She thought she was free and clear once she hit the suite door, but then a male voice called out, “Do you need a ride back to your hotel?”
Addison stood straight up and glanced behind her to see a caramel-skinned man wearing a cowboy hat, plaid shirt and jeans sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. She must look a sight with her hair all mussed and wearing last night’s dress. He must think her a hussy for sneaking out of his friend’s room.
“Oh, I’m okay, thanks,” Addison replied.
“I’ll call downstairs to the concierge anyway and ensure a taxi is waiting for you. Tell them Noah sent you.”
Addison gave a hesitant smile. “Thank you, Noah. That’s awful nice of you.”
“Be safe,” he said as she closed the door behind her.
Caleb turned over and reached across the bed. His eyes sprung open when he felt only an indentation where the sexy siren with the doe eyes had lain the night before. Disconcerted, he sat up. Was she okay? Perhaps she was still sick.
Throwing back the covers, he walked half-naked in his boxers into the bathroom. It was empty. He scratched his head. Perhaps she was in the living quarters. He reached down for his jeans, slid them over his hips and zipped them up. When he opened the door to the master suite, he saw Noah holding a cup of coffee as he looked out over the Strip.
“Good morning.” Noah inclined his head.
“Morning.” Caleb barely looked at him as he made his way to the kitchen.
“If you’re looking for the girl from last night, she’s gone.”
Caleb turned around. “How would you know? You guys were asleep when we got in.”
“I saw her this morning when she tried unsuccessfully to sneak out the suite.”
“Was she okay?”
Noah’s brow rose. “You care?”
Caleb shrugged noncommittally.
“Must have been some night.”
“You could say that,” Caleb said as he padded with bare feet around the kitchen. He returned several minutes later carrying a mug of steaming-hot black coffee.
“I would have thought you would be bragging about your conquest,” Noah said. “You’re quite the ladies’ man.”
Caleb sipped his drink. “Wasn’t much of one last night.”
“What do you mean? What happened?”
“It was an utter bomb!” Caleb pronounced. “Not only did I not close the deal, but she got sick on top of it.”
Noah laughed. “Are you serious?”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “I am. And if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”
“Deny what?” Lucas asked, coming down the spiral staircase.
“Nothing,” Caleb answered. Not only was the night an utter failure, but he’d been so caught up in trying to close the deal and flirting, that they’d never exchanged names. Had she been like him and just wanted to have a night of fun in Vegas without any baggage? She must have been. It was too bad because he usually didn’t give females a second thought, but there was something about her that made him interested in what might have been. Oh, well. He guessed he would never find out.
That morning, Addison crept into the suite, but her efforts at being undetected were fruitless; all the girls were sitting at the dining room table.
“Well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Collette said when Addison closed the door behind her.
“Don’t start, Collette. It’s been a long night, and I have one helluva hangover.” Addison headed toward the bedroom they were sharing to go take a much-needed shower.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Collette jumped up from the table, ignoring the stares of the other girls. To them it was no big deal that Addison had had a one-night stand, but Collette knew better.
Collette rushed into the bedroom behind Addison, closed the door and plopped down on one of the room’s two beds. “Well?”
“Well, what?” Addison said as she sat on the opposite bed to remove her sandals.
“What happened? When you didn’t come home I assumed you were, you know, doing the deed with the fine fella you picked up at the club.”
“That was the plan,” Addison said, kicking off one sandal and then the other.
“And?”
Addison undid the hidden zipper in the back of her dress and let it fall to the floor, then she reached for a robe on her bed to cover her nakedness and she put it on. “And then nothing,” Addison said with a frown as she spun around to face her friend. “Your girl got so drunk that she got sick ... he had to put me to bed.”
Collette’s hands flew to her mouth. “Omigod! You’re kidding.”
“Nope. It’s the truth. Right when things got heated, after he’d kissed and caressed my entire body, after he’d just gone down on me, I got nauseous and fled his bed.”
Collette shook her head.
“I stayed in the bathroom so long, he feared for my safety and had to come in, pick me off the floor and carry me to bed.”
“Addison, no ...” Collette couldn’t believe it. She was trying to keep a straight face, but that was hard to do when she’d just heard the funniest thing ever.
“Yup. I was so embarrassed this morning that the only thing I could do was hightail it out of his bed before he woke up.”
“And did he?”
“No, thank God the universe was finally on my side, but I did run into a guy reading the paper in the living room. He was kind enough to arrange a taxi back to the hotel. Can you believe it? After I finally make the decision to lose my virginity and live spontaneously, fate throws me a curveball.”
“Maybe the universe was trying to tell you something?”
“Which is?”
“That it wasn’t the right time. He wasn’t the one.”
“I don’t know, Collette. There was something about him that was different. I know he was there last night to get laid like most men are in Vegas, but he didn’t have to take care of me. I mean, he brought me club soda and aspirin.”
“Maybe he was trying to get laid this morning.”
Addison’s head whirled. “Really? Have you always been this jaded?”
