Easy Ride
Page 20
He was touched that she was brave enough to ask about Arch. She and her father had fought bitterly all through her teenage years, and he’d practically thrown her out after the centerfold incident. He hadn’t been serious about sending her away, but with her nineteen-year-old view of the world, she’d taken it very seriously. Neither of them had been able to swallow their pride long enough to make the connection again.
“Arch is fine,” he said gently, wanting to reassure her of that much, at least. “In perfect health.”
“I’m not surprised,” she said with a grimace, although she sounded relieved. “He wouldn’t tolerate the presence of an infirmity.” She straightened her shoulders. “Well, now that we’re all caught up, I’d better be going. I have an appointment.”
He’d nearly forgotten where they were standing. Before he’d stopped her she’d been about to go inside this dance club. He had a sinking sensation that he knew why. “An appointment?” he asked, trying to keep the question casual.
“Yes. An interview.”
“Oh.” His gut churned. A job interview. The centerfold picture flashed through his mind again and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was trying to get a job dancing on the stage in there.
“Listen, I’m already late, but it’s been fun seeing you,” she said. “What a coincidence, huh? Take care of yourself, Noah.” She turned toward the shadowy entrance.
Without taking time to think about it, he grabbed her arm. “Don’t go in there.”
She glanced up at him in surprise. “Why not?”
“There have to be better ways to make a living.” His breath hitched. Her bare arm felt warm and smooth beneath his fingers. She had wonderful skin, he remembered now. And she was planning to show way too much of it to strangers.
“What do you think I do for a living?”
“I’m...I’m not sure, and to tell the truth I’d rather not know. I’m just asking you not to go for that interview. I’ve been in places like this. I know how they expect the women to—”
“Do you, now?”
He released her arm as if her skin might burn him. “Damn it, Keely. You know what I’m talking about.”
“I’m not sure I do. I’m still getting used to the concept of Noah Garfield in a topless bar. Did someone trick you into going in?”
“No!” The woman sure had a way of getting his goat. “I went in under my own steam. I’m not a saint.”
A slow smile spread over those peach-colored lips. “Couldn’t prove it by me.”
“Look, Keely, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye on things. Years ago you seemed determined to head in a certain direction, and you wouldn’t listen to anybody who tried to talk you out of it. But I’m asking you right here, right now, to reconsider. Maybe you met me on this street for a reason. Maybe it’s time to think about alternatives.”
She folded her arms and looked at him. Mischief lurked in her eyes. “Let’s make sure I understand. Instead of going inside and getting a job wiggling my ta-tas for the customers, you want me to reform and go into a more respectable line of work. Is that the gist of it?”
“You’re making fun of me, but yes, that’s the gist of it.”
The gleam of devilment grew brighter. “You want to save me from myself.”
“Aw, hell, Keely.” He figured she was going to roast him for this attempt to do the right thing. “It’s not that topless dancing is so terrible. I know you think I’m some sort of prude, but I’m not. And I understand that you’ve always wanted to kick the status quo in the butt. But isn’t this getting a little old? I should think you’d have moved on to something else by now.”
“I’m not even thirty!”
“Damn close.”
“Ten whole months away, buster.”
“See, it’s the perfect time to make a change.” He was thinking she looked years younger than thirty. Because they’d grown up together he knew exactly how old she was, but a stranger would think she was in her early twenties. No doubt her body would look good onstage for a long time to come, but he didn’t intend to say that. He didn’t even want to think that.
“And what sort of job should I do?”
“I’m not sure.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Now that he’d jumped into this white-knight routine, he didn’t know how to proceed. “Maybe we could kick around some ideas.”
“And when could we do that? You have a wedding to attend, as I recall, and I need to make a living.”
And there was the heart of the matter. If she was looking for a job, she was probably short on cash. He couldn’t very well tell a woman like Keely to forget about the money she’d make dancing topless and take a job flipping burgers instead. She’d laugh in his face. He wasn’t going to convert her to a different lifestyle during one conversation on the street corner.
He stalled, trying to think what to do. “How long have you been in Vegas?”
