“I think he’ll be hanging around,” she said. He’d had some petty scrapes over gambling with a fake ID when he was a kid. She should’ve figured he’d want to go play big shot in a high-stakes poker game at a casino where they’d kiss his ass.
“Have you told Lola yet?”
“No, but I bet he’s bragged about something or other that could point us in the right direction. Lola can help us there.”
“Or he’s cried over being mistreated,” Mandy said. “Either way, I say we meet in Reno.”
“I agree.” She looked over at Ethan, who of course was still watching her. Why hadn’t he gone to call his agent? “Let me know after you book your flight. I’m kind of in the middle of nowhere. Driving might be quicker for me. I’ll call Lola.”
As soon as she hung up Ethan said, “We can check flights out of Billings and see if it’s worth backtracking, but I think you’re right. We’d be better off driving.”
Hell no, she would not let him tag along. She felt guilty enough for the messes she’d created. Yes, they’d avoided one disaster, but they still needed to nail Floyd before he blew all their money. That was where her focus needed to be. Not on Ethan, who had to get himself mentally psyched for the finals.
Couldn’t he see they were reaching the end of the road anyway? The thought hurt. She could barely think about it, so why prolong the agony?
“No. I’ll be better off driving.” She gathered her things. On the way out she’d call Lola. “I’d appreciate a ride to pick up a rental car, though. I’ll be fine, Ethan.” She wanted to kiss him, but better she stay detached. It was for his own good. And for hers. “You, on the other hand, are driving to Las Vegas.”
* * *
ETHAN GLANCED AT Sophie’s boots scuffing up his once-clean dashboard. “Are you going to sulk all the way to Reno?”
“Probably,” she huffed. “Yes, I am. You deserve it. What part of please drop me at the car rental office did you not understand?”
Sighing, he nodded to himself. Yep, he knew she was a handful. Stubborn. Irritating. A real pain in the ass when she wanted to be. Sophie was also fiercely loyal. Smart as hell. And she was softhearted, which he could never say to her and expect to live.
She looked so damn tired it made his gut knot. He’d bet anything she was beating herself up over failing Lola. Which really wasn’t the case. Not that Sophie would listen.
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to get some shut-eye,” he said. “Nothing’s going to change because you’re asleep.”
“Why don’t I drive for a while?”
“No, thanks.”
“You are so damn stubborn.”
He snorted. “You would know,” he said, turning on the radio. He kept it low and found an easy-listening station.
She surprised him by not complaining. Ten minutes later, just as he’d hoped, she was asleep.
He drove for another hour and then stopped at a motel. Even if they slept for six hours, they had time to get to Reno and meet Mandy. The best flight she could get had two stopovers.
After checking them in and paying for the night, he drove them closer to the room. She slept through it all, even when he carried her inside and laid her on the bed. He thought about undressing her but decided that would be a bad idea. Yeah, they’d both better keep their clothes on or they wouldn’t get any rest.
He lightly kissed her parted lips, hid the truck keys, just in case, then set the alarms and crawled in beside her.
* * *
THE PALACE CASINO AND HOTEL wasn’t the snazziest of the large casinos in downtown Reno, but it looked to be the busiest.
A steady stream of mainly older folks led the way into the hotel, where dings and trills of electronic music mostly covered up the piped-in oldies. The purple carpeting and gold chandeliers had probably been daring in their day.
As they headed toward the front desk, Ethan took her hand, and a shiver ran up her spine. Such a simple touch brought so much pleasure. She’d add this moment to her mental scrapbook.
They had to wait in a short line to reach the front desk. But that was okay, because Mandy was still ten minutes away and Sophie wouldn’t proceed without her. So she waited with Ethan, who stood right behind her, draping his arms over her shoulders. Her hands were on top of his where they met on her chest.
She’d meant it when she told him to head to Vegas, but she was still glad he was here. The feel of his body warm and comforting. She was a horrible, selfish person. By tomorrow he would have no more grace period. He’d have to leave first thing to check in for the finals.
