Secrets and Seduction Las Vegas (Sexy Italian Imports Book 1) (41 page)

Valerie was here watching him dance.

Chapter Thirty Four

Antonio looked into Valerie’s eyes. She smiled sadly and her hands shook before she clasped them together in her lap.

The women yelled at him to dance. The D.J. commented, something about Carlos needing a time-out.

Antonio sat on his heels in front of her. What could he say? He ran through a dozen excuses, but this was not the place. He knelt and bent down close to her face. “Meet me out front.”

When she nodded, he stood, grabbed his shorts, and left the stage. The D.J. looked surprised, and the manager ran up to him.

“Carlos! What are you doing?”

“I have to leave.” He pushed past the man.

He grabbed Antonio’s arm. “This is our busiest night. I can’t let you go.”

“It’s over, boss. Sorry to leave you short staffed tonight.” He freed his arm and headed for the locker room.

“Carlos, damn it, if you walk out of here, I’ll make sure you never work in this town again.”

Antonio stopped, still looking toward the locker room, then nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

The manager shouted a string of profanity at him as Antonio closed the locker room door. He heard the D.J. call for another dancer, and a couple of his buddies came into the locker room.

“Carlos, man, why the short dance?”

“I’m leaving. For good.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah. You guys want any of my stuff…” He crammed his dancewear into a locker and changed into his shorts and sandals. “Help yourself.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah. My woman wants me to quit.”

“Oh,” both guys said in unison, as if that made perfect sense.

“Good luck, man. Hope it works out for you.”

“Stop back and see us sometime, brother.”

Antonio turned to the men. “Probably not going to happen. But it’s been fun.” He shook their hands and left by the back door, not wanting to be seen by the manager or, worse, some crazed woman who followed him out. It had happened before.

He walked around to the front of the building. The entrance swarmed with activity, customers, valets, security guards, and a police car, but he panicked when he didn’t see Valerie. He looked around the parking lot.

He spotted her sitting on the hood of his Toyota and headed toward her, his feet feeling like they were encased in led boots.

As if in slow motion, he noticed everything about her. God, she was so beautiful in her revealing top and tight jeans, bracing her feet in high-heel sandals on his bumper.

He walked through the lot and stood in front of her, frightened for the first time in a long time. He wanted to be in her arms, to let her reassure him everything would be okay. Instead, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and waited.

“Hi.” Her lips curved into a tiny smile.

“Hi.”

“You’re very good.” She tipped her head toward the building.

“Thanks. Is this the first time you’ve seen me?” He had to know how she’d found him.

“No. Last Friday, Sloan dragged us all down here.”

“Mmmm.” He tried to remember last Friday, but it was a blur. He prayed to God he didn’t give any of her girlfriends a lap dance.

“I hope you don’t mind my waiting until tonight to talk to you about it.”

“I’m guessing it was intentional. Some kind of shock therapy to get me to stop?”

She shrugged. “You know me. If regular therapy doesn’t work, try a shock.”

She was trying to lighten the mood, but he felt off balance. “Are you angry?”

“I was very angry at first. Last Sunday?” She grimaced.

“Yeah, I kind of remember you being—”

“Bitchy?” A peal of laughter bubbled from her lips. “That was how I felt. Right then, I was at the anger stage of the acceptance process.”

“Psychobabble.” He watched her. “Are you angry?”

She sobered. “Right now, no. I’m disappointed you didn’t feel you could confide in me.”

He ran his hand through his hair and pulled the leather strip off, staring at it as if it held all the answers. He’d disappointed her, and his stomach clenched at the thought of her feeling that way about him. He had to make her understand. Meeting her gaze, he said, “I tried, Valerie. A couple times.”

“I know. I could sense you were close to telling me something. But I had no idea it was…” She looked toward the building then pointed at the side entrance. “Look. I have a surprise for you.”

He turned to see two police officers hauling a handcuffed man in a uniform from the club. “Is that the bartender?”

“Yep.” She sounded proud of herself. “He’s the blackmailer.”

He looked at her. “How did you figure that out?”

