Facade

by Lexy Timms

  I took a chance and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him into me as his cock began to dwindle.

  As the orgasmic haze of our little adventure began to clear, sanity rushed back to my mind. I scrambled off his lap, leaving him bare to the room as I tugged on the sheets of the bed. I quickly wrapped them around me and shook my head, trying to clear it as the smell of our sex wafted around my head.

  “Sam? Everything okay?” Derek asked.

  “This can’t happen again,” I said.

  “Sam, we had a good time. There isn’t anything to be—”

  “This was a mistake,” I said as my eyes met his. “And it can’t happen again.”

  I saw the disappointment cross his features as he nodded his head. His face set itself into stone, throwing up the same wall I’d encountered the first time we ever met. It punched me in the gut to see him bring it back up, but it had to be done. I couldn’t be this distracted by a client if I was going to save his life.

  “Distractions mean dead clients,” I said. “This is bad for business.”

  “That language I can understand,” Derek said as he slid from the bed. “No worries.”

  “This has to stay professional,” I said.

  “I hear you.”

  “Never again.”

  “Got it, Sam.”

  The harshness of his voice pulled me from my train of thought as he skimmed by me. He gathered his clothes and made his way to his room, not bothering to change before he did so. I got an eyeful of the beautiful body I had felt on top of mine not moments ago, and I shivered at the heat ricocheting up my back.

  I watched him step into his room and shut the shared door between our living space. I walked over mindlessly and cracked the door, slipping back into protective mode. I could see the outline of his body as I closed my eyes, resolving myself to yet another shower to try and scrape him off my body again.

  I’d enjoyed what we’d done.

  The issue was, I enjoyed it a little too much.

  Chapter 15

  Derek

  MY MIND WAS FILLED with thoughts of her body as I tried to sleep before the meeting. That was fine if Sam wanted to keep her distance or if I was some sort of a distraction to her or whatever. But a mistake? Hardly. I was never a mistake to women. They might have been a mistake to me, but I was never a mistake in their book. I treated them right, was attentive to their needs, kept tabs on their reactions in bed so I knew exactly what to give them, and made sure they were taken care of.

  And Sam was no different.

  I had a meeting to prepare for, but I couldn’t get our encounter off my mind. Samantha Williams, hard-ass rescuer and military extraordinaire, was a softie in bed. Small kisses and fluttering licks were all it took to diminish her to a gasping mess. Soft thrusts and cradling her body was what the big, bad woman enjoyed in bed. I never would’ve believed it had I not experienced it myself.

  The problem was, I was more than ready to experience it again.

  I prepared myself for the meeting as Sam stood in my living room. She was dressed in a pencil skirt with a button-down blouse that was tucked it and smoothed out. Her heels were tasteful, and her hair was up in a bun. She was the perfect vision of what a professional personal assistant would look like.

  Complete with the detached personality.

  She was cold and kept her distance most of the day. The meeting was boring, and instead of sitting next to me, she sat in the corner along with the rest of the personal assistants at the meeting. She took notes and scanned the room, and occasionally, her eyes would catch mine.

  But before I could so much as grin at her, she would divert her gaze and go back to writing.

  She played the personal assistant well. Didn’t speak unless spoken to and always had a few statistics up her sleeve to rattle off about the company. She did just enough to impress but not enough to garner her any sort of attention. She would be forgotten about by these men the moment the meeting was done.

  Just like a personal assistant should’ve been.

  It was disappointing, to say the least. I wanted her to open back up to me. I couldn’t just forget what had happened between us, no matter how much distance she wanted. What we shared was special. What she wanted in bed had been innocent, despite the debaucherous pleasure we had shared. She needed permission to feel good, to feel like a woman and to be doted on by a real man.

  That struck a chord with me, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t forget it.

  I couldn’t forget the way she had tried holding herself back, muffling her sounds with her teeth and halting the movement of her hips. I had to move her hips against my tongue just to get her going. Like pleasure wasn’t something she could afford. It wasn’t until I granted her my muffled permission from the folds of her lovely pussy that she let go and enabled herself to feel like nothing other than the striking woman she was.

  It was odd and, yet, somehow fitting to who she was.

  After the meeting, we went straight back to the rooms. She diverted to her room without a word, and I shuffled into mine. Things were tense between us, to say the least. But I didn’t want it to stay that way. Even if things simply went back to the witty banter we always had going, I would take that over what was going on now.

  I would take that over this awkward and silent interaction we were experiencing.

  “Knock, knock.”

  I knocked on our shared room door before I opened it. Sam was hunched over the files I’d given her on the plane, making notes in the margins and keeping her phone close to her.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  “I’m heading down to the Vegas strip. Wanna come?” I asked.

  “No,” she said.

  “Well, heading out for the evening. Room service is on me if you get hungry.”

  “You can’t go anywhere without my accompaniment.”

  “And I’m not staying cooped up in a hotel when Vegas is calling me. It’s your choice, Miss Williams. You can stay here and leave me vulnerable, or you can come with me and do your job.”

