Her Sexy Vegas Cowboy(20)

Jessica was about to argue, and then realized that her friend was right. And she could picture the cause of it in glorious detail.

As if Cindy could read her thoughts, she turned her whole body toward Jessica and looked her straight in the eye. “You aren’t falling in love with him or anything colossally stupid like that, right?”

Jessica would have laughed, but the concern on her friend’s face made it clear she wasn’t joking. “Cindy, no. Absolutely not. I’m just having a fun time. Letting loose a little or something.”

Cindy seemed skeptical. “Fun’s great, but you’ve been walking around all day in your own little wonderland, and that smile on your lips seems like it’s more than just an ‘I had awesome sex’ smile.”

“An ‘I had awesome sex’ smile? What exactly does that look like?”

“It’s the smile Marilyn’s been wearing all day. Yours isn’t the same.”

Jessica didn’t know what to say to that. This conversation was far out of her realm of normalcy. “And mine’s different?”

“Yep. Yours is a cute ‘I had awesome sex with a guy I want to marry and have babies with’ smile.”

Jessica couldn’t believe how serious Cindy looked. As if this wasn’t all crazy nonsense from her imagination. “Maybe my ‘I had awesome sex’ smile is different than Marilyn’s.”

Cindy would not be deterred. “All I’m saying is that you seem like you’re falling for this guy despite the fact that it’s an impossible relationship.”

“I’m not. I swear I’m not. I’ve been hurt enough to know that anything more than a fun time with this guy isn’t going to happen. I don’t even want it to happen. I saw him outside the strip club with his arms around two women, drunk and staring wide-eyed at their boobs. Trust me, I’m not going to forget that.”

Cindy looked slightly mollified, though not completely convinced. “Well, just don’t lose your head, okay? It’s going to end soon enough, and then you’ll have to get back to life at home. Maybe you can start dating again. Get yourself back on the market.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jessica replied, but the thought only dropped her mood. Dating meant obnoxious strangers, uncomfortable pauses and awkward moments as she said good-night and spent the rest of the evening alone.

Dates had never gone well for her, whether she was going out with men from bars or guys from dating websites or on blind dates set up by sympathetic friends. Since she worked at home, those were the only ways she met eligible men, and none of them had worked out. Even Russ, by far the best dating experience she’d had, got off to a rocky start and ended horribly.

She could see that her friend was still concerned. “Cindy, it’s really nothing. I’m just smiling an ‘I had awesome sex’ smile, and I’m going to leave with no hurt feelings. I promise.”

The amount of force in her voice finally got Cindy to nod, accepting, and walk back into the store. Jessica leaned back, hoping she was telling the truth. She definitely wasn’t going to fall in love with Aaron, but she couldn’t say that it would be easy to tear herself away from something so amazing. If only he’d been the stupid sex maniac she’d assumed he was when she saw him at the strip club. But no, dammit. He had to be sweet and like Harry Potter.

After what seemed like an eternity, the girls had exhausted themselves and were ready to get back to the hotel so they could rest a little before dinner. Jessica was happy to see that it was nearly seven, and went to her room to dress. She was tired, and her eyes were telling her that she needed more sleep than she’d gotten the past two nights, but her mind was whirling with visions of Aaron.

In her room, she pulled everything out of her bag and considered each item carefully. She had two sexy dresses, both borrowed from Cindy and both he’d already seen, two dresses she had brought that looked decidedly frumpy next to the others, the pair of jeans she’d been wearing all day and a few blouses.

She wasn’t very happy with her options. She liked the way she’d looked in the dresses, and it felt nice to be a hotter version of herself, but she didn’t want to wear one of them and be stuck with that as her only clothing the next day.

Planning on staying at his room sent a thrill down her spine. Yes, she was tired, but she’d gladly give up mental awareness and a little bit of sanity for another night like the one she’d just had. So, with that in mind, the jeans were really the best bet. But what to wear with them? None of the shirts she brought were good enough.

