Hot Number (29 page)

He sighed. She lay under him, a bundle of
warm, panting woman who had just rocked his world. He was still in
her, for God’s sake, and yet she had to reaffirm her defiance. He’d
never met anyone with a will as strong as Sadie Bligh’s.

“No surprise there,” he said. “But you better
believe I’ll be no more than ten feet away.”

“I guess I can live with that,” she
murmured.

He wrapped an arm around her chest, feeling
the strong beat of her heart resonate through his body. Her back
was perfectly smooth, her petite frame softly cushioning him. As he
rested his cheek in the hollow between her shoulder blades,
catching his breath, he wanted to cradle her in his arms for as
long as possible. Nick had the feeling that he would want to do
that for a very long time. But this was getting way too crazy, and
he’d already exposed both of them to a truckload of risk by letting
his hormones overpower his good sense. He needed to get her out now
before some maintenance worker on the night shift decided to stop
by for a cup of coffee.

He pushed himself onto his elbows and levered
off Sadie. He took care of the condom and got himself squared away
before glancing at his watch. Less than fifteen minutes had elapsed
since he’d pulled Sadie away from the blackjack pit. Probably well
under ten since she’d stumbled into his arms for the hottest sex
he’d had in very long time. Probably ever. That was saying
something, too, given how hot their previous encounters had
been.

“Nick, that was really fun,” Sadie began as
she shook out her dress.

Nick reached down to the floor to retrieve
her panties.
Fun?
It was mind-blowing, and she knew it.
Resisting the urge to make a sarcastic remark, he simply lifted an
eyebrow before handing over the little scrap of fabric that passed
for her underwear. She blushed as she put them on. He loved it when
she blushed.

“Okay, I’ll admit it was actually rather
spectacular,” she grumbled. “But you need to realize it doesn’t
change what I said before. What you did was wrong, dragging me out
and ordering me around like that. I won’t put up with that kind of
Neanderthal behavior.”

She was right. His motives had been good, but
he’d acted with all the sophistication of a marauding bull. And
barking orders like a boot camp sergeant was not the way his
parents had raised him to treat a woman.

“I get it,” he said. “But it worried the hell
out of me to see you running with Tiny’s crowd. I was just trying
to protect you.”

Sadie turned her back to him as she
rearranged her halter top. She didn’t turn around again until she’d
completely dressed and fluffed her hair. When she did, he was
brought up short by the sober determination on her pretty face.

“Nick, you might be interested to know that
those are the precise words my father used every time I tried to do
something he didn’t approve of, especially something he thought
might carry even the slightest hint of risk or impropriety. I’ve
spent my life under his critical eye, constantly being told I can’t
do this, or I shouldn’t do that. I have to say I’m thankful we
didn’t have GPS technology in those days, because if my father
could have tracked me, or trained a camera on me twenty-four hours
a day, I’m sure he would have.”

Distaste rippled across her features. “But I
had to wait until I got here for that, didn’t I?”

“I’m not your father, Sadie,” he said
quietly.

“Then please stop acting like him. I have to
do what I have to do. Stop trying to control me.”

Now she looked more than determined. She
looked downright mulish, just as she had last night when he asked
her to quit playing blackjack. Any attempt to argue with her would
be akin to beating his head against foot-thick steel. Other things
were driving her now, and there was nothing he could do to stop
her. All he could do was stay close and try to mitigate any
disasters.

“Like I said, I get it. Do you want to go
back to my place after you’re done playing tonight?” he asked.

Sadie moved the chair away from the door
handle and twisted the lock open. When she didn’t answer right
away, he found himself holding his breath, mentally urging her to
say yes.

“I’d like to,” she finally said. “But I think
we’d just get in another fight, and I couldn’t stand that. Maybe we
can talk tomorrow, after we’ve both cooled down and gotten some
sleep.”

“If that’s what you want,” he said, his voice
sharper than he intended.

Sadie shrugged her slim shoulders, looking
unhappy. “It’s not what I want. But it’s what I think I need. What
we both need.” She gave him a little smile that didn’t reach her
eyes, then opened the door and hurried out.

Nick gave her a couple of minutes to clear
the hallway before he went back out into the footprint of the
security cameras.

