Vegas Vacation (Destination Desire)

by Crystal Jordan

  “It’s a surprise. You’ll see.” She fished a few bills out of her pocket and bought them both day passes. Handing one to him, she led the way through the packed lower level and up to the second floor, which was far less congested. They found two seats together and grabbed them.

  He laid an arm across the back of her chair, scanning her features for a moment. “I don’t even get a hint?”

  Looking excited and more than a little pleased with herself, she shook her head. “Nope. We’re going where I say, and you just get to wonder.”

  “I do, huh?” He leaned over and kissed the side of her neck, just because he liked to make her react. “You’re suddenly all bossy and take charge.”

  “Yep.” She tipped her head, giving him as much access to her neck as he wanted. No shrinking away because they were in public. Good.

  “That’s kind of hot,” he whispered in her ear, then nipped at the lobe.

  “Shut up, Walsh.” She bumped him with her shoulder, and he watched a blush creep up her neck, but he also saw her cheeks crease in a little grin.

  He rested his head against hers and closed his eyes for a minute. The light scent of her perfume filled his nostrils. He had no idea what the hell he was doing anymore. There was no doubt he wanted her on every level. More with every second that passed, but the emotional roller coaster was faster and wilder than he’d ever imagined. He was going to do his best to hang on for the ride, but his confidence in how well this week-long gamble would pay off was dwindling. It was wrenchingly painful to realize how much he was coming to care for her—so much so that her not wanting to spend the night had been a knife to the chest. This could end in a serious disaster, and he wasn’t sure he could do anything to stop it.

  The only thing he was sure about was he didn’t want to walk away.

  The only thing she was sure about was she didn’t want to walk away. Not now. Not yet. Meg wanted her week with him. It had been awful to have him confront her about her behavior, but she couldn’t say she blamed him. She’d been terrible. Something else to add to her less-than-stellar history with men. But the truth was, Finn was right. She’d been scared and she ran from her fears. They were two days into this affair and already her resolve was wavering far too much. Where would her resolve be by day seven?

  She didn’t know and that scared her. But being nasty to Finn to save herself wasn’t the answer. He didn’t deserve that. Hell, he deserved far better than she could offer, and that was the sad truth. She wished it weren’t, but there was nothing she could do to change it. Still, she’d agreed to the week, given herself permission to be a little reckless for seven whole days, and she was selfish enough to want all of them. Even if it was scary. Even if she had to give a little ground not to hurt Finn any more than she feared she was going to. The way he looked at her…she knew he liked her, knew he cared, and she both loved and hated knowing that. It wasn’t just sex for him. It never had been, and treating him like a sex toy was a slap in the face to a good man.

  She’d do better in the future.

  The bus rocked around a corner, and being on the upper floor just exaggerated the ungainly sway of the massive vehicle. She pulled herself out of her morose thoughts and looked around to see what intersection they were at. Missing their stop would be a bad thing.

  “Here we are.” She bounced out of their seat, grabbed Finn’s hand, and dragged him along behind her.

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere,” he stated. “Where are you taking me?”

  “You’ll see. Come on.”

  They made it to the ground floor and just managed to catch the door before it closed. She hopped out onto the sidewalk, flinching a bit as the heat slammed into her full force.

  “Okay. There’s where we’re going.” She pointed to a nondescript building, and his gaze followed the direction of her finger.

  The big sign over the building made his jaw drop. Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. “No way.”

  “Yes way.”

  “It’s the shop from Pawn Stars.” A huge grin split his face.

  Smugness filled her at the disbelief and pleasure on his face. He’d been so focused on doing whatever she wanted while they were here, she was glad she could offer him a little of that in return. It didn’t make up for her being a complete ass to him the night before, but it was a start.

  She tried for a modest shrug. “You said you wanted to come here, so I did a bit of research.”

