“Always.”
I watched him go, smiling the moment his gaze landed on Rocky. Even though her hair was messy and she was pale and bruised, he looked at her like she was the beginning and end of his world. That was real, true, honest to goodness love. The kind that had been ripped from my own mother when my dad interrupted a junkie trying to stick up a convenience store and caught two in the chest for his efforts.
I’d leave that kind of shit to Lasso and the rest of the boys falling like dead weight into love with some pretty incredible women. But that didn’t mean I’d leave Vivi to flounder on her own. If she needed my help I’d give it to her.
***
“Not exactly what I pictured when you said you had a place to stay.” After tracking her phone and then double-checking the data, I hopped on my bike and drove forty-five minutes outside the city to some rundown campsite filled with what looked like homeless people. People who no longer fit into society—along with those who didn’t want to—set up their homes there.
I wondered what it said about Vivi that she had set up her brand-new camper there as well.
“What are you doing here Jeremiah?” She sounded annoyed but not surprised to see me.
“You gave me your number. It was easy.” It took me less than five minutes to pinpoint her location.
She glared, her gray eyes hard and stormy. “It wasn’t a challenge. When you didn’t call me, I took the hint and moved on.” She leaned against the open door. She’d stepped out when she heard me roar up outside her camper but I could tell she had a tight grip on the handle. Cautious and defensive. “So, what are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you that. What brings you to Vegas?”
She shrugged like it was nothing but Vivi couldn’t hide the tension in her body for shit. “Just passing through.”
Vague enough to be true but not nearly the entire story. “To where?”
“Haven’t decided yet. When I get on the road soon, I’ll figure it out.” She was being purposely vague. I didn’t know if she was trying to see if she could trust me or she just didn’t want to tell me.
“Where you coming from?”
“Back east. New York,” she offered up, probably because it was easy enough to verify.
“And you decided to look me up because?”
She shrugged again and I was getting damn tired of that shrug. “You were on my mind when I hit Chicago and I did a little surfing and decided to finally get that face to face we never had.” The words were incongruous for the woman standing in front of me. The black tank top and leather cuff watch screamed badass, but those gray eyes looked vulnerable. Wary. Even scared.
“Have lunch with me.” Something was clearly going on with her. Her eyes glinted silver in the late morning sun as she looked me over. Her gaze was long and thorough but there was no heat behind it. No hate either so I guessed that was a good thing.
“Sure. When and where?”
A smile spread slowly across my face. “My day is free. I’ll wait for you.” It took all the restraint I had not to laugh at the way her jaws clenched at my answer.
She stared at me for a long moment, opened the door wider and sighed. “Fine. Come inside and don’t touch any of my shit.”
I took a seat at the smallest goddamn dinette I’d ever seen, barely able to move to look around. “Other than the fact I’m stuck in this tiny thing, I won’t touch a thing.” She laughed, and I took my time checking her out.
I’d imagined her a thousand times over the years. I imagined her Asian most of the time, with colored hair and maybe a few piercings. But the blue hair wasn’t bad, neither was the pale freckled skin or the sleeve of tattoos. It was sexy as hell. She was sexy as hell, in a slightly sarcastic and annoyed way. “This thing looks new.”
“It is,” she said behind a half closed door that looked like a bedroom. “Cheaper than a decent hotel and easier to check out.” Her words were light but she couldn’t hide the tension in every syllable.
“Sounds like you’re on the run from something.”
“Yeah well it seems like maybe you should’ve been when I rolled into town.” She stopped at the table, giving me a good long look at her tits. They were perfect. Perky. “Get a good look?”
My eyes crawled up her body until they got to her face. “Not good enough but it’ll hold. For now.” I gave in to the impulse to finish my perusal of her body because I needed a good close look at her shapely legs. She wore jeans that had to be painted on because I could see every muscle, every dip and curve. Up close they were even better. They slid into… “Cowboy boots?”
“They’re cute and comfortable. Breathable in this heat. Let’s go.”
“No tour?” I stood, towering over her with a smile. Vivi was definitely tough but she clearly still spent too much time on her own because she had a shitty poker face. And she couldn’t hide the fluttering pulse at the base of her throat.
“Come on, playa.”