  Her eyes flashed up toward mine, a searing heat behind them as her pen stilled.

  “There’s already been one technical threat already,” I said. “With Gretchen and all. She was sent here to embarrass me.”

  “What do you mean?” Sam asked.

  “See, you’re already slipping. You didn’t even ask me about my interaction with her.”

  “I determined she wasn’t a physical threat, so I left.”

  “A physical threat, no. But a threat? Yes.”

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Agree to come with me this evening, and I’ll tell you.”

  “I could track her down within minutes and ask her myself. What. Happened?”

  The harshness of her words was reminiscent of anger. Sam was angry with herself. My pointing out the fact that she had slipped in her job wasn’t working in my favor. It was only serving to prove her point.

  All I wanted to do was get her out with me and to open her back up a little bit. I enjoyed what I saw when we were vulnerable with one another. All I wanted was to experience that again.

  Even if it wasn’t during sex.

  “Say you’ll come out tonight,” I said.

  “You’re being manipulative, and I don’t respond to that. I’ll track her down myself,” Sam said.

  “Someone sent her here to write a botched story on me.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Someone gave her a misleading hot tip about my coming to Vegas with the wife of someone from a company I’ve purchased this year. She was manipulated into coming to Vegas to try and destroy my public image.”

  “Did she happen to tell you where this ‘hot tip’ came from?” she asked.

  “No, but she told me she would squash the story about my being in Vegas. Gretch doesn’t take very well to be manipulated, either.”

  “Seems like we have a lot in common,” she said with a murmur. “I’ll have to l
ook into who gave her that tip.”

  “Well, while you do that, I’m gonna hit up one of the casinos. See you later tonight.”

  I pushed away from the doorframe and went to grab my wallet. I couldn’t hear Sam moving around, and a part of me really thought she was going to let me wander around Vegas on my own. I slid my suit coat onto my arms and pushed into the alcove of our rooms, resigning myself to a lonely night of watching over my shoulder just to keep up appearances.

  Then Sam slid from her room, wearing a dress I hadn’t seen before on her.

  It was a royal blue dress that fell perfectly to her knees. Her heels were blood red as I raked my eyes up her form, taking in the way she placed lipstick on her lips. She rolled them around, spreading the makeup on as she reached up for the bun in her hair.

  She shook her head out, allowing her waves to cascade down to her shoulders.

  “How the hell did you change so quickly?” I asked.

  “Trick of the trade,” she said. “Lead the way, asshole.”

  I grinned as we made our way to the car. I opened her door for her, and she stepped in, her fluid legs making her seem more graceful than I’d ever witnessed. We headed toward The Bellagio as Sam watched the world pass us by outside, and my eyes roamed over her body again. Now that I knew what was underneath her clothes, it was hard to keep my distance. I wanted to slide next to her and slide my arm around her waist. I wanted to pull her strong curves into my stronger muscles. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and slide my cock into her body, bypassing the removal of clothes as I took her in the back of our limousine.

  I figured I could treat her to a night fit for all the women I’d slept with.

  I led her into the casino, and we made our way to the restaurant. I ordered the most expensive bottle of wine I knew she would like. The wine came to the table and the waiter poured me a glass, but when he went to pour Sam a glass, she stopped him.

  “No, thank you,” she said politely.

  “Are you sure? It’s a fantastic bottle of wine,” I said.

  “No. Thank you,” she said calmly.

  The entire dinner was like that. She seemed to enjoy the food, humming every so often and eating a little faster than I imagined her to eat. But she kept her distance. The conversation was minimal at best, and soon, I stopped trying to ask her questions. I was beginning to look like an idiot, and if there was one thing I never enjoyed, it was looking like an idiot.

  Fine. If she was going to play her cards this way, then I had my own set of cards to show her.

  After I paid for dinner and left a more-than-generous tip, we headed to the high-roller room. The Bellagio held one of the most famous high-roller poker tables in all of Vegas, and it was my favorite place to be. Top-shelf bourbon. Cigars. Men with deep pockets willing to risk it all over cards and beautiful women clad in the finest fabrics. Even though Sam looked like a vision, she would be sorely underdressed for this occasion, and it would be interesting to see how she molded to this environment.

  “Guess she left her jewelry at home,” one of the women said.

  “Her shoes are a bit scuffed. Where did she think she was going? The park?”

  The catty women, dressed in the finest diamonds and rubies this world had to offer, were already throwing Sam snide remarks. I sat down in my seat and anted up, then found a few cards being thrown my way. There were beautiful women sitting in the laps of powerful men as a cigar was passed my way. Their eyes were prowling for their meal of the night as a woman with a very impressive rack bent over and lit my cigar.

  But not before she placed her tits on my shoulder.

  “A big cigar for a big boy,” the woman said.

  “Thank you for the light,” I said with a grin.

  I saw Sam sit down in the corner as women began to hit on me. They continued their cutting remarks, making jokes about her frizzy hair and the hair stubble on her leg. I could tell she was annoyed. Her lips pursed together, and her eyes drifting along the room. But I was glad she was pissed. I wanted her to feel the pressure of the kind of life I led. If she thought she could get away with calling me a mistake, then she, herself, was mistaken.