“Of course not. I just don’t want you to start acting like this guy was some sort of prince among men when he wasn’t. He was meant to be a one-night stand, nothing more.”
“Fine!” Addison said as she finally headed toward the bathroom. But she didn’t really mean those words. No matter what Collette said, Addison was sure there was something different about the man she’d slept beside.
Chapter 3
“Thanks for having me over for supper, Uncle Duke,” Caleb said as they sat over plates of T-bone steak and baked potatoes the following weekend. It was a true man’s meal. No muss. No fuss.
It was a week before Rylee’s wedding, and Caleb was in Dallas for the rodeo events. He had been prepared to eat the slop that was called food in the arenas, so he was happy to have received a supper invitation instead to the interminable bachelor’s mansion.
The mansion sat on nearly four hundred acres of prime west Texas real estate. His uncle, the oil man, had been drilling nearly three hundred acres on the land and making a killing but was starting to think perhaps he should start to consider other forms of energy.
“Is there something wrong with seeing my nephew?” Duke inquired.
“Of course not,” Caleb said, cutting an enormous slice of steak and jamming it into his mouth. “Just unusual is all. Where’s Bree and Jada?” Bree lived in Dallas, but Caleb knew his cousin Jada was flying in from San Francisco for Rylee’s wedding and making a pitstop in Dallas to see Bree.
“Bree and Jada are both having dinner with their mother.”
“And London?” Caleb referenced Duke’s eldest daughter, who lived in New Orleans.
“She’ll be flying directly to Tucson for the wedding.”
Caleb wasn’t surpr
ised Duke’s relationship with his eldest was tenuous at best.
“But if you must know, I do have an ulterior motive for the invitation,” Duke said, interrupting his thoughts.
Caleb’s head popped up from his plate.
“Your mama is worried that you’ve been at this bull-riding business for so many years and haven’t settled down into a career or a family.”
“Aww, Duke!” Caleb threw down his napkin. If this was the topic of conversation, he was starting to lose his appetite.
“Hey, hey.” Duke stopped him with a raised hand. “Don’t go getting your undies all in a bunch. I told her I would talk to you and see where your head is. I didn’t ask you here to try and convince you one way or the other. Your life is your own.”
“Thank God for that,” Caleb said, resuming eating his steak.
“But that’s not to say that it ain’t time for you to put bull riding on the shelf. You’re better than that, Caleb, always have been. You’re not like my son, Trent.”
Trent was the result of an affair with a Las Vegas showgirl that didn’t end on a good note, which is why the woman didn’t tell Duke he was a father until his son was nearly a teenager. Duke was none too pleased to find out he was the father, and Trent was angry he’d been denied a father and a better life.
“How’s he doing?”
“In and out of trouble,” Duke responded. “But what’s new?” Duke shook his head in disgust. “I’ve tried to help the boy, Caleb, but I don’t know. By the time I found out about him, I think the damage was already done. And no matter how much I do for him now, he still harbors so much anger and resentment because he feels the world owes him. He feels like his sisters, London, Jada and Bree, got a better break than he did because at least I knew about them and were a part of their lives, even if only a small part.”
Caleb shook his head. Uncle Duke was such a rolling stone. He’d bedded countless women; his four children were with three of them.
“I’d be angry too if my mama had kept me away from my father,” Caleb said, reaching for a bread roll and biting into it. He was finished after two hearty chomps.
“But how long am I supposed to pay for the mistakes of the past?” Duke asked wearily. “And it seems the more I try to help him, the worse it gets. So I’ve given up.”
“That doesn’t sound like you, Uncle Duke. You never give up on anyone or anything. Perhaps you guys just need some time apart.”
Duke shrugged. “Let’s talk about something else, like how we’re going to get my sister off your back.”
“I doubt Mama’s going to give up her quest to get me to settle down, especially when Noah done gone and got himself married and Chynna’s having their first grandbaby. And let’s not forget Rylee’s impending nuptials. I’m outnumbered there, Uncle Duke.”
His uncle laughed and sat back in his chair, staring at Caleb. Duke understood the boy because he was much like himself. He wanted to live life by his own rules with no restraints. A man like Caleb couldn’t be fettered, at least not until he was good and ready. “I understand that, son,” Duke finally said, “but you can’t ride bulls forever. What’s your endgame?”
Caleb paused from eating to look into his uncle’s brown eyes. “I’ve given it some thought.”
“And?”
“I thought maybe I could come and work out here with you. Noah’s got everything under control at Golden Oaks, so there’s really not much for me to do unless I want to be a ranch hand, and other folks in the community could use that work. And I most certainly can’t live off my mom and pop, but here,” he said, glancing around, “I could be of some use here.”
Duke nodded. He’d thought the very same thing himself. He loved his girls and knew Bree wanted to take over Hart Enterprises, but the oil business was no place for a woman. It was a dirty business, a man’s business, and he’d hoped that Caleb would come to the decision on his own. And he had.
