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Jess showered and changed into a pair of cut-offs and a red t-shirt. Three hours of flicking through the channels on the flat-screen TV later, she resigned herself to the fact that Adam wasn’t going to come back.
That man made her crazy. In more ways than one.
Starving and restless, she decided to wander along the Strip and grab a burger somewhere. As she took the elevator down to the casino, she couldn’t ignore the pit of disappointment in her stomach. He’d told her they couldn’t be seen together—and that was before she pissed him off. But she must have been harboring some fantasy that they’d be able to spend time together somehow. Which would have been really stupid, she knew that. She was already way too entranced by him. Even if they were currently working together, their ultimate goals weren’t aligned. Getting any more involved with him would be a mistake.
But wasn’t Vegas the place where people went to make mistakes?
The Strip was crowded with tourists. She wolfed down her burger, realizing she hadn’t eaten the entire day. It felt good to be walking among other people in the warm night air. She smiled at the fountains in front of the Bellagio, smirked at the mini-Eiffel Tower in front of the Paris, watched the roller coaster at New York, New York. She was grateful for the endless distractions. She didn’t want to sit alone in her hotel room waiting for a man who was too upset with her to return that night.
She kept walking until she stood in front of the new star of the Strip, the Skylar Hotel. The tango competition was there, she remembered, wondering if she should go in. Well, why not? The night was young and she had nothing else to do.
She bought a ticket and entered an enormous auditorium with stadium seating, a large stage in the center, and a Jumbotron hanging over it. The lights were low and it took a moment for her eyes to adj
ust to the darkness. On stage, a couple in ornate red and black costumes prepared to take the floor. Jess took a seat up high and in the back. The cavernous stadium was less than half full, and she was grateful she wasn’t squeezed right next to someone chatting, texting or talking on a phone.
Because the dancing was riveting. Aside from a few episodes of “Dancing with the Stars,” Jess had never seen professionals. She was mesmerized by the footwork. Some of the steps were quick and light, but then there were slow, sliding stretches. The dancers would walk in one direction for a full minute—and then do four different direction changes in ten seconds. It was just so sensual. The energy and the longing, the way they threw their bodies on one another...it was like sex on hard wood.
The couple finished in a tight embrace to a wave of applause. Jess clapped furiously before leaning back to wait for the next performance.
Suddenly, she felt a tingle on the back of her neck. The air felt warmer and thicker. Her thigh muscles clenched. Adam. Her breath caught with excitement.
“I know you’re behind me,” she said softly.
“Don’t turn around. Lots of cameras here.” Speaking low, his voice was rough and hoarse. Jess closed her eyes, glad he couldn’t see her breathing go shallow. It wasn’t fair, she thought. Not fair at all that just the sound of his voice could make her go hot and liquid.
“How did you know I was here?” he whispered. “I didn’t make a sound.”
When she wasn’t looking at him, it was easier to tell the truth. “I felt you.”
He made a sound that was almost a groan. “You’re as...aware of me as I am of you?”
She needed to lighten this up or damn the cameras, she was going to turn around and climb in his lap. She wanted her voice to sound light and carefree. But when the words popped out, they just sounded breathless. “I think our pheromones like each other.”
He let out a growly laugh that made her hands go to fists in her lap.
She swallowed. “Did you follow me here?”
“Yes. Are you enjoying the dancing?”
“Very much.”
Trying to ignore her body’s molten response to the man sitting behind her, she focused on the dancing couple’s routine. Their tango was more dramatic than the last, a tumultuous love story told by their bodies. One moment, their facial expressions and body language were pure romance. The next, they played hard to get with each other. Then, they were on the verge of violence. Later in the dance, the man was the seducer and the woman was the prey.
She started to laugh then. It was just too ironic.
He spoke and she envisioned the smile on his lips. “You’re thinking that’s us, aren’t you? That you and I are doing some strange tango.”
“Aren’t we?”
Adam didn’t answer. She didn’t want him to vanish again. “Isn’t there somewhere we can go?” She asked. Even though it was a little easier to speak plainly without the light of those blue eyes on her face... “I want to look at you while we talk.”
There was a long moment of silence. If her body hadn’t still been so attuned to him that it almost hurt, she would have thought he left. “There’s a dive bar off the Strip. Kinney’s. I’ll meet you there.”
Chapter Nine
Kinney’s was just as dingy as Adam remembered from his last visit. Small, dark, and two miles off the Strip, few tourists made it in. Old school country and western music blared out of the jukebox in the corner, and a guy had been puking in the parking lot when his taxi dropped him off.
But it was worth it. Kinney’s was as off the grid as it was possible to be in Sin City.
