The Little Black Dress (Love in Las Vegas)

Me: I will, and I won’t. I promise. Love you both.

Zoey: Love you, too. Break a leg!

Ava: You’re gonna kill it!

I toss my phone onto the bed with a smile. Today is going to be amazing. I am going to kill it, and Jared Hart is going to be so glad Scotty found me. I pull my dress out of the closet and pull off the protective plastic wrap with the dry cleaner’s logo splashed across the front. Careful not to let the fabric touch my already-made-up face, I sigh as the soft material falls into place before reaching over my shoulder to raise the zipper.

Turning to look in the full-length mirror on my wall, I smooth my hands down my body. I look and feel amazing in this dress, and that hasn’t changed since that awful night at the auction.

It’s still lucky. I just know it.

After I step into my shoes and grab my purse, I’m out the door with a confident strut. This is going to be TheDay of Sophie. The best day ever.

* * *

“Hey,Sophie. Great to see you again.”

I smile at Scotty’s words as I exit the elevator. He’d obviously been waiting for me, and I have to admit, seeing his friendly face helps smother the butterflies that erupted in my stomach the second I hit the parking lot.

“Thanks, Scotty. I’m glad to see you, too. And I’m really excited to meet the boss man.”

“You’re going to do great,” he says, leading me toward a desk outside an office with reflective windows. “Jared is a little rough around the edges, but don’t let his gruffness get to you. He’s a fair boss, and underneath all that grumpiness, a really kind person. As long as you do the job well, you’ll get along fine with him.”

Rough around the edges? Grumpy? Scotty didn’t say anything about that during my interview.

“Oh, no. I can see I’ve scared you,” Scotty says, giving me a concerned look. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like he’s an asshole. He’s not. He’s just very business-oriented, and sometimes that overshadows his social skills.”

He chuckles with that last bit, and I find myself smiling. I can handle rough edges. Stephen Hatfield is a total jackass and more than a little misogynistic, and I handled him just fine. Until he fired me. Whatever.

The Day of Sophie. I got this.

The elevator at the end of the hall dings, and we both turn to face it. The doors swish open, and my nerves dissipate as shock, confusion, and no small amount of anger takes its place.

“You,” I breathe as he walks toward us.

“What?” Scotty asks, but I ignore him to stalk toward the man strolling in my direction.

We stop a few feet from each other, our gazes clashing.

“What are you doing here? Are you stalking me now? Who let you up here?” I demand, the questions blasting out of me without giving him time to respond.

He watches me silently with narrowed eyes before turning that gaze to Scotty, who’s moved up beside me.

“Sophie—” Scotty begins, but I cut him off.

“Scotty, I’m sorry. I don’t know how he got up here, but we should talk to security. This…asshole has it out for me. I have no clue how he knew I was here, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen him in the casino. Is there some kind of blackball list we can put him on to keep him out?”

The man’s dark eyes spark with humor as his gaze slides from me back to Scotty. “Yes, is there a list, Scotty? Can’t have assholes like me patronizing The Black Hart.”

An ominous feeling trickles down my back, making me shiver. Something that sounds like a groan vibrates in Scotty’s chest before he angles his body toward me and lifts a hand.

“Sophie Jameson, meet Jared Hart.”

Dead. I’ve either left the land of the living, or I’m still in my bed, stuck in some crazy, realistic nightmare.

Jared Hart doesn’t say a word. He just moves around us, stalking into my new boss’s office.

His office.

“Oh, my God. This can’t be real. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” I mutter to myself.

“Don’t move,” Scotty says. “I’ll be right back.”

He follows after Jared, leaving me alone. My entire body deflates, suddenly feeling like it weighs a thousand pounds.

This is not the day of Sophie. And this dress is going in the trash the second I can get out of it.