by Robyn Amos
Ace smiled, both happy to be with his old friend again and excited by the crackling tension he felt between them. Was it mutual this time?
It could be. Her eyes had taken on a coy slant as she lowered her lashes to hide her normally direct gaze. When she raised them again, he saw her eyes trace his body from where their knees touched slowly up his frame.
Time to make his move. “Ronnie, are you—”
Before he could ask if she was seeing anyone, the car stopped. They had arrived at The Venetian hotel, where the first leg of the All-Star Food Fight would take place. The chauffeur pulled open their door just as things were getting interesting.
Bellhops instantly appeared, and the two of them were ushered off to check in. Unfortunately, Ace didn’t get the opportunity to finish his question.
On the elevator ride to his room, he made a silent vow.
If they were both as good as they thought they were in the kitchen, they would have up to three weeks together on the road. Ace decided it was finally time for him to take a shot at romancing the chef.
Chapter 4
The bellhop let Ronnie into her luxury concierge suite. As soon as she saw the giant, king-size bed, a huge smile spread across her face.
Thankfully Ace had helped her dispel the gloomy mood that had developed during the flight. Now her arrival at the hotel pushed her back into full elation.
After quickly unpacking her clothes, she walked over to the window to discover she had a fantastic view of the gigantic pool. Instantly, Ronnie craved a swim in the cool water.
Even though she had to run down to the event gallery to make sure the boxes she’d shipped had arrived, there were two motivating factors calling her to the pool. One was the hot Las Vegas sun, and two was the promise she’d made to Cara that she’d work out regularly while she was away.
After confirming that her shipment had arrived safely,
Ronnie changed into her bathing suit and headed out to the pool. But old habits died hard, and she covered her suit with a T-shirt and shorts as well as a long terrycloth robe.
Grabbing some towels, Ronnie set herself up in a lounge chair. The water was calling to her, but on such a hot afternoon, the pool was packed. Even though she’d lost a lot of weight since the last time she’d been swimming in a public pool, she still couldn’t bring herself to undress.
“Wow. I’m getting hot just looking at you.”
Ronnie looked up and found Ace standing over her. She silently caught her breath. A towel was slung around his neck and his chest was bare, showing every bulging muscle, from his abs to his pecs and biceps. His red swim trunks were wet and clung to his large, muscular thighs. Ronnie had to school her eyes to stay away from his lower body.
But there was no safe place for her eyes to rest when there were big muscles and sleek brown skin everywhere she tried to look.
“Ace. I guess we had the same idea about how to spend the rest of our afternoon.”
He laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I was actually swimming in the pool. Did you forget you’re in the desert? Because you’re better dressed for the Alaskan tundra.”
Feeling embarrassed, Ronnie shook her head. “No, I just got here. I’m planning to get in.” A bead of perspiration slid down between her breasts under all her layers of clothing.
“Well, come on. Take off your snow suit and get in with me.”
Ronnie’s skin became even hotter under Ace’s watchful gaze. It was one thing to show off her new figure under a carefully chosen outfit that complimented her shape. If she undressed now, there would be nothing left to the imagination.
“You go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
He shook his head. “What are you waiting for? Come on in. The water is perfect. I know you’re roasting under that robe.”
Ronnie realized that if she protested any further she’d sound foolish, so she bit her lip and stood up. Untying her robe, she slipped it off and took her time folding it on her lounge chair.
Ace immediately snickered. “I can’t believe you have even more clothes on under that robe.”
Swallowing hard, Ronnie took off her shorts first, letting the length of her T-shirt cover her suit. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with nerves. Even though her mirror showed her a thin person when she looked in it, she still felt like an overweight person on the inside. She’d always made a big show of confidence and bravado when it had come to her body in the past.
But now that Ace was standing there waiting for her to disrobe, all that confidence eluded her. All she could imagine was the disappointment in his face when he saw her in her modest black tank suit.
Trying to come up with some witty distraction to hide her insecurities, Ronnie whipped her T-shirt over her head like a child ripping off a bandage.
But her witty remark died on her lips as her gaze raised to Ace’s. Before she could utter a sound, he said, “Very sexy.”
Then she was scooped up in his arms and summarily dumped into the swimming pool.
When she came up sputtering water, the tension of the moment had been broken. Ace was suddenly next to her splashing water in her direction.
“You were moving too slow. I didn’t have the patience to watch you dip one toe, then the other before you declaredthe water too cold. So I thought I’d help you along. You’re welcome.”
“You—” Without thinking, Ronnie jumped on his back and pushed his head under the water.
Ace burst to the surface, laughing. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and held her so she couldn’t get at him again.
As her own laughter began to subside, she began to realize that only a thin, wet layer of bathing suit separated her bare skin from his. Feeling her self-consciousness returning, Ronnie began to kick her feet and flail her arms, sending wave after wave of water at Ace until he dumped her back into the water.
She felt safer, hidden under the surface of the water. “I’m free,” she said, goading him to chase her.
