Page 13 of Gamble (Black Light #38)
REAGAN
H oly moly, Elijah had surprised her in every way.
That he’d guessed the top things she wanted to do while in town was amazing enough, but since there weren’t that many things to do in the city of sin other than gamble, those could have just been lucky guesses.
But as she reread what he’d written on the bonus paper for the third time, she realized she was holding her breath.
She read it again.
GIVE REAGAN A DOZEN ORGASMS
“You can’t avoid looking at me forever, you know,” he teased her.
“Sure, I can,” she answered, looking to her lap, still unsure how to feel.
They barely knew each other, so the words were scandalous, but they were in Vegas, where debauchery was business as usual.
As her mind raced, trying to understand the implications of his suggestion, she waited to feel angry or upset, but those emotions didn’t come.
Finally looking up into Elijah’s now serious gaze, Reagan added, “This sounds more like a gift for me than you, and my birthday isn’t until December.”
“Oh, trust me…” His playful grin was back. “It’d make my day if you’d give me the honor of watching you come again and again.”
“Once again, you seem pretty sure of yourself there, Mr. Keaton,” she teased.
Except she somehow knew he wasn’t making promises he couldn’t keep.
He may have a few years on her, but based on the self-assurance he’d exhibited since their chance meeting, Reagan suspected he’d used those years to perfect taking care of a woman’s needs.
Elijah reached for the paper, getting serious again before adding, “I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable. I just couldn’t resist.”
“Don’t say you’re sorry,” she snapped. It surprised her she hated that he’d apologized. She paused before adding, “Why don’t we see how the day goes first before we move into bonus territory, okay?”
“Fair enough. So, you’ll stay and spend the day with me?” He asked for the first time since they’d met, seeming unsure.
Staying was tempting for many reasons, mainly because avoiding going home early with her tail between her legs like the complete failure she was.
As he waited, his smile was back, lighting up his handsome face.
She loved the small laugh lines that formed around his eyes. They told her he smiled often.
While she thought through her options, Elijah had already signed his name and room number to the check before she realized what he’d done.
“Hey, you don’t need to buy me breakfast!” she said, reaching out to grab the leather folio with the signed check. “It’s your birthday. I should treat you,” she pointed out.
Elijah pushed to his feet and helped pull out her chair so she could stand before he answered her. Thanks to the new position, he could lean in and talk in her ear.
“Let’s get this out of the way right now so we don’t have any misunderstandings. Your spending time with me today is the only gift I need. If you stay, you will not be paying so much as a dime of your own money, so please don’t even try to mention it again… got it?”
Something about his authoritative tone told her Elijah was a man who was used to giving orders. The patient look on his face told her most people followed those orders.
“Are you always this bossy?” she teased.
“Oh, baby, you have no idea,” he replied, reaching out to put his hand at the small of her back and leading her out while pulling her suitcase behind.
As they weaved through the tables toward the exit, a nugget of pleasure blossomed inside her, something she never dreamed she could feel just hours after breaking up with Tristan.
Reagan didn’t want to examine the feeling too closely, choosing to just enjoy what promised to be a fun day.
They were all the way to the bank of elevators when Elijah stopped to ask her. “I’m hoping you not dragging me toward the lobby means you aren’t having any second thoughts.”
It hadn’t been a conscious decision. Being next to Elijah, his hand at the small of her back just felt right.
Like it was where she belonged, at least for today.
While she may not understand it, she was honest enough with herself to know the idea of walking away and never seeing him again felt wrong.
Her mind made up, Reagan grinned. “And miss the massage you’ve promised? Of course I’m staying. And it’s your birthday. You shouldn’t spend the day alone.”
Chuckling, Elijah teased, “Thanks for taking pity on me and staying.”
Returning his intense gaze back to her, he asked, “Do you feel comfortable leaving your things in my room today while we go out on our adventures? I don’t want to assume you’re okay with that. I could ask them to store your bag at the bell stand if you’d prefer.”
Such a gentleman—the orgasm note aside. But Reagan also knew she was breaking a lot of her own safety rules by going up to an almost stranger’s room.
“I need your driver’s license,” she said, holding her hand out.