  He yanked her into his arms. Then he kissed her very thoroughly, bending her backward so she had to grab his shoulders to keep her balance. Heat exploded through her and it had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with her unquenchable lust for Finn Walsh. His tongue slid between her lips and he feasted on her mouth. They didn’t come back up for air until a loud wolf-whistle pierced the air and she heard applause.

  Looking around, she saw a couple of bikers mounted on Harleys parked next to the shop. Cracking up, she covered her face and burrowed into Finn’s chest. Being turned on in public was more than a little awkward. From the corner of her eye, she saw him give the bikers a wave before he drew her into the pawn shop.

  A few of the people from the television show were behind the counter, but Meg and Finn just wandered around looking at everything. He dragged her over to a display of baseball collectables, and she squealed, then clamped a hand over her mouth when people turned to stare at her.

  “You’re so cute when you blush.” He ran his finger down her cheek and neck.

  She pursed her lips. “There’s nothing wrong with blushing. Or being cute. I think going with one’s natural talents is a good thing.”

  “If it’s not broken”—he swooped in and kissed her lightly—“don’t fix it.”

  “Exactly.” She fanned her face to cool her flushed cheeks.

  His smile was easy, and gratitude expanded in her chest. She was so glad he wasn’t staying mad at her, and she knew she shouldn’t care what he thought of her, but she did. She pushed the thought away. She was tired of beating herself up over how she felt. This week was supposed to be fun. There was plenty of time to overanalyze every little thing she’d done when she got home. So she let Finn take her hand and lead her toward a display with a medieval jousting helmet.

  “I think you might like this, Meg.”

  She thought she might too, if she could let herself.

  Chapter Ten

  It was going too well, and for some reason, that worried Finn.

  He pushed himself to greater speed on the stationary bike he rode in the hotel gym while he considered. Meg hadn’t tried to pull back since the night they’d gone to the Cirque du Soleil, though they now split their time between her room and his. But…it was too perfect. It fit just right, and he had no fucking clue what he was going to do if she decided to end it after this week. They only had two days left, and he didn’t know where they stood.

  But he was falling for her. Hard.

  It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen it coming. He’d known the possibility was there when he’d gotten Anne to talk Meg into this trip. Sensing it was possible and having it become a reality were different things, and the reality was much more complicated than he’d imagined. He was hanging on to his sanity by a thread, trying not to let himself fall all the way. Loving her and losing her would be…catastrophic. The thought was gut-wrenching, and he shoved it out of his mind.

  A cloud of dread hung over him, growing darker and heavier as the days slid by. Tomorrow, he had to deal with dinner at his dad’s. It would also be his last night with Meg before they left town.

  “Hey, Walsh! Spot me, would you?”

  The voice yanked him back to the here and now, and he turned to see Frank lying on a bench, ready to lift some free weights. Using his shirt to swipe the sweat from his face, Finn hopped off the stationary bike. The display said he’d gone nearly twenty miles, but he’d been so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t remember much of it. He’d just peddled.

  He hadn’t even seen Fran
k come in, and from the sweat rings on his shirt, the other man had been working out for a while. Finn stepped over to the bench and kept his hands on the bar while Frank began pumping the weights up and down. His face went red, and beads of sweat formed on his brow as the rep count got higher.

  “Do you know where everyone else is today?” The words were a bit breathless as Frank spoke.

  Finn watched the veins pop out on his colleague’s forehead, wondering if he should warn him to take it easy. “The ladies are meeting for brunch right now at some kind of frilly tearoom, and I think we’re all doing dinner at the Paris. A place called Mon Ami Gabi that has a patio looking over the Bellagio fountains. Then anyone who’s interested is taking the ride up the fake Eiffel Tower.”

  Frank gasped, “Not your style, Walsh?”

  “I’ll go if everyone else does.” Tightening his grip on the bar as Frank wobbled, Finn lifted the weights and set them back in place.

  Flopping backwards, Frank wheezed for a few moments before speaking. “I’ll give it a try. One more ride to go on.”

  Finn held out a hand to pull the other man to his feet. “Not as fast as some of the others on the Strip, though. How did you like the one at the New York?”

