s arms make him feel so angry, so possessive? “I thought you said you didn’t have a lover at the moment? Are you meeting someone in Vegas?”

  “None of your business.”

  His hands curled into fists. “Fine, suit yourself.” He pulled his iPod out of his briefcase, determined to listen to classical music until it inevitably lulled him to sleep.

  Chapter Three

  It took every ounce of Alisa’s willpower to ignore him for the remainder of their flight. She knew her bad temper had little to do with his words and everything to do with the way he made her feel. She wanted to have dinner with him, to see where it might lead, but the promise she made to her father precluded that as an option. Even though she was in Las Vegas, not Nashville, wher
e her family was considered country music royalty, she couldn’t be certain someone with a camera wouldn’t snap a picture that would end up all over the Internet by morning.

  Her father didn’t expect her to be a social recluse, but dinner with a man twenty years her senior wouldn’t go over well with Trey, no matter how much she wanted to pretend it would be a nonissue because he would never find out. Who was she kidding? Daddy Dearest would go ballistic if she started dating a man nearly twice her age, and if there was even the slightest chance of a leak, she couldn’t risk it. Everything rode on this new business, and indulging in a fantasy with a sexy stranger simply wasn’t worth the risk.

  When he would have stepped out into the aisle and walked out of her life, Alisa gave in to the urge to reach for his arm. She smiled. “You’re forgiven, and I’m sorry I overreacted.”

  His warm smile finally reached his eyes, triggering finely etched lines she hadn’t noticed before. They should serve as a reminder that he was too old for her, but instead they made him even more appealing. “Apology accepted.” He gestured for her to go ahead of him, and she smiled, graciously accepting his invitation.

  Alisa felt the heat of his gaze boring into her backside and tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other as she politely thanked the cabin crew and made her way down the ramp.

  He fell into step beside her. “Have you given any more thought to that dinner invitation? The offer still stands… if you’re interested.”

  She was interested, too interested, and therein lay her problem. “Um, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “No pressure.” He raised his hands. “Just a friendly dinner. I’m not expecting anything beyond that.”

  The problem wasn’t his expectation, but hers. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this attracted to a man, if ever, and she didn’t trust herself to maintain a platonic relationship if he was willing to offer more. “Where are you staying?”