Exquisite Betrayal (4 page)

“
Shit,” I hear and then someone is
dragging me to the bathroom and putting cold towels on me. I’m not
paying attention to anything except the stinging of my skin. The
cold water begins to ease the pain. I wave my hands in front of me
and then get a good look at the damage. My white t-shirt is now
caramel colored and the V of my chest is bright pink.

“
Does it still burn?”

Oh no! That accent. I’d recognize it
anywhere. I lift my head and lock onto Green Eyes himself.

Shit, shit, double shit.

“
We really have to stop meeting like
this,” he says, trying to inject a bit of humor into the situation.
The door bursts open then and in walks a man. He looks at me then
at Green Eyes then at the urinal, not quite sure what to
do.

Making it easy on the man, I make that
decision for him. “We were just leaving.” Green Eyes grabs another
wad of towels and dampens them before we leave.

“
Well, just another day in paradise
for Fallon,” I sigh.

“
Fallon?”

“
Me. I’m Fallon. Remember? Last
night?”

“
Right. Well then, Fallon, are you
okay?”

I glance at my chest. It’s angry red, like
I’ve spent the day in the sun. “I think it’ll be fine. Just a minor
thing, like a sunburn. You’re Ryland, right?”

“
Yes, Ryland. That’s me. You
remember?”

Like I could forget?

“
Uh-huh. So, what are you doing here?”
I try to divert my attention away from the burning pain of my
chest. It really is stinging now.

“
I’m a freelance writer and I do some
reporting for
Romance Times.
I’m going to do an article on the convention.”

“
Cool! Tell me; do you get to meet all
the authors?”

He eyes me strangely. “No, not as many as
you’d think.”

“
Well, that’s a shame.”

“
So, how’s your… er?” he asks as he
makes a circular motion with his hand around his chest. I notice
his eyes have drifted south.

“
I should probably get some ice.” I
fan my hand to move the air across it.

“
Maybe you should have a doctor look
at it,” he suggests.

The thought of that sends my brain into
freak mode. I can see the bills mounting up. I can’t afford any
more debt and a trip to the hospital would add hundreds to my pile
of “unpaids.” This trip has maxed out my credit cards as it is and
the last thing I need is an additional bill to add to it.

“
No-no. I’m fine, really. My friends
are waiting for their coffee, though, and then I need to go back to
my hotel and change. Damn, I was really looking forward to this
session, too. I
love
R.T.
Sinclair.”

“
That a fact?”

“
Oh God, yes! I’ve read everything
she’s written at least ten times. She’s the best thing to hit the
shelves. I wish she’d write faster.”

The corners of his mouth turn up, making me
wonder if he thinks I’m merely one of those goofy women that hides
in the fantasy world of romance novels. I don’t really care if he
does because what does he know, right?

“
She probably does, too.”

“
Why do you say that?”

“
Well, I was thinking that she’d want
to make her fans happy… you know, fans like yourself.”

“
Oh.” I brighten. He has a great
point, one I have never thought of before. “Well, I better go and
fetch that coffee before they think I ran off somewhere. Thanks for
saving me.”

He nods and then I head off to the coffee
station.

When I get back to the girls, they look at
me in alarm. I can tell my chest must look like a tomato by their
expressions. Kat immediately digs in her bag for some unnamed
ointment and tells me to smear it all over the burn. It has become
quite painful, so I don’t bother to argue. Then she hands me some
ibuprofen.

“
Thanks, Mama Hen. I’m gonna head back
to change.”

They all say, “But you’ll miss R.T.’s
opening speech. She’s supposed to give clues about the award
finalists.”

“
I know.” I hang my head. “But look at
me.”

“
Go after. I’ll go with you,” Amanda
volunteers. I agree and settle in to wait on R.T.

When R.T. concludes her talk, I’m so happy I
stayed to hear it. She gives us a little insight about the awards
night and also about what’s coming next for her. What’s even better
than that, though, is she’s one of the most engaging speakers I’ve
ever heard. It’s just an additional confirmation of why I’m such a
huge fan of hers.