  Sleeping together wasn’t a mistake. But if she really wanted to compare mistakes, then she would soon understand the sore thumb she stuck out as in my life and how completely unprepared she was to follow me around everywhere and keep herself under wraps. People were staring at her. Breaking her down. Men were grimacing at her because of how out of place she was, and women kept giggling over how angry she looked.

  She didn’t fit in with a place like this.

  And if she was going to keep her head above water, then she had to understand the standard she would be held to.

  The standard I would hold her to if this was going to continue distraction-free, even if I was nothing but a mistake to her.

  Chapter 16

  Sam

  IF THIS WAS DEREK’S idea of a good time, then he was stupid. And even though I was with him, there was no way I had time to case every single person in this casino. There were way too many people outside, and there were way too many powerful people inside. I recognized most of the men sitting at the table, and their eyes were all on me at one point in time. It gave me time to get a good read on them since most of their poker faces sucked, but any one of them had the potential to be a hired killer.

  I knew why Derek was doing this, and it only served to do one thing.

  I kept thinking about our encounter as the scantily clad women kept throwing cutting remarks at me. If the only thing they had going for them were their big tits and making snide remarks about the one-day stubble on my legs, then I was golden. I wasn’t sure what they were trying to do, but I guessed it was their form of trying to make me jealous. Women were pouring themselves over Derek, trying to get him to bet more while they pressed their tits into his face. Trying to get him to drink more as they sat in his lap.

  Trying to get him to take one of them home for an exorbitant price.

  There was tension between us, that was for sure. The dinner was a great example. I figured he would try to pull something like that, try to take me out and show me what he could give me if I kept sleeping with him, but I wasn’t falling for his stupid little ploys. Deep down, he wasn’t any different from any other playboy who tried to get what he wanted with his money. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t had many partners. It didn’t matter that he treated them with whatever respect he felt he had.

  All that mattered was the tantrum that came after when he didn’t get his way.

  And I was watching Derek’s tantrum take place.

  The poker game ended, and I was relieved. I could get him out of this place and get us back to an area that was more confined and easier for me to control in case something happened. In case someone tried to attack him or make their move on him.

  But when Derek approached me and offered me his hand, the tension switched from anger to sexual. I looked up at him, refusing his hand as worry dripped from his eyes. I cast my glances behind him, watching as everyone filtered from the room. Some of the men had women on their arms for the night and some of the women were waiting around to see what Derek would do. I scanned the room, making sure nothing had been laid for Derek to walk right into before I made my way in front of him.

  “You’re spending most of your time watching the crowds,” he said.

  “Did you expect me to do anything else?” I asked.

  “I just figured you’d have a good time out tonight.”

  “I’m babysitting a toddler throwing a tantrum because I called our little encounter a mistake. Hardly what I would call fun.”

  I felt him still beside me, and I looked up to see anger bubbling in his eyes.

  “Don’t get angry because I can pinpoint you. It’s my job. I’m your bodyguard, Mr. Steele. Not your pleasure doll.”

  “You should gamble a bit while we’re here,” Derek said. “Get rid of some of the tension you’re holding in your shoulders.”r />
  “The only reason I’m tense is that I have you in an area I can’t control. Any one of these people could be sent to hurt you somehow, and I’d have to way of controlling the situation if someone decided to strike.”

  “I’m not worried about being assassinated in a casino, Sam.”

  “Well, I am. Sorry for doing my job.”

  “Apology accepted. Now, come on. There are plenty of places we can go to gamble where you’ll feel like you have control.”

  He took my hand and started tugging me to a table in the corner. It was well-lit and backed into a wall with two cameras pointed right at us. I looked up at the cameras and scanned the people at the table before taking a seat next to Derek.

  I wanted to slap the grin right off his face.

  We went through a few rounds at the blackjack table, and I could see why people enjoyed this sort of thing. The table was a high-roller table, and Derek was sliding me millions of dollars’ worth of chips. I kept eyeing him, wondering what in the world he was trying to get me into. But he kept nodding toward the table, beckoning me to offer some chips and play.

  My eyes scanned the room one last time as he leaned into my ear.

  “These types of casinos have great security, Sam. We’re okay.”

  But I shook my head, trying to keep my guard up and my wits about me. His breath was hot on my neck as the blackjack dealer waited patiently for us, even though people sitting at the table were getting agitated.

  That was never a good thing to draw attention with angry people.

  “If someone attacks me, they will get caught, Sam. They always are. I’m actually less worried about being here than I am about being in the hotel.”

  I whipped my gaze toward him, our lips hovering over one another’s. He didn’t feel safe at the hotel? That was exactly why we couldn’t sleep together any longer. It was affecting how he felt when I was around. I was supposed to keep him safe. Make him feel safe in the process so he didn’t worry. But as it stood, he was more comfortable in a crowded casino than he was in a hotel with me at his side.