The casino business kept going, at all hours of the day, every day of the week.
But Ian would tell me if he needed my help for anything. And I had earned a weekend off, I was pretty sure. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and just smiled at Adam. He smiled right back at me.
57
Adam
I blinked my eyes slowly awake, frowning when I reached towards the other side of the bed and didn’t find Bailey lying there. I sighed and lay back against the pillows, trying not to feel disappointed. I had imagined another morning like the previous one, with the two of us in bed for half of the day together. But Bailey, it appeared, had slipped out before I had even woken up.
I knew that I couldn’t blame her for that either. She had work. I appreciated the fact that Ian had brought me here as a surprise to her. It showed that he supported our relationship, and it was fun to give Bailey a surprise like that. But at the same time, I shouldn’t have expected her to drop everything to be with me. I knew she was under a lot of pressure here, just like I was back at Brooks Mountain. If our positions had been reversed, there would have been plenty of stuff that I needed to get done over the course of the weekend, and spending time with Bailey would have…
Just then, Bailey walked in off the balcony, though, dressed in only my shirt. She grinned at me when she saw that I was awake and pounced on the bed next to me. “Good morning,” she said.
“Morning,” I said, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that she was actually still here. “What were you doing out there?” I asked.
Bailey wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, my phone rang a little while ago. A work thing. I didn’t want to wake you up. But anyway, it’s all sorted out now.”
I grimaced. “I understand if you need to get back to work today,” I said, even though the thought of losing those precious hours with her physically hurt me.
Bailey looked shocked that I would even suggest that she get back to work, though. “What? Waste your last day here? No way!” She shook her head emphatically. But then, she frowned. “Unless you’re trying to get rid of me? Are you sick of me already?”
It was my turn to stare at her in shock. “Definitely not,” I said firmly. “I just know that I’ve dropped in unexpectedly, and you probably have a ton of things that need to get done. That’s why they have you stuck here, after all, isn’t it?”
Bailey grinned. “Well, lucky for you, I’m not the owner of this business. Ian is. So if something needs to get done this weekend, then he can damn well handle it on his own.” She sighed and flopped back on the bed. “I’m willing to give them a few weeks of my presence here, if that’s what it takes for Ian to keep his job. But this isn’t my full-time job. They can’t demand that I be there every hour of every day. And honestly, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that Ian needs to take the reins again.”
She glanced over at me and giggled. “You’re probably thinking that I’m shirking my duties, huh? I know you have a stronger work ethic than me. Than anyone I know, really.”
I stared at her for a moment. Her naked breasts were just peeking out from the unbuttoned collar of the shirt. Her hair looked rumpled from sleep, but her eyes were bright and full of laughter. I didn’t think I had ever seen a woman look that sexy before.
I rolled on top of her suddenly, pressing my mouth insistently against hers. I nudged a leg between hers, my arms coming around her body as it arched up off of the sheets. She moaned, the vibrations sending sparks of lust coursing through my body. We kissed until there was no more air between us. Then, I grinned down at her.
Bailey sighed softly against my lips, her arms tightening around my body. “Do you really have to go back to Utah?” she asked quietly.
I brushed my fingertips along her cheek, wishing that I could say otherwise. But I sighed as I nuzzled her jawline. “You know I have to,” I told her.
“I could find someone else to step in at the resort. I know you don’t like all the things that you’ve had to do lately, anyway. I’m sure Gretchen or someone could handle it. Or maybe Mike is all better by now and ready to take over again.” There was a hopeful note in Bailey’s voice which made my heart wrench as I rolled away to the side.
“You know the work isn’t the only reason I have to get back,” I said carefully. “Ethan needs me.”
It was that tricky kind of conversation. I didn’t expect her to really understand it, even. As far as she was concerned, probably, Ethan was doing fine with his grandfather, and there was no reason for me to hurry back. She had never had kids, and she probably didn’t understand what it was like.
But Bailey surprised me, as she so often did. “I know, I know. Ethan needs to have his dad around. I remember how hard it was for me to leave my dad here in Vegas when Ian and I went back to living with our mom.” She paused and then snuggled in close to me. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t even ask about it. It’s selfish of me. But I just want to keep you all to myself.”
“It has been nice, the past couple days,” I admitted.
To be honest, before Bailey came along, I had sort of forgotten how challenging it was to balance a relationship’s needs once you had a child. Beth and I had eventually figured out a rhythm once we had Ethan, but for the first couple years, it had been a near-constant challenge to figure out when we had time for one another.
And then the balance had shifted again once Beth got sick. Especially in those last few months, I knew that I had been far more focused on Beth and the relationship that she and I had than I was on Ethan. I just didn’t have enough time for him, between all the doctor visits and everything else she needed.
For the first time, I wondered if that was a huge part of the reason why I had closed myself off to everyone except for Ethan once Beth was gone. Maybe I had felt guilty about leaving him with Dad so much during those last few months, and maybe I had been afraid to get involved with someone who would take me away from him again.
Of course, my reasons for closing myself off didn’t really matter anymore. What was done was done, and the only way to move on was to move forwards.
