It's Got A Ring To It (22 page)

The tears flowed freely now. All I heard was laughter. Growing
louder. They were laughing at me, it seemed. I was faster with hard deliberate
steps. It dawned on me, and my tired feet, how far I had to go to get back to
the car. The night had become a worthy adversary. The chill in the air laid
goose bumps
over my skin as
I trekked the distance. It was only a few blocks in reality, but it felt like a
dozen football fields in heels.

After what seemed like hours, the looming arches of the Venetian
stood before me. The only thing standing between
me and the
padded casino carpet
was the conveyor ramp. I let the full weight of my
body lean on the rubber railing, floating toward the entrance. As the end of
the ramp neared, I prepared for the last leg of this journey, but I couldn’t
release. Not because I was unwilling, but literally I was caught. Or, rather
one of
my strappy new shoes
was
caught in the ramp.

I wiggled my foot, hoping it would fling loose.
T
he ramp
bumped and bounced the closer I got to the end. Contorting my body in a weird
pretzel-like position, with my knees on the ground and my back twisted upward
for a better view of the snag, I saw it. Underneath the rail, the strap had
lodged in between a slight rip in the rubber. I pinched my index finger and
thumb in an attempt to grab it, but it was too late. The ramp ended. In one
fluid motion: scraped knees, flying shoe, and a bruised ego.

A piercing pain rendered my leg useless. As if the night hadn’t
already been one for the books when it came to downers, the audience of
onlookers opted to stare rather than offer assistance.

No thank you. I don’t need any help
.

I’d nearly made it back to my feet, when someone took my hand to help
me the rest of the way.

“Going to make it?” he offered, sweetly.

“Thank you, sir
—
”
I opened my mouth to say more, but closed it again just as quickly.

“Happy New Year,
Laila
.” Myles smiled.

The worst possible outcome realized.
The man who was the cause and cure to my heartache
had rescued me
. As if on
cue
,
my knees gave out, but not before Myles caught me heroically as his arms
reached under my legs to lift me up in one coordinated swoop. Humiliated, I
buried my face in the snug nook between his chin and the nape of his neck. He
smelled of peppermint leaves and fresh lemony soap.

Much to my chagrin, Myles looked perfect
ly
put together in his lo
o
se-fit jeans with a soft white linen shirt
beneath a navy blazer. I couldn’t tell whether he was coming or going. The
countdown had barely ended and the real partygoers were just starting to turn
it up.

“Oh my goodness. I’m so embarrassed. Ugh
!
W
hy did you have to see me like this?” I said
with muffled words.

There I was, a klutz, drunk and alone with bruised knees, while he
stood there, a gorgeous
Adonis
,
valiantly holding a fragile damsel together like a
good
Samaritan
.

“Like what? Human?”

“I’ve had
the
worst
night. Now to top it all off, you’ve found me here, crumbling from the inside
out.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad,
Laila
.
Come on.”

Questions lingered in his eyes. He was as curious about my life as I
was about his
,
but neither of us had the courage to ask outright. We talked occasionally
at my mother’s house or his studio when the conversation was always centered
on
Lena or Elle. Sometimes,
we’d even venture so far as to ask how one another’s weekends had gone, but in
our silence, we had an unspoken agreement not to discuss Ethan
,
or whomever
Myles
was dating. Here and
there, he’d throw in “
A
nd
say hello to Ethan for me,” Myles
’
way of asking without asking. There was no
way he hadn’t heard the news about Ethan and me.

The slowly fading barrier between us could have had something to do
with the alcohol. Or, it could easily have been the fact that I was in his
arms. Though, deep down, I did want to be comfortable with him again.

“Start from the beginning,” he offered sweetly. Myles walked slowly
toward the hotel protectively clutching me to his chest without protest. I told
him about my plan to stay home and wallow. Graciously, he did not take the
opportunity to ask further about Ethan, though his quickening pulse sort of
gave him away. I went on to tell him about Brooke ambushing me at home
,
and
me
dancing into a drunken stupor. Even though
I thought about omitting the parts about being given the boot from the club and
crying in
Margaritaville
, he
had
already
seen me at my lowest, so it seemed pointless. I asked about his night, but he
demurred and stated that he was exactly where he wanted to be.

I’d been talking the whole time, unmindful of where we were headed. I
was going to press him for more details about his evening when I was
interrupted by the doors to the elevator near the Venetian concierge closing
behind us.

“Myles, where are you taking me?”

“Up to my room.”

“I don’t think so
.
”
I struggled futilely.

“I think your knees beg to differ,” he muttered matter-of-factly,
directing my eyes toward the blood streaming down my legs. My little fall
wasn’t so little after all.

