Hot Number (24 page)

“Sounds perfect. I’ll knock on your door at
twelve.”

As Sadie got ready, she thought about when
she should call Nick. Maybe later in the afternoon, after the pool.
That would give him plenty of time to call her first, if he was
going to. She didn’t hold out a lot of hope for that to happen, but
a big part of her couldn’t help wishing like crazy that it
would.

* * *

After a two-mile run through his
neighborhood, followed by a long, hot shower, Nick felt he’d more
or less rejoined the human race. And regardless of what happened
today, life would go on. His mother would be home from the hospital
soon, and would need even more care than before her fall. The
casino went on—it never stopped—and he had an important job there,
even though Buzz Carson had temporarily sidetracked it into a crazy
witch hunt for Sadie.

Sure, he’d miss her goofy sweetness and that
body that wouldn’t quit. He missed her already. But he had a job to
do. And no matter how rough it might be, he was going to do it.

The operations center was busier than usual
when Nick made it in at two o’clock. As he took a seat at the only
unoccupied console, he suddenly remembered that rap star TinyZ and
his entourage were due to check in this afternoon. Extra security
personnel had been called back from their days off, and Buzz Carson
had taken personal charge of the preparations for the rapper’s
three-day stay. Though TinyZ was no gangster, he and his posse had
a reputation for occasional, if fairly harmless, mayhem.

As Nick settled in at the console, his mood
went from bad to worse as he observed the action swirling around
him. Normally, it would fall to him to organize extra security for
this kind of situation, as well as to plan out all the details.
Instead, Carson had stuck him with the humiliating task of
babysitting Sadie while he’d taken on the TinyZ operation
himself.

There could be only one reason why Carson
would make such a decision. He was setting Nick up, assuming he’d
protect his so-called girlfriend by trying to cover up her card
counting. Then Carson would nail his ass, because the bastard would
for damn sure have at least one other guy monitoring Sadie,
too.

As much as he was going to hate being the one
to put Sadie’s name on the blacklist, Nick couldn’t give Carson an
inch of rope to hang him with. And it wasn’t just because he
couldn’t afford to get fired. This kind of crap was part of the
job, and he’d known that from the beginning. Nobody—not Carson, not
the general manager, not anyone—would be able to accuse him of
slacking off or taking the easy way out. He’d never done that in
his life, and he wouldn’t start doing it now, not even for
Sadie.

He tapped the keyboard to bring the cameras
from the blackjack section onto his screen. It only took a few
seconds for him to discover that Sadie wasn’t playing. After
checking a couple of more times over the next half-hour, he decided
to head to his office to catch up on some of the paperwork that had
been piling up.

At three o’clock, and then again at four,
Nick returned to the console for another quick scan. Both times he
saw no sign of Sadie anywhere on the casino floor. Given her
reaction last night, he’d assumed she would defiantly plant her
pretty ass at the tables as soon as she could, and he couldn’t help
wondering whether she was all right. Her absence didn’t add up.
Maybe she was even sick in her room.

He drummed his fingers on the console,
silently telling himself he was acting like a moron. After a few
minutes, he gave up and called housekeeping to check out her room.
They got back to him right away: no Sadie.

Feeling antsier by the minute, he decided to
take a quick walk through both the casino and hotel to look for
her. Not that she’d want to see him, and he was a dope for still
wanting to see her. But despite last night, and despite what he was
going to have to do, he couldn’t help still feeling protective.
Sadie might like to think she was as tough as brass, but he knew
better. In a place like Vegas, she was ripe pickings for every kind
of slimeball that crawled through the casino’s doors.

The Desert Oasis complex covered an entire
city block. Finding someone inside it quickly bordered on the
impossible, but he persevered. He checked out the blackjack pit
every fifteen minutes, fanning out from there to hit the shopping
mall, the restaurants and bars, the spa and the art gallery.
Fighting a growing sense of urgency, he stopped by the front desk
to make sure she hadn’t suddenly checked out. If she had, his life
would have been a whole lot easier. But she was still registered,
and the sharp stab of relief at that news caught him low in the
gut. He wasn’t prepared to think about what exactly that meant.

