Her Sexy Vegas Cowboy(27)

Jessica chuckled lightly, but there was no humor in the effort. “Actually he asked me if he could come to New York sometime, but I turned him down. And it was a good choice. He just wants another woman on the side that he can sleep with when he’s in town and forget the minute he leaves. I don’t want to be that woman, so—”

“Hold up. I’m confused. Start the story from the beginning. I’ll text the girls we’ll have dinner in an hour or so and we’ll get this figured out.”

Despite Jessica’s protest, Cindy sent the text and sat down, crossing her arms, to hear the story.

Jessica sighed and sat beside her. She went through everything that had happened that day, from their conversation in bed to the trip out of town to the text message she saw.

She concluded, “It isn’t because he’s seeing someone else tonight—he has all the right in the world to do that when we’re just having fun—my emotions about the situation made it very clear that I shouldn’t get any closer. So I left.”

She expected sympathy from Cindy, but she didn’t get it. “Why didn’t you ask him about the text? It specifically said the word talk in it, right? How do you know he was planning on anything other than talking to her?”

Jessica was aghast. “You think he was just going to get coffee or something with some old female friend and I misunderstood the situation? Are you kidding?”

Cindy’s expression softened. “I think that Russ hurt you and you’ve been so closed off from people for so long that you can’t trust others anymore, and that’s sad. You used to be warm and open, but for the past two months you haven’t let anyone get close to you. I think this guy was finally brushing away some of that and helping you get back to the old you. And I think he must either really like you or be the biggest womanizer on the planet if half the things you said are true. Why not ask and find out?”

Jessica put her face in her hands. “I can’t do that.”

“I know what it’s like to be hurt. Everyone does. But that doesn’t mean you don’t get a chance at real love. Look at me.”

Jessica looked over her fingers and saw Cindy’s small smile as she looked at her engagement ring. Her heart took on a life of its own, twisting and writhing in envy. She wanted that.

In the silence, her phone went off, loud and shrill. For a moment, she was sure it was Aaron calling, despite the fact that she had never given him her number. Then she looked and saw it was her sister, Renee.

That was an odd occurrence. Renee never called, preferring to text any conversations. She answered, perplexed and momentarily distracted. “Hey, Renee.”

“Jessica—”

She could hear the tears in her sister’s voice, and her throat tightened in panic. “Renee, what is it? What’s going on?”

The voice that responded trembled with barely subdued emotion. “Dad’s back in the hospital.”

Jessica felt her body go cold. She’d known it could happen anytime, but it still seemed unreal. “How bad is it?” she whispered, her voice breaking.

“Bad. You need to get here. Now.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she’d known it was coming. This wasn’t a time to cry or panic, though. She stood, mentally listing what she would need to do to get out of Vegas as soon as possible. She said, “I’m on my way,” and hung up before her sister could respond.

Cindy was looking at her with concern. Jessica started toward the door. “I have to go back home. It’s my dad.”

Cindy nodded. “I’ll look up flights. I won’t be able to book anything for you, but at least you’ll know how much time you have to pack and get to the airport.”

Jessica hugged her friend before half running to her hotel room. Within five minutes, her belongings were packed and she was in her travel clothes, ready for the flight. As she packed the last of her things, there was a knock on the door. She hoped with all her heart it would be Aaron. They might not have time to talk, but she could at least give him her phone number.

It wasn’t him on the other side of the door, though. Cindy was there with flight information written down. If she hurried, she’d just be able to make the flight leaving in a little over an hour. The next one would get her home over five hours later.

She bolted to the elevators and pressed the button frantically. “Cindy, I’m so sorry for everything this weekend. Tell the other girls I’m sorry, too. I really did enjoy getting to know them a little bit. I’ll make it up to you.”

Cindy shrugged and gave her a watery smile that seemed close to tears. “Don’t worry about it. Just get home to your family. Do you want me to do anything about Aaron?”

The elevator dinged and opened as Jessica grasped her friend into one last tight hug and took the sheet with the flight details; she walked on, rolling her small suitcase behind her. “If you can find him, tell him what happened and give him my phone number. We need to talk.”

Once she got to the lobby, she practically flew to the taxi stand, and was immediately ushered into a waiting cab. She asked him to take her to the airport as quickly as he could, then called the number Cindy had written. By the time the taxi pulled up to the airport, she was scheduled for the flight and had her boarding pass loaded on her phone.

She only had thirty-two minutes to make it through the airport, but she was not going to miss that flight. A hurried conversation with a TSA agent and she was bypassing the line at security. Rushing through, she was on the other side in record-breaking time. Her shoes were in her hands when she saw the tram that would take her to the right terminal arrive, so she held on to them and ran over in her socks. She managed to board a moment before the doors closed with a snap.

On the tram, she took a moment to breathe and put on her shoes. It was too much to think about her family, about her father who had always been there for her, so instead she thought of Aaron. Not how she walked out with him looking at her, but instead of his smile as he said that he wanted to see her again, and the light in his eyes as they ran around out in the desert.

Cindy would find him, she assured herself. She’d texted her friend his hotel information, and she trusted Cindy to do what she’d promised. She was a good friend to have around in a crisis.

The tram stopped after what seemed far too long of a ride, and Jessica was the first one out, rushing through the airport to her gate, which of course had to be the one farthest away. When she reached the door, they were making the last call for passengers. Her ticket was scanned and she was rushing down the gangplank before she could pause for breath.

Once she stepped on the plane and was moving slowly through the crush of seats and passengers, she tried to take calming breaths. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt, from both the dash to the plane and the stress of the situation. She tried to tell herself that whatever happened, she was on her way home and that was the best she could do.

It didn’t help much.

Finding her seat, she strapped herself in. She sent a few last messages to her mother and sister, one last message to Cindy thanking her and then she put her phone in airplane mode and leaned back in her seat, still gasping. So much had happened that she couldn’t wrap her mind around it all, and the whir of thoughts made her almost nauseated.

She pulled out her headphones and set her playlist to The Beatles and the volume as loud as she could stand. She rarely listened to music, usually preferring audiobooks, but she knew that anything involving focus would be a lost cause; her goal was to drown out her thoughts as much as possible.

She leaned against the window and somehow, miraculously, she slept.

* * *

AARON HURRIED THROUGH the airport looking for the right gate. The plane hadn’t left yet, but it would be taking off any minute. When he saw it ahead, the area was deserted except for a flight attendant, and she rushed him through onto the plane.

Relieved he had made it in time, he hustled onto the plane, put his luggage in the overhead compartment and looked around. The flight wasn’t very full, which was a bit surprising. After a cursory glance, he sat in his seat and buckled his seat belt. In just over three hours he’d be back in Texas, but that was not soon enough. The faster he could get the hell out of Vegas, the better.

He felt angry at nobody in particular, and wanted nothing but to be left alone. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. Jessica had run out that afternoon because of a stupid misunderstanding that was completely his fault.

Once he saw Olivia’s text a few minutes after Jessica had taken off, he realized exactly what must have happened, what she thought. He didn’t blame her for her reaction. After he’d heard what had happened with her last boyfriend, it made perfect sense, and it killed him that he had caused her that kind of pain.

He decided to give her a little time before rushing over. If she was mad, he wanted her to be at least calm enough to listen to him. He spent that time on the phone with Olivia breaking things off for good—he felt like an ass doing it over the phone, but he couldn’t bring himself to go over and see her when things were so confused. After he felt enough time had passed, he’d gone over to Jessica’s hotel and up to her room, only to find nobody there.