Page 125 of Vegas Heat

“What are you thinking about?” he murmurs.

My eyes move to his as I go for honesty. “Just trying to figure out whether this is real or a dream.”

One side of his lips curls up into a partial smile.

“You?” I ask.

He blinks, and then his eyes flick to my lips for a beat. “All night I’ve been thinking about how stupid I’ve been.”

My brows knit together. “Why?”

“For pushing you away. For thinking I could give this up. For acting like what we started a few weeks ago isn’t the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.” He shakes his head a little as if he can’t quite grasp all we’ve been through, and when he speaks again, his voice is a little lower. “I’m also thinking I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hide it. These feelings, this thing between us…it’s big, and it shines. It’s bright and bold, Gabby, and your father is a smart man.”

“I know he is,” I say with a little nod. “And I don’t want to deceive him, but I also think it’s okay for the two of us to revel in our secret a while before we need to tell anyone anything. I think when the time is right, when we’re both ready…that’s when we tell him. But for now, he needs to know what’s going on between the two of us as much as I need to know about the club he runs.”

He freezes a beat, surprised that I brought it up. “The club,” he finally repeats.

I nod. “My father’s a smart man, and maybe that’s where I get it.” I lift a shoulder. “You told me once that the friend who offered you a job owns a sex club.”

“It’s not a sex club, per se. It’s a place where celebrities and athletes can congregate without the general public looking in. The first floor is pretty rad, if I’m being honest, but I didn’t go beyond that. From what I gathered, the second floor is a high-rent strip club, and the third is where optional extracurricular activities happen.”

“Sex?”

He lifts a shoulder and nods at the same time, and I wrinkle my nose. He takes the opportunity to press a kiss to the tip of it while it’s still wrinkled. “We never have to go there.”

I make a face like I just ate something rotten. “We neverwillgo there. My father owns it?”

“He’s part owner along with Victor Bancroft, James McKinney, and some silent business partner from Vegas,” he says.

So an actor, a famous rock star, and a businessman along with an athlete. Interesting combination of people.

“It’s not my thing,” he says. “Your father, he does a lot of business there on the first floor. What he or anybody else does on the other floors is none of my business. Your father is also the manager of the Vegas Heat, and that’s pretty fucking kickass.”

“And your boss,” I remind him.

“And one of my closest friends,” he finishes. “I won’t be able to hide this smile for long, and when you’re with somebody for an entire season, plus the pre-season…let’s just say men chat in the locker room.”

“Are you okay with this?” I ask.

His eyes flick to my lips again before moving back to mine, and they’re a little cloudy when he finally answers. “I have to be. We tried the alternative, and it just isn’t an option.”

He drops his lips to mine and kisses me softly, sensually, luxuriously…as if we have all the time in the world.

And maybe we do—just as long as we can keep it a secret.

CHAPTER 5: COOPER

She fell asleep as we talked late into the night holding each other. Neither of us wanted to let go for fear the other would be gone when morning came, but as I awake to a brand-new day, she’s in my arms.

I’m a whole year older.

She’s twelve years younger than me.

She’s my best friend’s daughter.

This is all wrong…but as I hold her in my arms at dawn, nothing has ever felt so right to me in all my life.

I breathe her in, and she shifts a little, waking as the sunlight starts to stream through the sides of our heavy drapes.

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