Page 3 of Vegas Baby

“No, you were in the bar, drinking with Veer and Anaya. You were partying pretty hard. What, did you think I stole you out of your room and brought you here?” he asked, offering a teasing grin.

Her silence was met with a bark of incredulous laughter. The booming sound grating on her last nerve. “What the hell? You actually thought I would kidnap you? I’d be insulted if it wasn’t damned preposterous.”

“This isn’t funny.” Confusion muddied her thoughts and she fought the rise of tears, the mysteriousness over the entire situation overwhelming. “I don’t know what to think. I took a sleeping pill and went to bed. I have no idea how I ended up in the bar or why I was drunk, I don’t…. I swear…I…I…something must have happened. I don’t know—” she choked back a sob, tears blurring her vision. Throughout her adult life, she’d tried to refrain from drinking in excess, preferring to be in control of the situation. Look how that turned out.

“Let me order some room service and we’ll figure this out.” He rolled out of bed; naked frame bathed in the morning light. While no longer a professional football player, he kept himself in peak physical shape, not an ounce of fat on him. Not that she should be noticing. Just because he seemed reasonable, didn’t mean he wouldn’t attack her, or do something to keep her from leaving.

Howler’s long legs ate up the space until he reached for his underwear and slipped them on before he donned his pants. He turned toward her, and Raina averted her gaze from his wide chest, dusted with dark hair, her face blazing. From what he’d inferred, she’d touched his body, explored it at will. A tiny voice inside her head dared her to look. Raina stared past his shoulder instead “Do you see my clothes?”

Yawning, he snatched up her bra and underwear, searching the floor before he retrieved a navy-blue garment. He tossed them onto her lap, the tendons in his arms flexing. Her nipples began to tighten against her will. Oh God, what was wrong with her? She was losing it.

“Here you go,” he said.

She picked up the slinky blue silk chemise with the lace bodice and clutched it in her fist, her earlier suspicion returning with a vengeance. This was her nightgown, the one she’d slipped on before she’d gone to bed. She narrowed her eyes and met his direct gaze. “What is this?”

He shrugged wide shoulders, frowning at her sharp tone. “The dress you wore last night.”

“You’re trying to tell me I wore my nightgown to a bar?”

“I’m not trying to tell you anything. That’s what you were wearing when I found you with Veer and Anaya at the bar. Call and ask him, or you can speak to the hotel security if you don’t believe me.”

Lord, her head began to pound even more. “Yes, they’d have it all recorded.”

“More than likely since they had to drag you off the stage after you tried to grope Elvis,” the wry amusement in his words cut deeper into her humiliation.

Raina groaned, unable to fathom the depth of her depravity. She’d worn her nightgown into a crowded bar, drank, assaulted Elvis, and slept with Howler. “Can you, um…” she made a spinning motion with her hand, needing to get dressed before she did something stupid, like scream like a baby. “Turn around so I can get dressed.”

“Really? You weren’t shy last night. As a matter of fact, you were…unexpected.” He shrugged on his dress shirt, head tilted to the side, a curious gleam in his eyes before he turned his back on her.

“Unexpected?” Gaze locked on his back, she lowered the sheet and slipped on her underwear. Thighs protesting, her back was sore from God knew what. Heat seared her throat and she wanted to hide beneath the blanket. It was bad enough she’d done what she done. Why him? Why Howler?

“It doesn’t appear as if they have room service. Let’s go down to the restaurant and get some breakfast.”

Or I can burrow my head under a pillow and pretend this never happened.

Except she couldn’t.

Climbing out of bed, she got to her feet and resigned herself to the inevitable.

Chapter Two

“What’s the name of the sleeping pill you took?” Howler leaned back in the booth at the western-themed hotel restaurant and typed the name Raina gave him into his phone. From what she implied in the room, she’d blacked out and couldn’t remember a thing. Which either made her a sloppy drunk or it was the meds.

Raina sat next to him; his jacket draped around her shoulders. Since the hostess had showed them to their table, she’d been quiet and withdrawn, not her usual confident self. He’d never seen the vulnerable side of Raina and it made him uncomfortable. She was a take-control type of woman and never revealed weakness. Her negotiation skills eclipsed the attorneys on the other teams he dealt with, although he’d never admit it to her.

A webpage popped up and he scanned the text, sitting up straighter. Holy shit. “Did you know the side effects of the drug?”

“It makes me paralyzed when I first wake up. My doctor warned me it might happen.” Raina slipped a hand through her hair, the sleek curtain blocking her face from view before she tucked it behind her ear.

“If that were the only one.” He shook his head, and thumbed his way to the bottom of the page. “Sleep walking, memory loss, sleep driving. And in some cases, people make food, have sex, and make phone calls.”

“And did we? Have sex?”

Unlike Raina, he possessed a decent recollection of the early part of the night and it sent his pulse to pounding. There were a few blurry hours somewhere in between the dance floor and the hotel room. This morning’s headache acted as punishment for his overindulgence. “Yes.”

She blanched, the skin around her mouth pinched in a disapproving line.

He’d be insulted by her reaction if the situation hadn’t been so odd. Waking up next to the sexy woman, he’d been thrilled to have her in his bed until the bizarre situation unfolded. He clicked off the browser and settled deeper into his seat.

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