Three Girls And A Leading Man (9 page)

“Forget where you were?” he asked.
“I think I’m a little offended.”

“Sorry,” I said, placing my hand
over my heart in an effort to calm it. “I was just confused.”

“You did have quite a bit to
drink,” he said. “I hope I didn’t take advantage of you.” He was doing that
amused looking smile thing that was becoming so familiar to me, and I felt
myself smile in return.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “In fact, I
think it was probably the other way around. I’m feeling a little violated here,
Annie.”

I giggled, and leaned over to kiss
him. “Sorry ’bout that. Can I make it up to you?”

“What did you have in mind?” he
asked, a glint in his eye.

“Hmm,” I said, thinking of the
options. “I could help you out in the shower, scrub your back for you…”

He gasped. “Miss Duncan, my virgin
ears!”

I laughed and stood up, letting the
blanket fall away from my body, knowing full well that I had lost my dress in a
heap by the door last night. “If you’d rather stay in bed, that’s fine. But you
know where to find me.”

I left him laughing in the bed as I
headed to the bathroom. I had almost reached the door when I heard the springs
move and his feet hit the floor. I smiled, and waited for him to catch up to
me.

***

“And where were you last night?”
Matt asked, raising his eyebrow at me as I entered my suite an hour later. He
and Jen were lounging on my bed while Ginny was searching through her suitcase.
She stood up to look at me as I entered the room.

“Hussy,” she said, grinning. “So,
how was it?”

“Oh, shut up,” I said, but couldn’t
keep the grin off my face.

“I knew it!” Jen shouted. “You’re
totally into him, aren’t you?”

“He’s very nice,” I said, playing
shy.

Matt laughed. “Coy doesn’t suit
you, sweetie.” I flipped him off. “Now
there’s
the Annie we all know and love,” he said.

“So when do we get to hang out with
him?” Jen asked.

“Well he was gonna maybe tag along
with us today, if that’s cool with you guys,” I said, going over to the closet
to find a sundress.

“Of course it is,” Ginny said.

“What about his friends?” Matt
asked. “Isn’t he here for some bachelor party or something?”

I shrugged. “He didn’t say that it
would be a problem.”

“Well, good,” Ginny said. “Because
he obviously likes you a lot.”

I looked away quickly.

“Oh my God,” Matt cried, pointing
at me. “She’s blushing! Annie Duncan is actually blushing. I’ve never seen that
before!”

“You guys all suck,” I muttered,
grabbing my sundress and heading to the bathroom amongst gales of their
laughter.

***

We met up with Kiki and Eric down
at the breakfast buffet. I was ravenous and loaded up on waffles and sausage
before I joined the group at our table.

“Annie!” Kiki squealed when she saw
me. “Oh my God, Jen just told me all about it!”

I saw Matt, who was sitting closest
to her, rub his ear. I couldn’t blame him—she was in high-pitched Kiki
mode.

“Calm down,” I told her, looking
around at all the people now staring at us. “It’s not a big deal.”

“But Jen said he’s totally into you
and you were blushing this morning talking about it. I know you, Annie Duncan.
You are not the blushing type. That means it must be a huge deal!”

“Aw,” a voice in my ear said, and I
spun around. Nate was right next to me, leaning down so his face was at my
level. “You were blushing? About me? How cute.”

I could have died. I glared at
Kiki, who had the good grace to look mortified. “Sorry,” she mouthed. I noticed
that the others were trying hard not to laugh.

“Hey,” I said shortly, turning my
face away from him. “Did you eat?”

“I’ve got my plate right here,” he
said, turning to the empty table behind us and grabbing a full plate. “Mind if
I join you?”

“Oh, go right ahead,” I said drily.
A waiter passed our table with a full tray of mimosas, and I flagged him down,
grabbing two.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay,
Annie?” Ginny asked. “You seem a little on edge.”

I’m
going to kill you
, I thought, staring straight at her.

I knew what my friends were doing.
I guess I had a bit of a reputation as a smart-ass. I know I had a tendency to
tease people and make light of things—but that was part of my charm! Now
they seemed determined to have their revenge. And they were clearly having a
great time with it, from the looks of things.