I wanted this relationship with Bailey. We were going to have to find our own sort of balance and compromise. But at least I already knew that Bailey and Ethan got along well. Maybe all three of us could find a perfect balance together. But that would have to wait until Bailey was back in Utah with us. I couldn’t very well pull Ethan out of school and ski club in the middle of the season.
Bailey trailed her fingers across my bare chest, carefully not looking at me. “I’m going to do what I can to see if I can come back to Park City a little bit earlier than the board really wants,” she said slowly. “But maybe you could at least come visit me again, if it’s going to be another few weeks or so? And you could bring Ethan with you next time. I’d love to see him, and there’s all sorts of stuff that we could do around here with him. Maybe even a day trip to the Grand Canyon.”
“That would be fun,” I said, my mind already running wild with the possibilities. But to be honest, at the end of the day, I just couldn’t wait for her to get back to Utah. I shook my head. “This is my bit of selfishness, I guess. I know that I told you yesterday that if you needed to stay here in Vegas for the time being, then I would figure out a way to be here. But I just keep picturing us in Utah. You know, curled up on the couch by the fire, a nice blanket over the top of us, a movie on TV. Just quiet nights together. The three of us.”
I was surprised to hear the words slip out of my mouth. I’d never really been much of a romantic; I was normally too practical for that. But I did like the mental image I had of us.
And from the way that Bailey smiled at me, I could tell that she liked it as well. “That sounds cozy,” she said, pressing up against me and lightly laying her head on my shoulder.
Eventually, though, I sighed, glancing at the bedside table. “I think I need to pack,” I said, though I didn’t make any move to get out of bed. “I need to get to the airport soon.”
Bailey pouted, her arms holding me close. “I don’t want you to go,” she said petulantly.
“I don’t really want to go,” I admitted softly. “But we’re going to see each other soon, aren’t we?”
“As soon as possible,” Bailey agreed. But she didn’t sound any happier about the prospective of me leaving.
I tugged her closer, kissing her softly. “Then maybe I just have to give you a reason to hurry,” I suggested, and she moaned, deepening the kiss.
“Please,” she whispered quietly, and that was all the invitation that I needed.
58
Bailey
I hated the fact that Adam was leaving. I knew why he had to go back to Utah. In fact, I could barely believe I had tried to ask him to stay. Not because I didn’t want him to stay. But I knew just how selfish I was being, even asking him. I was the one who should be headed back to Utah. I should be rearranging my life to be with him, not the other way around.
Instead, though, I had shown up in Utah, basically made promises that I couldn’t keep, and dragged him all the way to Vegas just to spend time with me. Although Ian had been the one doing the dragging, I supposed.
But Adam didn’t seem to mind. He couldn’t stay there in Vegas, but he seemed like he really wanted to make this work. I thought back to what he had told me the previous evening, about how he hadn’t felt like this about anyone in a long time.
And I loved him. I knew that for a fact.
I loved the way he kissed me right now. The way he pushed me back against the soft sheets and covered my body with his. I loved the way his talented fingers roved across my skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. I loved the way he grinned down at me, his eyes dark and full of lust.
He had promised to give me a reason to hurry back to Utah, as though I needed any more reason to want to be back there. I missed him, and I missed my job, and I missed Ethan and Kayla and everyone else. I missed skiing, and surprisingly enough, I missed the cold and the snow.
I had loved the thought of Adam and I curled up on the couch with a blanket thrown over us while a fire raged in the fireplace and snow drifted slowly to the ground outside. I had loved the promise of a future together.
I knew that I needed to get things straightened out here in Nevada. I hated that I had been pulled out of bed that morning to talk business with some of our investors over the phone. We had scheduled a meeting for later, but I was never going to get those minutes back, when I could have been lying there in bed next to Adam.
Of course, I got this now. But he had to leave for the airport soon, and it felt like those earlier minutes had been wasted.
I didn’t want to work for the casino. I hadn’t wanted to, not for a long time now. I knew I needed to help Ian keep his job. He was my brother, after all, and I loved him. But I needed to get what I wanted as well. And right now, it seemed like everything I wanted was in Utah.
It was hard to keep thinking, though, when Adam was intent on giving me more and more reason to head back to Park City as soon as possible.
He was teasing me, I suddenly realized, as he slowly kissed his way down my body. There was laughter in his eyes as he gazed up at me. I refused to give in and beg, at least for now. Let him do his worst, if that’s the way that he wanted to play. I had a feeling it wouldn’t take long before we were both desperate for him to be inside of me.
But he took his sweet time, working me over until I was trembling against the sheets, my hips giving little aborted thrusts as he worked his fingers inside of me. His lips brushed against my lips, my jawline, my cheek. He nibbled at my earlobe and I couldn’t help gasping as I arched against him. His answering laugh rumbled through his chest beneath my fingertips.
He dragged his lips down my body, nipping and sucking at my skin, showing me pleasure that was stronger than anything I had ever felt before. I gasped as he tongued along the cleft between my legs. He licked my clit and then nuzzled lower, his tongue pressing inside of me, joining his fingers inside of my needy core. He sucked at my velvety folds, stimulating me in the most intimate of ways.
