Loving the Odds (What Happens in Vegas) Read online

  Bailey’s lips tugged into a smile. “Right.”

  “Here.” Selena reached into her bag and pulled out a book with a bright red cover.

  A picture of a silk ribbon danced across the front, curling around an antique key. The name, Selena Jade Lockhart, was written in bold lettering across the bottom and the title—Never Without Me—was written in looping cursive at the top.

  “Read this and you won’t have any problem finding your inner sexy.” She handed the book over. “Trust me.”

  “That’s very kind.”

  “My pleasure.” The elevator dinged and they stepped out and walked toward their rooms. “Remember Amazon reviews are an author’s best friend.”

  “Duly noted.”

  …

  If Lance didn’t get his head back in the game, he was going to do more damage to his career than sleeping with the boss’s daughter. Bailey might have saved his ass this morning, but it would all be for nothing if he couldn’t convince his client to cooperate.

  The famous cover model was touted to be the next Fabio but had recently been caught leaving a brothel. Not a great look for a guy who was supposed to be a sex symbol.

  “Jace, I know you don’t think this is a big deal but publishers aren’t going to want to hire the guy who paid for sex.” Lance sighed. “It doesn’t exactly add to your appeal when you’re supposed to be the guy who could have anyone he wants.”

  “I can. I wanted that particular hooker.” Jace’s surfer dude hair fell around his face, not quite obscuring a lazy, entitled grin. “Make it go away. Isn’t that what I pay you for?”

  “I come up with the solutions but you have to be willing to participate in them.” He glanced around the open-area bar. Everyone who walked past seemed to point and smile at Jace. “I can’t do it on my own.”

  “I’m not planting trees with a bunch of fucking hippies. Do you have any idea what that would do to my hands?”

  Count to three and breathe. Do not punch this guy in the face.

  “What about visiting a children’s hospital? You could read them stories.”

  Jace’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I bet there would be some yummy mommies there, too. Or hot nurses.”

  “You do understand how the whole public perception thing works, right?” Lance gritted his teeth. Normally, he could convince anyone to do what he wanted but he was off his game today.

  Too busy thinking about Bailey and how you told her you wanted to fuck her six ways from Sunday like a goddamn idiot.

  “Earth to Lance,” Jace said, waving a hand in front of his face. “I said I don’t care about public perception.”

  “You will when some other pretty boy comes along and you’re no longer the industry golden child.” Lance pushed up from his chair, the last of his patience snapping like a rubber band pulled too tight. “Start caring, or else you’ll be stacking supermarket shelves like a high school student.”

  He left Jace staring open-mouthed at him. Tough love would work as this particular client needed a little rough handling. Otherwise he’d push the boundaries until someone told him to stop. And Lance didn’t have the headspace to deal with a spoiled man-child today.

  Checking his watch, he strode across the bar. It was early, only four p.m. but he’d had enough. There would be more networking and elbow-rubbing tonight, not to mention helping Bailey get back at her ex. Maybe he could catch a few winks before the ball.

  Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Bud. You just want to spend more time with her.

  He walked past one of the hotel’s gift stores and caught sight of a display with elaborate masks as colorful and varied as Skittles. The ball was masquerade-themed and Janet had given everyone in the team something to wear, lest they embarrass her by not dressing up to the theme. But Bailey probably wasn’t aware of it.

  A black mask glinted at him and he could already see how perfect it would look curved around her gorgeous face, dark against her fair skin so her blue eyes looked even more sultry. Since he’d only seen a flash of the dress as the sales assistant had whisked Bailey off to the change rooms, he didn’t know what it looked like exactly. But it was black so that couldn’t be too hard to match.

  He turned the mask over in his hands. The intricate design looked like black lace but was made of a fine, pliable metal. A ribbon hung from either side. The thought of tying the silk into a knot behind her head sent a soul-deep tremor through him.

  He was as horny and nervous as a teenage boy buying a corsage for his prom date. Pathetic.

