Sin City Baby

“Business is good. Profiting.”

“A load of laughs you are,” she said with a grin.

“Don’t make me do it,” I said.

“Do what?”

I reached my hand out toward her body, wiggling my fingers against her soft skin as she curled in on herself.

“That’s cheating.”

“It makes you laugh.”

“I don’t like being tickled,” Sam said.

“I can be a load of laughs if I want to be.”

“By cheating,” she said.

“If it gets you laughing, I’ll do it.”

I felt her eyes on the side of my head as I kept my gaze out the windshield. I wasn’t much of a flirt unless I was drinking, and I expected alcohol to be my close confidant for the entire weekend. If I was going to expose myself to Sam emotionally, then I needed the liquid courage. I was confident in what I did. Numbers. Calculations. I could run some of the most complex equations in my head and regurgitate percentages on the fly. But I wasn’t nearly as confident around women.

“Looking forward to anything specific this weekend?” Sam asked.

“Sleep,” I said.

“Not getting much of that with all those numbers flying around in your head?”

“More like I don’t get sleep with my brothers around all the time. They can really be a handful sometimes.”

“You have no idea,” she said. “Maybe that’s why Lauren’s marrying someone twice her age.”

I panned my gaze over to Sam and saw her relax into her seat.

“Do you not like Todd?” I asked her.

“I like him just fine,” she said.

“Do you not like that he’s older?”

“It’s not my thing, but let’s face it. That’s always been Lauren’s thing.”

“I don’t want to know what that means,” I said.

“It means your sister has a thing for older guys. I mean—never mind.”

I could tell something was bugging Sam, but I didn't want to press it. I didn’t want to be known all weekend as the guy that got her to talk about depressing shit. The rest of the cab ride was silent as her eyes gazed out the window, and I found I wanted to kiss her. Just lean in and plant my lips into her neck until she gasped, then capture her lips and ease her into my body. Soft. Sensual. Romantic in its own right. Every woman deserved a bit of romance. Sam deserved the world.

I held back my urges as we pulled up to the hotel. The Palazzo Resort Hotel and Casino in Vegas. Four rooms, three nights, and a lot of partying and sightseeing to do. I climbed out of the cab and walked around, then offered my hand to Sam. She smiled at me and took it, and I was glad to see her spirits had risen a bit. I already had the room keys in my back pocket to be doled out once we all merged in the lobby, and I carried Sam’s stuff in so we could wait for everyone else.

“I figured we would be the last here,” she said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Everyone else pulled out ahead of us. Didn’t you see that at the airport?”

No. Because I was too busy looking at her.