When we reached the door to his room, he gently placed me onto my
feet while he jiggled the plastic card into the door until the little light
turned green. He stepped back and allowed me to enter first, following behind.
Cool air rush
ed
against my skin. A huge bed with an abundance of fluffy white goose-down
pillows
,
cotton
sheets
,
and
a decadent red and gold paisley duvet sat off to the left. Warm hues and pops
of red accented the wooden desk and armoire. Modern abstract art with the same
tonal scheme flanked the large flat screen television. Off to the corner a
leather recliner beneath a hovering floor lamp completed a comfy reading nook.

“Here it is.” Behind me, he slowly walked in, resting his hand
s
on my
shoulders. Pride hung in his words. “Have a seat over here, please
.
”
H
e motioned toward the recliner.

“Ooh. I could fall asleep right here.”

Myles left me for a minute and returned with a small first aid kit.
He positioned himself on the matching ottoman in front of my chair.
Meticulously, he wiped at my knee with an alcohol swab to clean the cut. My
teeth clinched at the stinging sensation and he blew
coolly
over it, mindful not
to
hurt me. As he smooth
ed
each side of the
Band-Aid
, he spoke
nonchalantly without raising his eyes. “You’re welcome to stay here if you’d
like.”

With him carefully attending to my wound as if my life depended on
it, it was hard not to imagine him taking care of my other needs. My eyes
closed lazily as I remembered our rumble on his living room floor.

“I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Floor? What?”
Had I said
that aloud?

“I can sleep on the floor, if you want to stay. You really shouldn’t
be out there by yourself. There are all kinds of lowlifes out there.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, Myles, but thank you for offering. It’s
just that this chair is so comfortable
.
I can feel my muscles relaxing already.”
I stretched my back, yawned, and
then sat up.

“There, good as new,” Myles uttered as he finished the other knee.

“Thank you.” I smiled sincerely. For a moment, we sat there facing
each other, silent with my feet still resting on his knees. I thought about going
home, but being there with Myles was where I wanted to be. I leaned back in the
chair and Myles began to massage my feet.

“So, Myles
…
why
are you down here all alone on New Year’s?” I picked up where we’d left off on
the street.

“Actually, I’m not here alone.” A gasp of air released. It hadn’t
occurred to me that he might be here with someone.
With a
woman.
I mean, why would he have a room by himself, when he lives in
Vegas? Abruptly, I sat up in a panic, scanning the room for signs
—
hairpins, earrings, makeup,
a purse, heels, or heaven forbid, panties. Then, I saw it.
A
leather jacket.
A feminine cut jacket, too small to be his. Myles’ eyes
followed mine. He knew exactly where my mine was going, as usual. “A few
friends of mine from out of town are visiting for the holiday and we all got
rooms here, so we wouldn’t have to drive. We have this room and the one next
door. I was actually coming up here to get John’s date’s jacket.”

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry to hold you
.
” I sprung from the chair
,
grabbed my
broken shoes
,
and bee
-
lined for the door
.
With one hand on the handle, he stopped me from behind. The heat of his breath
brushed lightly over my neck and the soft smoothness of his skin stopped me in
my tracks.

“I’d much rather be here with you, though,” he whispered softly.

And with that, I couldn’t do anything. No movement. No talking.
Just silence and waiting.
Frozen with indecision.

“I’ve missed you,
Laila
.”

With his words, I was putty. He put me back into shape. I dropped my
head and exhaled as his lips left trails of fire at the
back
of my
neck, each kiss making my night all better. “What about the girl’s jacket?” I
worried, losing my nerve by the second. Myles reached around me, opening the
door slightly, and slid the Do Not Disturb sign onto the handle.

twenty

When my
eyes opened, it took a few seconds for me to remember where I was. The room was
completely silent except for the soft hum of the AC. I was between the cloud of
fluffy white sheets and pillows. That gorgeous duvet was hanging off the edge
of the bed with my panties snagged by its static cling. I was naked.
In Myles bed
—
without
Myles.

How in the hell had I been hypnotized by his charming spell again?
What was it about him that I just couldn’t say no to? And where the hell was
he? Then I heard a soft thrumming to the theme of Michael Jackson’s,
“
Love Never Felt So Good
,
”
Brooke’s favorite song. Shit. Brooke!
I never called or texted or anything.
I thrust my naked body
from the bed, following the sound of the ringtone. Eventually, I found it
underneath his jeans and my sorry excuse for a dress.

“Hello? Brooke?”

“Where in the hell are you,
Laila
? I’ve
been calling and texting you for hours and your phone
is
going straight to voicemail. I don’t care that you left
Margaritaville
,
but you could at least have the decency to let me know you’re ok
ay
.” Behind that receiver, I
knew she was fuming smoke from her ears. She was right and I had to own up to
it.

“I’m sorry. I was just so miserable last night and I couldn’t stay
there watching you and Kale Reed make out.”

“That’s bullshit and you know
it
,
Laila
. Don’t
even try to put this on me.”