  By the time he’d paid for the mask and made it up to the hotel room floor, he’d calmed down a little and managed to force the blood back to his head and his mind onto work. Everyone went through phases where they were stuck in their career. That’s exactly why Lance needed to land Braxton St. John as a client. No more playing with the small fish, like Jace. He needed a big tasty bass.

  Every year, Take Two held a luncheon on the Sunday after the general festivities of the convention were done and dusted. In addition to their biggest clients, they also invited prospective clients to wine and dine—and hopefully sign—their company. Janet organized the event and, like a good gatekeeper, had full control of who was in and who was out. That luncheon would be his chance to wow Braxton and get his reputation back on track.

  He stopped at the hotel room door and gave a brisk knock before swiping his room key, but when he entered it was silent. And empty.

  “Bailey?” Nothing was out of place and the beds had been remade. Bailey’s outfit from yesterday was in a neat pile where she’d left it but her new dress hung inside a suit bag on the outside of the small wardrobe.

  She had his spare key, so perhaps she’d dropped the dress off and gone out for a drink or a bite to eat. A tendril of disappointment unfurled in his stomach, but he shoved it aside. A hot shower and some crappy television would get him ready for the night ahead, and hopefully keep him distracted long enough not to think about everything he wanted to do to Bailey. Stripping down to his jocks, he walked over to the bathroom door, halting when he realized she was inside.

  The door was cracked open. She lay in the bath, a pair of cordless headphones over her ears and a book in her hand. The water was still as the frozen surface of a lake while she read, her teeth clamped down on her bottom lip. A warm flush had spread over her cheeks. Down her neck. Though whether it was from the steam spiraling up from the tub or what she was reading, he didn’t know.

  That’s when he noticed that her other hand under the water, between her legs and moving ever so slightly. A groan erupted from his lips and he was instantly hard as a rock. As if sensing a change in the air, Bailey looked up sharply and caught his eye—the book falling onto the bathroom floor as she splashed in an effort to hide what she’d been doing.

  He pulled the door shut out of instinct, the loud bang echoing through the quiet hotel room. A second later, water gurgled, followed by a string of hushed curse words.

  “Shit, Bailey, I’m sorry,” he said through the door. “I called out when I got here so I thought you’d left.”

  Silence.

  He paced the room, trying to decide what to do. He should have turned away the second he’d seen her like any decent human being would have, but the sight of her naked body blurred by the water had rooted him to the spot. The knowledge that she lay there touching herself…his cock ached thinking about it.

  The door flung open a moment later and Bailey strode into the room, her body encased in a towel and her hair piled on top of her head. She had the book and her headphones in one hand and her cheeks had progressed to flaming fire-engine red.

  “How much did you see?” she asked, her voice wire-tight.

  “All of it.” Every glorious bit.

  “It was only for…research purposes.” She placed the headphones and book on the desk. “I went to one of the sessions and I was following their instructions.”

  She showed him the piece of paper. Ten steps to finding your inner sexy.

&n
bsp; “Bloody hell, you don’t need instructions for that.” He shook his head, wishing he’d had the forethought to put on a pair of pants after he’d shut the door.

  Her eyes lingered on his chest and stroked down over his stomach until she settled on the bulge in his boxer briefs. But she didn’t say anything.

  “Why do you seem to think that men aren’t interested in you?”

  “I guess if you hear something often enough you start to believe it.” She shrugged as though it meant nothing to her, but hiding behind the impassive expression was a flicker of emotion. A sheer veil of vulnerability and hurt.

  “Whoever told you that was an idiot.”

  “Julian said he wanted to be with me because I challenged him mentally. But he was always pushing me to wear more makeup and dress sexier and be a human pretzel in bed.” She sighed. “I always felt there should be more to sex than trying to replicate the Kama Sutra.”

  His resistance was close to breaking point. “That’s not what it’s about.”

