Out of Turn (10 page)

“I-I’m sorry,” I stammered, yanking my shirt down. I couldn’t look at him. I moved to sit up, to get off his bed, but he pushed me back down into the pillows. In the blink of an eye, he was on top of me, his knees braced on either side of my thighs and his hands pinning my arms over my head.

“Do you have any idea what it’s doing to me, seeing you in my bed?” he hissed.

Kade’s anger both frightened and thrilled me. His face was inches away, his eyes boring into mine. I couldn’t blink, could barely breathe. I gave a tiny shake of my head.

“I’ve fantasized about this,” he said. “It’s taking everything I have not to rip your clothes off and make love to you, injured or not.”

His words sent a bolt of heat through me, his body so close to mine that my chest brushed his when I breathed. My gaze dropped to his mouth and I licked my lips, remembering what it had been like when he’d kissed me before. His hold on my wrists tightened almost to the point of pain. My breath came faster and my pulse pounded.

Our eyes locked, the unholy fire burning in his making the blood pound in my veins. “So what’s stopping you?”

“I’m not your rebound guy. You want to get back at Blane, use someone else.”

Well, that was a douse of cold water if I’d ever felt one.

And just like that, he was up and gone from the room.

I wasn’t proud of myself in that moment. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty much like a complete slut. I’d actually made a pass at Kade and been rejected because of my ex-boyfriend.

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow. This all had to be a nightmare and I’d wake up anytime now.

Well, I did wake up, several hours later, but nothing had changed. I was still in Kade’s bed. Alone.

I’d been covered with a blanket and the duvet at some point during the night and now I pushed them aside. There was a master bath in the bedroom and I went in there. It was beautiful and luxurious. Knowing I didn’t want to face Kade yet, I took a shower, taking an inordinately long time to sniff his shampoo before lathering it into my hair. Searching through the drawers turned up some extra toothbrushes, still in their packaging, so I chose one and brushed my teeth.

I wrapped myself in a towel and used Kade’s brush on my hair, carefully cleaning the long strands caught in the bristles once I was finished. When I came out of the bathroom, Kade was sitting on the edge of the bed.

I paused outside the door, and our eyes caught. I felt my face heat as I remembered last night, and I was unsure what to say or do. Maybe he wouldn’t talk about it and we could pretend it never happened. I was all for that.

“I brought you some things,” he said, motioning to a suitcase sitting a few feet away. “And your purse.”

I still didn’t know what to say. Exactly how long did Kade plan on me staying with him?

“I’m leaving town,” he said. “Thought you might want to come with me. Get you out of Indy for a few days until the mess with Gage is… resolved.”

I think Kade’s version of “resolved” included an obituary, but who was I to complain? It seemed it was going to be either Gage or me, the way things had been going the past couple of days.

So a trip, then. With Kade. “Where?” Not that I particularly cared. Getting away from my life for even a short time sounded heavenly.

Kade’s lips twitched in a smirk. “Vegas, baby.”

I’d never been to Las Vegas before. Well, actually, I hadn’t been much of anywhere before. The heat of the Nevada desert took my breath away and I was glad for the AC blowing full blast in the Mercedes that Kade had rented.

I couldn’t conceal my excitement as I peered out the window like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time. The ride from the airport to the hotel was barely long enough for me to get a glimpse of the looming hotels and casinos flanking the Strip.

“We’ll take the tour later,” Kade said as he pulled up to a hotel. I had a glimpse of a huge fountain as we passed by. “It’s better at night.”

A few days of relaxation sounded too good to be true, and I was grateful Scott had said he’d cover my shifts at The Drop. I’d miss a couple of classes but could get caught up without too much of a problem. Mona had happily agreed to watch Tigger for me, and though the trip was last minute, Kade and I had flown on a private jet borrowed from “a friend” of his.

Barely had Kade stopped the car before my door was being opened by a uniformed valet. Another was getting the luggage from the trunk, and I saw Kade hand his keys and a tip to a third and then pocket a ticket. Kade’s hand settled on the small of my back as he guided me inside the hotel.

The moment my eyes adjusted from the brightness outside to the interior, I stopped short, my mouth gaping. The lobby was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, with a huge glass sculpture crafted into the ceiling, every color of the rainbow shown in gorgeous detail.

“Wow,” I breathed, feeling precisely like Dorothy dropping from Kansas into Oz.

“You like that, huh?” Kade asked with a smile, hooking his sunglasses in the neck of his shirt.

“It’s… amazing,” I said. There were no words to adequately describe the sculpture, and I kept craning my neck to look up as Kade led us to the registration desk.

Although we didn’t have a reservation, that didn’t seem to matter once Kade gave his name. The woman behind the desk looked him up in the computer and said, “Welcome back, Mr. Dennon,” then handed us a small packet. “Joseph will show you to your room.”

Kade thanked her and we followed a uniformed man while another pushed our luggage on a cart behind us.
Joseph had to insert a key card into a slot in the elevator before we could access the correct floor, and a few minutes later he was opening the door to the kind of hotel suite I’d only ever read about.

There was an honest-to-goodness foyer in the hotel room, and I passed by doorways going to a bedroom on my left and another on my right. Kade had gotten us a two-bedroom suite. I filed that information away for later, my attention completely absorbed now in the view out the curved windows stretching the width of the wall in front of me.

I barely noticed as Joseph mentioned amenities to Kade and the valet placed our luggage in the bedrooms, my nose just inches from the glass as I tried to take it all in. A few minutes later I heard the door click shut and realized they were gone.