“I know, I know, I know. I should’ve texted you. I’m so, so sorry.
You know I love you.”

“Fine. Whatever. So, what the hell happened to you?”

The lie was on the tip of my tongue, but I was already in the
doghouse. Lying on top of everything would just be adding insult to injury.
Just as
I
said
the words, “I was with
Myles…
,
”
flashbacks of last night’s
rendezvous, came rushing back to me.

“What?” Brooke’s excitement was palpable. She’d been ragging on me to
eat my pride and call Myles. “Did you hook up?”

“Well…” And then I told her everything, shivering in my birthday suit
in Myles’ hotel room.

It wasn’t the alcohol, just pent
-
up sexual frustration and pure lust. After
he put the sign out in the hallway, it was no
-
holds
-
barred. Right there with me pinned against
the door, for any innocent p
asserby
to hear, he pulled the hem of my
dress up, unraveling the teeny bit of thread holding it together
,
and ripped my cute pink
frilly panties right off my bottom. He hesitated briefly.

“I have to have you right now.”

It wasn’t a question. More like a proclamation and check for any
objections before he ravaged me.

“Yes
.
” I
gasped. “Now.”

With my permission and unwavering consent, he kissed me feverishly on
my back while he expertly unfastened his belt and unzipped his pants. Before I
could glance back at him, he
had a condom on and
used his knee to part my
legs, and that bulging erection
,
which I’d
felt on my back pushing against his jeans, entered my open
flesh filling me whole. All the air left my lungs. In and out, he thrust himself
to a pulsating rhythm. Tightly he gripped my hips, moving us in unison.
My body’s
hollow
ache grew rapidly until I let out breathless moans. The door shifted against
our bodies loudly and I couldn’t hold it. My hands needed to hold on to
something, so I reached behind me and held on to Myles, begging him in painful
pleasure. The only sounds were our panting and the violent convulsions of our
desperate bodies hungry for relief. Afterward, we la
y
on the floor, our bodies spent and fully
sated.

“Shit. Girl, I’m so proud of you,” Brooke crooned through the phone.

“Yeah, well he’s gone now, and I’m here by myself, stark naked. It’s
like d
é
j
à
vu. I got my rocks off and he
got a cheap thrill and now it’s over.”

“So, what happened then?”

Really, I wanted to just get out of the room and forget all about it,
but Brooke would keep going, if I didn’t wrap it up. “After the first time
—
” I continued, but
Brooke interrupted me.

“First time? There was a second time?” she asked, in an almost
shrill.

“Uh. And a third, too.” I laughed at her complete disbelief.

In a daze, I sat there on the chair
, which
started it all
, and
star
ed
at the door, remembering last night and
getting warm all over again when I heard the jiggling door handle and the
clicking shuffle of someone trying to unlock the door. My clothes were clear
across the room, but I made a run for the bed. Myles entered with his hands
full. And by the look on his face, he was pleasantly surprised.

A deer in headlights, I stood there juggling with my next move to either
shield myself with my hands or jump for the
bed sheets
.

“Don’t move,” he pleaded, taking full pleasure in my discomfort.
“I’ve told you this before, but each time, you are even more amazingly
beautiful to me.”

Brooke’s
faraway voice screamed goodbye
as I clicked off the line. She was probably too
happy to be worried now.
Blood rushed to my face. It’s impossible not to
blush, when a man that you adore tells you that you are beautiful despite all
the personal hang
ups
and flaws that you see in yourself. “Thank you, Myles.”

He held a few bags and a drink in his hands. I walked over to help
him, “what’d you do,
wake
up for a morning sale?”

“
Kinda
. I picked up a few things for you.”

“For me?”

“Yeah. Well, you didn’t have an overnight bag with you, so I got you
an outfit and sandals to change into, and a toiletry kit. Raquel said these
were the things you would need to feel comfortable. Apparently, there’s nothing
worst for a woman than wearing the same thing two days in a row. She went on
and on about hygiene and a walk of shame and some other craziness. I got you a
small in everything, hope that’s okay.”

“Oh my gosh, Myles
.
”
I covered my mouth in total shock. He’d gone out of his way to make me feel
comfortable. His thoughtfulness surprised me. No one had ever done anything
like that for me before, including Ethan.

“And here’s something to fight off the impending hangover
.
”
H
e laughed, handing me the drink. “I thought
this might help you forget about the taste
.
”
H
e put a little green umbrella in it.

“That is so sweet
.
”
I pulled him into an embrace and met his parted lips with my own.

“I know how you could thank me
.
” Myles winked, letting his hands explore my
bare body.

Another round would have been nice, but the uncertainty about his
intentions gave me pause. Instead, I gratefully
took
the makeshift overnight bag he brought
and made my way to the bathroom to freshen up. It was New Year’s Day and the
shop was closed, and I had nowhere particular to be.