I tangled my fingers in his hair, head falling back on another breathy moan as he fluttered his tongue and dragged the pads of his fingers along my inner walls. He ravished me for what felt like forever, and even though I was increasingly desperate for something more, there was also a definite part of me that never wanted him to stop what he was doing right now.
When he pulled back and away, I sobbed, hips jerking unsteadily in response. He stilled me with the gentlest of touches, smiling crookedly down at me as he pumped his cock a few times before thrusting it into my wet and waiting pussy.
He fucked me until I was breathless, crying out his name, so close to coming that I was almost in tears. But I held back, watching his face, noting how close he, himself, was getting. Let him tease me, then; I wouldn’t come until he did.
He dragged his thumbs across my nipples, and I bit at my lower lip as my pussy clenched tightly around his full length. Again and again, he slammed into me, and I could tell from how frantic his movements were that this was finally getting to him as well, that he could barely hold back, that soon enough, he would be on the brink as well.
He groaned, pressing his whole body into mine, as though we could mesh into just one person like this. His thrusts became choppy and primal, and even though I wanted nothing more than to watch his face as he was overcome with pleasure, I found my own eyes slipping shut as well at the strength of the emotions coursing through me.
Three more rapid thrusts and that was it for both of us. We came together, fingers grasping at sweaty skin, mouths open on noisy moans of lust. Adam pressed my body even further back into the sheets, but I welcomed the weight of him against me as I wrapped my legs around his muscular form.
We panted there for a long time, drifting in utter satiation. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, laughing a little. “Fuck, I think it gets better ever time,” I joked.
Adam laughed as well, falling off to the side. “Then you’d better not hurry back to Utah,” he teased. “Otherwise, I think you might just kill me.”
I grinned at him and wiggled closer, facing him. But suddenly, Adam swore. “I’m going to miss my flight if I don’t hurry up,” he said, leaping out of the bed. He paused for a moment, looking back at me.
I wanted to grab his arm and pull him back into bed with me. To cuddle against him and beg him not to leave, or at least not yet. I could get him booked on a later flight. I could pay the airline change fees.
But I knew that he wanted to get back to Ethan, and I was sure that Ethan wanted to see his father as well. It had only been a couple days, but to a kid, that was a long time. I remembered what it felt like to wait uncertainly to see a parent again, and I couldn’t do that to the little boy.
Besides, what did it really matter if Adam left now or later? It was going to hurt either way.
I sighed and rolled out of bed as well. “I wish we had more time,” I said. “But I’ll see you soon.”
Adam flashed a grin at me as he packed up his things, throwing them haphazardly into the duffel bag that he had brought with him from home. “Want to come with me to the airport?” he asked.
I remembered the last airport departure. That time, I had been the one leaving, departing Utah and headed here to Las Vegas. This time, it would be the other way around, with Adam departing Nevada for Park City. But I had a feeling it would hurt just as much. I had a feeling I would have to wipe away a few tears on the way home.
But I wouldn’t have missed the chance to say goodbye to him. Or rather, to say a quick ‘see you later’, because I knew that I was going to see him again. And soon.
And once I got back to the casino, I was going to have a long talk with Ian and see if we could come up with some way for me to leave a little earlier than the month that I had promised to the board of directors.
Sure enough, when we got to the airport and I watched Adam grab his things out of the back of t
he car, I had to blink back tears. He gave me a huge hug. “Don’t do anything crazy before you come back to Utah,” he said. “I know that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I don’t think that holds true if you dye your hair purple or something.”
I had to laugh at that, glad that he had lightened the mood at least a little bit. I opened my mouth to respond and swallowed back the words that almost escaped; I love you.
I did love Adam. There was no question of that. And what’s more, his visit here had shown me that maybe, just maybe, he might love me as well. There might be a way for the two of us to make this relationship work.
I knew that if I said that I loved him now, things would probably feel better over the weeks to come, if I was still stuck here in Vegas. There would be no more of that questioning like there had been before his surprise visit. We would both know where we stood.
But on the other hand, I didn’t want him to think I was only blurting out the words because I was feeling emotional about his departure. I wanted to make sure that he knew just how special it was for me to say those words to him.
The other worry I had, that niggling doubt, was that maybe things were happening a little too fast. We had known each other for ages now, ever since I had visited Brooks Mountain as a kid. But this relationship was still relatively new. I didn’t want to say anything that would upset the balance. I knew that Adam had told me I would need to be patient with him in light of the fact that he had lost his first wife, Ethan’s mom. I didn’t want to say I loved him too soon and send him running for the hills.
Besides, I could tell that he had feelings for me. Did I really need to say anything out loud?
All these thoughts flew through my head in just a second, as I stood there in his arms. But in the end, I just smiled up at him. “Soon,” I promised him.
“Soon,” he echoed, nodding at me. Then, he turned and grabbed his bag, heading into the airport. Another moment later and he was gone. I knew it shouldn’t bother me, but I couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn’t looked back.
One Shot At Love: A Billionaire Single Father Romance Page 33