“I didn’t. Your investigator did. When I sent him the pictures of the man following you, he worked with his people in the police department to identify him.”

“That’s not the face in the pictures.” He’d talked to the bartender a few times.

“It’s his roommate. He was arrested this morning and told the police everything.” She smiled. “I asked your PI to have them wait until tonight to arrest the bartender, so we could be here.”

The cops put the man in the back seat of the car and drove off. “How does he know Betina?” He looked at her. “How does he know who I am?”

“He’s a photographer’s assistant during the day. He was at Betina’s photo shoot as well as yours—you as Grey Thornton. He overheard something Betina said and used that to blackmail her.”

“And he recognized me?”

“He did, after he’d been working here for a few months. Then he followed you home, and he and his roommate watched your parking garage and saw you exiting in your Ferrari. They had you.”

He shook his head and shuffled his sandal on the blacktop. “After five years, it’s random that two people discovered my secret within such a short time of each other.”

“No. It’s fate. Your dancing brought us together.”

He shrugged his eyebrows. “It almost tore us apart a few times.”

“It did.” She tipped her head. “But it wasn’t the dancing, it was trying to keep me from finding out about your double life.”

The backs of his eyes burned. “It was the hardest thing in my life, Valerie. Lying to you.” He was a bastard to have lied to this perfect woman.

She stared into his eyes. “How long would you have hidden it from me if I hadn’t found out?” Her voice sounded determined.

“I don’t know.” He stared into the distance over her shoulder. “At first I thought I’d wait until you fell for me then break it to you when you couldn’t walk away. But after I fell for you…” He looked into her eyes and opened his heart. “I was afraid you’d leave me if you found out. I was walking a tightrope.”

She wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I understand. But why didn’t you quit? Why did you continue dancing when you didn’t need the money?”

He paused then let out a sigh. “It was a thrill. After sitting alone and writing all week, I needed stimulation. Instant gratification.”

“The women loved you.”

“I became a different person when I was on stage.”

“Grey Thornton is such a reclusive man. Carlos was the opposite. Your party guy.”

“Yup. Split personality?”

She shook her head. “No, it sounds like it was just a way for you to satisfy all your…um…social needs.” She squared her shoulders and looked at him. “Were there a lot of women?”

He stared at her shoes then met her gaze. “A good number.”

“I bet.” She grinned. “Are we talking an airplane full or the Thomas and Mack Center full?”

He let out a surprised laugh. “Do you really want to know?”

She nodded then smiled and shook her head. “I’m curious, but no, don’t tell me.”

He crossed his arms. “Good. It’s the past. A different life.” He glanced away for a moment then looked at her. “If I hadn’t met you, I’d still be happy living like that.” He nodded toward the club. “Like I had no future.”

“Antonio, that’s so sad.” Her voice sounded choked.

“When we talked that first day in your office, I kept wondering what made me want you so badly.” He was sexually attracted, but there was more. He’d tell her everything. “The idea of your being my woman—my future—got lodged in my brain.”

She heaved a sigh. “Wow.” She tipped her head. “But you resisted because of your life as Carlos?”

“Partially. Mainly because that wasn’t how I lived. I didn’t want a woman to complicate things. I’ve been struggling with it ever since.” He shrugged. “I guess I’m relieved that you know about it.”

She seemed pensive then suddenly shook it off, lifting her eyebrows. “Well, enough psychobabble.” She slapped her palms on her thighs. “What are you going to do?”

Antonio was speechless. They could talk and analyze for another couple of hours, but she wanted action. He managed to say, “You want me to quit?”

“Yes.”

“And if I don’t?”

She shrugged. “Whatever makes you happy. It’s your life, you have to lead it as you choose.”

“You’d stay with me if I continued to dance?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t say that.”

“So, if I dance, you and I are through.”

“Yes. For two reasons. I’m a jealous woman, and I want a normal domestic life.”

“Good reasons.” He loved how she cleared away all the emotion and focused on her needs. “Okay. I won’t dance anymore.”

She closed her eyes for a second then opened them and smiled sweetly. The lights of the parking lot sparkled in her sky blue eyes. “You’ll quit?”