***

That night, we’re eager to meet our
favorite author, so we head over to the Bellagio
—
the fanciest hotel in Vegas. She’s set up a
room there for her Meet and Greet.

We marvel at the beauty of the place when we
walk in the lobby. The fountains outside were a show themselves,
but the flowers and artwork in this place are a far cry from the
Space Nugget.

We’re all gazing at everything with our
mouths hanging open when Amanda says, “What do you reckon a night
in this joint costs?”

I shrug. “I don’t have a clue, but I bet it
would make six monthly payments on my student loans. Or maybe even
a year.”

“
I know, right?”

Kat nods to her left. “That painting over
there would probably pay off my mortgage.”

“
At least you have a mortgage. And a
job.”

“
You’ll get both, Fallon. Hang in
there,” she says. “This is supposed to be your celebration, so
don’t get whiney on us.”

“
You’re right.” I don’t want to get
whiney, though damn, sometimes I can’t help feeling sorry for
myself, especially when I’m surrounded by all this luxury. “Hey,
maybe I need to hang out here with the rich folk.”

Amanda doesn’t hold back. “Now you’re
talking.”

We figure out where we’re supposed to be and
head that way. I’m a bit nervous about meeting the famous R.T.
Sinclair, but I squelch the feeling and think about the excitement
of getting her autograph.

We get off the elevator and find ourselves
in front of some fancy double doors. We all look at each other.

Mandy acknowledges what we all are thinking,
“I think I underdressed.”

“
It’s too late to worry about that
now,” I say before banging on the door. It’s opened by an
attractive woman, maybe in her forties, who asks us to identify
ourselves. We tell her who we are and then she gives us a huge
smile and welcome.

And then our jaws hit the floor. This
room is loaded… and I mean
loaded
with champagne, food and all sorts of alcoholic beverages. We
just hit pay dirt. I grin.

A man walks up to us, wanting to know what
we want. I’m pretty sure tequila shooters aren’t appropriate, so I
order a cosmopolitan. The others follow suit. Then we walk around
and look at all the opulence surrounding us.

R.T.’s books are everywhere. I am in a
frenzy, grabbing and opening and looking and touching. I hear a
gurgle of laughter, and turn around, having one of those
embarrassing fangirl moments. I squeal. Outrageously loud. I
promised… I even pinky swore I wouldn’t do it, but damn, I couldn’t
stop it from rushing out of my mouth. As soon as it does, my hand
clamps over my lips and I mumble how sorry I am.

R.T. laughs again, and in her amazing
British accent says, “Don’t ever be sorry for that. I love my
fans.” And then,
oh my gosh
,
she hugs me! Then, I do something even worse than the squeal. As
she’s hugging me, I start jumping up and down.

I finally catch myself and look at my girls.
They are all giving me the I’m-going-to-shoot-you-dead eye. Oh
damn. I can’t help it. They’re going to kill me later.

“
I’m so sorry, but you’re my most
favorite author ever, and I’m just, well, you rock, R.T.! And that
was an amazing speech you gave this morning.”

After that embarrassing fiasco we all
introduce ourselves.

“
Well, thank you, Fallon. And I’m so
glad you could come to the party, girls. I’ve wanted to meet you
for so long now and I owe you so much. So before everyone else gets
here, I want to give you some things.”

She heads over to the other room, motioning
for us to follow. On a table are these huge gift bags lined up with
our names on them. We look at each other and smile as she passes
them out to each of us. The bags are chock full of awesome things;
signed hardbacks and photos, custom necklaces and bracelets that
her characters wore, t-shirts, gift cards, mugs, dinner vouchers,
and finally, an iPad Mini for each of us. We are speechless.

I finally say, “This is too much. Way too
much.”

“
It’s not nearly enough. You girls
have done so much for me that I don’t think I can ever repay you.
Therefore no more talk of this. Let’s simply have some
fun.”

