What Happens In Vegas... Doesn't Always Stay There (16 page)

agreement to never date someone the other has been with. I broke that rule to be with Emma and

Dane and I had a severe falling out over it. He even refused to attend the wedding. I think he still had a thing for her, but he just wouldn’t admit it.”

“Then why be with her if it meant you’d have issues with your brother?”

“I was stupid. I love being part of a couple and I did have a connection with her, or thought I

did.” He shrugged. “Truth is I want to be married and have babies and grow old with someone. I

just picked the wrong girl to do that with. And in truth, I knew Dane would eventually accept it.”

Genevieve let out a loud huff of air and nodded. “So how are your feelings toward Emma

now?” The last thing she wanted was a rebound guy. She doubted her healing heart could handle

being left for someone else so soon after Alex.

“I have no feelings, good or bad really. Embarrassment would be about it since we split

because she was fucking the FedEx guy. Which, let me tell ya, Dane won’t let me forget. Either

way, she’s part of the past and that’s about it.”

She caught his eyes and nodded. She knew everything she needed to know and she had no

intention of wasting any more of their day discussing Emma or Alex. Graham was right, now

that Dane was on the same page as them there was nowhere to look but forward.

“In that case, on to more enjoyable topics. So what did you have planned for last night

anyhow?”

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Can’t say or I’d be giving away what we’re

doing today. You’re not opening the store today are you?”

She shook her head, turning her attention back to the breakfast in front of her and popping

another piece of bacon in her mouth. “Nope, I don’t open on Sundays until December through

New Years. I work from open to close almost every day so I like having at least one day off.”

“Do you have any employees?”

She shrugged. “One. Brittany, but I haven’t needed her since the break-in and she’s a

university student so her studies come first. I brought her in for the afternoon a couple of days ago.”

“Could she have…”

“No. She doesn’t even have a key.” She gave him a lopsided grin. “I guess I have some trust

issues when it comes to the store. Dane already checked into her despite my telling him it was a

waste of time and she was clean.”

Finishing the rest of her breakfast, she removed the tray from her lap and placed it on top of

the night stand. She repositioned herself, stretching out beside him and cuddling to his side.

Nipping at the side of his neck, she was rewarded with a low groan coming from him.

Encouraged, she slipped her hand onto his stomach, tracing the lines of muscle. Her fingers

moved lower, until they reached the waistband of his boxers.

“No. No no no.” Graham’s hand shot out, grasping her wrist lightly and moving her hand

back up to his chest, despite his rapidly growing erection. “This hasn’t changed a thing. We have a day of fun and excitement planned. You’re not distracting me with sex.”

She groaned, rolling over to her back and rolling her eyes. “Fine. Woo me then.”

Laughing, he sat up and slid from the bed. “Get ready and dress comfortably. It’s going to be

a packed day.”

“But if we wear ourselves out with activities today then how are we going to have energy for

tonight?”

“Trust me, I’ll have plenty of energy for tonight.” He winked and exited the room. “Now get

your ass moving!” he shouted from the other room.

A day of fun and excitement, huh?
She smiled. She couldn’t wait.

~*~*~*~*~

~ Graham ~

This wasn’t what he’d planned for the previous night, but looking at the look of excitement in

her eyes and smile on her lips, he was actually glad those plans got derailed. He wasn’t sure if

Coney Island was something she’d be into, but from what he could tell, he couldn’t have picked

a better date.

“Oh damn. He’s not going to put that in his nose!” Her nose crunched up and she buried her

face against Graham’s chest, periodically looking at the carnie who was about to shove a moving

drill up his left nostril. The carnie turned the drill on and she let out a little, barely audible “eek”

sound, but turned her head so she could watch.

Instead of watching the carnie, Graham’s eyes were on her. With each inch the carnie pushed

the drill into his nostril the wider her eyes got. By the time the drill was fully entrenched in his nose and he began to move it in and out her mouth had dropped open into a big O to match her

wide eyes.

