Page 119 of Vegas Heat

One side of his mouth lifts.Thanks, he mouths back.

“What’s the big day?” I ask for my father’s benefit.

“Old man Noah over here is another year closer to his midlife crisis,” my dad says.

“Old man?” Cooper repeats, raising his eyebrows at my dad. “Last I checked, you’re nearly a decade older than me.”

My dad laughs. “I never claimed I wasn’t in the middle of my own midlife crisis. What do you think that little red Corvette in the garage is?”

“A tribute to the late, great Prince?” I suggest.

Cooper barks out a laugh, and I can’t help my own giggle that he got a kick out of my joke.

My dad’s phone starts to ring, and he glances at his watch to see who’s calling. “Excuse me. I need to take this.” He heads out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the office, and we both hear his office door click shut.

Cooper’s eyes fall to mine. They’re so blue, and they have all this hope in them when before all seemed so lost.

“We should talk,” Cooper murmurs.

I nod, pressing my lips together.

“Stay with me tonight at Caesars.”

My brows dip as my eyes dart toward the hallway my dad just disappeared down. “To talk?”

He clears his throat, and my eyes slide back to his. When our gazes lock, fire burns between us. “To figure this out.”

It’s the place where we first met, and maybe it’ll be the place where we reconnect.

I nod. “Okay.”

I try not to allow too much hope into my heart, but I can’t help it. It balloons inside me in anticipation of tonight.

“I’ll text you my room details once I check in, and I’ll leave a key for you at concierge.”

I snag my bottom lip between my teeth as my thighs clench together. I know what this means…or at least IthinkI do.

He takes a step toward me and his gaze moves to my lips. “Stop biting it. I need it soft and ready for what I have planned.”

A soft gasp escapes me, and he chuckles.

“I thought we were getting together tonight tofigure it out.” I put air quotes around the words he literally just said to me.

“Oh, we are. But I estimate it’ll take all of ten seconds to come to an agreement, and then we’ll have the rest of the night ahead of us.” His words are a flash of the old Cooper—the one I fell in love with. The one who made me feel like together, anything is possible. The one who didn’t know I was Troy’s daughter.

He drops his lips to mine for a soft kiss, one that only serves to drive the need between us to even more intense levels, and then he backs away just when I was about to open my mouth.

My dad is right down the hall.

It would be wrong to brush my tongue against his here in the kitchen.

But maybe I don’t care. If being wrong feels this good, then I don’t want to be right.

He chuckles at the look on my face. “Save that feeling for tonight, and maybe do a little hydrating since I’m planning a fairly intense workout this evening.”

My jaw slackens. I have an idea of what he has planned, and I’m ready for it. Whatever it is.

CHAPTER 2: GABBY

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