It’s Vegas, Baby - Vegas, Baby

8

Autumn

Working for Doctors Without Borders was everything I had ever hoped and dreamed it would be, but the next two months were brutally hard. They were also deeply rewarding. The conditions the villagers lived in were abysmal by most American’s standards, with extreme poverty. But I rarely heard any complaints from the people we were helping.

Seeing their struggles and listening to the stories they shared with me was both eye opening and awe inspiring. It taught me the value of living for each moment of happiness we found—like the time I spent with Drew in Vegas. Memories of him fueled my dreams each and every night.

I also learned skills that would serve me well when I got back to the United States. We had such limited resources and had to rely on physical exams instead of the technology I’d been trained to use back home. I didn’t have access to a twenty-four-hour MRI or ultrasound machines. There was no neurosurgeon to call in for a consult. Chest X-rays and CAT scans were diagnostically better tools, but it was just me and my stethoscope in many cases. It was super challenging but also so very gratifying and taught me to rely on my eyes and what I’d learned during medical school and my residency. Working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo made me a better clinician because it forced me to be creative, and gave me more balance.

I just never expected my return to the States to be quite so soon, no matter how much I’d missed Drew. But eight weeks in to my year long stint, I began to struggle with nausea and vomiting. A week later, the weight I’d lost was noticeable and my boss insisted on running some blood tests to make sure I hadn’t picked anything up that could be easily treated before it caused too much harm. When the results came back, I was stunned. The only thing that would help me get past my symptoms was time...as in thirty more weeks because I was pregnant.

A week after the blood test turned up positive, I shook off a feeling of déjà vu as I stood in front of the Lennox Hotel and Casino. I was even more tired than I’d been when I’d last walked through the doors because this time around it had taken me almost twenty-four hours of travel to get here. The jeans and T-shirt I was wearing were much more comfortable than they had been before, but I still could barely wait to get out of them and into a shower to rinse off. Flying halfway across the world while pregnant had brought my usual post-travel weariness to a whole new level.

“If only I had a reservation they could lose again so I could insist they put me in that luscious suite I stayed in last time,” I sighed as I entered the lobby of the hotel. “Then I could take a bath in that killer tub before I try to track down Drew.”

I didn’t have a reservation, but that wasn’t the worst part of what I was lacking this trip. Getting a hotel room in Vegas in the middle of the week would be easy. Finding Drew when I didn’t know his last name and didn’t have his phone number? That was going to be the hard part. And most likely horribly embarrassing because the only plan I’d come up with so far was asking the Lennox Hotel concierge if he could put me in touch with Drew since it had seemed like they knew each other fairly well.

I silently groaned as I walked through the lobby. This was even worse than the walk of shame. Luckily, the guy working at the concierge desk was the same one who’d given Drew the Griffith Thorne tickets and backstage passes on our date two months ago. Before I reached him, I felt a tingling at the back of my neck like someone was watching me. It was exactly how I’d felt when I first spotted Drew in the casino while I’d been playing the slot machines. When I glanced over my shoulder and didn’t spot him, a wave of crushing disappointment crashed over me.

Of course it couldn’t be that easy. It was only fair that I had to put some effort into finding him since I let myself get knocked up by a guy without knowing his last name or how to get in touch with him.

The time we’d spent together had been such a whirlwind that I hadn’t even thought about getting his phone number until I’d gotten through airport security and wanted to send him a quick text. There wasn’t much I could do about it by then, other than leave the airport to head back to the hotel and find him, which wasn’t possible at the time. I’d forced myself to shrug it off and made a promise that the first thing I’d do when I got back home was head to the Lennox Hotel and track him down. Which is what I was there to do now, eight months earlier than I’d figured and a whole lot more pregnant than I’d planned on being.

I laughed softly at that since there weren’t degrees of being pregnant. You either were or you weren’t. But I wasn’t thinking like a doctor at all. I was an exhausted pregnant woman who was scared to share the news with the father-to-be because they’d only spent two, short days together and hadn’t spoken at all since then. Holding on to the memories of how Drew had treated me and the way he’d called me his, I marched over to the concierge desk. His dark eyes swept over me quickly, and he offered me a soft smile before greeting me. “Hello, miss. How can I be of service today?”

I twisted my hands together, feeling incredibly awkward as I tried to think of the best way to word what I needed from him. “Hi. Umm, this is probably going to be the strangest request you’ve ever gotten.”

His smile grew wide. “I doubt that. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve been asked to do over the years.”

“Oh. Well”—my eyes darted around and I leaned forward as I lowered my voice so nobody could overhear us—“I was a guest here two months ago, and you were able to get my date and me a pair of last minute tickets to see Griffith Thorne, along with backstage passes.”

He straightened in his chair, his smile turned more professional, and he seemed more...alert somehow. “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember helping you during your stay.”

“Don’t worry,” I rushed to reassure him. “No matter how good you are with faces; you couldn’t possibly remember me because I wasn’t the one who asked for the tickets. My date did.”

His gaze drifted over my shoulder as he echoed, “Your date?”

“Yes, it seemed like you and Drew knew each other fairly well, so I was hoping you could help me find him.”

“You won’t have to look very far.” He pointed behind me. “Mr. Lennox is headed this way right now.”

“Mr. Lennox? Can he help me find Drew?” I guessed that made sense if Drew worked for the hotel. The owner would have access to information on all their employees.

The concierge’s eyes widened. “No, Drew is Mr. Lennox.”

“Shit!” a familiar, masculine voice growled before I felt a strong hand on my shoulder, turning me around. “Autumn? Are you okay? You’re supposed to be in the Congo for another ten months.”

His crystal blue eyes filled with concern as they searched my face for any sign that I wasn’t okay. I was so relieved to have him standing in front of me that it took a moment for my brain to catch up with what the concierge had just said.

“You’re Andrew Lennox?” I shook off his hand and waved mine in the air. “Owner of the entire hotel and casino?”

He glared at the concierge, clearly pissed off that he’d let that piece of information slip. “We’re not having this discussion here where everyone can listen in.”

He clasped my hand and I let him guide me over to the elevator and waited until we were inside and the doors slid closed in front of us. When he slid his key card into the slot and pressed the button for the penthouse level, I cocked an eyebrow at him. “So it wasn’t a coincidence that my reservation was lost and I was given a suite on the top floor?”

When he heaved a deep sigh and ran his fingers through his dirty-blond hair, I knew I was right. I was stunned, but at least I could take a little comfort in the fact that we were both going to shock each other today...although my surprise was going to wait until he explained everything he’d kept from me during our time together.