At Odds With the Heiress (Las Vegas Nights 1)

The sky visible through Scarlett’s bedroom window was a bright blue. Not wishing to set a bad example for Madison, he’d never stayed the whole night with Scarlett. She’d said she understood his reasons.

But last night he’d let her see how much she meant to him, and sharing his emotions with her had increased the intimacy between them. Leaving had been impossible, so he’d called the guy keeping an eye on Madison and told him to stay until morning.

Tangled in sheets and warm, naked woman, he pushed all thought to the back of his mind and concentrated on the contour of her lips, the way she moaned when he licked at her nipples and the unsteady beat of her heart as he nibbled on her earlobe.

“Last night was amazing.” She burrowed her face into his neck so he couldn’t see her expression. “I’m really glad you came by.”

“I’m glad you decided to stay in Las Vegas.”

“You were pretty sure I needed to go.”

“I wanted my life to get back to normal.”

She put her hand on his chest and pushed him back so she could look into his eyes. “Has that changed?”

“No.” He flopped onto his back beside her and set his hands behind his head. Staring at the ceiling, he debated how much to tell her. “But I’m not sure I recognize what’s normal anymore.”

She rolled onto her side and rested her head on her palm. “What does that mean?”

“You’ve bothered me from the first moment we met.” The words came out of him slowly. “Whenever we’re in the same room it seems as if my senses sharpen. I can discern your voice amongst a dozen others. Your perfume seems to get on my clothes and infiltrate my lungs. And when I close my eyes it’s your face, your eyes, your body I see.” From her wide eyes and open mouth, he gathered his romantic blathering had surprised her. Logan let a smile creep over his lips. “In short, I’ve been obsessed with you for five years.”

“Were you one of those little boys that shoved and shouted at the girl he liked because he didn’t want to be teased for liking her?”

“I don’t remember.” He did recall in junior high that he’d been a lot more comfortable with computers than the girls in his class. While his buddies were serial-dating, he’d been modifying motherboards and hacking into the school’s database. “Lucas was the one who excelled with the opposite sex ever since he was six years old. Always dating someone. Most of the relationships didn’t last more than a couple of months before he was on to someone new.”

“You are never going to get me to believe that you were a monk.”

“Not a monk. I had a steady girlfriend from the time I turned fourteen. We dated all through high school and college.”

“Fourteen?” She gave him a wry grin. “What happened after school?”

This was the part he didn’t like talking about. After ten years, it still stung. “She chose her career over me and moved to London.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?”

Because he’d been too stubborn and arrogant to realize he was losing the best thing that had ever happened to him. “My life was here. I’d started a computer security company and I wasn’t about to give it all up.”

“Then it couldn’t have been that serious.”

Resentment burned at her easy dismissal of what had been the most important relationship of his life. “We’d been dating almost nine years. Been engaged for three.”

“But neither one of you had pulled the trigger. Maybe it was more about how comfortable and easy it was than that you were in love.”

His temper continued to heat. She was the furthest thing from an expert on how he felt.

“You weren’t there.” He’d devoted years to loving Elle. Giving up a future with her hadn’t been easy. “You can’t possibly know how it was between us.”

“Of course not,” she soothed. “I’m simply pointing out that if she’d been your everything you’d have figured out a way to stay together.”

It cut like glass that he considered the merits of her argument for even a second. He and Elle had been devoted to each other for nine years, and he had let her go without much of a fight. Just like he’d been ready to let Scarlett move to L.A. Only this time, he’d come to his senses and asked her to stay. He hadn’t done the same with Elle. She’d been determined to go, asked him to join her, but he’d never requested she turn down the job offer. Had she been waiting for him to?

“From your expression, I’m going to guess something new has crossed your mind,” Scarlett said. “Care to tell me what?”

“You might be right. Maybe what kept us together all through school was that we were traveling the same path.”

“Sometimes that’s the only thing that does keep people together. Giving up your dream so another can live theirs isn’t a sacrifice many are willing to make.”

“When I came in tonight you were dressed up. No matter how dedicated you are to managing this hotel and competing against your sisters to run Fontaine Hotels and Resorts, you are at heart an actress.” He noted the way her lashes flickered at his statement. “Are you sacrificing what you truly want to stay here?”