The Heir Affair (Las Vegas Nights 5)

“We’re not dating.” Craig’s voice had gone cold.

“Oh, I thought you were.” Melody shook her head in bemusement. Sasha mentioned they’d been going out for a year. Maybe Craig was like Hunter and taking Sasha for granted. ?

??She’s really nice. And she really seems to like you.”

“She isn’t the woman I want.” He smiled at Melody.

Suddenly she became aware of a certain sort of vibe coming off Craig and it made her a bit uncomfortable. She’d always thought that Craig liked her, but now she wondered if his feelings for her were more involved than she’d realized.

“You might want to sit down and have a conversation with her,” Melody said, knowing how hard that could be for both parties. “She seems to think you guys have a future together.”

“She’s wrong.” There was rising irritation in his clipped tone.

Perhaps she’d pushed too hard. “Sure. Of course.”

Since there didn’t seem to be anything else to say, Melody lapsed into silence. As Craig made a left-hand turn, she realized she hadn’t given him any directions since the first one. And yet he seemed to know exactly where he was going. She frowned. She’d given him the address to Trent’s house. Had he fed it into his phone without her noticing? Her thoughts had been caught up in what she’d left behind in LA.

She started to pull the gate key out of her purse, but Craig rolled down his window and waved a card over the electronic lock. The gate arm began to rise.

“You have a key?”

“My aunt has a house in here. When you mentioned it, I recognized the name.”

Had she mentioned the name of the gated community to him? She could have. Her brain had been pretty scattered these last few weeks.

Or maybe she was just being paranoid. Wasn’t it possible that he’d heard things in passing from conversations she’d had at the studio with Nate?

“In fact, if you wouldn’t mind a quick detour, I need to pop in and check on the place. Water her plants. Look around to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

All Melody wanted to do was get home and crawl into bed, but Craig had been kind enough to drive her home. The least she could do was accompany him on a brief check of his aunt’s place.

“Sure. As long as it’s a quick stop.” She hid a mighty yawn behind her hand. “Sorry.”

“I get it. You’ve had a busy few months. What you need is to take some time off and rest. I can’t imagine all the stress you’ve been under is good for the baby.”

“You, Nate, my brother and Kyle. Everyone’s worrying too much. I’m fine. The baby’s fine. And it’s early. It would be different if I was in the last month or two of my pregnancy.”

Craig pulled into the driveway of a large home similar in size to Trent’s. “This is my aunt’s place.”

Melody glanced around and recognized where she was from her frequent walks around the neighborhood. “Wow! She and my brother are really close. His house is a couple doors down on the street behind this one.” In fact, she guessed there’d be a partial view of Trent’s backyard from the second floor here.

“You don’t say.” Craig gave her a friendly smile and turned off the engine. “Would you mind helping me? Plant watering will go faster with a second set of hands.”

“Sure.” Anything to get this task done sooner.

Craig led her inside and toward the kitchen. As with Trent’s house, the open floor plan offered unobstructed views of the pool and the beautifully landscaped backyard.

“This is a really nice house,” she said as she took a watering can and headed for the plants near the stairs. “What did you say your aunt does for a living?”

“She sells real estate in LA.”

“So this is a vacation property for her?”

Craig nodded. “She likes to gamble and Las Vegas is a quick flight.”

While Craig headed upstairs, Melody poured three cans of water on the plants downstairs. She was dragging by the time she slipped the watering can back under the sink. She cast out for some sign of Craig, but couldn’t hear him. This quick errand was stretching out longer than she expected.

“Craig?” she called out. “Are you about done?”