  His eyes lighting up, Frank flapped an excited hand through the air. “Fantastic! The engineering that goes into those rides is just amazing.”

  And this was why Frank was the math teacher and Finn handled P.E. This was just not his interest. They took turns sucking down some water from the drinking fountain, and Finn sighed when the cool liquid flowed over his parched tongue. He’d managed to forget his water bottle. Not a smart move, but it would have been worse if he’d been out in the Vegas heat without it.

  “Want to grab some coffee?” Frank asked.

  Caffeine sounded far too good, probably because Finn had been keeping Meg up most of the night, every night. If his time was limited, he couldn’t waste it by sleeping, could he? That was what coffee was for. “A double espresso might be in order.”

  Chuckling, Frank led the way to the nearest caffeine dealer.

  Brunch had somehow turned into shopping, and Meg followed along behind Doreen and Cindy with her arms loaded down with bags. Carla walked beside her, burdened with even more bags. Meg had no idea how it was possible, but Doreen had found every deal the Strip had to offer. She’d dragged them into so many shops having sales they’d started to blur for Meg. They’d been to the Venetian, Planet Hollywood, and everywhere in between, and ended at the Forum Shops at Caesar’s Palace. She’d bought postcards to send to Anne’s sisters, cheesy souvenirs for her friends, a Vegas snow globe for her mom, and a set of Vegas-themed trading cards for her dad.

  When the other women weren’t looking, she’d also purchased a slinky teddy to wear for Finn. If tomorrow was her last night with him, she wanted to make it memorable. She’d like to see those blue eyes of his pop open wide and lust that could curl her toes reflected on his handsome face. The sheer, sexy little number she’d picked up might make that happen, even though she turned bright red just knowing she’d bought the thing.

  They trailed out of the Forum Shops and into the hotel proper, smothering their laughter at the sight of a mannequin in one of the windows. It was dressed in an outfit that could put Liberace to shame. On the way, they passed the hotel’s food court and a massive theater complex.

  “Hey, guys!”

  Meg startled as Frank popped out from between two rows of slot machines. Finn was right behind him. The musky scent of male sweat wafted off them. Both wore baggy mesh basketball shorts and a tank top, but Finn’s was pale pink.

  Carla snickered. “I think someone dropped his white shirt in the laundry with something red.”

  “Ah, no.” He turned around so they could read the back. There was the classic pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness along with the saying, Save Second Base.

  Everyone chuckled as they read it. “Nice.”

  He faced the group again, waving a large coffee cup. “I do the walk for breast cancer every year in San Francisco in my mom’s name. She died of it about five years ago.”

  Doreen made a sympathetic noise, Cindy reached out to pat his shoulder, and Carla said, “That’s a really nice way to commemorate her.”

  Nodding, Meg forced herself to stay where she was and say nothing or she might be tempted to hug him. Cancer was such an awful way to lose someone. Poor Finn.

  “It’s something I like to do for her. She was an amazing mom.” He took a final swig of his coffee and lobbed the cup into a nearby trash can.

  Empathy squeezed inside her, and she ached for him. But it mingled with a growing anger on her own behalf. It had caught her by surprise at odd times the last few days and hit her again now. Because… God, could he get any more wonderful? It just wasn’t fucking fair that he had to be her coworker. Why couldn’t he be a lawyer or dentist or electrician? Anything but a teacher at Half Moon Bay Middle School.

  The injustice of it seared through her. She wished that something about their situation was different, that there was some way around that one blockade. But there wasn’t or she would have found it by now. They suited each other so well on so many levels, and it was still doomed. How sucktastic was that? He might argue that it didn’t matter that they were coworkers or remind her that they weren’t her parents, but he hadn’t seen what she’d seen or been through what she’d been through. If he had, he might not be so quick to dismiss her fears. And it still pissed her off that she shouldn’t—couldn’t—keep him.