Once he’d finished with the interior of the
complex, Nick moved outside, stopping first at the topless pool in
the faint hope she might have returned there—to spite him, if
nothing else. He hadn’t a clue what he would say to her. Maybe he
wouldn’t say anything. He just knew he wanted to find her, and to
know she was safe.

As usual,
Skin
overflowed with young
men in various states of inebriation. The guys were mostly ogling
the twenty or so women who bared their breasts in the name of
personal freedom and the perfect tan. From the shade of the cabana
bar, he scanned the pool area. Despite his anxiety to locate her,
he was surprised to find himself hoping Sadie wasn’t there. After
the past two days, he didn’t much like the idea of other guys
slavering over the breasts he’d gotten so up close and personal
with.

Yeah, Saxon, you’re not only a moron, you’re
a jealous moron.

In a few seconds, he saw her halfway down the
north side of the pool, soaking up the slanting rays of the
afternoon sun. The fact that she had the whitest skin in the place
made her easier to spot. Nick swallowed hard as he saw her wearing
only the bottom half of the skimpy bikini she’d had on the last
time—a strip of purplish red fabric that covered too damn little of
her curvy body. Her blond friend sat perched on the lounger next to
her, slathering suntan lotion down her shapely legs.

Well, at least she doesn’t have a circle of
drooling idiots surrounding her today, he thought with a grimace.
Not yet, anyway.

Nick shot the breeze with the bartender,
hesitating as he thought about the half-dozen security cameras that
blanketed the area. But he’d been assigned to monitor Sadie, so he
figured he’d be able to come up with a decent explanation if Carson
got on his ass for talking to her at the pool.

He decided to risk it.

* * *

Sadie had spied Nick as soon as he barged
through the hotel door into the
Skin
pool area. Not that it
took much of an eagle eye to pick out a tall, incredibly hot man
wearing a business suit and black wingtips polished to a military
shine. It was hardly inconspicuous attire at the sun-drenched
European pool.

She’d wondered if he’d notice her. And if he
did, would he come over and talk? Her heart had thudded against her
breastbone as she cast a few surreptitious glances his way. Despite
the heat, Nick looked cool and totally in control in his tailored,
lightweight suit that showcased his muscular body. When Sadie
snatched a glance around the pool deck, she noticed she was far
from the only woman checking out the sheriff’s rugged good
looks.

Nick laughed as he talked to the bartender at
the cabana bar near the entrance, then turned his head directly her
way. Her mouth suddenly went dust-dry with nerves.

“Cass, don’t look now,” she hissed, “but the
sheriff is standing at the bar, and I think he just spotted
me.”

Cassie started to swivel, then stopped
herself. “You don’t want to talk to him, do you? Leave it to me.
I’ll tell him to get lost if he comes anywhere near here.”

Sadie grimaced. “Actually, I kind of hope he
does come over.”

Cassie looked torn between incredulity and
resignation. “I knew this would happen, but I still can’t believe
it. A few hours ago, you wanted to murder him!”

“I know, and I’m still mad as a nest of
hornets. And, yes, I’m probably crazy, but I want to see him
again.”

Cassie sighed and shook her head. “You’re
nuts, all right, but it’s one of the reasons I love you. I’ll take
a swim and get out of your way. But you’d better not let him push
you around. Seriously, Sadie. You’ll regret it if you do.”

“Don’t worry. He probably won’t even come
over. I’m not exactly going to stand up and wave to him.”

Cassie had barely made it out of her chair
before Nick started to move their way. She grabbed the magazine in
her lap and pretended to read, even though her hands shook with
nervous excitement.

“Hey, pretty lady. Mind if I sit next to
you?”

Startled, Sadie jerked her head up to meet
the leering grin of the blond guy she’d seen watching her for a
while.
Figures.
She was just about to politely reject him
when she glanced over and saw Nick steaming toward them, looking
ready to maim. It occurred to her that the sheriff’s reaction to
the situation could be very instructive.

“It’s certainly a free country,” she replied
in a cheery tone of voice.