The carnie pulled the drill from his nose to a round of cheers and whistles.

“Thank you everyone. Have a great visit.” His announcement of being done was greeted by

groans of disappointment, but people quickly left the room in search of their next thrill.

Genevieve pulled away from him and gave his hand a tug. “Aren’t we leaving?”

“Nope.”

“Holy shit, about time you came around here, asshole.” The carnie leapt down from the stage

and made his way over to Graham and Genevieve.

Genevieve’s body froze, her brow furrowing as she watched the carnie approach them. She

leaned into him, whispering., “You know him?”

“He’s my cousin.”

“I’m Kirk.” He extended his hand to Genevieve. “Since you don’t know who I am I guess my

suspicion that I’m the black sheep of the family is justified.”

“Genevieve.” She hesitated then grasped his hand, giving him a smile as their hands shook.

“You’re cousins?”

Kirk released her hand and stepped into him, giving Graham a brief hug before stepping

back. Grabbing a black band from his pocket Kirk pulled his shoulder-length scraggly black hair

into a ponytail. With his hair tied back, his tattoos – a combination of flames and chains circling his neck went on full display.

Graham nodded. “Yup. We have a diverse group of people in our family, you’ll see.” He

waited for her response, watching her expression.

“I bet.” She smiled.

Kirk hooked his thumb in Graham’s direction. “He show you any tricks?”

Oh fuck me
, Graham groaned inwardly.

She tilted her head to the side, looking up at him questioningly. “Tricks?”

“Yeah, tricks. We came here to learn the trade together. He pussied out after the fire eating

and refused to swallow the swords. Decided to sell out and become a cop instead.”

“I didn’t sell out.”

Kirk ignored him, jerking his thumbs in his own direction. “When I do things I go all the

way.” He gave Genevieve a suggestive smile and wink. “Keep that in mind when you get bored

of him.”

Her cheeks turned a rosy colour as she turned her attention back to him. “So, you fire eat?”

Graham nodded, becoming slightly embarrassed himself. “Yup.”

“And you were planning on becoming a carnie?”

“Yup.” When it looked like she was going to burst out laughing he put a finger to her lips.

“But keep in mind, I was eighteen and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Stay there. I’ll be right back.”

Before Graham could respond Kirk rushed out back and a couple of minutes later he

reappeared with a bottle of oil, two performance torches and lighter. Kirk’s expression was

determined as he set his eyes on Graham.

“Fuck no, man. I’m not…” He hadn’t practiced in a couple of years and he didn’t want to

embarrass himself – or worse – in front of Ginny. He was beginning to regret bringing her to

Coney Island after all.

Kirk thrust the items at him. “Don’t be a pussy, women dig a man who can do a trick or two.”

Genevieve released his hand and went to stand beside his cousin, crossing her arms over her

chest and hitting him with a challenging smirk. “Yeah. Come on, show me what ya got.”

Well, fuck.
He looked from his cousin to Genevieve and back again. “It’s been a couple years since I’ve done this. I’m not even very good at it.”

Kirk elbowed Genevieve and nodded. “Yeah. That’s why he dropped out of carnie school,

couldn’t handle it.”

“Fine, I’ll eat the fire, I’m not doing a blowout.”

His cousin turned to face Genevieve full on. “I’d do a blowout for you. That’s just all I’m

saying.”

Fuck, I’m looking bad by the family kook
. “Fine.” He looked directly at Genevieve, waiting for her to turn her attention from Kirk back to him. When she did he shook the closed bottle at

her. “Do you really want to see me potentially singe off my eyebrows showing you a blowout?”

Excitement flashing her eyes, she eagerly nodded her head. “Oh yea, yes yes please. Would

love it.”

With a sigh of resignation he gave in. Opening the bottle of oil he dipped the two torches in,

dosing the wicks, and then set it on a nearby table. Placing both torches in one hand he quickly

lit them and tossed the lighter onto the table next to the oil.

“You seriously want to see this?” he asked Ginny, already knowing the answer.

