Page 66 of Packed Up In Vegas

I really needed to stop comparing them to him, but I couldn’t help it. The differences were so drastic I couldn’t quite believe what I had tolerated for so long.

“You’re going to look so beautiful spread out on that new bed, little dove,” Kai told me as we slipped back into the car to head to the pack house. He slipped his fingers into my hair and drew me close, devouring my lips until my perfume saturated every molecule of air around us. “I suppose I should get you home so Amir doesn’t accuse me of hogging you.”

“I do love being hogged, but I’m also very, very curious what his plans for tonight are.”

Maybe this would be my first good surprise.

The handoff was almost instantaneous once we got back to the pack house, Amir waiting in the shade for our arrival. He opened my door for me, let me take a quick bathroom break and give Kai a goodbye kiss, and then had me bundled into his vehicle, the AC already on full blast.

“You’re getting to know me so well,” I said, leaning into the chilled air flowing from the vents.

“Don’t want you sweating all over my seats.”

I turned to stick my tongue out at him, relieved at the playful smirk on his face to know he wasn’t actually serious.

“Don’t stick that out unless you’re going to use it, princess. Might give me ideas.”

I sucked my tongue back in and pressed my thighs together, wiggling to get comfortable before putting on my seatbelt. “Do I get to know where we’re going now that we’re in the car?”

“We’re going to one of my favorite places,” he replied. “At some point we’ll get you out to all of the national parks around here, but we’re going to start small with Red Rock Canyon.”

I immediately tried to snoop on my phone and Amir put his hand over the screen.

“Quit that. The view has to be a surprise.”

I pouted at him and closed the page, turning my phone face-down.

“If you don’t put that pout away, I’m going to pull over and bite it.”

My perfume filled the car. “That’s terrible motivation for me to stop.”

He looked so pleased with himself. Amir swung us onto the road out of the city and settled comfortably in his seat, calmly reaching across the space to gently hold the back of my neck.

“It won’t take long to get there. I make this trip whenever I need some time for myself.”

It warmed me down to my toes that he wanted to include me in a place he kept to himself. The sun ahead of us was a little bit blinding, but we swooped into the shade of the mountains quickly, passing a sign that said Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

“Close your eyes.”

“Okay, but I’m trusting you like me enough that you won’t leave me out here,” I said with an awkward laugh. Probably not the best attempt at teasing…

“One, I wouldn’t do that even if I didn’t like you, and two, the others would toss me off a cliff if I even thought about it, which I never would. I just want the view to be a surprise.”

I dutifully closed my eyes and waited. The radio was playing the top forty quietly and I allowed myself to relax into my seat until Amir pulled to a stop.

“Keep them closed.”

I did so, waiting while he turned off the car and a moment later my door opened. Amir unbuckled me and scooped me right out of the seat. I koala-clung to him and buried my face against him.

“I’m going to put you on your feet now. Just let me get you angled before you open your eyes, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

My feet settled on top of gravelly ground and Amir shifted me just so, pressing up against my back with his arms around my waist. “Open.”

The expanse of stone in front of me looked like it was lit ablaze by the sun, a rainbow of red and gold spilling over the undulating rock in a brilliant display of light and shadow. I couldn’t breathe for how beautiful it was. Like art come to life.

“Oh my god,” I whispered. “How is it real?”

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