Let It Ride (10 page)

But that wasn’t in the plans today. So he forced a lightness he was far from feeling into his voice. “How was the museum?” he asked.

Kylie tipped her head to the side and smiled. Her expression of joy struck an answering chord deep within him. He wanted to make her happy. He knew he couldn’t. He’d tried for years to make his mom happy until finally one day when he was eight, she’d told him one of life’s truths. Each person had to find his or her own happiness. He couldn’t manufacture a happy ending for her, she had to make her own happy ending, she said.

“Awesome. They looked so real. Didn’t they, Angelo?”

Angelo?
He arched an eyebrow at the older man, who just gave him a hard stare. Deacon turned away to keep from laughing.

“Thanks so much for coming with me,” she added.

“You’re welcome,
amico
. I’ll leave you two to your tour. I need to get back to work.”

“Thanks, Mandetti,” Deacon said, shaking the older man’s hand. He cupped Kylie’s elbow and led her toward the helicopter.

She was wearing a close-fitting black top, a pair of khaki pants and black sandals. There was nothing remotely sexy about the outfit, but it turned him on, anyway.

“Who’ll be the pilot today?” she asked as they neared the chopper.

“I will.”

“You can fly?”

“I can pilot a helicopter.”

“I can’t.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said.

“Why not? Am I not the adventurous type?”

“Oh, you’re adventurous, all right,” he said.

She smiled at him. That secret smile she used only when they were alone together.

“Wow. I have a million questions,” she said with a laugh.

No surprise there, either. Kylie was curious about everything. She had a million questions about stuff that Deacon admitted he’d just taken for granted.

“Ask away,” he said.

She stopped on the tarmac and pivoted to face him. The large sunglasses she wore covered her eyes. Raising her hands to his shoulders, she leaned up and kissed him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her more fully against his body. He tilted his head and leisurely explored her mouth with his. She sighed.

He lifted his head long minutes later and gazed down at her.

“I missed you this morning,” she said.

He resisted the urge to hug her closer and never let go. To make promises he knew wouldn’t hold up in the real world.

Damn. He was forgetting the rules he’d learned long ago. Forgetting the reasons he’d picked her out on the security camera. Forgetting she was here with him because he’d made a bet that he could convince her to marry him.

He didn’t say anything, just urged her to the helicopter and opened the passenger door. “Put the earphones on.”

She watched him with wounded eyes. He knew he hadn’t reacted the way he should have. He knew he’d just lost some ground. But he had come too close to losing his focus. To forgetting the golden rule. Love was an illusion, and only a man looking for a fall forgot they were playing a game.

Deacon was a skilled pilot, which didn’t surprise Kylie. He was good at everything he did. Especially kissing. She freely admitted she was addicted to his embrace. The only reason she hadn’t stayed the night in his room was the very real fear that she’d start believing her vacation affair had turned into something else.

She said nothing as they took off, feeling a little foolish for having said she missed him when clearly he didn’t feel the same way. Deacon seemed to sense her awkwardness and filled the silence in the cockpit with a running monologue that sounded as though it came straight from a Nevada tourism guidebook.

She enjoyed hearing his observations, with which he peppered the tour-guide spiel. They gave her a chance to pretend he hadn’t rebuked her earlier. A chance to put her ill-timed words behind them and pretend he’d forgotten she’d said them.

She knew he wasn’t trying to hurt her. She knew she was the only one who could keep her heart intact. And she knew that the only way to do that was to remember that love, like fortune, could change on a roll of the dice. Only the savviest gambler should contemplated letting their heart ride on the outcome.

She took a deep breath and pushed aside her feelings. Deacon was funny, with a wry self-deprecating wit.

“My mom lives in Henderson. That’s the city we’re approaching now.”

She glanced down. The small city was very different from the air than Vegas. “Are there casinos there?”

He banked to the left, taking them around the outskirts of town. “Nah. It’s an industrial town.”