They played a cat-and-mouse game around the pool, carefully dodging the other occupants. Ronnie was able to evade Ace’s grasp for quite some time, until she made the mistake of feinting left when she should have feinted right.
“I’ve got you now,” he shouted, as she found herself locked in his arms.
Before she could stop herself, she said, “And just what are you going to do with me now that you’ve got me?”
“Whatever I want, of course.” His tone was light and playful, but she could see heat rising in his eyes.
Suddenly it was more than Ronnie was prepared to handle. She didn’t come to Las Vegas to have an affair. Especially not with the ridiculously hot Sexy Chef.
Immediately Ronnie began squirming in his arms. But that only made the situation worse. Ronnie applied a little pressure against his muscular embrace and quickly realized there was no escape. Ace’s arms were like bands of steel holding her against him. And her struggles causedan exciting friction between their bodies. Suddenly the heat in his eyes wasn’t the only thing rising.
Clearly a bit startled himself, his grip on her loosened and Ronnie wriggled free. In a full panic now, she dove under the surface and swam to the nearest ladder. She didn’t care that she had to now walk halfway around the pool to get back to her things.
Barely taking the time to fully cover herself, she gathered up her clothes and started heading for the hotel entrance.
“Ronnie!” Ace called out from somewhere behind her.
Darting a quick look over her shoulder, she waved in his general direction. “I’m going to go back inside,” she called to him. “I’ll see you later.”
Ace stood on the pool deck, watching Ronnie literally run away from him. Granted, things had progressed faster than he’d intended, but he hadn’t expected this kind of reaction from her.
Ronnie had always been sassy and confident. Ace couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it, but it seemed that since Ronnie had lost weight, she had become self-conscious.
It was o
bvious in the way that she’d dressed for the pool in layer after layer of clothing. It had seemed as though she was avoiding disrobing in front of him. From the way she’d been acting, he’d half expected to see gruesome burn scars or massive stretch marks, but her body had been tight and toned. The only thing wrong with her shape had been that matronly tank suit that covered up too much of it.
He’d wanted to stare, openly admiring her new figure, but, on impulse, he’d decided to drop her into the pool. He’d gotten the desired reaction. She’d been too angry to focus on her hang-ups … at least at first.
If only he’d been able to keep his hands off her, she might not have run from him. But that only made him more determined than ever to let her know how he’d been feeling about her.
“There you are. I’ve been looking all over this place for you,” Ace heard Garett say, walking toward him, looking like a fifties throwback in his straw fedora, white cabana shirt and pale plaid pants.
“Get a load of you, Frank Sinatra,” Ace said, looking his publicist up and down.
“Hey, if you think I’m not going to make the most of my time in Vegas, you’re crazy.”
“And here I thought you traveled all this way to give me moral support.”
“Why don’t you dry off and come inside, Ace. We have work to do. The press junket is tomorrow, and I want to do a little prep.”
Ace started across the pool deck to the lounge chair where he’d left his things. “I do press all the time. I really don’t think I need to prep.”
What he really wanted to do was go after Ronnie. He had a feeling that the more time he gave her, the more she’d be able to convince herself that nothing had happened between them.
“Of course we have to prep,” Garett said, coming up behind him. “We need an angle. Something that will make you stand out from the other contestants.”
Ace shrugged, drying himself off with his towel. “I’ll stand out from the others when I win.”
“We can’t wait until then. We need to find an angle now. Something that will make them follow you for the entire competition.”
Ace pulled his on T-shirt over his head. He should have been used to Garett’s push for publicity stunts by now.
Instead, he chose to ignore him most of the time. And it wasn’t lost on his friend that Ace was distracted at the moment.
“You’re not focused. Does this have anything to do with the girl I saw hurrying away from you just now?”
“She’s not just some girl. That’s Ronnie.” At his friend’s blank expression, Ace continued. “You know, Veronica Howard. She’s in the competition.”
“Are you kidding me? I didn’t even recognize her.” Garett rubbed his chin. “I don’t know how I feel about you mingling with your competitors. Unless, of course, you were trying to get in her head. Psych her out a bit?”
Ace waved him off. “We have a healthy rivalry going, but I’m not trying to get in her head. Ronnie and I are friends.”
Garett studied him for a minute, nodding his head. “I get it. Not in her head, just in her pants.”
Ace was so taken aback, he didn’t deny it. He just gaped at Garett.
He snapped his fingers. “Yeah, that’s perfect. We’ve found our angle.”
“What are you talking about?” Ace asked, stepping into his flip-flops.
“I’m talking about the ‘showmance,’ my friend. The classic reality-TV romance. We let it leak that there may be a little more than competition heating up between you and your competitor, Ms. Veronica Howard. The press will eat it up. They’ll be jumping out of trash cans to catch you two sneaking around together.”
“Hold on, Garett, that’s the last thing I want. You’d better go back to the drawing board, because that angle’s not going to work.”
Garett slung an arm around Ace’s shoulder as theyheaded inside the hotel. “So you’re denying that you’re interested in her?”
“No,” Ace said, twisting out from under his friend’s arm. “But my interest in her has nothing to do with manufacturing a ‘showmance’ for the sake of the press.”
