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Sophie was on her way to getting her teaching degree. She hadn’t decided on a subject or a grade level yet, but as soon as Gray had suggested she’d make a great teacher, she’d known immediately that it was the right fit. It would be a long road getting there, but Sophie had finally found a career path that excited her and that she was proud of.
She still had a couple years of school ahead, but she already ached for the first day of teaching with a bunch of expectant faces looking up to her. Of course, they’d probably have to call her Ms. Dalton. Good thing she was used to that by now.
As for her parents…they were trying. They’d even thrown her a congratulatory party when she’d been accepted to Seattle University’s teaching program. Of course, her father hadn’t been able to resist the briefest of lectures on how small teachers’ salaries were, and her mother had given Sophie’s short skirt a panicked look. But overall they were learning to let her be her.
Brynn too had been supportive of the changes in Sophie’s life, although if Sophie’s life was finally getting on track, her older sister’s seemed to be teetering on the edge of…well Sophie wasn’t sure what exactly. It wasn’t like Brynn had joined a commune or bought a Harley or pierced her belly button, but in the past few months there had been something vaguely off about Brynn. A restless impatience that Sophie had never seen before. She’d tried talking to her sister about it, but Brynn had feigned ignorance. Sophie itched to dig deeper, but she knew firsthand how it felt to have someone meddle in your life, so she was trying to let her sister have her space.
“What’s with the frown?” Gray asked, tugging at a blonde curl.
Sophie shook off her concern. “Nothing. Just musing.”
“There will be no musing in Vegas,” Gray said. “Here, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
She raised an eyebrow as Gray began digging through his suitcase. She never thought she’d hear the word “surprise” come out of Grayson Wyatt’s mouth.
He turned around with a boyish grin, and Sophie let out a horrified laugh as she saw what he held in his hands.
“My hooker boots!”
“It took me forever to find them,” he said, smiling fondly at the cheap, fake leather. “What were you thinking, hiding gems like these under your bed?”
“Well, gosh, you’re right. They do bring back such fond memories, I should have put them on the mantel.”
“Is that sarcasm I sense?”
“From me?” Sophie asked, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her nose into his neck.
He nibbled her ear for a split second before gently pushing her aside. “None of that, you harlot. Here, put these on.”
Sophie stared at him. “I am not wearing those to dinner.”
“Why, you worried about some surly man hitting on you in the elevator?” he asked, giving her bare legs an appreciative glance.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be stuck with a surly man, regardless of shoe choice,” Sophie said, reluctantly accepting the boots. “You really want me to wear these? When you said you wanted to go to Vegas to celebrate a year since we first met, I didn’t realize you wanted to actually celebrate the hooker part of it.”
“I thought I was being sweet,” he said with mock affront. “Don’t women like reliving a couple’s first meeting?”
“Not when the first meeting involves a near-death experience and ultimate humiliation. And I told you I wanted to stay in one of the tacky hotels. You picked the same boring one as before,” she grumbled as she reluctantly pulled off her black pumps and slipped into the boots. “God, I’d forgotten how uncomfortable these are.”
“Oh, quit whining,” he said, pulling her out the hotel room door and toward the elevator lobby.
Gray punched the elevator button and leaned in for a kiss, pulling back when they finally heard the elevator arrival chime.
“Hey, it’s the same elevator as before!” Sophie said in happy realization. “What are the odds?”
“One in eight,” he replied, guiding her into the elevator. “Or twelve-point-five percent. There are eight possible elevators, so the chances of us getting this one—”
“Oh jeez,” she said, cutting him off. “Just when I think you’re finally beginning to understand romance…”
Suddenly the lights went out, and the elevator jolted to a sudden stop. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sophie said incredulously. “What are the odds of this? You’d think they’d have fixed—Gray, what the hell are you doing down there?”
Sophie squinted through the dark to find him.
“Hold on, I have a light,” he grumbled.
“You carry a flashlight now?” she asked, still struggling to see his figure. “Although I guess it’s not a bad idea at this hotel—”
She broke off again as a tiny stream of light flicked on. It served as a s
