Hot Number (17 page)

Unfortunately, Nick could believe it. His
father had been a great man, but he could be a total hard-ass, too.
“I’m sure Dad was able to persuade him of the error of his
ways.”

“Mike told me that as soon as they were out
the door, Carson took off into a rant about fucking arrogant
Marines. Well, I guess it took about ten seconds before the asshole
was flat on his back, down for the count. Mike came back inside and
called for the paramedics. He told me to take the wives home, and
didn’t leave until he was sure Carson was going to be okay.”

That outcome didn’t surprise Nick. Since his
dad had taught him how to box, Nick knew exactly how good a fighter
Mike Saxon had been. “You said there was more than one fight?”

Webb nodded. “Carson made another stupid
mistake. A few nights later, the guy tailed your dad’s car,
switched on his police flashers, and pulled him over on some side
street—off Tropicana, as I recall. Carson said he wanted another go
at him, since he’d been too drunk to really fight that night at the
Flamingo. So, your father obliged him. That time I gather Carson
got a couple of good swings in, but Mike made a real mess of the
guy’s nose. And that was the end of the story, until you came
along.”

“I thought Carson’s nose looked like he might
have been a fighter. Obviously not a very good one,” Nick said with
a snort.

Webb gave his head a frustrated shake. “But
all that was sixteen years ago. You’d think the jerk would have let
it go by now.”

The server hurried over to their table with a
large white platter in each hand. She served Webb his chicken
Caesar, then carefully set Nick’s plate of eggs and bacon in front
of him, leaning over in what was surely a deliberate attempt to
display her cleavage.

“Be sure to let me know if you’d like
anything else, sir.” Her eyes and smile relayed an unspoken but
obvious invitation. Nick had to admit the young woman had a sexy
smile, not to mention a nice, tight ass under her black mini-skirt.
But he’d been bowled over by Sadie Bligh and, right now, no other
woman even came close.

In fact, he’d been thinking a hell of a lot
about Sadie ever since he kissed her goodnight at three a.m. in the
Oasis parking lot. The trip to the Moroccan Spa had turned out to
be the hottest night of his life. Sadie had been more than game for
the fantasy evening. And for an unschooled lover, she’d proved
creative and enthusiastic—if a little challenged in her verbal
responses to his lovemaking. Not that he’d minded. Sadie was as
unexpectedly funny as she was adorable.

When they got back to Vegas, she’d wanted him
to spend the rest of the night with her, but there was no way he
could risk the security cameras catching him entering her room at
that hour. Or at all, for that matter. Carson would have been all
over him, which had been yet another prompt to have this meeting
with Webb. Carson was starting to interfere with his personal life,
and that wasn’t something Nick could tolerate.

“Thanks. I’m fine,” he said to the waitress
with a polite but cool smile. Nick turned back to Webb. “Sir—”

“You don’t have to call me
sir,
Nick,”
Webb interrupted. “We’re not in the Corps any more. Call me Mr.
Webb at the hotel, and Mike everywhere else.”

“Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Webb picked up his fork, but then hesitated.
“Listen, when you came to me looking for a job in security, I
probably should have told you about the history between Carson and
your father. I had to lean on him to get him to take you, but you
already know that. Still, I didn’t think he’d take his grudge out
on you. And I thought it would make it even harder for you and
Carson to get along if you knew the truth.”

Nick waved off the apology. He wasn’t about
to second-guess the man who had made it possible for him to stay in
Vegas and care for his mom instead of having to put her in a
nursing home.

“I understand. But I may need your help
again, Mike. I need to hold onto this job. Mom’s care costs a small
fortune. And I’m pretty sure there’s no way I could make as much
money anywhere else as I do at the Desert Oasis. Not until I can
get more experience on my résumé. Hell, I only got this assistant
chief position because of your backing.”

“That’s true enough. And you know Carson has
the support of the GM, because he’s such a pit bull, which makes
him damn good at what the hotel expects him to do. If he fires you,
it’s not likely I’ll be able to do anything about it. Not unless he
had absolutely zero cause.” Webb gave him a grim look.” Nick, just
make sure you don’t give him anything to hang on you,
understand?”