“Did you ever live there with her?” she asked. Deacon talked so little about his personal life that she still felt as if she didn’t really know him. But what did it matter? she asked herself. She was leaving tomorrow.

“No,” he said.

“Why not?” Something in his voice touched her deep. And she knew she wasn’t going to leave Vegas and the Golden Dream without leaving a little piece of herself behind.

“Because I want the good life,” he said in that wry way of his that made her feel as if she should know more than she did.

“And do you have it?”

“A lot more than I did when Mom and I went our separate ways. But at least then, I had freedom and a chance to make it big.”

“Obviously you made the most of that chance.”

“Not even close,” he muttered.

“Deacon?”

“Nothing, angel. Leave it alone.”

Feeling put in her place once again, she stared out the window. Maybe he knew she was scheduled to go home tomorrow and wanted to remind her that their relationship would be ending. Maybe he—

He reached over, pushed the mike away from her mouth and cupped the back of her head. Leaning over, he kissed her hard and fast.

She stared at him. “What was that for?”

“For not having the words you might want to hear from me.”

“I’m not looking for the words, Deacon. I had them once and they weren’t sincere.”

He said nothing and she realized that his silences meant more than she’d previously thought. She wasn’t building castles in the air. She was building hopes around the fact that this man with the shattered soul would take a chance on an ordinary girl.

She watched the landscape rolling underneath them. Soon they were approaching another city. “What’s that?”

“Boulder City,” he said. “The only city in Nevada without legalized gambling.”

“Are you scandalized?”

“Yeah, but not about that,” he said. “The city was constructed while they were building the Hoover Dam.”

“Why’d you learn to fly?” she asked as he banked the chopper and flew it directly over the historical district of Boulder City.

“One of my first jobs in Las Vegas was working at a tourist attraction on the strip that offered aerial tours. The guys who were pilots made more than us regular stiffs, so I started taking lessons.”

“Do you always get what you want?” she asked. His willpower and self-control was amazing. There were a number of things she wanted—slim thighs, a nice car, a man who’d love her for her. But she’d never been willing to work up a sweat or to bypass something for her home or a fancy car. And she’d never been able to risk her emotions on man.

Not even Jeff, her ex-husband, had been worth the chance. A big part of her was afraid that like the other fairy tales that had disappeared with childhood, the myth of forever love was going to prove elusive.

“Kylie?”

“What?”

“I asked if you wanted to tour Hoover Dam. I made arrangements to land at a heliport near here.”

“I’d love to. I’ve never been.”

He nodded and concentrated on landing the chopper. She watched him and tried to determine if this was an elaborate scheme that Deacon had done more than once. Was this the way he treated all the women he was interested in? Was this part of a smooth operation to seduce a willing woman? Or was this something more?

She was afraid to believe it could be more. She scarcely knew the man. He was worlds different from her. He was used to having someone do everything for him. She was used to working in her garden and cleaning her house when things got too stressful outside her cozy little bungalow.

He landed the helicopter and came around to take her hand. Leading her to the waiting limo, she realized that they had more in common than either of them had wanted to acknowledge, because his hand around hers was tight and she sensed he had no plans to let her go. Or maybe that was just the hope of her foolish heart.

Deacon had planned every detail of this day, but his job kept getting in the way. They’d arrived back at the hotel nearly an hour ago and he’d planned a romantic dinner with Kylie, but instead, he was sitting in his office with Mandetti and two men from the gaming commission discussing Mandetti’s findings.

Though the commission was happy with his work and wanted to use his hotel as a model of efficiency, Deacon wasn’t really paying attention. He knew that when things were settled with Kylie, this good news would mean more. But tonight, knowing she planned to leave tomorrow, he needed to focus on her. He’d never asked anyone to marry him before. In the past the appeal of contemplating his relationship with a woman would have paled in comparison to hearing good news about his casino. But he’d come to realize that without the right woman by his side, business success wasn’t as rewarding.

Finally the meeting ended and the men left—except Mandetti.

“Good job,
compare
.”

