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“Liam left me some money. A lot of money,” I admit. “Some of it’s from our parents’ life insurance policy.” I frown. “But there’s a lot more than that. I don’t know where it came from.”
“Maybe Liam had another job when he was on leave and had been saving?” Gemma suggests.
I shake my head. “You know that would be almost impossible.” Gemma’s best friend Walker was on Liam’s SEAL team, so she knows as well as I do how impossible living a normal life and having a regular job is for a Navy SEAL. They can get called to leave for a mission at a moment’s notice.
“Maybe he invested in the stock market and hit it big. He’s was pretty smart about money,” Charlotte adds.
“Maybe…” I’m not convinced, but I don’t have a better explanation.
“I do know he’d be happy that you’re spending it doing the things he wanted to do but never got a chance to,” Gemma assures me, covering my hand with hers.
This time I can’t stop the tears that fill my eyes.
“Of course he would,” Charlotte agrees. “And we’re going to help you.” She crosses the room to the bar and pours us each a shot of tequila. “To our first all-nighter in Vegas,” she says, lifting her shot glass.
“To Vegas,” Gemma and I echo. I throw back the shot, wincing as the alcohol burns a fiery trail down my throat.
…
A few hours later, when I emerge from the bedroom dressed for dinner, both Gemma and Charlotte stare at me, their mouths gaping.
“Oh my God! What happened to the stylish but conservative McKenzie Prescott that I know?” Gemma teases.
I look down at the sleek, body-hugging black club dress with little triangle cutouts up the sides that I bought on a whim the week before I left for Costa Rica. “Thisisstylish.” I shrug and slip on a pair of fuck-me-dead, black, spiked heels that lace up the front.
“Stylish, yes, but definitely not conservative,” Charlotte retorts. “Damn, McKenzie, you rock the sexy siren look! You look phenomenal. I feel downright plain next to you.”
“No one could ever accuse you of being plain,” I assure her. “You look great, as always.” Charlotte is the most put-together person I know, and with her dark hair piled artfully on her head, her makeup flawless, and her accessories perfectly matched, she looks like she already owns Las Vegas. “I just thought that since I’ve already stepped outside my comfort zone, I might as well go all the way. If I can’t do it in Las Vegas, where can I? What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?” I shrug. “It’s kind of fun letting go a little. Besides, I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to be the wild, daring, sexy girl.”
I’m having second thoughts, though, as we walk down the curving gold staircase into the XS Nightclub several hours later. While I’m not exactly insecure about my body, I’m a little self-conscious flaunting it in public like this, particularly since I spent the year and a half that I dated Bryce trying to cover up my curves. He preferred stick-straight, athletic-looking women. But that was then and this is now. I catch a glimpse of myself in a nearby window. My short, skintight black dress barely covers anything. I’m ready.
And after a few minutes in the club, I’ve stopped caring. The appreciative glances I get when we walk in bolster my confidence, and a lot of women at the club are dressed in less than I am. It doesn’t take long to get wrapped up in the party-like atmosphere, and soon we’re dancing and drinking and laughing. I’ve never been anywhere like this. It’s like being at a concert, a nightclub, and a pool party all wrapped up in one. A DJ that I’ve actually heard on the radio is mixing loud dance music from a round booth in the middle of the dance floor, and the room is thick with people dressed in everything from skin-baring bikinis to dresses and slacks, dancing inside, on the patio, and even in the pool.
Charlotte, Gemma, and I are letting loose with a group of sweet but nerdy engineers who are in Vegas for a bachelor party when I first become aware of him. I feel his gaze first, boring into me as I dance, and when I turn around, my eyes meet half-closed, hooded brown ones that are watching me with an intensity that makes me squirm. He’s sitting alone on one of the deep leather sofas in the private cabana behind us, and my God, but he’s heart-stoppingly beautiful. Dangerous looking, but beautiful.
It’s hard to see him clearly in the dim lights of the club, but I can make out short, tousled dark hair—the kind that begs you to run your fingers through it—chiseled features, a strong jaw, and a hint of scruff that has me inexplicably wondering what it would feel like against my lips. He looks completely at ease, dressed in khaki slacks and a shirt unbuttoned just enough to reveal a hint of his smooth, muscled chest, with one ankle crossed over his knee and his arm slung across the back of the sofa, a crystal glass dangling from his fingertips. His shirt sleeves are rolled up to reveal a tattoo, and his hands are strong and powerful looking. Oh, yeah. He’s Dangerous with a capital D.
If I weren’t feeling reckless and didn’t already have a few drinks in me, I would have turned back around and ignored him. Some part of me knows that’s exactly what I should do. But there’s something about him—an aura of uncompromising confidence coupled with an almost cruel sensuality that roots me to the spot, unable to tear my gaze away. My typically careful inner voice is telling me I should turn around and go back to dancing with Charlotte and Gemma and the harmless group of boys we met earlier. Those guys are safe. This guy is anything but. He’s a man. All hard edges, confidence, and rugged masculinity wrapped into one tantalizingly sexy package.
Yet I can’t make myself walk away. Maybe it’s because I’ve already lost everything and have nothing left to lose, or maybe Liam’s death has taught me there are no guarantees and life is short so you might as well live it. Maybe it was jumping off that waterfall that’s emboldened me, or maybe it’s just the connection I feel with Liam that empowers me to be daring. But something’s changed, and for once in my life, I don’t want to play it safe. I want to be like Liam—wild and bold and free and, most of all, fearless. It’s time to redefine myself, to be the girl I’ve always been too afraid to be.
With my heart thumping in time with the beat of the music, I slowly walk straight toward the devil himself.
