“These last few days have been wonderful. I’m not ready to give that up yet. If you’re willing, I’d like to give us another try. A real try. Because...” Her heart stopped in her chest, the confession of love still lingering on the tip of her tongue. “I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Nate swallowed, the lines of his throat working hard as he struggled with a response. She could see the conflict in his dark eyes. The hurt from before was still on his mind, and there was no way she could erase that from his memory. She could only replace it with new, better memories.
She turned away, looking down at the dark, swirling water. His silence pressured her to speak and fill the void. Somehow it was easier to confess in the dark when she didn’t have to look at him. “If you aren’t interested, I understand. I mean, I know this isn’t what this week was supposed to be about. I know that you have no reason to forgive me for what I did to you. But I’ve always loved you. Even then. It just scared the hell out of me. It was such an intense feeling I couldn’t take it. But being away from you was worse. I’d learned to live with the pain, but coming back here made it impossible. I don’t want to leave again.”
“Then don’t,” was his quiet reply. His fingertips pressed into her, pulling her closer. “Stay with me.”
Annie closed her eyes and leaned into him. Her head rested against his shoulder. It wasn’t a declaration of love, but it wasn’t a rejection.
There was still hope that, in time, there would be more.
Ten
Nate couldn’t sleep. He woke up just before dawn and found his brain whirring a hundred miles an hour. Something was bothering him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. He should be happy. Annie wanted to stay with him. She’d confessed she was in love with him. And yet...he hadn’t quite let himself fully believe her words. She had said those things before and she’d left. What would make it different this time?
He rolled over in bed and looked at Annie in the dim light. She was curled into a ball beside him, her soft breathing the only sound in their room. Watching her sleep was always one of his favorite things. But he was too wound up to just sit there.
He quietly flung back the sheets, tugged on some lounging pants and made his way down the hallway to his office. He switched on the small lamp. It illuminated his corner of the room and revealed the blue personnel file sitting on his desk.
Darrell Thomas.
Nate had too many employees to know the names of every single one, but it frustrated him that he couldn’t immediately put his finger on who this guy was. He reached out and flipped open the file. A color print of his badge photo and a copy of his sheriff’s card were attached to the front.
He didn’t recognize him. Darrell was fairly nondescript. He was slightly heavyset with short dark hair and a closely cropped beard. None of his features were particularly noteworthy. He was the kind of person you saw and immediately forgot. It probably suited him well, given his line of work.
Darrell had a clean record. You couldn’t get a sheriff’s card without one. They usually did a thorough screening before they hired someone, but if he was good enough not to get caught, there was nothing to stop them. He found several positive performance reviews. Good, solid work references. He had ten years of experience as a dealer in Vegas, with the past two at the Sapphire. He’d also worked at a couple downtown casinos and the Tangiers before coming here.
Nate’s jaw clenched as it occurred to him how many opportunities this man had had to cheat not only him, but also other players, over the years. People like him had nearly destroyed this hotel when Nate was a teenager. His father had sat back, powerless to stop the vultures that pecked at the broken carcass of his life. Nate was not vulnerable like his father. Tournament contract or not, he wouldn’t tolerate this in his hotel.
He glanced at his desk clock. Gabe was as poor a sleeper as he was. They both worked ridiculous hours and drank far too much coffee. Nate grabbed his radio and put out a call to his head of security. “You around, Gabe?”
“Yep. I’ve actually been here all night, running through those videos from yesterday afternoon. You may want to come down here. It’s some interesting tape.”
Nate frowned. He’d made a quick call to Gabe before dinner while Annie was in the shower. He’d asked him to find video of Annie in the casino yesterday afternoon. He’d never seen her that upset. She wasn’t the kind of woman who was easily rattled and wasn’t really forthcoming with her feelings. Finding her on the roof, hysterical and sobbing, had him worried. Something had gotten to her. Something she didn’t want to tell him.