She nodded, smiling wider than he’d ever seen.

“Fine.” Bending back so his open mouth was aligned with the ceiling he brought the first

torch to his mouth and quickly snuffed it out, closing his lips around it. He quickly removed the extinguished torch and then did the same thing with the second.

Ginny squealed and clapped as he straightened and took a small bow for her benefit.

“Are you going to show me the other thing?”

“Yes.” Grinning he grabbed the lighter and relit one torch. He looked at the oil; it had been a

while but he still remembered how bloody awful the stuff tasted.

“Over here hun, we don’t want to be in the line of fire,” he heard Kirk say as he moved her

over to Graham’s left.

Taking a swig and keeping the oil in his mouth, he took a deep breath, stared at the torch for

a minute and blew the oil onto the flame. A whoosh sound echoed through the room and a

massive ball of fire flared out starting from the torch and extending out and up eight feet in the air.

“Holy shit. That’s awesome! Oh my God!”

He smiled hearing Ginny’s excitement as he extinguished the torch and spit out the remainder

of oil from his mouth, before wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

As soon as he placed the torches on the table, Ginny threw herself into his arms, pulling him

into an enthusiastic hug. “That was so cool!” She reached up and kissed his lips, but quickly

pulled away, making a face of disgust and swiping at her lips with the back of her hand. “Oh

that’s so gross.”

“Are you happy now?” He smiled down at her, pleased he could make her happy with such a

small thing.

“Absolutely.”

“Good, now let’s let Kirk get back to work, or what he considers work anyhow.” He caught

Kirk’s gaze and smiled, making a mental note to make an effort to hang with Kirk more

frequently. They’d been close as teenagers and into their early twenties, but the years caused a

separation as years sometimes do with families.

“Hey man, I get paid and laid for this. Living the dream,” Kirk interjected. He motioned to

the room. “This could have all been yours.”

Graham looked down at Genevieve and nodded. “I think I have everything I need right now.”

Chapter 14

~ Genevieve ~

The day had been a whirlwind of activities and by the time they got to his house she had just

enough energy left in her to walk over to his beige suede sofa and collapse onto it as she waited for Graham to get them a couple of wine coolers from the fridge.

“Don’t tell me I’ve worn you out.”

Genevieve smiled as she looked up and saw Graham crossing the room with two coolers in

his hands. “Exhausted me, yes. I’m glad I listened to you and wore jeans and a t-shirt.”

“So you enjoyed yourself?” He placed the coolers on the glass coffee table and sat down next

to her, pulling her against him, her back to his front.

“It was so much fun. I work all the time, at least it has been that way since I opened the store, and whenever I did go out it was to stuffy dinner functions.” She didn’t have to tell him they

were Alex’s stuffy events, she knew it was a given.

He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a soft squeeze. “Yeah, well. I don’t think

you’re going to have to worry about stuffy formal events with me.”

She relaxed into his arms, letting her head fall back against his shoulder and sighed – amen to

that. “I can’t believe you can do that whole fire-eating thing. It was really cool. Although I really can’t see you being a carnie.”

Graham chuckled. “Yeah, neither can I to be honest.”

“Then why did you want to do the training?”

“I was younger, thought fire eating was cool. Kirk got the crazy idea of taking the classes and

it wasn’t hard for him to convince me to go along and give it a try.”

“So why didn’t you continue?” She turned in his arms as he repositioned himself so he was

lying flat on his back, so she was stretched out over his body, staring down at him.

Graham laughed a little harder. “Meh, the fire eating is fun, even though I don’t do it

anymore. I actually got a kick out of it and it really makes you the life of the party, but shoving swords down my throat and drilling my nose. Nah, it wasn’t my thing, I really hadn’t thought it

through.”

Genevieve stroked the side of his face; despite shaving that morning a shadow was beginning

to form on his jaw. “Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had. Thank you.”

He smiled. “You’re welcome. Although I think the day I met you would have been mine.”