Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I scoffed. “Well, he’s definitely had sex before. Plenty of it.”
He just leaned in closer, a wicked smile playing at his lips. “And why do you say that?” Steve was fishing for information, but I wasn’t about to share Kage’s secret penchant for anonymous motel sex. Now I was going to have to share something about my own sex life.
I blushed all the way to my toes. “Let’s just say he has skills.”
“Not good enough.” Steve reached across the counter, grabbed a handful of my t-shirt in his fist, and pulled me toward him. “You’ve gotta give a guy more than that. I need details. Dirty, dirty details.”
I was going to tell Steve that I didn’t kiss and tell, but loneliness made me say something completely different. “Go out clubbing with me tonight, and I’ll give you a few details.”
Steve reached out and shook my hand. “It’s a deal. I’ll come up to your place when I get off work.”
Going out drinking with Steve was one of those things that seemed a lot safer in theory than it turned out to be in reality. It began innocently enough, though if I’m honest with myself, I’d had mutinous stirrings in my belly since the moment I’d decided to return to Vegas.
It’s hard to sit back and take it when someone breaks up with you, especially when you’re still hung up on them. And even more especially when they cut all ties with you and act like you don’t exist.
After that one-round volley of texts fell flat, I couldn’t think of what else to do. How do you entice a person back when you can’t even get an open line of communication with them? When they basically tell you to go to hell. Steve didn’t know all of this when he agreed to take me out. No doubt he thought the breakup thing between Kage and me was temporary— a little lover’s spat that could be fixed with a phone call.
I didn’t think it was going to be that easy, if it was even possible at all.
After Steve got off work, he came up to my suite, which he’d still never seen. He ran around like I had the first day I’d moved in. “This is amazing,” he sang as he twirled in front of the glass overlooking the street below. “How are you going to stand going back to school after living here?”
I frowned and made sure he saw me doing it.
“Sorry,” he said. “Let’s not think about that.”
I walked up behind him and looked out over his shoulder. “If you think this is nice, you should see Kage’s place.”
“Wow, I forgot you’ve been in his apartment. What’s it like?”
“Like nothing I’ve ever been in. But I don’t notice it so much when he’s in it. He pretty much keeps my attention.” I smiled, remembering how he looked moving through the space, everything paling in his shadow as usual. “He doesn’t really seem to care too much about it, though. I guess if you’ve lived in it all your life, it’s not as impressive.”
Steve turned to look at me. “Is it true that he used to be poor, like below poverty level? And that his mom died of a drug overdose, and his dad abandoned him for his uncle to raise?”
My head was reeling with the new information, and with the fact that the guy I’d told my dad I was in love with hadn’t felt close enough to tell me an important bit of his past that even the hotel staff knew.
“Jamie?” Steve waved a hand in front of my face. “Did I just blow your mind? Don’t tell me he hasn’t told you anything about his past.”
“Guess not,” I said bitterly. “I mean we were just working together, you know. And having sex. It wasn’t that serious.”
“Oh, screw that,” Steve said, grasping my shoulders and forcing me to face him. “Hey, those things I just told you are rumors. That’s why I was asking you if it was true. I figured if anyone knew, it would be you. But there’s always the possibility that no one knows. Maybe he doesn’t like to talk about it. Maybe it’s not even true.”
“Yeah,” I agreed halfheartedly. “Or maybe it was just sex.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute. I may not know anything about the guy’s past, but I know his present. I know him well enough to know that he was happier after you came here than I’d ever seen him before. You don’t know what a change it was, but those of us who see him every day noticed.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. If you two don’t get back on track, I’m worried about him.” He looked down at my body. “And I’m worried about you, too. Have you eaten since you left here? You are really looking thin. And these dark circles under your eyes have got to go. Want me to put some concealer on them?”