The Wedding Rescue, Book Five(11)

I flushed a fiery hot red. I didn’t know how I could let Dylan display me naked in front of the room service waiter and still managed to blush in front of Mrs. Carmody. I looked up at Dylan in helpless embarrassment. He aimed his most charming smile at Mrs. Carmody and stepped in to save me.

“Leigha and I are dating. I would have said you’d be seeing my car in front of her house more often, but given what’s happened, I think she’ll be staying with me.”

“And where do you live?” she asked, studying him with still suspicious eyes. With a straight face, he said,

“I live at the Delecta.”

“You’re not taking Leigha off to live in a casino. She’s a good girl. And she doesn’t need to get tied up with another loser who gambles too much.”

I giggled. I couldn’t help it. Mrs. Carmody met her cronies somewhere on the strip every Wednesday night for a buffet and a night of playing the slots. She spent far more time in casinos than I did.

“I don’t gamble, Mrs. Carmody,” Dylan told her. She drew in a breath, probably to protest, when I jumped in.

“He lives at the Delecta because he owns it,” I said. A light came into her eyes, and I inwardly groaned.

“So you can take care of her?” she asked Dylan, ignoring my second, vocal groan. Dylan, still completely serious, nodded.

“I can. She won’t have to worry about anything.”

“Good. Make sure she has some fun. The girl works too much, never gets out to have a good time.”

I rolled my eyes to the sky, partly embarrassed and partly touched. Dylan, apparently ready to get going, turned the conversation to business.

“Are you taken care of? Did they tell you to evacuate?” he asked, pulling out his phone. She eyed his phone, but nodded.

“I’m fine. Myrtle is coming by to pick me up. I’ll stay with her until this is cleaned up.”

Dylan slipped his phone back into his pocket and wrapped his arm around me once more. “If you’ll excuse us, Leigha needs to get ready for her sister’s wedding, and we’re stopping at the police station first so she can press charges.”

“Go,” she said, stepping back to clear our way with regal forbearance. “I’ll expect a dinner invitation by the end of the week.”

“You’ll have it,” Dylan said over shoulder, steering me back to the car.

“You’ll regret that later,” I said, thinking of Mrs. Carmody and her yappy little dog in Dylan’s elegant penthouse.

“No, I won’t,” he said, his voice tight. Glancing up at him, I realized that despite his easy manner with my neighbor, and his gentleness with me, he was pissed off.

I gave Mrs. Carmody a wave over my shoulder, making an effort to avoid the view of my burning house. From the corner of my eye, I saw that the firefighters seemed to be getting it under control. I hoped it didn’t set any of the other houses on fire. My own stuff had to be a loss; what hadn’t burned would be too smoke damaged to salvage. No matter how fast they put out the rest of the fire, it wouldn’t save anything. Suddenly exhausted, I sat back in the plush leather seat, wishing I had time to lay down and take a nap. Dylan slid into the driver’s seat and took my hand before he started the car, and we left my latest disaster behind.





6





Dylan




Leigha looked so fragile, her eyes closed, lashes dark against her pale cheeks. This was my fault. I’d meant what I’d said to Axel. He’d made the decision not to have Steven arrested on his own, true. But if he’d called me, I would have told him to do exactly the same thing. Vermin like Steven always had enough for bail. A few hours in prison wasn’t enough of a price to pay for hurting Leigha.

I hated the idea that my vengeance had left him free to take even more from her than he already had. If I’d had him arrested he might have done the same thing as soon as he was out on bail. Or maybe a few hours in jail would have convinced him to stay off the radar. I’d never know.

How the fuck had he managed to get away from Tsepov? I knew one thing - unless Tsepov had let him go, Steven would be in deep shit when the Russian tracked him down again. My business stayed on the clean and legal side, but I knew what went on in my city, and Axel kept me filled in. His work took him to the dark sides of Vegas more often than he liked. So I knew that Tsepov was not a man to cross. Ever. If Steven hadn’t already gotten out of town, he’d be royally fucked. I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more.

The next few hours passed in a blur. Leigha looked like she was held together by a thin thread. She gave her statement to the police clearly and with more detail than she’d told me. I didn’t lose it when she described his cutting her with the knife or touching her breast, but I wanted to. Instead, I sat beside Leigha, her hand in mine, feeling the fine tremble as she spoke in a steady, quiet voice. I’d made this hard enough for her, I wasn’t going to make it worse.