With Love From Las Vegas. Cat Schield
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palm tingled as he strode after her. He rubbed his hands together, trying to eliminate the uncomfortable buzzing sensation, and watched the way Missy’s determined stride gave her curves a little bounce and jiggle.
His ex-wife had been model thin and forever on a diet. She’d lacked the one thing he’d always adored in a woman, generous handfuls of breasts. That might account for why he’d lost interest in sex with her. Or perhaps he’d grown tired of her neediness. Her lies about being pregnant every time he talked about leaving her.
Missy veered to the right as Sebastian was cataloging all the things that had gone wrong in his marriage. A beat later, he changed direction, stalking her down the row of gaming tables. She moved with purpose, seeming to know exactly where she was heading. He caught up to her at the roulette wheel.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” he demanded, certain he already knew the answer.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” She pulled out a wad of cash. “I came here to blow this and I’m not leaving until I do.”
Missy had fallen in love with Las Vegas the second she’d stepped into the hotel lobby this afternoon. The ringing slot machines reminded her of the final bell before summer vacation. Flashing lights and the prospect of a big win around every corner unleashed her long-repressed wild child. She’d barely resisted the urge to dash into the casino and plunk down twenty dollars on the first blackjack table she came to. In a heartbeat, fifteen years of sensible living went out the window.
Sebastian set his hand on her arm and used his body to block her view of the roulette table. “You don’t want to play this. It’s one of the worst games for winning. Let’s go play blackjack. The odds are better.”
His touch awakened a shiver despite the warmth of his skin. He restrained her with gentleness, but Missy knew he could call on steel if he ran out of patience.
Rich. Powerful. Used to getting his way. Intimidating when he didn’t. A man in control of every aspect of his life. He never relaxed. Rarely smiled. Demanded excellence from everybody.
If she’d known what she was getting into before she’d accepted the position as his assistant, she probably would have run screaming from his office. Instead, she’d been drawn to the mystique of Sebastian Case, the elusive, gorgeous, exasperating millionaire businessman.
She shook off his grip. “I don’t care.”
“You’ve gone completely mad. How much do you have there?” He plucked the bills from her hand and riffled through them. His lips puckered in a silent whistle.
Afraid he might hold on to the money in some misguided attempt to save her from herself, she snatched the cash back. “It’s enough to buy the wedding dress of my dreams.”
If her use for the money surprised Sebastian, he didn’t show it. “And how much is that?”
“Five thousand dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money to bring to Las Vegas.” Concern deepened his voice into a dusky rumble.
Missy dodged eye contact, refusing to let his censure keep her from throwing caution to the wind. “It sure is. Took me two years to save it. I ate tuna sandwiches three days a week. I never bought any clothes unless they were on clearance. I limited myself to one movie and one dinner out per pay period.”
“Those are significant sacrifices,” he said with a straight face, but mockery hovered in the back of his eyes.
Missy tossed her head. What did he know about making sacrifices? He’d paid eight hundred thousand dollars for a home because he liked the neighborhood, then tore down the house so that he could spend another two million building something to his exacting taste. A mansion he barely lived in because he spent so much time at the office.
“They were,” she retorted, frustrated with everything in her life at the moment and taking it out on Sebastian because it was easier to blame him than face where she’d gone wrong. “Aren’t you curious why I’ve decided to blow the money rather than buy the wedding dress of my dreams?”
“I’d love to know.” Calm and measured, he sounded like a firefighter talking a crazy lady off the ledge. “Let’s go somewhere quiet so you can tell me the whole story.”
“I don’t want to go somewhere quiet. My entire life has been quiet. I’m looking for a little excitement.”
A chance to run wild.
Sebastian’s disapproving frown would not steer her off course. She was tired of behaving like a mouse when what she wanted to do was roar like a tiger.
Daughter of a small-town pastor, she’d been a free-spirited kid, breaking rules and flaunting authority. True to herself but a disappointment to her father and mother, Missy’s carefree days had come to an end in high school when her mother suffered a stroke. Bound to a wheelchair, needing help with the simplest of tasks, she’d needed Missy to grow up fast. Missy had shouldered a lot of her mother’s daily caretaking until her death after Missy’s twenty-fifth birthday.
“Haven’t you had enough excitement for one day?” Sebastian asked. “You had a makeover. You’ve had too much to drink. Let me take you back to your hotel room. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“I haven’t even gotten started.” She turned to the roulette table and plunked down her wad of cash. “Five thousand in chips, please.”
Sebastian put a hand over the cash before the dealer could move. “Think about what you’re doing here. That’s a lot of money. Two years of saving and sacrificing.”
She tugged at his wrist but might as well have been an ant trying to move a mountain. Her efforts brought her in close to his body. His heat surrounded her, seeped into far corners of her soul where wild impulses waited to be set free. His masculine aftershave invaded her nostrils and sped along her already overstimulated nerve endings. She was teetering on the edge of something reckless.
“I know what I’m doing.” That was the furthest thing from the truth. She had no step-by-step plan. No clue if she was making good decisions. And she didn’t care. For the first time in fifteen years, she was following her instincts wherever they led. Whatever the cost.
And it felt amazing.
“Miss?”
The dealer interrupted their argument and Missy shoved an elbow into Sebastian’s ribs. With an oomph, he released her money.
“Five thousand in chips, please,” she repeated, turning her shoulder away from her boss’s frustrated frown.
His disapproval made her uncomfortable. As she had done with her father, she’d grown accustomed to doing things the way Sebastian wanted them done. How many times had she let his opinion dominate hers? Too many to count.
And old habits were hard to break.
The wheel spun before she placed her bet. Annoyed that she’d second-guessed herself, Missy drummed her fingers and waited for the ball to drop.
“Don’t throw your money away like this,” Sebastian said.
“Why not?” What good was being in Las Vegas if she couldn’t do something that she’d regret even a little? “I was supposed to spend it on my wedding dress. That’s not going to happen now.”
“You’ll find someone,” Sebastian argued. “You’ll get married.”
“I had someone.” He knew absolutely nothing about her, did he? “He dumped me.” Yesterday. The day before her birthday. Two years after she thought she’d be getting married, she was back to square one. No. Worse than that, she was two years older with fewer single men to choose from.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be. It’s your fault.”
“My fault?” Usually he gazed at her in a neutral way as if he never truly saw her.