“So, what’s on the agenda for
today?” I asked, with what I felt was supreme dignity.

“Ooh, I have lots of ideas!” Kiki
said. “I want to go shopping here at the hotel. They have this mall, the
Miracle Mile, that’s supposed to be amazing. And then I want to see the
botanical gardens at the Bellagio. And we never did eat at Bobby Flay’s. Oh,
and then we have to try to catch the views from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
God, I can’t believe we’re leaving in the morning! This trip went way too
fast.”

Under the table, Nate caught my
hand and squeezed it. I felt my anxiety dissipate immediately, as if I was
reassured somehow, more comfortable.

“I’m going to need more pool time,”
Ginny said, peering toward the windows. “It will start getting cold so soon at
home.”

“I know,” Jen moaned. “How did it
get to be September already?”

“Okay, so shopping, botanical
gardens, and pool time,” Eric said, looking down at his watch. “We better get a
move on it then. That’s a lot of stuff to fit into one afternoon.”

The shopping at our casino was
pretty awesome. I have no idea how they managed to fit an entire mall in there
with everything else that was in the building. At the Michael Kors store, I
stared around at the accessories in awe. There was a silver bag that I couldn’t
keep my eyes off. I wanted that purse more than I’d ever wanted a purse in my
life.

But when Nate offered to buy it for
me, I was horrified. I did not let guys do things like that.

“No,” I told him firmly. “I mean,
thanks, but no.”

“It’s a gift, Annie,” he said,
shaking his head with that amused glint in his eyes. “It’s not a huge deal.”

“It is,” I told him. “I’ve only
known you for a few days, and that bag is really expensive.”

He merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Whatever you want,” he said.

After a few hours, even Ginny had
had enough of shopping. Kiki was eager to check out the botanical gardens, but
the rest of us were feeling pretty rough and decided to go straight to the
pool. I realized that I wasn’t the only one nursing a hangover.

“Oh, man,” Ginny said, as a waiter
brought her a giant pink and white concoction with an umbrella. “This looks
incredible.” She took a deep gulp and moaned. “So good.”

“What is it?” I asked, looking at
the drink with interest.

“A Miami Vice,” the server replied.
“Half pina-colada, half strawberry daiquiri.”

“Yeah, we’ll need a couple more of
those,” Jen said. The waiter smiled and went off to get our drinks.

A few moments later, stretched out
on the lounger with a Miami Vice in my hand, my headache was totally forgotten.
“This is heaven,” I said to no one in particular. “Seriously, if you lived here
how would you ever get anything done?”

“It’s pretty hot though,” Jen said,
wiping at her forehead. “I mean, we’re just laying around and I’m already
sweating. My hair is getting messed up.”

Under my sunglasses, I rolled my
eyes. Classic Jen.

A few minutes later, I was
regretting my internal mocking of her. It
was
really hot. “Ugh, I’m all sticky,” I said after I had drained the last of my
drink. “I think I need to hop in the pool.”

“I’ll go with you,” Nate said
lazily.

I walked over to the edge and
contemplated the water. It probably wasn’t too cold, not with the sun beating
down like this.

Before I could out-think myself, I
jumped right in. I swam under the water for a few minutes, luxuriating in the
feel of the cool liquid against my heated skin.

When I resurfaced, Nate was
standing right next to me in the water, grinning.

“You’re not like other girls, Annie
Duncan. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Multiple times,” I said drily.

“Do you know how many girls I know
that would refuse to jump in a pool because they’re too scared of getting their
hair wet?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a girly
girl,” I told him, feeling slightly defensive, though I couldn’t tell why.
“Sorry if that disappoints you.”

He grabbed me around the waist,
pulling me close to him. “I love it,” he said softly, before kissing me.

I knew that my friends were
probably sitting there watching me, probably coming up with more ammunition to
tease me with. I tried to pull back, but the insistency of Nate’s lips kept me
locked in place. Finally, I decided to just give in to it. After all, he was a
really good kisser.

And my friends could just eat their
hearts out.