She wanted to be surprising and erotic, and her normal clothes certainly did not fit that mold. Then she looked at her New York coat hanging over the back of a chair, where she’d tossed it and forgotten about it in the pleasant weather. She smiled.

On the short taxi ride to his hotel, she couldn’t stop fidgeting and felt as if she couldn’t catch her breath. Her stomach was alive with a fluttery feeling she couldn’t stop. Not butterflies, though. Butterflies would indicate that she was nervous, as if this were a date or something. There was no reason to be nervous because it was all just a fun adventure and nothing more.

She’d purposely waited at her hotel until eight even though she was ready to go a half hour before. She tried to work a little, but it was impossible to edit anything. She couldn’t absorb any of the words, let alone full paragraphs of text. She’d assumed she wouldn’t get much work done over the weekend, but she’d start getting harried emails if she couldn’t get something sent out soon.

Thoughts of work drifted immediately to the back of her mind as she got close to Aaron’s hotel. There were too many other things to think about. Like Aaron’s hands touching her. That occupied a large part of her mental real estate.

Now that she was on her way, though, her thoughts turned anxious and the taxi ride felt far too short. She almost begrudgingly left the cab and paid the driver. This was one of the craziest things she’d ever done, but her nerves quickly turned to excitement as she looked at the Hard Rock’s glass doors. This was her chance to be daring and sexy, and she was going to take advantage of it. She took a deep breath and walked quickly through the casino. In the elevator, she checked her phone for the time. Twelve after eight.

Not exactly what someone would call fashionably late, and most girls would chide her for looking too eager, but that was the best she could do. Another twenty minutes of waiting around would have been impossible torture if what was waiting for her inside his room was anything like what it had been earlier.

She was finally on his floor. One deep, slow breath, and she was in front of the door. The edges of the key card felt sharp against her palm, but the thought of actually using it felt absurd. Storming into his room without knocking did not sound daring and sexy, it sounded rude, even if he had given her a key. Still, he gave it to her. Clearly he wanted her to use it.

She was standing outside his door, staring at the key card and trying to decide what to do, when the door suddenly opened. Her heart jumped and she stepped back quickly.

Aaron was standing there, looking as handsome as he had been in the fantasies she’d been playing out in her head for the past several hours. He smiled at her. She was still shocked. “How did you know I was out here?”

“I heard the elevator ding a minute ago, and then steps up to the door, and then your bag or something hit the door. It wasn’t too hard to solve the mystery. Hi. I was waiting for you.”

His words and that cute-as-hell crooked smile made her melt for just a second before she pulled it back together. She told herself it was because he was being sexy, not cute. There was a big difference, and all she wanted was sexy.

He held the door open and she walked in. On the dining room table—his suite was ridiculously big, she finally noticed—there were several platters with silver domes on top. He’d clearly ordered them room service for dinner.

A thrill went down her spine again. He definitely wasn’t planning on them leaving the room for the rest of the evening. While she was standing there looking around, he closed the door and came up behind her. She suddenly found herself wrapped in his arms, his scent and his voice as he whispered, “Totally not worth it. I could have been here all day. I never should’ve let you talk me into going.”

She leaned into him, smiling as his warm breath tickled the back of her neck. “How’d your ranch do?”

He pulled back a little and loosened his grip. She immediately regretted saying anything that would cause him to stop holding her, but he just readjusted enough to turn her toward him. “Actually we got second place. We’ve only ever gotten up to fifth before, so it was a pretty big deal. We’re celebrating tonight.”

Her heart dropped a little, but she did her best to hide the disappointment. “Oh, well, if you need to go out with your team or whatever, that’s fine. I’m pretty tired and could use some sleep, anyway.”

He leaned his head back and laughed, and the rich golden notes bounced around the room like a bell chiming. “Not them. We. You and me we. I got some champagne and we can celebrate up here. I don’t think we need the other guys for what I’ve got in mind.”