Chasing Kings (5 page)

“
Excuse me?
” The lady was protesting too much. He was totally right.

“Oh, come on, sweetheart, it’s a bit late to play coy now. If you wait another five minutes, I get invited in the rear entrance.” He pointed at the TV, and Sam scrambled for the remote. “I mean, you’ve watched me fuck someone now, I’d say it gives me a
little
license to tease.”

She crossed her arms over her chest—reacquainting him with her cleavage—and fixed him with a cute attempt at a mean glare that only succeeded in giving him a halfie. “You don’t know anything about me. What makes you think I’m a bad girl?”

“Good girls don’t jerk off to porn in hotel rooms.”

“Women don’t
jerk off
,” she said, sounding as scandalized as a church wife watching a Tijuana donkey show.

“Sure they can. Principle is the same.”

“You’re terrible.”

“I sure am. If you watch a while longer, you can get an idea for how bad I can be.” He reached for the remote, but she threw it to the opposite side of the bed. “Unless you want me to
show
you.”

She let out a squeak that might have been the most adorable noise he could recall hearing a woman make. Usually when he bedded girls outside the industry, they were in it for a story.
One time I fucked a porn star.
It was a badge of honor on their Bad Girl Scout sash.

He didn’t get that vibe from Sam. For one thing, she was actively resisting him. At first he’d thought it was because she didn’t want anything to do with him, but he had been willing to convince her it was worth a go.

Now he didn’t think he’d have to work very hard to change her mind.

She’d seen what he had to offer. If he could get her to see he wasn’t
all
cock, she might lighten up somewhat.

He held up both hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t come here to offend you or make you uncomfortable.”

“You’re doing a bang-up job, so far.”

He successfully resisted the urge to make a joke. “This took me by surprise.” Ethan nodded at the TV. “I wasn’t expecting to see my dick in 1080p HD at like…three times its normal size when I walked in here.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have walked in then,” she reminded him.

Touché.

“Good point. Let’s try this again.” He walked out of the bedroom and back into the hallway, closing the door behind him. After a short pause he knocked on the door, praying she wouldn’t use this against him and lock him out entirely.

It was risky and might bite him in the butt in a not-so-fun kind of way.

Sam opened the door.

“Hi,” he greeted in the same cheeky tone he had earlier.

“You’re an idiot,” she informed him, like he might not be aware of it already. But he saw it, what he’d been hoping for. Instead of looking irritated, Sam was smirking. Score one for Ethan.

“Can I come in?”

“Can you tell me what you’re doing here first?”

“I know when I offered upstairs you said no, but let me give this another whirl. It’s your first time in Vegas, right?”

“Yeah…?” She seemed wary of answering at first, phrasing the word as a question.

“I come here all the time. I should have honorary residency rights. Point being, I know all the good, fun places to go, and I think it’s only fair I share my knowledge with you.” He smiled and tried to make it a friendly one, though his default tended towards leering.

“
Why?
”

“Because I’m bored, and we’re both alone in Vegas. We can either let it be a bummer, or we can have a good time together. Whaddya say?”

She appeared to be mulling it over, carefully considering his proposition. Finally she said, “No sex.”

“No sex?”

“I’ll go with you, but we’re
not
having sex. So if this is some scheme to show me how charming you are in order for you to get in my pants, forget it. I’m not falling for it.
No sex.
”

Was this girl for real?

“That’s a pretty bold declaration. Who’s to say you won’t change your mind?”

She paused before she said, “I won’t change my mind.”

“You might change your mind. I’m sort of irresistible.”

“So you’re admitting it was a ploy?”

“No, I’m just saying you should never take sex off the table completely. Sex is fun. Why say no to fun?”

“Good night, Ethan.” She started to close the door.

“Wait, wait, wait. Okay, hold on.” He racked his brain, trying to figure out a way he could get her to join him without making any sexless promises. “I have a compromise.”

“This should be good.”

“You’ll like it, I swear.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“I will be a perfect gentleman until you say otherwise. I won’t proposition you, and I’ll keep my hands to myself until you tell me I can put them somewhere else.”

“Don’t hold your breath on that one.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Sam. I can hold my breath for a good, long time.”

Chapter Six

Sam had to be out of her damned mind.

For starters, basic common sense told her it was a terrible idea to wander out into Vegas alone with a veritable stranger. It hardly mattered that he was a somewhat famous stranger, because being in porn didn’t suggest a tendency towards morally sound decision-making.

Yet she’d agreed to go.

Which was even stupider. She knew full well she wanted to sleep with him, and the flimsy promise of
no sex
wasn’t going to do her any good if she decided she wanted to jump his bones. She couldn’t stop herself from eating M&Ms when she was on a diet, so how was she going to keep from climbing on him and giving his totem pole a whirl?

His totem pole?

The third obvious issue here was that she must be having a mental breakdown. Maybe it was vacationing alone, or the split from Kyle, but this behavior had to be indicative of a complete lapse of sanity.

She was going to get shipped off to an asylum for the slutty when she got home, because there was no way anyone would be able to overlook her romp with a porn star.

They don’t need to know,
she reminded herself.

Once she’d gotten dressed and run a brush through her hair, she met Ethan in the hotel lobby where he was investigating the costume Britney Spears wore in her “…Baby One More Time” video.

“Ready to go?” He gave her a cursory once-over and managed not to come across like a wolf sizing up the weakest sheep in the flock. “You look nice.”