  Goosebumps rippled across her arms and she rubbed at them. “It wasn’t just him. I’ve dated other men before but they always got bored. I’ve never thought of myself as a sexual person.”

  Dear God, what kind of Neanderthals had she been dating?

  “How did you feel in the bath?” he asked.

  The immediate tilt of her lips was answer enough. “It felt good to relax and…explore. I haven’t done that much but I liked it.”

  His balls were tight and achy between his legs and he resisted the urge to adjust himself. One touch might set him off. Bailey had him in a spot he hadn’t been for a long time—desperate and ready to beg.

  “I don’t want to be boring anymore—in bed or anywhere else.”

  “For fuck’s sake, Bailey. You are not boring.”

  She smiled tentatively and reached for the knot at the top of her towel. “Really?”

  “Don’t.” He held up a hand. “You know we won’t go back to San Francisco and be boyfriend and girlfriend. That’s not how I am.”

  “I understand.” She pulled at the knot and her towel split open like a curtain parting to reveal the pearly gates of heaven.

  Afternoon light spread over her fair skin and caressed all the places he badly wanted to explore. He’d felt those glorious breasts in his hands last night, but seeing them now—not too big, not too small but the goddamn Goldilocks of breasts—made his mouth water. Her nipples were stiff and pink like candies. A neat dusting of light brown hair covered her sex in a triangle shape but he could tell she was bare below.

  “I normally keep the lights off.” Her voice was hopeful and filled with the promise of pleasure. “But I want to see you. All of you.”

  “Bailey…”

  She held the towel out and let it drop to the floor with a dull thud. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Right?”

  “Christ,” he whispered.

  “Show me how to feel good, Lance. Please.”

  The pleading prickled along his skin, tugging him forward as if his limbs were controlled by puppet strings. He need to touch, taste, feel. Consume. Moreover, he wanted to make Bailey feel beautiful the way she deserved.

  “I know this isn’t anything,” she said as he stood in front of her, his hands tracing the line from her shoulders down her arms. “I don’t expect anything from you beyond tonight.”

  “You can expect one thing.” He fanned his hands over her hips and pulled her close to him. “I’m going to prove you don’t need to follow a fucking list to be sexy.”

  Chapter Eight

  Bailey’s knees shook as Lance stood in front of her, naked except for his black boxer briefs. He looked exactly like the kind of guy who normally intimidated her—rippled with muscle yet not too bulky, broad with a light dusting of blond hair over his chest. Then there was the definition at his waist, the magical V shape that she thought was only achieved by body builders and Photoshop.

  She had the overwhelming urge to trace the diagonal lines with her tongue.

  Her stomach clenched in anticipation. The roar of blood in her ears was almost enough to drown out the appreciative hum in the back of Lance’s throat as he reached up to cup her breast with one hand, his thumb strumming the sensitive tip. Fire shot like arrows through her, the pressure building between her legs so quickly it stole her breath.

  “I’m going to show you how sexy you are, Bailey.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his erection. The hard length of him pulsed beneath her touch. “How you drive me crazy.”

  “Oh,” she gasped.

  He slid his briefs down his legs and kicked them to the side, then put her hand back on him immediately. Her fingers curled around his girth as though by instinct. He was hot to the touch. Silky and bold and throbbing.

  “You make me want to explode.” His hand was at her lower back, holding her close so he could growl the words into her ear. “When I saw you touching yourself in the bath, that was the most exciting goddamn thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Her sex clenched tight like a fist. “Really?”

  “Hell, yeah. I was so jealous of your hand. I wanted to be under that water touching you.” His fingertip traced circles at her hip, skating down to her inner thigh but missing the area where she wanted him most. “I wanted to put my head underwater and kiss you there.”

  “Where?” she breathed.

  His hand pushed firmly between her legs, sliding up until it brushed the lips of her sex. “Here.”

  Her hips jerked involuntarily, trying to get the friction she so desperately desired. But he was tricky, suddenly kissing her. Distracting her while he removed his hand.