“I could eat a whole buffet,” he said. “Not including the desserts.”
“That’s the best part.” Dammit, now she wanted chocolate.
It was their turn at the desk, and by the time Sophie explained the importance of speaking to the casino manager himself, Mandy had joined them.
When Sophie made the introductions Ethan thanked Mandy for her help in getting the charges dropped. She looked pleased with the recognition, and not surprised by their clasped hands.
It took a few minutes for the manager to arrive, and he was surprisingly young considering his title. Maybe late thirties? However, the way he sized them up before inviting them into his office said he was going to be a challenge.
His office was small, nothing ornate. Behind him, though, was a door opened just enough for them to see a wall of monitors showing every cash transaction, second by second.
“How can I help you?” Dan Pfizer asked, waving them to the seats in front of his desk.
Mandy took the lead. She showed him her ID, a picture of Floyd, and offered a video of the idiot emptying the company safe.
He stopped her when she brought out the flash drive. “It won’t do you any good. Even if I watched him steal from you personally, without a valid warrant there’s nothing I can do.”
“We’re going to call the police,” Sophie said. “We already know you have private poker rooms, and that he’s in one of them. Probably throwing all our money on the table.”
“We saw his Harley close to the valet booth,” Mandy added. “So we know he’s here.”
Pfizer shrugged. “Show me a warrant, and I’ll be happy to call the police myself. You have no idea how many times I get asked to do this. Wives wanting their husbands to come home. Vice versa. My hands are tied.”
“Actually you might want to reconsider, assuming you want to keep all this quiet. Do you know who this is?” Sophie asked, nodding at Ethan, who didn’t even blink at her tactic.
“I’m afraid I don’t,” Pfizer said. “But I really do have to be—”
“He’s the number-two-rated professional bull rider in the world. In fact, I saw a poster out there inviting people to watch the National Finals Rodeo on your HD TVs starting this weekend.”
That got his attention. But it wasn’t enough.
“Hey, if you can’t help us, I understand,” Ethan said, shrugging. “Just like you understand why we have to call the police. And since we don’t have access to your poker room, I’m pretty sure they’ll have no problem meeting us in front of the sports book. That is where people place bets, right?”
Picking up a pen and toying with it, Pfizer frowned.
Sophie could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. “We’ll try not to make too big a fuss,” she said with a smile.
“By the way,” Ethan added, “I saw the odds you have posted out there. I’m the five-to-two favorite. Just out of curiosity, what happens if I get hung up and miss the finals?” His jaw tightened for a split second, and Sophie’s heart slid right down to her toes. After that he didn’t so much as blink. “Do you guys have to return the money people have already bet?”
And there it was. The look of a man defeated.
“If we could all step outside my offic
e, I’ll be with you in a few moments.”
They did, and Mr. Pfizer in his neat suit and tie walked hastily toward the poker rooms in the back.
Mandy pulled out her phone and moved a few feet away to give them privacy while she called Lola.
Sophie turned to him. “Why did you say that?”
“Hey, it worked.” He looked tired, but he smiled. “Don’t tell me you’re superstitious.”
She didn’t buy his act of indifference. He’d been worried about the finals all along. His concern hadn’t suddenly disappeared. “No, just a bad-luck charm.”
“Come on.” He put an arm around her. “Knock it off. What were the chances you’d find Floyd as quickly as you did? That he was still here by the time we showed up? This was a best-case scenario.”
No, it wasn’t. She and Mandy here taking care of business while Ethan was already in Vegas was a best-case scenario. But she wouldn’t argue. He looked so exhausted. Tonight he had to sleep. Tomorrow, if he was still tired, she’d talk him into catching a flight while she took care of his truck.
She dug up a smile from somewhere. “Thank you. Without you here, I don’t know— You’ve been—” She inhaled deeply, hoping it would help keep her eyes dry.