“How would you feel about that?” Caleb asked. His uncle was being awfully quiet. Caleb knew it was somewhat presumptuous of him to even suggest such a thing, but it had been on his mind of late, especially with Rylee about to move on from Golden Oaks. What was he going to do there now?
“I would love it, Caleb,” Duke replied with a broad grin. “I could use a man like you on my team.”
“Are you sure? I know I don’t know a lot, but I’m a hard worker, and I’m willing to start at the bottom and work my way up.”
“That’s all I could ask for,” Duke said. “When do you think you might come aboard?”
“It’ll be a couple of months. I have to finish this rodeo circuit. There’s a lot of money at stake, and I know I can take home some serious cash and put it in my nest egg.”
“You got some savings?”
“Hell, yeah! You didn’t think I was just out there blowing my hard-earned cash getting beat up by a bull on gambling, liquor and women, did you?” At Duke’s dubious frown, Caleb continued, “I’m not saying I don’t like the ladies. There was one in particular last weekend at the bachelor party that caught my attention, but I did finish a year or so of college and took some economics classes. I’ve invested my money wisely.”
“That’s good to hear. I doubt other riders are doing the same.”
“I know everyone thinks I’m a knucklehead who doesn’t have a good head on his shoulders, but that’s the problem. Folks shouldn’t underestimate me.”
The next morning after insisting Caleb wear a hardhat and work boots, Duke took him to the oil rig, where the crew had started drilling operations at a new location.
“The geologist I hired seems to think this location has an oil reservoir we’ve yet to tap into.”
“How did he figure that out?” Caleb asked.
“Wasn’t a he, it was a she. After looking through seismic data to reconstruct the subsurface configuration, she was able to locate possible sites of oil traps. She calculated the percentage of oil that could possibly be extracted from the reservoir, then she worked with the geophysicist who interpreted the seismic data and helped build a picture of the subsurface below that would help us locate the oil based on past changes in the structure of the land.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“It is,” Duke replied, “but that’s why I pay them the big bucks. Come on, let me introduce you around.”
Before Caleb knew it, his uncle had introduced him—to the rig superintendent as well as the operations supervisor and lots of other roughnecks—as the next in line to help run the operation. Caleb had been equally surprised by his uncle’s comments as were several men who assumed Duke’s son would be next in line to run the business.
“Don’t worry about Trent,” Duke replied after several questions. “He’ll get what’s coming to him, but Caleb here has the heart and the passion I need to take this company to great heights.”
“Just as long as you don’t sell out to one of the midsized companies,” one of the roughnecks murmured.
“I’m no sellout,” Caleb said.
“Of course he’s not,” Duke defended his nephew, “and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so enough of this talk.
“Let’s go, son.” Duke led him away from the crowd.
“Daddy, you don’t need to treat me like a child.”
“Well, when you act like one by running up fruitless charges on my American Express, then you make me treat you like one.”
“Then perhaps you should give me a company credit card like you do with all of your other employees, rather than an ‘allowance.’” Addison made air quotes with her fingers.
“Don’t I pay you well?” her father asked.
Addison sighed. She couldn’t believe they were having this same conversation. “You pay me an allowance, not a salary, and every other executive has a credit card.”
“Which they wouldn’t use to run up charges in Veg
as.”
“What’s the big deal? It was a one-time thing.”
“Don’t talk back to me, young lady.” He wagged his finger in her face. “I can still put you over my knee.”
“Like you would even try,” Addison replied with a smirk. She knew she was her father’s world, had been since the day she was born and would be until the day he died.
“Sure wouldn’t, baby.” He smiled adoringly at her.
After Addison’s mother, Lila, had died when she was so young, her father had clung to her like she was some sort of lifeline, and perhaps she was. Losing the love of his life had been hard for Benjamin Walker, and Addison knew it was why he’d never married again. There’d been other women, many of whom thought they could help the young widower and his young daughter get over the loss, but her father had wanted no part.
Addison had watched her father turn each would-be wife away after just a few months of dating. She hadn’t wanted him to be lonely, but as the years went by, she began to get accustomed to it being just the two of them, father and daughter against the world.
But now, she was starting to feel stifled. She was a grown woman after all, but her father still treated her like a youngster. Addison wondered if he’d ever see her as an adult capable of making her own decisions. He’d even had a say in her choice of profession—she’d wanted to be a geologist out there in the dirt, helping to discover where the oil reservoirs were so she could be a help to him and his thriving oil tanker business, but he wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s not a profession for a young lady,” he’d said. So she’d majored in Marketing and Finance and graduated summa cum laude from Texas A & M University.
“I’ll agree that a weekend in Vegas was not an appropriate use of funds,” Addison replied, “however, I stand by my request for a credit card.”
“We’ll agree to disagree on this. Are you still coming with me tonight to the Alzheimer’s benefit?”
“Do I really have to?” She was not looking forward to being her father’s date to one of the endless charity dinners he was invited to as a prominent businessman in Dallas.
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