Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
“You are the most irritating person I know,” I said in a low voice. “Leave me the hell alone because you’re not helping at all.”
Then, I hung up.
I could have texted him, sure, but then if I had, he wouldn’t have heard how much I wanted him to shut up.
I peered at my screen and put the phone face down on the bar with another sigh.
With any luck, that little show would have attracted the attention of Duvall.
A glance over my shoulder showed he’d disappeared.
I snatched my phone back up and opened the message thread with Adrian. I’d just started typing when a shadow fell over my screen. Instinctively, I tilted the phone away from the presence next to me and tilted my face toward it.
The dark brown eyes of Daniel Duvall stared at me.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I couldn’t help noticing that your glass is empty. Could I get you another?”
I glanced at my glass. He was right. Huh. I’d created the opening without even realizing it.
I turned my attention to him. Making sure to give him an obvious once-open, I said, with only mind interest, “You sure could.”
“Do you mind?” He waved a hand toward the stool in front of me.
“My date isn’t showing up anytime soon, so go ahead.”
His ass had barely touched the seat and he’d flagged the tender without taking his eyes off me. He ordered another of what I was drinking and whiskey for himself.
“Date stood you up, huh?” His eyes roved over my body. “His loss.”
Bingo.
***
Ninety minutes later, I’d created an entirely fake persona under the name of Lilah Beaumont. Lilah grew up just south of Los Angeles and came to Vegas for university. While here, she found great work in a bar owned by the Fox family—it was all I could think of, okay?—and moved up until she became a manager. Single and dating, she lived in a quiet neighborhood in the north of the city.
I’d created her everything from a flaky best friend to an ex with commitment issues and a currently-dating gentleman who kept getting held up at work, so currently was about be no-longer.
Daniel Duvall listened with rapt attention. He asked all the right questions and said all the right things at the right times, but I could see the falseness of it all behind his eyes. With every word I spoke, I made myself more and more vulnerable to someone like him.
The longer we chatted, the closer he got. The more predatory his touches became. The lower his voice was. The smoother his lines became.
He was a master of it, I’d give him that. It was easy to see why he could get women to give in to him. Hell, if I were rich and needed to pay to get laid, I’d be writing his ass a check right about now.
Fortunately for me, I wasn’t attracted to him. Or rich.
Well, I was rich, but I wasn’t. It wasn’t like I could touch the money, which made it all a moot point.
“What about you?” I rested my chin on my hand. “You’ve barely said a thing about yourself. What’s a handsome guy like you doing out by himself? Don’t you have a girlfriend looking for you somewhere?”
He laughed, leaning in. “No girlfriend. One hundred percent single.”
“That’s good to know.” I inserted a purr-like tone into my voice. “Were you planning on staying all night?”
“As long as it took for me to find a girl like you.”
Smooth. “Well, then, here I am. Are you staying at this hotel?”
His eyes glinted with the hint of success. “Across the street. Are you finally giving up on your date?”
“I gave up on him a while ago.” I gathered my purse and my coat, holding them to my stomach. “Shall we leave?” I stood, hoping this wasn’t for nothing.
He stood, reaching down to cup my hip. His mouth came close to my ear, and he said in a low voice, “You know my time isn’t free, don’t you, Lilah?”
“It’s—what?” I gasped, leaning back.
He raised his eyebrows. “I’d hate you to go all the way to my bed and realize…”
“You…Oh.” I touched my hand to my mouth. “You’re…”
“A prostitute,” he said wryly, lips twisting.
I swallowed hard and ran a finger down his chest. “Well, Daniel, since you approached me, why don’t you sit here for a minute while I visit the bathroom and see if you can’t cut me a little deal, hmm?”
“A bargainer. I like that.”
I leaned in close, trying not to cringe at the slight over-application of his strong cologne. “You’ll like what’s under this dress a whole lot more.”
My fingers brushed his chest for a second longer with my meaningful look. I passed him, heading for the bathrooms. Trying not to look at Adrian and Sam was the hardest part of it.