“Look, if you’re going to pursue her anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone? Let your little fling work to our advantage?”
“It’s not going to happen, Garett. That’s final.”
Once Ronnie was safe in her hotel room, she breathed a sigh of relief. Had she and Ace really been flirting with each other?
Never in a million years had she imagined that he could actually see her that way. Of course, circumstances were different now. She’d lost a lot of weight. Now she was finally in the ballpark of being his type.
She didn’t know why, but that thought bothered her quite a bit. It was understandable that wearing a smaller size would make her more attractive to a wider pool of men. But she secretly wished she’d been his type before she’d lost the weight.
Ronnie hopped into the shower and washed and dried her hair. When she came out of the bathroom, her mind was still whirling with the memory of what had happened at the pool.
What she needed now was a bit of perspective. Picking up her cell phone, she dialed Cara.
“Hello?”
“Greetings from Vegas, baby!”
“Ronnie. You made it.” Her friend’s voice sounded far away. “If you’re calling to check up on Baxter, relax. He’s having the time of his life playing with the kids.”
“I’m so glad. But I miss my little puppy.” At eightypounds, her German shepherd was well into adulthood, but Baxter would always be a puppy to Ronnie.
“He misses you, too,” Cara said and Ronnie heard an echo in the background.
“Do you have me on speakerphone?”
“Yes, I’m in the car. I’m on my way to pick up the kids from day care. A.J.’s working late today.”
“Then I won’t keep you. You can call me back later.”
“Wait a minute. I know you didn’t call just to say hello and good-bye. What’s on your mind?”
“I think I’m in trouble,” Ronnie said, sinking down on the edge of her bed.
“Oh, no. What kind of trouble?”
“The usual. Man trouble.”
“You haven’t been in Las Vegas for even twenty-four hours and you already have man trouble. Good for you!”
“I’m glad you think this is funny.”
“It’s not funny. It’s great. Who’s the guy?”
“Ace Brown.” Ronnie flopped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. She felt like a high school girl with a crush. It was embarrassing.
“I should have known. He caught sight of your new hot bod and couldn’t resist you.”
Ronnie sighed. “Something like that.”
“Then what’s the problem? You two have been friends for years. He’s a good guy. You like him. He’s gorgeous. Sounds like a win/win to me.”
“Yeah, but he’s always been a player. And he never showed any interest in me when I was … pleasantly plump.”
“Ahh, I see. I guess I can understand why that would bother you. But, you’ve got to get over it. Tell me exactly what happened.”
“Well, I ran into him at the airport, and he didn’t even recognize me. I mean I know I’ve lost weight, but do I really look that different?”
“No, but you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was probably a context thing. You probably caught him off guard. He didn’t know how much you’ve changed. What happened after that?”
Ronnie told her friend about the ride to the hotel and running into Ace at the pool.
“Ooh, steamy. Well, he’s clearly into you. You might have actually gotten somewhere with him if you hadn’t run away.”
“You’re not helping me at all here, Cara.”
“What? Because I’m not encouraging you to continue your forced celibacy? No one was happier than me when you finally got Andre out of your life. But you can’t keep punishing yourself for that mistake.”
Sure, if her on-and-off relationship with Andre Roberts had been h
er only mistake, maybe she could get past it. But every guy she’d dated since high school had treated her poorly. For the longest time she thought that was just how relationships were. And then her best friend found her own soulmate in A. J. Gray, and Ronnie began to realize she deserved more.
“He wasn’t the first. I have a pattern of picking guys like Andre. How am I ever supposed to trust my own judgment again?”
“Now that your eyes are wide-open, you’ll never let a man take advantage of you like that again. Ronnie, believe me, it’s time to get back in the game.”
She shook her head at the phone. “No, this isn’t the right time. Maybe after the competition is over—”
“There’s no time like the present. If you wait until after the competition … well, for one thing, Ace might not bearound. And you’ll just find another excuse to put this off.”
“But I need to stay focused.”
“Listen. You’re going to win the competition. But that doesn’t mean you can’t reacquaint yourself with an old friend at the same time. Just go out with him. Have fun. It doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment.”
Finally, Ronnie sighed, giving up. “You’ve got a one-track mind, and that track leads to Ace.”
“Why did you call if you didn’t want my opinion?”
“Fine. You win. If he asks me out, and that’s a big if, I won’t say no.”
“That’s all I can ask for. Okay, I just pulled up to the school. Gotta go. But keep me updated, okay?”
“You’ve got it. But if this turns out to be a big mistake, I’m not going to miss my chance to say I told you so.”
Chapter 5
After Cara’s pep talk, Ronnie remembered that she’d wanted this trip to Las Vegas to be fun. She’d promised her best friend that she’d jump back into the dating world, and she knew she’d have to keep that promise eventually, but something was still holding her back.
She wanted to dress up and hit the Strip, but instead she stayed in her hotel room, watching rental movies and ordering from room service. It was a tame, restful evening, and when she woke up the next morning, Ronnie felt like a coward.