“I would never have deserted you,” he said, and squeezed her hand. “I told you I’d help any way I could.”
Even if it had cost him the finals? Oh God. She would’ve just died. But in truth, he wasn’t there yet. If she wanted to be a good person, a friend, she’d let him check in to the hotel alone. Sleep as much as he could without her distracting him.
She nodded. “I think it’s okay for you to go right after they bring that moron out. If you don’t want to stay here, I’m sure you’ll find a room in another hotel.”
Ethan frowned. “Don’t you mean it’s okay for us to go?”
Mandy, who’d approached and was now on the phone with the Reno cops, turned around again.
“You need sleep,” Sophie said. “What you don’t need is any more distractions.”
“I’m a grown man. I’m pretty sure I know what I do and don’t need.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just— You know I can’t go with you now. I have to go back to Wyoming. Once Floyd’s arrested, we won’t automatically get back what he’s stolen. I can’t leave everything to Lola.” Most of that was true, but she had trouble meeting his eyes.
“Yo,” Mandy said.
Walking toward them, right behind the casino manager, Floyd was staring daggers at her. But the two beefy security guards weren’t about to let him make a move.
Pfizer stopped in front of Ethan. Behind him, on the monitor on the wall, Sophie saw a man in a cowboy hat being interviewed. The closed caption said the broadcast was coming from Las Vegas. Her stomach turned over. She literally felt sick. Ethan had claimed he didn’t need to be there yet.
“If you’ll join us at the security office when you’re ready,” Pfizer said.
Mandy waited until the guards and Floyd had passed. “The cops will be here in about five minutes. I’ll give them what we’ve got, and then we can head back.”
Sophie nodded. “I’ll be right there. Ethan has to get his butt to Vegas.”
Mandy held out her hand, and Ethan took it. “Good luck. I bet a hundred bucks on you. So get some damn sleep, would you?”
“I’ll try,” he said, unsmiling.
Mandy shrugged, met Sophie’s eyes, then started walking.
“You promised you’d come with me,” he said.
“I did, but that was before all this crap happened.” She swallowed hard. “I didn’t know Floyd was going to rip us off, or that we’d actually find him. But Jesus, Ethan. You told me you didn’t have to be in Vegas yet.” She motioned to the monitor. “You should be up there being interviewed. Not here mixed up in my mess.” She forced a smile. “Look, we had fun, right? But we knew it would end. Like you said, you know what you need to do, and I need to go home. It’s as simple as that.”
He stared at her as if she’d just ripped his heart out of his chest. “If it’s that simple to you, then yeah, I sure did misunderstand.”
Despite the pain that squeezed the life out of her, she nodded. He wasn’t thinking clearly. She had to be strong for both of them. “I hope you win the title.” She stepped back.
“That’s it?” He looked stricken.
“I’ll call,” she said, wondering if she dared. Wanting so much to tell him all the things she couldn’t say on the purple carpet of this damn casino. Like how he’d rocked her world. How she used to think she had it bad for him, but now? She’d never recover.
But he didn’t need her as baggage or a distraction. He’d never forgive her if he missed the finals, and she’d never forgive herself, either.
Ethan stared, looking confused and angry. But then he turned and walked past the security office, past the police who were headed in to arrest Floyd.
And he just kept walking.
18
SOPHIE SAT IN front of her small TV and shoved another piece of chocolate into her mouth. She wasn’t crazy about television. She didn’t even have cable or satellite, but she’d watched most of the National Finals Rodeo. Well, she’d kept track of the bull riders, anyway. And now she was watching reruns of Ethan.
Sometimes it had been nearly impossible to watch. Two riders had suffered serious injuries. If Ethan had gotten hurt, she had no idea what she would’ve done. Except blame herself for having distracted him at the most important time of his entire career.
But she didn’t have to worry about that. Ethan had won his second championship title. Last night had been the buckle ceremony.