“Just got here yesterday.”
“Okay.” He thought quickly. One step at a time. “I understand the economic realities. You just came to town and you need a job, but could you hold off for the weekend so we could talk about it? I could cover your expenses for the next few days.”
“You mean, pay for my room and board? I don’t think so.”
“Then how about this? Cancel your room reservation and move in with me for the weekend. Would that save you enough so you wouldn’t have to work right away?”
“You want me to share your hotel room?” She eyed him with interest.
That look triggered a vivid memory. She’d kissed him with the passion of a woman that night in the barn, even at the tender age of sixteen. “Strictly as friends,” he said quickly. “It’s a minisuite. I’ll take the couch and you can have the bed. This isn’t a proposition, Keely.”
“Let me make sure I understand. You’re inviting me to stay in your room for the weekend, but you have no intention of us fooling around. Instead, you’re going to do some career counseling for me.”
“That’s right.” Not that fooling around with Keely didn’t hold some appeal. But she apparently thought that’s all she was good for, and he didn’t want to reinforce that notion.
She frowned in confusion. “I asked you if you had a wife back home and you said no. But is there a serious girlfriend? Because I can imagine you would be totally loyal once you committed yourself to somebody.”
“No serious girlfriend.” Come to think of it, he hadn’t even had a date in months.
“Noah, are you gay?”
He nearly choked to death. As he was coughing and sputtering, he shook his head and gasped out his denial.
She ticked off her conclusions on the tips of her fingers. “You’re not committed to anyone, you’re not gay and you don’t want to have sex with me, even if no one back home would ever find out.”
“That’s right.” He did want to have sex with her, always had, but that was a white lie he could live with.
“Then you surely must be a saint who has dropped down out of the sky to save me from my wicked ways. Okay, I accept.”
He cleared his throat and tried to look more confident than he felt. “That’s great.” Now that she’d pointed out to him that only a saint could be expected to resist her, he’d begun to think this whole idea was doomed. But if he could somehow find the strength to keep his hands off her, then maybe she’d develop a new image of herself. And that was worth doing. After all, his brother was marrying her sister. She would be family soon.
“We should probably go pick up your stuff,” he said. “Is your hotel far from here?”
She looked suddenly worried. “Uh, the thing is, they, um...lost my luggage. You know how that happens. I don’t have any stuff.”
“Oh.” So it was worse than he thought. Obviously she was making up the story about lost lugga
ge, so that must mean she was staying in some fleabag motel and didn’t want him to know it. Worse yet, her belongings were pitiful enough to be embarrassing to her. As together as she looked now, the outfit she wore was probably the only decent thing she owned.
Knowing that fact renewed his resolve to pull her out of this nosedive she was in. “Let’s walk on back to my hotel. Then I can advance you a little money if you want to go shopping for clothes later.”
“We’ll see about that. But before we leave here I want to duck inside and let them know I won’t be keeping the appointment. I don’t want a black mark beside my name, in case I need to come back someday.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“In this neighborhood, if some guy is tagging around after a woman, looking like he’s keeping track of her, people might think he’s her pimp.”
“Keely, please tell me that you’ve never—”
“No. I’ve never. I may be a naughty girl, but I’ve never been that naughty.”
He sighed with relief.
“Yet.”
His muscles tensed all over again and he opened his mouth to deliver another warning.
Keely’s musical laugh cut him off. “Relax. I’m kidding. You were around for the first nineteen years of my life. You should know by now how much I love to tease people. Especially people like you.” She fluttered a hand at him. “Hold down the sidewalk. I’ll be back before you know it.”
What the hell had he been thinking? He’d arrived in this place feeling on edge and sexually deprived. Now he’d invited the sexiest woman he’d ever known to stay with him in extremely close quarters. Less than four hours into his Vegas stay, and the city had him right where it wanted him.
Copyright © 2001 by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Revised text edition © 2016 by Vicki Lewis Thompson
ISBN-13: 9781488011078
Easy Ride
Copyright © 2017 by Susan Breeden
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