  “Touch me,” she begged against his lips. “Please.”

  “How do you want me to touch you?” His gray-green eyes glittered, like the thought of hearing her voice her fantasies was thrilling to him.

  She realized her hand was still on his erection, so she squeezed him. Her lips curved into a smile when he hissed. “Touch me with your hands and you mouth and…”

  “And?” He peppered kisses along her jaw.

  “Your cock.” Saying the word aloud made her flush, but modesty would not get in the way of her having what she wanted right now.

  “Well, when you ask me like that…” He spun her around and pushed her back until they hit the bed. “Sit.”

  His hand came to her stomach, guiding her down so that she lay across the mattress with her legs dangling over the edge. Exposed to him. Laid out like dessert. His palms smoothed up and down her thighs, tracing slow maddening circles until he reached her sex. Expecting him to tease her again, she was caught by surprised when he used his thumbs to part her.

  Cool air rushed over her body chased by his warm breath. The sensation made her hips buck and he used his shoulder to nudge her legs apart, wedging himself between them. After drawing out her anticipation for an endless moment, he placed a chaste kiss over her clit. The slide of his tongue up the length of her sex had her hands fisting the duvet.

  “I bet this wasn’t on your list,” Lance said, a throaty chuckle vibrating against her thigh as he kissed and licked every part of her.

  “It should be.” She reached for his head, yanking him back between her legs when he strayed too far. The muscles of her sex clenched as if grabbing for something, and as amazing as his tongue felt, she wouldn’t be satisfied until he was deep, deep inside her.

  “Oh, you don’t want me to go slow? Greedy, greedy girl.”

  She wanted to have the last word, but it died on her lips as he unleashed his tongue on her at full force. Pure, white-hot pleasure speared through her as he flicked over her clit, pausing only to draw it between his lips and suck on her as if she was a piece of candy.

  Tight pressure built inside her, bundling up and blanking out all but the sensation of his mouth. And then she was tumbling over the edge, crying out his name as she tightened her fist in his hair, grinding against his face like her life depended on it.

  The bed shifted and
Bailey opened her eyes. Lance pulled her against him so that her back lined his chest and his lips suckled on her earlobe. “Do you feel sexy yet?”

  She wriggled her bottom against the hard length of his erection. “I’m not sure. You might have to keep going so I can be absolutely certain.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Well, I have to collect all the data before I can make a proper decision.” She rolled in his arms and he caught her mouth with his. “This is serious business. I can’t rely on guesswork.”

  “I’m glad you’re here to keep me on the straight and narrow.” His fingers dug into her hip and he slipped his erection between her thighs. She clamped down on him, relishing in the heat and hardness.

  “I’m going to need a condom before we go any further,” he murmured.

  She touched her fingertips to his jaw. “Hurry.”

  As he went to find protection, she wriggled farther up onto the bed, yanking the sheets back from their tightly made position before slipping underneath. The clean cotton was cool on her heated skin and anticipation skittered through her.

  Sex had never made her feel quite like this before. In fact, she often struggled to orgasm because she felt so much pressure to act a certain way. To be sexier. To be more exciting. To perform. Trying too hard had killed her buzz on plenty of occasions. But Lance had stripped all that away, his touch so reassuring and warm that she’d melted like ice cream on a hot day.

  The foil packet glinted as he tore it open and fished the condom out, before rolling it down his impressive length. “Feeling you come on my tongue has me hard as a rock.”

  Each word pushed her blood to boiling point. He might look every bit the perfect, polished businessman but right now he had a mouth that was dirty and sinfully hot.

  Right then, if he’d asked for her first-born she’d have signed it over without a second thought.

  “Do you want to feel how hard I am, Bailey?”

  She reached out and grasped him, running her hands over the length and tentatively tracing his balls. They were firm and heavy, and for some reason that made her belly quiver. Climbing onto the bed, he stalked forward on his hands and knees.