ACE:Las Vegas Bad Boys(93)

“If I could have it, I’d take it,” I admit. “Granted, I have no fucking clue what owning a company means ... but part of me wants something to work for, fight for. It’s why I’m still negotiating for this property in Vegas. Sure, life is good. But is it great? I don’t think so.”

“Fuckin-A. This got heavy,” Jack says, laughing, as he folds his hand.

“You gotta go for it, man,” Ace says, taking a whiskey neat from the waitress. “Shit, show them that you’re what they want.”

I narrow my eyes, knowing this is not an easy task. “So I just need to show my father I’m something besides a fuckup. I need to show him I’m responsible and a fucking family man. Right. Easy.”

I take a drink of beer, suddenly tired of being reminded why I can’t have what Geoffrey has. I’ve spent too long fighting it to try and get it back now.

I don’t want to feel like a fucking failure tonight, I want to feel like a King.

Just then, Emmy, Tess, and Claire walk in the room.

And seeing Claire is just what I need.





CLAIRE


After Ace texts Emmy a quick reply telling her that no, Gwen is not in the building, we are completely sidetracked from my near-gush about Landon and me hooking up.

Which might be for the best, seeing as there would have been a dozen questions that followed my big reveal. Such as, why the hell did you leave before you screwed?

I don’t want to make up even more lies, so I decide it’s best that the topic got dropped.

We eat dinner and listen to Emmy tell us ridiculously fantastic details of her honeymoon. The sex on the beach and the candlelit dinners and the couple’s massages in their little cabana overlooking the South Pacific.

It is utterly drool-worthy, and I fight off any feelings of I-wish-that-were-me by drinking the bottle of Prosecco. By myself.

When we enter the penthouse post-dinner to look at Emmy’s wedding pictures, I’m more than a little tipsy.

“Hey, boys,” Emmy says, sashaying into the den like she owns the place. It takes me a moment to remember that she actually does.

Ace didn’t even ask her to sign a pre-nup. Because they are totally and completely the real thing.

“Hey babe,” Ace says, pulling her to him. She falls into his lap effortlessly, and I look away, because all I can see when I look at them is bliss. That amount of perfection is a little hard to swallow.

When I turn, though, my eyes fall on Landon.

And, shit, he looks amazing.

His shirtsleeves are rolled up, revealing the tattoos on his forearms. He looks me up and down as if something is on his mind, because he tips his head ever so slightly, a slight grin on his face.

When I left the condo tonight, sleeping with Landon was nowhere on my mind … but now it’s all I want.

I want to finish what we started.

“You boys almost done?” Emmy asks.

“Almost,” McQueen says, eyeing his piles of chips. “I’ve schooled this table.”

“Too bad JoJo didn’t come, after all, to see you win tonight,” Landon jokes.

“McQueen, you have a girl?” Tess asks, eyes wide, always wanting to know the scoop. “When did that happen?”

“No, I don’t.” McQueen shoves Landon in the arm. “Don’t start rumors. Tess is susceptible to believing anything she hears.”

“Be nice,” Emmy says. “I’m gonna show the girls the photos, and then we’ll all have a drink, okay?” She plants a kiss on Ace’s mouth. The kind of kiss you can only get away with when you’ve just returned from your honeymoon.

Sitting on her sofa, she opens her MacBook and scrolls through hundreds of gorgeous shots. She and Ace really do look like they belong on the cover of a magazine.

When I tell her so, she replies, “Oh, actually, Vegas Weekly is featuring us next month.”

“No shit?” I shake my head.

“Look,” Tess says. “See, Claire, you and Landon did look cute dancing together.”

“You really did,” Emmy says. “You know your moves.”

“I was bit obsessed with Pride and Prejudice as a tween. That’s why I learned the waltz. I’m a dork, I know,” I say, feeling lightheaded from the champagne. Lightheaded in a good way. In a way that makes me crane my neck to see if the guys are almost done with poker.

I want to see Landon again.

Another half hour passes, and the guys still haven’t emerged from the den. Realizing my dreams of some hook-up with the hottest guy I’ve ever seen naked aren’t going to come true, I let the girls know I should probably head home.

I have a hall pass from my mother, but no one to use it with.

“Stay here tonight,” Emmy says. “You too, Tess.”