It occurred to me that rooms like this didn’t come cheap. I turned to Kade, who was standing nearby, watching me.

“This has to cost a fortune,” I said. “I won’t be able to pay you back.” Which I knew to be true. There was no way I could afford even my share of a place like this.

“No worries,” Kade said with a shrug. “You’re my plus-one. Besides, I don’t pay for this.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I did a favor for a certain friend a year or so ago. He was very grateful, and he offers accommodations when I’m in town.”

“That must have been some favor,” I said, wondering how illegal it had been to deserve free, luxurious accommodations. It must be nice to have “friends” like Kade’s, I mused.

Kade just smirked at my thinly veiled fishing expedition. “It was.”

“So… now what?” I asked.

“Now you’re going to the spa for a while to relax, then you’re going shopping,” he said, heading to a nearby table to pick up the phone.

Alarm shot through me. “Kade, I can’t afford—”

“Yes, can I get a spa appointment for my guest?”

I listened while Kade made spa and salon appointments for me, and when he hung up the phone I was all up in his business.

“Kade, I can’t afford to do any of that and I’m not having you pay for it,” I said. Even though it all sounded divine—a massage, facial, mani/pedi, the works—I wasn’t about to be anyone’s charity case.

Kade barely glanced at me as he fixed two drinks at the wet bar. When he had finished, he walked over and handed me one of them.

“Why not?” he asked, taking a sip of the clear liquid.

“Because,” I insisted, “it’s just… wrong.”

“Consider it a belated birthday present.”

I gave him a look. His lips twisted and he turned to go sit on the couch, an arm stretched along its back.

“I want to. I can afford it. So enough already.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Unless you’re ethically opposed to being pampered?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Good,” he said. “Besides, I wasn’t kidding about the plus-one thing. I need you to look your best.”

“Why?”

Kade smiled. “This is a business trip, princess. You can help enhance the image. Because in Vegas, image is everything.”

He finished his drink and stood. “And get some new clothes. Swimsuits, a dress or two, something for clubbing—whatever you need. Charge it to the room.”

I bristled. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“I didn’t bring you any.”

And with that, he disappeared into one of the bedrooms. A few minutes later, I heard the shower running.

Sure enough, when I opened my suitcase I found toiletries, lingerie, and my peacock-blue stilettos. That was all. For a man who’d rejected my tentative advance last night, it was an odd assembly of items.

I chose not to analyze that. It was time to leave for the spa, and I couldn’t help being excited. So I could either ruin my pleasure at the unexpected luxuries Kade wanted me to have by worrying about the cost, or I could just roll with it.

It took only a moment to decide on the latter.

The massage was divine, once I got over the uncomfortably awkward feeling of a complete stranger touching me. Then there was another awkward moment when the woman giving me the massage got an eyeful of the bruises darkening my skin.

“I got hit by a car,” I tried to explain, but my voice was muffled by the headrest and I wasn’t sure she understood me. She said a few words under her breath and carefully
skirted the bruised area. The scent of eucalyptus was heavy in the air, the sounds of the ocean drifted over me, and I nearly fell asleep, I became so relaxed.

After I dressed, the woman brought me some water and I thanked her. She nodded politely and then said, “If you’re having problems with your boyfriend, there are places you can go, people who can help you.”

It took me a minute to cotton on to what she was implying. “Oh no, it’s nothing like that,” I said, my face burning as I realized she thought my boyfriend had beat me. “I really did get hit by a car.”

Her smile was a little sad and I could tell she didn’t believe me. “They never mess up the face, you know,” she said. “Certain kind of men. Just where people won’t see.”

I didn’t know what to say, how to convince her, or if it was worth the bother. It made me a little sad, though, to realize she saw enough women with bruises to know that sort of thing.

My mood a little darker, I went next to the salon where I was waxed and buffed and primped to within an inch of my life. Wax was put in places that had never before had it, and after today I was sure I wouldn’t want it there again. I tried to argue with the tiny Japanese lady, but she was firm in her mantra: “Must do. Vegas. Bikini. Everyone do.”

Speaking of bikini, my eyes nearly bulged from their sockets when a selection of swimwear was presented to me. I’d never in my life owned a swimsuit as daring as the ones I now tried on.

“Mr. Dennon said to come to the pool once you are finished shopping,” the lady assisting me said. She’d popped in
while I was half-naked, but didn’t bat an eye, just held up the top for me.

“Um, okay, thanks.”

So Kade was at the pool and I was supposed to “enhance” his image. And spend his money doing it. Okay, how did a woman enhance a man’s image while in Vegas? Only one way that I could think of.

“I’ll take that one,” I said, pointing to a suit I’d previously ruled out.

An hour later I’d set Kade back several thousand dollars and was trying to ignore the niggle of guilt I felt. I’d seen some other women in the spa and salon. I figured I could hold my own with any of them, given enough money to dress the part. Lucky for me, Kade had the money. At least, I hoped he did.

When I walked from the hotel to the pool, I held my head high and pulled my shoulders back. I added a little extra sway in my hips and I could see heads turning as I passed. The sky-high stiletto sandals I wore were held to my feet by a thin strap of leather that snaked between my newly painted toes and then inched up to circle my ankles. I had on oversized mirrored sunglasses and my hair was left in expensively tousled waves down my back. But it was the bikini that seemed to seal the deal.