So that’s what we do. We eat and drink,
entirely more than we should, and then after all the other guests
leave, she asks if we want to go dancing.

“
Hell, yeah,” we all say.

A short time later, we all head over to Rock
the Night Away in a limo. Once there, more drinks are ordered and
we start in on the shooters. I lose track and spend most of the
time on the dance floor. I’m already in love with Vegas. And what’s
not to love? Yeah, it’s a desert here, but the damn place is
raining with men. Men offer to buy me drinks and hit me up for
dances constantly.

As the night progresses, I should be
surprised to see Ryland there, but I’m not, when I look to see him
next to me on the dance floor.

“
Are you stalking me?”

He laughs. “I was going to ask the same of
you.”

We dance some more until a slow song comes
on and I start to leave the floor.

“
Where are you going?”

I turn and stare as he pulls me roughly
against him. My body heats as flames fan across my skin.

“
How’s your burn?” His voice is next
to my ear and I can feel his breath on my neck. Goosebumps prick my
skin everywhere, a contradiction to the heat that continues to burn
me. His arm has me hooked around the waist and I’m held snugly
against him. His jeans rub against my thighs, making me heat up in
places I’m not used to being heated in.

“
M-my burn?” I’m confused at first; my
mind is focused on another part of my body right now.

“
The coffee today. You burned
yourself.”

“
Oh, yeah. It’s fine. Still stings a
bit. Thanks for asking.”

He nods while his fingers are laced with
mine and his thumb is rubbing a circle on my first knuckle.

“
You look lovely tonight,
Fallon.”

“
Thanks. So do you.”

He brings my hand to his mouth and leaves a
kiss on it, right as the song ends. He doesn’t release me as a
quick-paced song with a driving beat comes on and we become
surrounded by dozens of dancers.

Those eyes of his are so green that, even in
the dark of the club, I can see gold streaks in them. They’re
compelling eyes. And they’re staring right into mine. I don’t dare
blink. I don’t want to miss a second of them. We’re swaying to the
hard beat with his arm defining our rhythm while his mouth is
moving incrementally closer to mine. I can feel his breath on my
lips. I want to feel his lips on my tongue. I want to know his
taste. Our noses are touching, and finally, when our lips are about
to meet, he releases me and steps back.

He raises my hand to his mouth, presses a
kiss to it and says, “Thank you, Fallon, for the lovely dance.”
Then he backs off the floor, leaving me gaping at the empty space
like a fool, feeling the distinct loss of his warm body against
mine.

I’m in the crush of the crowd, so no one
seems to notice except for my scorched body. I inhale, trying to
puzzle this whole thing out and lower my heart rate at the same
time. I decide I must have bad breath and make a mental note of
changing my toothpaste and picking up some mouthwash as well as gum
the next day. Why else would he leave so abruptly? Unless he
realized, that up close, he wasn’t attracted to me after all.
Numbly, I push my way off the dance floor in search of another
drink.

When I reach the bar, I spy my girls
laughing and hanging out with R.T. They finally notice my
crestfallen face.

“
What’s up with you?”

“
Just tired.” Now all I can think of
is going home. “Would you all mind if I took off?”

“
As in go home?” Mandy eyes me
suspiciously.

“
Yeah.”

“
You okay?” Amanda asks.

“
Uh-huh.”

R.T. is staring at me. She appears to be
assessing me. In her cute British accent, she says, “Come on,
Fallon. I’ll get you home now.”

“
No, I don’t want to spoil your
evening.”

“
Well, darling, I won’t have you
leaving by yourself.” She turns to the girls and hands them a wad
of bills. “This should cover your cab ride home.” Then her arm
comes around me and out we go. The limo pulls up and she ushers me
inside.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut your
night short.”

“
No worries. You looked like you’d
seen a ghost back there. What happened?”

“
Oh, it was nothing. Just a
dance.”