“I did already, on the way out.”

She launched herself toward him and pressed her body flat against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You have no idea how happy I am. I seriously feel like Richard Gere in
An Officer and a Gentleman
when he swoops in and carries Debra Winger out of the factory and into the happy ever after sunset.”

He wrapped his arms around her as his heart thudded with joy. “You are crazy, aren’t you?”

“Yup.”

He spun them in a circle, burying his face in her neck. In his arms he held the most important thing in his life. He could live without dancing, even without writing, but he could never live without Valerie. He loved her so deeply, it was hard to fill his lungs.

When he set her down, she pressed her hands to his chest and stepped back, her eyes going wide. “And I hope you don’t think this is going too far, but you said I could.” She looked around the parking lot.

He glanced around, too. “What are you doing?”

She took something square and black out of her purse then, without warning, she got down on one knee in front of him.

He could barely breathe. “You’re not going to propose.”

She smiled and opened the box to show him a very masculine square ring with a diamond set in a triangle cutout.

His mouth dropped open. “Oh, shit. You are.”

She removed it from the box and handed it to him. “Antonio Daniato, will you be my husband?”

He shook his head and smiled, took the ring and put it on his finger then hauled her up against him. “I would love to.” He kissed her, all his love in the gentle brush of lips.

She increased the heat, grabbing his hair, and intensifying the kiss.

Valerie. The woman made him so damn hungry for her. “It’s been too long,” he breathed against her lips.

“I want you. Let’s go to your place.”

Desire raced through him, but he had a more burning need; he wanted to make her his woman. “No. We’re going downtown.”

Her eyes widened in confusion. “Okay. Whatever you want.”

“Do you mean that? You’ll do whatever I want tonight?”

“Sure.” She smiled. “Nothing weird, though, right?”

“Nothing weird, I promise. Get in.” He unlocked the Toyota with his key and jumped in, barely waiting for her to close her door before driving off.

He headed north to downtown and pulled up at the Marriage Bureau. He turned off the engine and looked into her eyes. “Marriage license?”

“Tonight?”

He loved her surprised squeak. He grinned. “Yes. Tonight. Let’s go.”

They ran into the building and within ten minutes were back sitting in his car. She ran her fingers over the printed words on their license as if she couldn’t believe it was real.

He smiled, started the engine, and put his hand on the nape of her neck. “Your choice, love. Where?”

Her gaze flew to his. She opened her mouth, closed it then opened it again. “Where…where…wedding chapel?”

“Yes. Anywhere you’d like.”

“
Bella
gio?”

“Perfect. I’m making a stop at my condo first then we’ll go get hitched.”

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Believe it, baby. You’re going to be a married woman tonight.” He pulled out into traffic.

“Yes,” she whispered. Then she opened her window. “YES!” she shouted out into the night.

He laughed. “I’m glad you approve.” As he wound down back roads to his condo, he used his cell phone to call a friend at the
Bella
gio. He arranged the wedding service, a suite, and a selection of dresses to be tried on in their room by the bride-to-be. He asked Valerie, “Size six?”

“Yes please.” She looked like she might be overwhelmed.

“Hairdresser and makeup?”

She shrugged, smiling. “Why not!”

He relayed the information then said, “Roses. Lots of red roses.” He looked at her and winked. He thanked his friend, told him they’d be there in an hour, and hung up. “Are you okay with this, Valerie? It isn’t too much, is it?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Yes, but no.”

“Meaning?”

“Let’s get married.”

****

They checked in to a two-bedroom suite. Antonio opened the door, and Valerie stepped in to the lavish sitting room to face a small army of smiling people. A rack held an assortment of wedding dresses ranging from a sleek sheath to a fluffy, frothy, hoop-skirted creation. A dozen pair of shoes waited for her to try them on.

Through the bedroom door, she saw a woman draping undergarments on the bed, and, to Valerie’s delight, the dining room table held a tray of appetizers and tempting desserts.

Antonio kissed her. “I’ll use the other bedroom to change. I’ll be back in an hour.”

She nodded, choking back emotion.