Chapter Twelve

The last full day in Vegas passed
in a blur. After we’d had enough of the pool we went inside to change for the
afternoon. We did one more round at the buffet (“I’ll miss this so much when I
have to start cooking again,” Ginny sighed) then headed off to the Eiffel Tower
to check out the views of the strip. In the evening we had reservations at
Bobby Flay’s restaurant, as well as tickets for some comedy show.

In the evening, Nate had to go and
eat with his friends. He said he was neglecting them. When I apologized for
occupying so much of his time, he waved me off.

“They don’t really care,” he said.
“They’ve all been drunk pretty much twenty-four-seven. Besides, they know how
unlikely it is for me to fall for someone like this.”

His words sent a jolt of panic
through me. He wasn’t serious, was he? I mean, we had only known each other for
a few days. He couldn’t actually think he was falling for me.

“Anyhow,” he said. “I think we’re
planning to go see the comedy show as well. Wanna meet up there? And then maybe
we could hang out after?”

I wondered if I should refuse him.
It freaked me out, what he had said. Would it be better to put the kibosh on
this whole thing right now?

“Annie,” he said softly, kissing my
neck just below my ear. It made me shiver. What had I been feeling so worried
about? It was hard to remember.

“Did you hear me?” he whispered. “I
asked if you wanted to meet up later.”

“Mmmhmm,” I murmured, not really
caring too much about my objections anymore. “That sounds great.”

***

The whole group did some
casino-hopping after the comedy club. Nate stayed close by me throughout the
night. He even taught me how to play a few of the games. With him teaching me,
I had to admit it was a lot more fun than I had thought it was the first night.
I even won a bit of money at blackjack.

“This is awesome!” I told him as I
turned my hundred-dollar chip over in my hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever won
anything before!”

He kissed me.

“What was that for?” I asked him

“Nothing,” he replied. “You can
just be really, really cute when you let your guard down a little.”

I had no idea how to take that, so
I just rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I told him. “Let’s go try our luck on the
slot machines.”

I spent the night with Nate again,
lying awake for a long time after he had fallen asleep. It felt really nice in
his arms, really comfortable. I knew that it was a feeling I could get used to.

 
There was a part of me that was starting to
dread the next morning, when we would have to say goodbye. It was
ridiculous—I barely knew him. And I wasn’t interested in a relationship
anyhow. But nonetheless, I got a little pain in my stomach when I thought about
it.
It must just be that you don’t want
the vacation to end
, I told myself. It made me feel better.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that I
hadn’t thought about my callback all day. I had been having such a good time,
and had been so caught up in Nate, that it had completely escaped my mind. For
some reason, the realization scared me. What was I doing? There was nothing
more important to me than my career, besides the girls and Danny. Why on earth
was I allowing myself to forget that, even for a minute?

I suddenly felt claustrophobic in
Nate’s arms. I yearned for my own bed, in my own room. As quietly as I could,
so I wouldn’t disturb him, I started to wiggle out of his grasp. I had almost
made it to the edge of the bed when he woke up.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at me in
the darkness. “Where ya going?”

“Nowhere,” I whispered. “Just
getting a drink.”

“Well, hurry back,” he said.

I found a glass on the desk and
took it to the bathroom to fill it. I stared at myself in the mirror. My fair
skin had taken on a lot of color down here in the hot sun. My hair was pulled
back in a braid and little wisps were escaping around my face. It made my face
look softer, not so familiar. In fact, I hardly recognized myself there in
Nate’s room.

I walked back to bed, hoping he had
fallen asleep. No such luck.

“Get over here,” he murmured,
pulling me close and kissing me.

“I thought you were sleeping,” I
told him.

“I was. But now I’m awake. And so
are you. And if we’re both awake, why are we wasting the little time we have
talking?”

I laughed. “How about we spend it
sleeping in this crazy comfortable bed? I have an early flight tomorrow.”

“Oh, you poor thing,” he said,
pushing me onto my back and kissing my neck. “She has to fly home on a
luxurious private jet. Never mind that some of us will be slumming it in
coach.”