Damn.
Sadie was going to send him to
the loony bin—or make him lose his job—but he still couldn’t keep
away from her.

Sadie didn’t care about winning anymore.
Amazingly, given how upset she was about the wreck of her evening,
she was having too much fun as part of Tiny’s impromptu entourage
to worry about whether she was winning, losing, or making Nick
angrier than he already was. Around her third mojito, she even
started having trouble keeping the numbers straight in her head.
But she soldiered on, betting only the minimum, and managing to
keep her stacks of chips from disappearing completely.

Tiny didn’t seem to care too much about
winning either, since he’d dropped at least five thousand in the
past two hours. Like her, he was clearly having a heck of a good
time, telling stories that made Jennifer laugh and Sadie’s hair
stand on end. But despite the outrageous stories and dirty jokes,
Tiny remained a perfect gentleman and, as far as she could tell, a
genuinely nice man. And he didn’t handle her with kid gloves,
either. She found it refreshing to be treated like a normal,
fun-loving adult instead of a naïve, sheltered math professor who
didn’t know what was good for her.

For most of the night she managed to keep her
focus on Tiny and the game, fighting off the constant temptation to
grab a look behind her to where Nick stood gloomily propping up a
marble column. When she did give in to the temptation and flicked a
glance his way, his eyes narrowed, signaling his disapproval.
Obviously, the sheriff wasn’t taking too kindly to the little lady
demanding a time out from their relationship—if that’s what you
could call it. Or hanging out with a so-called dangerous
rapper.

Probably both
.

She sighed, frustrated with Nick and with
herself. She wanted so much to be with him, but not like this. The
people in her life were always trying to control her, and she was
sick of it. Nick Saxon could either learn that lesson or she would
be forced to walk away. Unfortunately, that thought was so painful
it made it hard to breathe.

Think about it tomorrow. Tonight, have
fun.

Around one o’clock, Leroi took a call on his
cell. He leaned over and whispered in Tiny’s ear, loud enough for
Sadie to hear. “Time to elevate, Z. There’s a party going on in
your room. Thirty deep and bangin’.”

Sadie got the gist.

Tiny nodded. He glanced first at Jennifer,
then at Sadie. “Sweet ladies, Leroi thinks it’s time for me to go.
But the good news is that the night doesn’t have to be over for us,
since I understand there’s a very lively party going on in my
suite. I’d be real pleased if you’d join us.”

Sadie almost declined without giving the
invitation a second of thought. As nice as Tiny seemed to be, and
as semi-drunk as she was, her latent schoolmarm starchiness had the
word “no” rising to her lips practically before Tiny finished his
sentence. But Jennifer beat her to the punch.

“Sounds fantastic to me, Tiny,” Jennifer
slurred out. “But, Sadie, you gotta come, too. Keep me out of
trouble, okay?” She gave Sadie an inebriated grin.

Torn between a longing for bed and a sense
that she would be too restless to sleep, Sadie decided to throw
caution to the wind, much as she’d done in the maintenance lounge
with the sheriff. Besides, it might be a good idea to keep an eye
on poor Jennifer, who was in much worse shape than Sadie was.

“What the heck,” she said, standing up and
straightening her brutally wrinkled dress. “Let’s give it a
whirl.”

Partying with a rap star.
Another
first to add to her Vegas list of accomplishments. If her father
and her department colleagues could see her now, they’d probably
have a collective nervous breakdown.

Tiny wrapped his bear-like arms around
Sadie’s and Jennifer’s shoulders. Together, they weaved toward the
bank of elevators. Leroi and the other bodyguard took up their
positions, front and back. Glancing behind, Sadie saw the sheriff
flick two fingers toward the casino security team. The two men
closest to her group began to follow, with Nick himself falling in
behind. She groaned inside. Underneath his icy calm she sensed a
hurricane forming.

What in God’s name had she gotten herself
into?

Sadie, Jennifer, Tiny, the two bodyguards,
and three casino security staff—including Nick, unfortunately—rode
the elevator together to the twenty-fifth floor. Sadie scrunched
into the corner at the back, trying to be invisible. Near the door,
his back to her, the sheriff glanced at the video screen atop the
elevator control panel. Sadie swore she could feel the heat of his
anger and disapproval raising the temperature inside the tight
space.