“Like busting his nose?” Nick couldn’t help
letting a half-smile escape, even though there was nothing to smile
about. He’d been under no illusions that Mike Webb would be able to
protect him against Carson, but it still left a hollow feeling in
his gut to hear it confirmed. “I hear you. I just don’t know how
much more I’ll be able to take if he keeps pushing my buttons every
damn day.”

“You’re a smart guy, Nick. And you’re
proud—almost to a fault, just like your dad. That’s a good thing,
but you have to swallow that pride sometimes, especially when the
stakes are so high. I want you to do your job the best you can and
follow Carson’s orders, even when you think they don’t make sense.
Like I said, don’t give him an inch of rope, or he’ll make a noose
and hang you high.”

* * *

Sadie had hung out the “Privacy, Please” sign
last night, so who the heck was pounding on her door?

Cassie, of course.

She’d ignored the ringing phone twice already
this morning, pulling one of the pillows over her head the second
time. That had no doubt been Cassie, too. She’d neglected to leave
a message on her friend’s voice mail before heading off to Laughlin
with Nick. Cassie had left a message while they were at the spa,
but Sadie had other things on her mind and hadn’t bothered to
check. Her friend might be frantic with worry by now.

“I’m coming.” Sadie threw off the duvet and
slipped on her robe.

“Jesus, I thought you might be dead in
there,” Cassie yelled through the door. “Why don’t you answer your
goddamn phone?”

Sadie swung the door open. “Good morning,
Cass.”

Cassie barged into the room. “Morning? Hell,
it’s twelve-thirty.”

Sadie stumbled back to collapse on her bed
and glanced at the bedside clock. “Wow. So it is. Sorry, I was up
really late. Then I couldn’t sleep. I remember seeing the clock
read seven.”

“What were you up to, anyway? Don’t tell me
you were up all night playing freaking blackjack?”

Sadie could feel her cheeks turn hot. In an
instant, Cassie’s worried look gave way to a mischievous glint.
“Ah, okay. You were with Sheriff Studly.”

The hot feeling spread over Sadie’s whole
body as images of last night’s magical spa journey with Nick
flashed through her mind. That’s why she hadn’t been able to sleep.
She had always thought she knew what sex was about. It was
pleasant, but nothing to write home about. But that was before last
night, when she discovered what sex could really be like. It had
curled her toes, set her heart racing, and left her craving
more—much more—with the man who’d opened the door and led her into
that brave new world in the first place.

For the first time in her life, Sadie felt
liberated. At ease in her own skin.

Flopping back onto the rumpled pillows, she
pulled her legs up under her. “Dial room service for me, will you?
I need coffee, preferably by IV.”

Cassie quickly ordered a pot, then took the
armchair by the window. “Come on, I want every last juicy detail.
Don’t leave out a thing or I’ll know you’re holding back.”

Sadie couldn’t repress the stupid grin
blossoming on her face. “Well, I was having a great night at
blackjack, but then Nick tracked me down and made me an offer I
couldn’t refuse.”

Cassie clapped her hands in delight.
“Excellent! I’m really liking the sound of this.”

“It wasn’t anything like I’d expected. If you
can believe it, he bundled me into his car and we drove all the way
to Laughlin. It’s some casino town about an hour and a half south
of here. I had no idea what kind of evil scheme he’d concocted, but
I had no doubt it would be something interesting, to say the
least.” She swallowed, once again feeling those flutters of nervous
excitement. “My God, the way he looked at me in the car, Cass—like
he was taking me to a barbecue, and I was the main course.”

“A little hungry, was he?”

“Part of me was bone-shaking nervous. But the
rest of me couldn’t wait for him to get his hands on my body.”

Cassie practically crowed. “I love it. So,
you checked into a hotel there and got busy for the rest of the
night. Am I right?”

Sadie laughed. “Good guess, but no cigar.
Actually, a friend of Nick’s owns a spa down there. It’s dreadfully
tacky on the outside, but inside it’s stunning, like straight out
of a Casbah. He kept the place open until we got there and then he
left, giving us the spa all to ourselves for as long as we
wanted.”

“And you gave each other mud baths,” Cassie
said with a grin.