She’d thought seriously about calling, just to congratulate him. But she couldn’t bring herself to pick up her cell. She’d handled the goodbye at the casino so badly. It still stung.
She should’ve at least offered to drive his truck back to Wyoming. Drop him at the airport first. Sophie had replayed her words and the expression on his face a thousand times in the past two weeks. She’d sounded so cold. How he must hate her.
Seeing the cowboy being interviewed on the monitor had done something to her. Panic had taken over. And she knew if she’d given herself an inch, she would’ve done the thing she wanted to do instead of doing what was honorable. Intellectually she realized it wasn’t completely her fault that he’d driven her to Reno when he should’ve gone to Las Vegas. She’d begged him to take her to a car rental office. But he’d insisted. And she hadn’t fought him hard enough because she’d been thrilled he’d stayed with her.
Someone knocked at the apartment door. She grabbed something to throw at it. Then stared at the bag in her hand. What the hell was she thinking? Not the chocolate. That would make everything worse.
Another knock. It was either Lola or Mandy, most likely Lola. Mandy knew how to buy a clue.
“Go away,” Sophie yelled loud enough to be heard by half the residents in the apartment complex.
“Not gonna happen.”
“Goddammit, Lola,” Sophie muttered, and got off the couch.
She opened the door and growled at her cousin.
Lola walked right in, uninvited, as usual. She surveyed Sophie’s mess after three days of hibernation. Every glass she owned was sitting out somewhere.
Finally Lola eyed Sophie’s baggy gray sweats and the sock with a hole over the big toe. “You look like shit.”
“Should’ve saved yourself the trip. I could’ve told you that on the phone.” Sophie plopped back down on the couch. Wincing, she lifted her butt and moved the bag of chocolate out of the way. “What do you want?”
“Get up and take a shower, then put on something nice. We’re going out.”
Sophie snorted a laugh. “Are you high?”
“Come on, Soph.” Lo
la’s gaze shifted briefly to the TV. “You can’t keep moping.”
“Yes, I can. Except I’m not moping.”
Lola sighed. “Please get up and get ready. Mandy is meeting us at the—”
“Nice try. Mandy knows better. Yet she’s only known me for a fraction of the time you have. Explain that.” Sophie stretched her neck back. She’d stayed away from the gym too long. Tomorrow she’d get herself moving.
“The Reno police called. They found the brooch at a pawnshop.”
Sophie shook her head. Anyone could tell the piece was an antique and too valuable to sell to a pawnbroker. Anyone but Floyd. “How much did he get for it? Did they tell you?”
“No. I didn’t ask. I want this whole thing over with and I never want to hear his name again.”
Sophie gave her a sympathetic nod. “I’m glad they recovered the brooch.”
“You know what pisses me off, Sophie?”
“I’m coming in to work tomorrow. I’ll be my old cheery self. Promise.”
“That’s not what I’m upset about.” She sat at the edge of the couch. “Ethan is a really good man, and you’re tossing him away. Do you have any idea what I’d do to find someone like him? What most single women would do? You’ve never been a quitter. I’ve always admired that about you.”
Sophie had to look away. She wasn’t good at hiding her emotions lately. “Not now. Okay, Lola?”
Her cousin sighed. “Please get dressed and come out. Would you do that for me?”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Shrugging, Lola stood. “You can’t say I didn’t try.”
Sophie watched sideways until Lola opened the door. She would’ve felt worse if she thought her cousin really wanted a drinking buddy tonight. Lola was only trying to cheer her up.
Sophie turned her head. Lola had left. Why hadn’t she closed the damn door?
Muttering a curse, she pushed to her feet.
Ethan appeared in the doorway. He looked at Sophie, glanced around the apartment and then looked at her again and laughed.
Her mouth wouldn’t work. When it finally did, she said, “I’m going to kill her.”
This Kiss (Made In Montana Book 12) Page 18