  He gestured down at his sweat-soaked clothes. “I think a shower is in order. I’ll see all of you for dinner?”

  “Mon Ami Gabi is one of my favorite restaurants in Vegas.” Doreen’s face creased in a smile. “My husband and I like to eat there when we come here. He’s a bit miffed I’m cheating on him with my friends to go there.”

  “Aw, poor hubby. Too bad he couldn’t come this week. Maybe you can get him a really great present to make up for it.” Meg lifted her arms as high as she could, which wasn’t far because they were loaded down with bags. “You do have an outstanding gift for shopping.”

  Covering her mouth, Doreen giggled. “I do, don’t I?”

  “Yes, and before I lose feeling in my hands, I’m going to take all this stuff to my room. Dinner at seven, right?”

  “Right,” Cindy replied. “I made reservations. Everyone just meet over there.”

  “See you at seven!” Meg gave a little wiggle of her fingers to wave goodbye, though her wrists were starting to throb from the heavy load of the plastic bags cutting into her skin.

  Finn’s gaze moved over her in a quick sweep before she turned away. It was subtle enough that she doubted anyone else picked up on it, but his expression told her he wanted her. Now, always. A frisson of heat passed through her. She could feel his gaze on her as she walked away, but she couldn’t look back with everyone else watching. Damn it.

  When it came to Finn, she could never really have everything she wanted. The thought depressed her.

  Finn’s phone rang the moment he stepped into his hotel room. Hoping it was Meg, he grabbed it, but the display showed Anne’s number. He fought a groan, knowing better than to ignore a call from her. “Hello?”

  “Hey there, lover boy.” Her words had a teasing lilt. “How’s everything going?”

  He cringed at the term lover boy. “Fine.”

  “Just fine?” He could practically hear her eyebrows arching.

  Injecting as much cheer into his voice as he could muster, he said, “Really, super fine.”

  She harrumphed. “I can fly back there and give her an excuse never to speak to you again.”

  Toeing out of his shoes, he tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear, then bent to tug off his socks. “Do it and I’ll kill you. Seriously dead.”

  “Oh,” she purred. “Then things are going better than even really, super fine. How soon after I left did you score?”

  Yeah, like he was answering tha
t question. But she wasn’t going to be put off by evasions, so he kept it as short as possible. “We have an agreement for the week.”

  “An agreement.” Her tone was doubtful.

  “No strings attached.” Tapping the button to turn on speakerphone, he set his cell down and then shucked his shirt. When his own stink annoyed him, it was definitely time to shower.

  A crack of gleeful laughter sounded through the phone. “Good for her. I wasn’t sure she had it in her.”

  “She does.” A rueful smile touched his lips. “It was her idea, not mine. I wanted a date, she wanted a lot less.”

  “Or more, depending on how you look at it.”

  “It’s less, trust me.”

  There was a long pause. “Are you going to be okay with this?”

  “I’m…not sure.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I like her, Anne. This week has made it more than just like. But she’s determined that it’s a spring fling only, and…I’m not sure I’m going to be able to change her mind anymore.” He was less and less certain by the minute. Doubt was starting to weigh down on him and what had once felt like a game wasn’t fun anymore. There was far too much riding on the outcome when they were playing for keeps.

  Somehow watching her walk away with her shopping bags had hit him, and he realized he was forty-eight hours away from watching her walk away for good. Jesus, it fucking sucked.

  She snorted. “You went into it pretty cocky, and she’s taken you down a few pegs.”

  “Confident, not cocky,” he protested. “I didn’t assume anything, I was just hoping like hell I could pull it off. That hope is fading.”

  At this point, it was almost dead. She’d shown no real signs of backing off her one-week-only stance, and he was a hairsbreadth away from falling in love with her. Helpless desperation gripped his gut.

  “She’s a stubborn girl, our Meg.”

  “And we like her that way.” He liked everything about her. He even liked how graciously she’d apologized when she’d messed up. It said good things about what a real relationship would be like with her, where confrontation and compromise were inevitable.