Sam touched the hem of her skirt, a basic A-line she’d brought in case of a special event. She wasn’t sure what had possessed her to wear it now. “Thanks.”

Ethan offered her his elbow, and she hesitated, trying to determine if he was up to something. It was just an elbow. He couldn’t fuck her with it.

Her eyes went wide when she started wondering if he could.

Instead of making things any weirder than they already were, Sam looped her arm under his and smiled warily. “You planning to behave yourself?” she asked.

“I rarely do.”

His blue eyes twinkled, and with his dark curls, he reminded her of a once-golden angel who’d been doused a little too freely with sin. Oh yeah, she
had
to be nuts to think this evening was a good idea.

But what the hell?

Who went to Vegas to play things safe?

After catching a cab at the valet, Ethan took them to the tail end of the Strip, getting off in front of the Venetian. Sam wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but his childlike exuberance made him hard to resist.

“Come look at this,” he insisted, waving her over to an arced white bridge.

Sam was having a hell of a time finding one single thing to focus on. Between the fountain out front and the brightly lit Italian-styled balcony spread across the facade of the hotel, the sights were distracting to say the least.

Ethan was leaning against one of the big white railings on the bridge, peering over the edge. When Sam came up next to him, she followed his gaze to the water below. The faux canal had the blue-green water she’d only seen in pictures of Fiji or Lake Tahoe, and a half-dozen gondolas were lined up, their striped poles bobbing with the swaying influence of the wind.

The sole working gondolier pushed a smiling couple through the canal and under the bridge she and Ethan were standing on.

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?”

She didn’t want to admit it, especially not so soon, but he was right. Seeing an Italian gondolier sweep someone away on a romantic boat ride right in the middle of a kitschy tourist city
was
pretty nifty. Maybe she hadn’t given Vegas a fair shake.

“Okay. You got me, this is neat. But this is
one
thing. I’d hardly call it an amazing spectacle or anything.”

“You say that now, Ms. Grinch, but the night is young and we have the whole Strip waiting for us. I guarantee you by the time we’re through you’re going to be madly in love with this city. And hopefully you won’t still think your vacation was wasted in coming here.”

“Want to make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Yeah, in the spirit of the whole thing, this being Vegas and all.”

“What are the terms?”

“If we get back to the hotel and I can honestly say I didn’t have fun, you have to use all your big porn earnings to upgrade me to a nicer room.”

Ethan snorted and rolled his eyes. “I think you overestimate how much money we make, but I’m pretty sure I can swing an upgrade.”

“All right.” Sam smiled in spite of herself. She’d wanted to keep her poker face in check so he wouldn’t realize she was already enjoying herself, but the grin still managed to slip out. Stupid traitorous face.

“Don’t you want to know what I want if I win?” He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked on his heels, smirking like a brazen schoolboy.

“The look you’re giving me right now makes me think I know what you’re going to say.” Her tummy churned, nerves causing a stormy sea to bubble and swirl inside her.

“Don’t think the worst. You made me promise
no sex
, remember? Not until you say the word.”

“All right. What do you want if you win, then?”

“A kiss.” A Cheshire Cat grin spread across his face, highlighting his dimples and making him seem both innocent and roguish all at the same time.

Oh boy, was she in trouble.

“Fine. One kiss. But I’m going to make you work for it.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” Ethan extended his hand to her, and she took it without hesitating.

He led her across the street towards the mammoth structure of the Mirage Hotel. Sam had watched plenty of representations of Vegas in movies and on countless episodes of
CSI
, but nothing she’d seen had prepared her for the scale of the place. Everything was
huge
, and just walking through the crowds and staring up at the hotels made her feel insignificant. She hadn’t felt that way since her first memories of walking through the redwoods back in Oregon. Somehow Vegas managed to capture the same sensation, even more than being in a
real
large city could. Maybe it had something to do with being able to see the Eiffel Tower, the New York City skyline and a scaled-down Sphinx all in one stretch of road.

It was too much stuff for her poor brain to process.

Ethan guided her past the Mirage and Caesars Palace—a structure so gargantuan Sam was sure the whole population of her home town could fit in it and still have room for ten thousand extra guests—and he didn’t stop walking until they reached an alcove in front of the Bellagio, with a view of the half-scale Eiffel Tower across from them.

“Do you think taking me to Paris is all it will take to dazzle me?” she teased.

“Paris is over there.” Ethan pointed to a blue neon hot air balloon with the French city’s name scrawled over it in shimmering yellow lights. “What I’m showing you is
there
.” He indicated a wide span of black water, which seemed utterly unimpressive compared to the edifices surrounding it.

“You figure that’s kissworthy? You must be used to some easily astonished girls.”

“As true as that might be, hold your horses for a second.” He checked his watch then angled her towards the water with two firm hands on her waist. He didn’t pull away immediately, his fingers trailing up her spine and stopping on her shoulders, both thumbs kneading the tense point at the base of her neck. “Trust me.”

“Said the porn star.”

Ethan leaned in, his lips so close to her ear she could feel the heat from his mouth when he whispered, “I’m going to make you eat those words. And you’re going to like it.”

Sam shuddered involuntarily, and liquid heat speared her in the most intimate place, making a wave of goose bumps prickle up her arm hairs.

The hard-rock song blaring over the Bellagio speakers grew quiet, and the faint strains of a classical symphony replaced them. Considering how everything she’d heard up to that point had been the most obnoxious, overpowering music available, the classical tune was a jarring—but welcome—change of pace.