Nick and another security man held their arms
against the open doors as Tiny and his party got out. As Sadie
brushed by him, she tried to muster up a defiant glare but
chickened out and looked down at her feet. This whole evening was
turning out to be more bizarre than she could have ever have
imagined. Part of her wanted to bolt for the stairwell and race
down to her own room.

But another part kept her feet moving,
furious with the sheriff for playing the role of a hardass. She
liked that he wanted to make sure nothing happened to her, but did
he have to act like some kind of creepy stalker? What in heaven’s
name did he think she was going to do? Sleep with Tiny or one of
his crew?

She took one quick look backwards as Tiny
ushered her through the door. The sheriff took up a position
directly across the corridor, while the other two security men
flanked the door. Leroi waved to them before he gave the door a
solid, disconcerting slam. Suddenly, Sadie felt very alone.

Taking a fortifying breath, she pinned a
bright smile on her face and gazed around the room. Inside Tiny’s
palatial suite—or group of suites, it appeared—at least thirty men
and women were already in full party mode. One after another,
people hurried up to Tiny, fawning on him. Every one of the women
shot Sadie and Jennifer suspicious glares. Most of the men gave
them glances verging on leers.

Swept up in the near-chaotic music and
gyrating bodies, it took Sadie a minute or so to notice that Tiny
had quickly abandoned Jennifer and her. She spotted him in the
doorway to another room—probably one of the bedrooms—looking guilty
as a pretty, pint-sized young woman berated him.

“I’d say somebody didn’t take too kindly to
Tiny inviting us up here,” Jennifer said with a wry grin.

“Evidently not,” Sadie answered.

“Yo. You two want weed or blow?” Leroi asked,
sauntering up to them. “Tiny, he said to fix you up.”

“Weed for me,” Jennifer said quickly.

Leroi nodded, then turned his cynical gaze on
Sadie. “Well?”

Sadie had tried marijuana once, years ago,
but the acrid smoke had made her choke. “Um, can anybody here mix a
mojito, Leroi?”

Leroi snorted. “Lightweight. Kev, get your
ass over here,” he shouted over Sadie’s head.

A tall, skinny, thirty-something man with a
mop of curly, blond hair hustled over, then practically bowed
before Leroi. “What’s up, dude?”

Leroi pointed to Jennifer. “Get a blunt for
this lady.” He turned to Sadie. “And the redhead, here, she wants a
mohhh-hito,” he said with a laugh. “They’re Tiny’s guests, so be
good to them.” The big bodyguard nodded at Sadie and Jennifer and
strode away.

Kev grinned at Sadie and took off into an
adjacent room, presumably to find Jennifer her “blunt,” whatever
that was. Sadie’s head started to throb, both from the heat and the
noise. The music was so loud it seemed to assault her very bones,
the thudding bass and drums vibrating the wall she leaned against
for support. Flashing Sadie a grin, Jennifer waved as a man grabbed
her hand and pulled her into a dance on the other side of the
room.

Suddenly, Sadie felt very much alone and
utterly out of place. A stranger in a strange land, and one who had
no wish to be there. She wondered if the sheriff remained on
station outside the door. Five minutes ago, she’d wanted him to
disappear. Now, she wished he would come charging through the door
on his white horse to rescue her. But why would he? Not when she’d
made it clear that his overly protective instincts were nothing
less than insulting. And not to mention that her mixed signals
would confuse any sane man. Hell, she was confusing herself.

A few uncomfortable minutes later, Kev
brought her the requested mojito. It was huge—half again as big as
the ones the casino served. She thanked him and took a quick gulp
as he pulled a joint out of his jacket pocket and lit up. “You must
be a friend of Tiny’s,” she said, uncomfortable with the brief
silence. She took another drink of the surprisingly refreshing
mojito, grateful for the cool slide of liquid down her parched
throat.

“Tiny’s the boss,” Kev replied, before
inhaling deeply. “I work for him.”

Sadie’s eyes burned from the cloud of bitter
smoke wafting over her, but she tried to ignore it. “What kind of
work do you do for Tiny, Kev?”