“Bingo.”
There was a little pause at the other end of the line as she considered my words. “That makes sense I guess,” she said. “In a charming sort of way.”
“Good, because I wouldn’t want you to think we ditched you for any other reason. Especially not because we didn’t enjoy your company.”
“Well I have to admit I definitely enjoyed your… company,” she giggled again.
I thought about being shaken awake by Corey last night. About getting dressed in the darkness, and slipping out before dawn. Last night had been beyond the scope of wild, even by our admittedly-warped standards. Lauren was all we could talk about, all the way back to our apartment.
“So you broke the rules,” Lauren said, matter-o-factly. “Just to tell me you had an amazing time?”
“Yes,” I said.
And no, the little voice in my head told me.
“Well thanks,” she replied, a little more sheepishly. “You guys were… well, you were gentlemen. And you were very sweet. And you took every bit as good care of me as you said you would,” she added. “In every possible way.”
God, she was so adorable! So sexy and funny and totally cute. I wanted more than anything to ask her to lunch. To just say screw it, and tell her to meet me somewhere…
You can’t do it. Especially not without Corey.
I was in a bad mood because I was home, and I was only home because they’d dropped two of my shifts. It was the third time this month they’d switched things around. Ever since Eddie had taken over as manager, I’d always seemed to be on the receiving end of—
“Well thanks for breaking the rules to call me,” Lauren flirted. Her voice went lower and more confidential. “And thanks for… last night.”
“You’re very welcome,” I smiled.
“Be sure to thank Corey too,” she said, a little more awkwardly. “He was… well…”
“Equally fantastic?”
“Yes,” Lauren laughed. “That.”
We hung up smiling, the both of us, a perfect phone call, ended on perfect terms. It didn’t matter that my day job was falling to pieces. My night job was still paying the bills, and enabling me to stow money away. Just not as fast as I would’ve liked.
Visions of Lauren floated back to mind. Her smile. Her scent. The wet, velvety feel of her, crushed beneath my weight as I drove all the way deep inside…
Lunch wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
It might. It might not.
Either way I put my phone away, before I got myself into trouble.
Seventeen
LAUREN
I stretched out cat-like on the bed, reveling in the feel of the softness beneath me. Stretching oxygen into my tired muscles, as I day-dreamed about last night…
Only it was no longer day. It was already well into the evening, and I’d done just about everything on the Vegas strip a girl could do, at least solo and tired. Everything I knew about, anyway.
I thought about my friends, who’d been home for days now. Heather and Victoria would be tucking their kids in. Noelle would be curling up on the couch with her husband, and Deanna, with her fiancé.
And then there was me… thousands of miles away, all alone in a Las Vegas hotel suite. Three empty beds, a fully-stocked bar, and enough food to feed a small army.
Are you really going to complain?
I guessed I really couldn’t.