“Excuse me?” he asked. “Are you trying to card me?” he added with a chuckle, yet he didn’t hesitate to reach into his pocket. “Do you need me to take it out of the wallet?”
“Yep,” she grinned.
Once he’d handed it over, she took her cell phone out of the side pocket of her carry-on bag and snapped an up-close picture of his ID before handing it back to him. He then watched as she texted a copy over to Meena.
“Don’t tell me. You steal people’s identities as a hobby?” he asked.
“Nope. Just sending your info to my best friend and roommate. That way, if you turn out to be a serial killer and I end up missing, she’ll know where to point the police.”
He laughed as he pressed the up button for the elevator. “Like I said… beautiful and smart. But I can assure you, no one’s going to hurt you on my watch… at least not a bad kind of hurt.”
What a strange comment. After they were in the elevator on the way up to the fifteenth floor, she couldn’t help but ask, “Is there a good kind of hurt?”
Elijah moved closer into her personal space, stopping just short of brushing against her before answering. “You better believe there’s a good kind of hurt. I’m hoping to get the chance to demonstrate later… assuming you’re game.”
A wave of unexpected sexual tension filled the enclosed space, confusing Reagan. The ding of the elevator’s arrival at their floor broke the spell.
Elijah’s room was twice as big as hers had been. His suite had an extra seating area with a mini-kitchen and an even more spectacular view of Sin City.
“Wow, I can’t believe you have this entire room all to yourself,” she said, realizing how weird it was that he had come to Vegas alone, since he didn’t like to gamble either.
“My buddies paid for my room as part of my birthday gift. They’re the ones who planned this little getaway.”
Reagan felt like an idiot. Of course, he had friends she was taking him away from.
Elijah must have expected what she was going to say because he added an explanation.
“Kind of like how your boyfriend planned the trip and then made plans you hated, my buddies got me here and then planned a bunch of excursions I couldn’t go on. ”
Curious, she asked. “What kind of excursions?”
Glancing at his watch, he answered, “Right about now, they’re jumping out of a perfectly good airplane where they’ll drop into some rough terrain and have to climb and hike their way out of. Then later, they’ll be racing ATVs in sand dunes.”
“Oh no! You should have told me. I never wanted to make you miss going with them.” Her level of disappointment at the thought of canceling their planned day was telling.
That sexy smile, which she was getting used to, slipped a bit. “I wasn’t going to go with them, regardless. I’ve done all of those things in the past.”
Elijah paused long enough that she thought he’d finished his thought. Then he added, “I’ve been hard on my body. I will not risk further injury doing something stupid at this point in my life.”
While she felt selfish for being happy Elijah hadn’t gone with them, she still added, “Well, that was pretty shitty of them ditching you when it’s your birthday trip.”
“Naw. I don’t blame them. Two of the guys are married with kids. This is a fun getaway for them.”
He retrieved a cold water from the fridge and handed it to her before adding, “I need a couple of minutes to make some calls. Make yourself at home. Freshen up if you’d like,” he said, waving in the direction of another room.
Reagan pulled her makeup bag from her suitcase, grateful to have a few minutes alone in Elijah’s massive bathroom.
As soon as the door was closed, she started pacing back and forth in the spacious opulence, thinking through all that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Elijah’s kindness aside, she’d ended a relationship she’d hoped would be the one.
Her forever. Tristan was supposed to be the man she’d grow old with.
The man who would be the father of the children she wanted to have one day.
And considering she’d turn thirty in a few months, she felt the pressure of one day getting closer.
Glancing up, Reagan took stock of her reflection in the massive mirror.
The woman staring back at her felt like a stranger.
Shedding Tristan had exposed old wounds.
For the first time in a long time, she saw her old self.
The version of herself she’d been so proud of at one point in her life.
The strong woman she’d been trying to subdue as she’d attempted to morph into a watered-down version of herself more palatable to the men she’d let into her life.
For once, she refused to let herself off the hook for her naivety.
For her dreaming and misplaced hopes in a man who could barely take care of himself, let alone her and even children.
One of her favorite podcasters she listened to loved to say, ‘When people show you who they are, believe them.’ Well, Tristan has shown his true colors again and again, but she hadn’t wanted to see the truth.