“Not exactly. Nick started by treating me to
a full body massage.” She sighed at the memory. “Then we had a
sauna, and after that a swim in the pool.”

“And somewhere in there he made love to you
until your brain melted.”

Sadie thought her friend had hit the mark.
“Everything inside me got thoroughly heated, that’s for sure.”

Cassie studied her for several moments, her
look sharply perceptive. “Sade, I have to say that from that look
in your eyes, you’re in serious danger of falling for the sheriff.
A Vegas fling is one thing, honey, but I can’t bring myself to
believe that Professor Bligh is losing it over a hardass security
man. No matter how ridiculously hot he is.”

Sadie grimaced. Was she that transparent?
She’d tried to keep her tone breezy—as if the Laughlin evening had
simply been a diversion, delicious but far from life-changing. She
couldn’t deny she found Nick Saxon both fascinating and disarmingly
sexy, but was there already more to her feelings? After all, what
chance would she and Nick have in the real world? And would she
even want something like that?

She clamped down hard on the little spurt of
hope that came with the idea of a relationship with Nick. This was
just a crazy week in a crazy town, and she’d be a fool to let it
become more than that in her mind. “Cass, you’re letting your
penchant for drama carry you away. The fact that the sheriff and I
had a diverting evening hardly means I’m ready to select my
bridesmaids’ dresses. Remember, we came to Vegas to have fun, and
that’s all I’m trying to do. Bucket list, remember?”

“Uh huh,” Cassie said, clearly not believing
a word of it. “We’ll revisit this conversation at the end of the
week.”

Sadie ignored her as she rolled off the bed
and started toward the bathroom. Cassie snorted with laughter.
“Okay, I get it, Professor. Conversation over. So, what are you up
for today, anyway? Want to hit the pool?”

“I think not.” Truth be told, Sadie couldn’t
wait to get back to the blackjack pit, though keeping her focus on
the card count would be a daunting challenge with Nick Saxon
continually invading her thoughts like a marauding Visigoth. But if
she couldn’t spend her days with him, playing the tables was the
next best thing. “I want to try my luck at blackjack again,” she
yelled from the bathroom. “I’m on a lucky streak, and I want to see
if it keeps going.”

She was lying, of course. Her streak had to
do with more than luck. But that was her story and she was sticking
to it. She wasn’t about to tell Cassie or anyone else that winning
at blackjack—by using her brain and her skills to challenge the
negative odds—had made her feel almost like a different person. A
person who lived closer to the edge instead of down life’s boring
center line. It might only last for a few days until her life in
Chicago came roaring back, but as long as she was in Vegas she
wanted to live right on that edge, both at the blackjack table and
in Nick Saxon’s arms.

* * *

Nick mulled over Michael Webb’s warning as he
strode into the casino from the sweltering parking garage. Sweat
had already soaked through his once crisp white shirt. On days like
this—and there were so many of them in Vegas—he wished for his
lightweight Marine uniform, not the business suit that was
mandatory for casino security personnel.

He still wondered why Carson had summoned him
to his office for a two o’clock meeting. Carson’s voice mail this
morning had been frosty—almost imperious. The implications in its
tone had dogged him all through his lunch with Webb, adding another
layer to his concern about his future at the Desert Oasis.

As he passed through the operations center,
with its dozens of LED screens and racks of high-end servers and
communications gear, he got the usual tepid responses to his
greetings. Staff who were outgoing and friendly toward him outside
the ops center would barely give him the time of day inside Buzz
Carson’s stronghold. Nick was a pariah to Carson, and everybody
knew it.

He rapped on the chief’s open door. “Ready
for me, Chief?”

Carson couldn’t even be bothered to glance
up. “Shut it behind you, Saxon.”

Nick did as he asked and came to attention in
front of Carson’s desk.

His boss looked up with a sneer. “Sit down,
Saxon. You’re not in the goddamn Marines anymore.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ve got a special assignment for you, so
listen up. That bimbo you escorted up to her room the other night?
Well, one of the blackjack pit bosses has made her as a probable
counter. I want you to follow up.”

Nick fought to suppress his surprise, but an
astonished chuckle managed to escape. Sadie Bligh a card counter?
The accusation was too absurd to even think about.