As I started the shower, Myles spoke loudly over the running water.
“Al
l
right, but my
friends and I are all meeting downstairs for breakfast in twenty minutes and
I’ve already told them about you, so hopefully you’ll let me buy you a meal.”

“If you make it forty-five, you have a date.”

“You’re on
.
”

Alone in the room again, I took my slow sweet time in the shower,
letting the hot water rinse over me from head to toe. The hotel
bodywash
smelled like lavender and mint, refreshing and
clean. After I washed my face, I twirled my hair into a smooth chignon and step
ped
back out into the brisk
air. A peek in the mirror, I didn’t look halfway bad for my walk of shame, but
I wished I had some makeup. For a little color, I pinched each of my cheeks.
Then, I grabbed some clear
lip
gloss
from my purse and finger-combed
my eyebrows to rein them back in.

The bags that Myles brought were lying on the desk. Normally, black
was
my color, but the pale
pink velour pantsuit and
T
-shirt
were perfect for my relaxed mood. He even found matching flip-flops that
actually fit. Myles had thought of everything, and I couldn’t discount that.

With fifteen minutes to spare, I pinched my nostrils together between
my index finger and thumb, and downed the entire anti-hangover drink. The
manners that my parents instilled within me wouldn’t let me leave without
tidying up. Dad always reminded me on family vacations that just because it was
someone’s job to clean up after us, didn’t give us the right to abuse the
service and be total heathens.

In one full jerk, I yanked the blankets up into a flying cloud,
letting them billow down into place. In the closet, there was
a
laundry bag
that I gathered all of my clothes into and finally I swiped the trash off the
dresser and desk into the small trash bin. Neatly, I placed his things with his
luggage, with the exception of the little leather jacket that I assumed
belonged to the Raquel,
who
he artfully weaved into the conversation. A cursory glance as I opened the door
ensured that it was good enough for housekeeping.

On the other side of the door, a chipper and bright-eyed woman with
bouncing brunette curls stood, meeting me right at eye level. Her fresh skin
glistened, and even without any makeup, her rosy cheeks made her look as sweet
as
a
cinnamon bear. In
loose comfy jeans and a graphic
tee
, she appeared to be barely out of high
school. She could have had the wrong room, but the way her eyes locked on me,
it was apparent that she’d found exactly whom she sought.

“Hi. You must be
Laila
. I’m Raquel
.
”
T
he words came bubbling out of her. I
extended my
hand, but she
nearly knocked it down as she lunged toward me, taking me into her arms.
“Sorry, I’m a hugger,” she apologized through a buoyant nervous frenzy. I
hadn’t resolved to reciprocate the same level of enthusiasm, but I gave a short
squeeze anyway, not to be rude.

“And you must be the Raquel
who
Myles mentioned
.
” I spit out with a touch too much edge on
the tip of my tongue. Shamefully, an underlying jealousy rang in my tone. All I
wanted to know was what she meant to Myles. On an afterthought I contemplated
saying something else to sugarcoat the venom, but it was pointless since she
seemed unfazed by it. “Your jacket is on the bureau.”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m here. To get my jacket and Myles asked me to
make sure you were still coming down to breakfast. I left it here before we all
went out
last night.
Didn’t want to ruin my outfit, you know, but Myles offered to come back to the
room and get it for me. We were wondering what happened to him...”
—
she winked, moving
past me to retrieve it
—
“
…t
hen, when he didn’t
return, the guys were worried and we came back to check on him. And that’s when
we saw the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.”

“Ah.”

“The guys were sure that he’d found some random skank for the night,
but I knew it was you.”

Anyone would have thought Santa was making a
U-turn
and coming back for a second round the
way she smiled from ear to ear. She was downright giddy.

My curiosity piqued instantly. Why in the heck had she assumed it was
me
? Myles and I hadn’t planned on meeting. We’d barely
spok
en
in the past few
weeks.

Myles had mentioned me before by the way she talked about us, like
she knew the ins and outs of our abridged courtship. If he was willing to send
Raquel up to the room to call on me, she had to be an old friend or important
to him in some way. “What makes you say that?” I muttered, mindlessly fidgeting
with the drawstring on my pants.

“You’re different. Not just some
fly-by-night type of girl
.”

“How can you tell?” I eyed her, with a little too much interest.

“Tell you what. Since they’re waiting for us downstairs, why don’t we
take the scenic route down to breakfast, so we can talk?”

Without hesitation, I agreed to accompany her on the roundabout way
to meet the rest of the group awaiting our arrival. With her jacket in hand and
my bag full of New Year’s hookup clothes, we started out for the elevator.
“Thanks for helping Myles with an outfit for me
.
”
I felt
friendlier than I had initially.

“No problem. I never wanted to be the girl in public, giving an
encore of last night’s ensemble.” We laughed together.