Page 81 of All Bets Are Off

“Well, thanks for that … I guess.”

“You should take him now,” she said, her voice low and urgent. “Before Ryder comes out and starts drinking and complaining. Take Zach somewhere fun.”

“You want us to skip your party?”

She snorted. “You’re going to be looking for the quickest escape possible to get … whatever that food you mentioned before was. Go with my blessing. Zach has the weekend off. Take him somewhere fun.”

“Just not on a spaceship, right?” I teased.

“I don’t know where you should take him. Just let him dream.”

I squeezed her hand. “I know just the place. Thanks for letting us cut out early. Today has been … well, not fun, but it was illuminating.”

“Run,” Cora said. “You guys have earned it.”

“Thanks. I’ll make sure he enjoys the rest of his weekend.”

ZACH’S MOOD WHEN I FOUND HIM INthe hallway could only be described as surly. He didn’t want to talk about his conversation with his father—he kept making muttering noises whenever Ryder was brought up—and he definitely didn’t want to listen to me go on and on about the breakthrough I was convinced I’d had with his mother. Rather than let him sulk, I snagged his keys and hopped in the driver’s seat of his Jaguar.

“Where are we going?” he asked as he slid into the passenger seat. “Don’t wreck my car.”

I waved off his worry. “We’re going on an adventure.”

“Is that code for stopping at Popeyes, picking up chicken, and spending the entire weekend in bed?” Zach looked hopeful. “Because I could be up for that.”

I laughed, grateful that some of the light was returning to his eyes. “Well, I considered that,” I admitted as I pointed us toward the strip. “I’m worried that if we’re in the penthouse that we’ll be interrupted.”

“We’ll put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign.”

“That won’t stop Rex.”

Zach hesitated. “Probably not,” he said finally. “He doesn’t know about us.”

I wanted to ask him what “us” he was referring to, because things felt as if they were shifting beyond what we’d agreed to before. I didn’t want to rock the boat, though. Not only was I having fun with Zach, but I also wanted him to get some emotional downtime. I could only think of one way to do that at present.

“What are the odds you have sleeping bags?” I asked when the silence had stretched on for almost a minute.

“Sleeping bags?” He made a face. “We don’t need those if we’re going to be naked in our room.”

“We’re not going to be naked in the penthouse.”

“Why not?” Zach looked pained.

“Because we’re going to be naked somewhere else.”

“Really?” Intrigue lit his features. “I like the sound of that.” He whipped out his phone, taking me by surprise. “We need a place where Rex doesn’t have an in. If we check in to the Bellagio say, or the Wynn, your brother will know we’re there before we even get our bags to the room.”

He hummed to himself as he searched. “ARIA is out. He dated three of the front desk workers there. MGM is out. The Cosmopolitan is out. Mandalay Bay and Treasure Island areout.” He turned thoughtful. “Maybe we should go off strip. That’s always frightening, though.”

“I’m not thinking of a hotel,” I said.

“Oh, an Airbnb.” He tapped the side of his head. “That’s the smart way to disappear. We can hole up there and have the weekend of our lives. I’ll try to get one with a hot tub. We can sit in there, have sex, and prune.”

“As lovely as that picture you’re painting is, I wasn’t thinking of that either.” I turned into a familiar parking lot and shut off the engine to the Jaguar. “How much do you trust me?”

Zach eyed the pot dispensary sign looming overhead. “This feels like a trick question, Livvie.”

I waited him out.

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