“That chair’s taken,” Nick growled from ten
feet away before the guy had a chance to sit down.

The man, a square-jawed thirty-something, was
at least six inches shorter than Nick. But he whipped his head
around, looking ready for an argument if not a fight. “Yeah? I
don’t see anybody here.”

Nick glared at him through his shades. “I’m
here.”

The guy sized Nick up, and Sadie could tell
he was quickly rethinking his own aggressive posture. “Whatever,”
he said. “But I might just complain to the management about
you.”

“I am the management,” Nick said with a cold
smile. “And thanks for your cooperation, sir.”

The man muttered under his breath and turned
to leave. Sadie couldn’t help letting a whisper of a giggle slip
from her mouth. Nick looked down at her, his mouth in a hard
line.

“That guy could get you in trouble, Sheriff.
You’re not supposed to be running around intimidating hotel guests,
you know.” She gave him a mischievous smile to show she was yanking
his chain. And it was pretty funny, because Nick’s
testosterone-fueled reactions were nothing if not predictable.

“I’ve got bigger things to worry about than
jerks like him.” His jaw looked like it had been carved from a
block of marble.

Nick didn’t seem to find the situation
amusing at all. His response jolted her, until she remembered all
the things he had on his plate. “I’m sorry. Your mother, of
course.”

“That and other things.”

She silently castigated herself. How could
she have forgotten the pressure Nick was under? His mother needed
so much care, and he worried about her constantly. And even though
he’d been a big jerk in treating her so cavalierly, she
did
understand he had a difficult job. “Would you like to sit down and
talk about it?” she asked softly.

“I shouldn’t, but to hell with it.” He
glanced up toward the thin steel poles that had security cameras
bolted on them. “It’ll have to look like the conversation is all
business, though.”

“Okay, I’ll stare at one of the cameras and
scowl like a harridan when you talk. How’s this?” She knitted her
brows and turned down her lips in what she thought of as her
pissed-off Sadie look.

“Perfect,” he said with no trace of a smile.
He took off his shades and sat on the edge of the chair, bracing
his hands on his knees. All business, for sure.

Self-consciously, she raised herself to a
sitting position and faced him, resisting the instinctive urge to
cover her breasts by crossing her arms. To his credit, his gaze
never dropped from her face. “I’m sorry—” she started.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said at
exactly the same time.

She started to smile, but remembered just in
time to scowl. “You took the words right out of my mouth,
Sheriff.”

He nodded, equally unsmiling. “I should have
realized you’d be bent about the surveillance. That type of
security is such standard practice around here that I forgot that
somebody completely new to Vegas wouldn’t likely be aware of it. I
figured you’d be a little ticked off, but I didn’t really think it
through. I’m sorry I treated it so lightly.”

Sadie parsed his words, liking what she was
hearing. He avoided mentioning his failure to warn her, but maybe
he needed to work up to that. “I appreciate that, Nick. And as for
me, I think I overreacted. I should have stayed so we could talk it
through. I hope you understand how hurt I was, though.”

“I do,” he said.

She waited for him to expand on that, but he
didn’t. “You’d think the casino would have more substantive
priorities than harassing a little nobody like me, wouldn’t you?”
she finally prompted, deepening her scowl for the cameras.

Nick didn’t flinch. “Look, it’s just the way
it is, Sadie. It doesn’t make any difference whether you and I like
it or not. These places get to make up their own rules and do
pretty much they want, subject only to oversight by the Nevada
Gaming Commission.” His lips curved into the barest hint of a
smile. “If you want privacy, you’ve sure as hell come to the wrong
place.”

He was quite right, but that didn’t mean she
couldn’t be irritated by the thug-like practices. “No wonder they
can build all these absurd monuments to excess and greed,” she
said, waving her hand toward the sea of hotel towers. “They make up
the rules like feudal barons. Take from the poor and give to the
rich.”

As soon as the words passed her lips, she
wanted to slap herself. Nobody forced her or anybody else to gamble
away every cent of their spare cash in the vain hope of striking it
rich. In her case, of course, she simply wanted to beat the
bastards at their own game. At least that’s what she thought it
was.