“Thanks, Mandetti. I’m happy with the results. My offer’s still open. Feel free to stay and enjoy the hotel for a few days.”

“I’m taking you up on it. It’s been a long time since I played in Vegas.”

“I’ll have my secretary take care of the arrangements.”

Deacon left Mandetti with Martha and hurried to meet Kylie in the lobby. She was sitting where she’d been the first time he’d approached her. She was wearing her glasses and had a book in her hand, but was talking to a pretty redhead seated to her right.

Deacon slowed his steps and went over everything in his head one more time. He patted his pocket and felt the small jeweler’s pouch he’d put there earlier. He’d intended to ask her to marry him at the top of Hoover Dam. But it hadn’t felt right.

He’d been afraid her answer would have been no then. He realized that Kylie needed some things he’d never intended to give his wife. Words that were foreign to him. When she’d said earlier that she’d missed him, he’d felt more than a moment’s fear. He’d felt panic. This wasn’t familiar territory. And he knew enough about Kylie to know that she needed to show her affection for him, but also receive something in return.

That had been what stopped him. He had little to give any woman, apart from material things. Certainly Kylie had liked his expensive rooms, his big toys and playing in the casinos with his money, but she’d be just as happy with nothing. Deacon knew he had nothing beyond his little kingdom to offer her.

“Deacon,” Kylie said, glancing up at him. She smiled that sweet half smile that made him want to be better than he was.

He walked toward her. She and the redhead stood up. He slipped his arm around Kylie’s waist and dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

“This is Tina Sturgel, my friend and roommate. Tina, this is Deacon Prescott.”

He took Tina’s hand and dropped a kiss on the back of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“All good,” Kylie said with a laugh.

“Likewise,” Deacon said.

“I’m heading up to the room. You two have fun tonight.”

Tina disappeared and Kylie sidestepped out of his embrace. She took off her glasses, tucking them in her purse. “What are we doing for dinner?”

“Something special. But first you need a new dress and some pampering.”

“Who says?” she asked with a gleam in her eye.

“I do. I want everything to be perfect tonight.”

“Because it’s my last night here?”

“Yes,” he said.

“I was thinking about that,” she said. She didn’t look at him now, instead toyed with the strap of her handbag and glanced at the tourists walking through the lobby.

He waited. If she said she never wanted to see him again, he’d have to change his plans. Take her up to his living quarters and make love to her all night. Save the marriage proposal for the morning. When they were in bed she was curled up against him trustingly.

“I… Do you ever get to California?” she asked. Her voice was soft, her words tentative.

“No. Why?”

“I was going to invite you to stay with me and maybe show you around my town,” she said.

Touched in a way he’d never been before, Deacon reached out and cupped her face, tilting her head back until her gaze met his. Leaning down, he kissed her as if she was the most precious woman he’d ever known. And the truth was—she was. “I’d love to come and stay with you.”

She tilted her head to the side and watched him with eyes that made him feel ten feet tall. “So this doesn’t have to end tomorrow?”

“No. In fact, I’d like for it to last a very long time.”

“You don’t seem like a long-distance-affair kind of guy.”

“We can discuss that at dinner. Come. Let’s get you a suitable dress,” he said, dropping his hands to his sides.

“Where are we going?”

“To an exclusive boutique.”

“Here?”

He nodded, leading her down a hallway. She slipped her arm through his and he took comfort from the feel of her pressed close to his side. There was something reassuring about holding her. One of the bellmen caught his eye and smiled as they walked by. And Deacon felt as if everything in his world was finally coming together.

Nine

K
ylie was alone in the dressing room. She looked like someone she didn’t recognize. The dress was a slim-fitting sheath overlaid with a light filmy material. She turned around in the mirror and looked at herself from all angles. She looked good, but not like herself.

The deep V in the front revealed her cleavage. She’d never imagined she could look like this. She swept her hair up with her hands and studied her reflection. The cut of the dress made her neck seem almost swanlike.