Page 257 of Vegas Heat

“How’d he even know?” Cooper wonders aloud. “Why’d he bust in here like that?”

Oddly it’s the one question I actually have the answer to. “There’s a television monitor around the corner showing what’s going on in the chapel to the receptionist. Some maintenance workers were over there earlier. They must’ve left it on.”

The photographer and Corinne, the wedding planner here at the hotel, choose that moment to enter the room. “Are we ready for the first look?” Corinne asks brightly, clapping her hands together, and she glances around. “Where is everybody?”

“I think the wedding might be off,” I murmur.

“Off?” Corinne screeches. “What happened?”

I blow out a breath. “Long story. I have to go find my father.” I make a break for the door, and Cooper is hot on my tail.

He’s not in the immediate hallway, and neither is Joanie.

We both glance around, and Cooper checks the men’s room while I look in a few empty offices.

“Let’s split up to search. Text me if you find him, okay? And I’ll do the same,” Cooper suggests.

I nod, and Cooper leans in to give me a quick kiss goodbye, but I just bolt.

It was our kisses that got us into this mess in the first place, and I guess I just need to go find my dad without wasting another second. I need to explain everything to him—how I didn’t have a clue who Cooper was when I met him, how we were both shocked when we ran into each other in the kitchen that morning, how we tried to resist it but there’s just something here that I can’t quite explain.

I have to make him understand before he leaves for the next month. He’ll be in close quarters with Cooper, and I have no idea what that means for the two of them or how it’ll affect their working relationship.

I get that he’s angry, and that’s fine. We’re all entitled to our own emotions, and he deserves to feel whatever he feels over walking in on his daughter kissing his best friend. But he just ran without letting us get a word in, and I feel like if I could just talk to him…I don’t know. I don’t know if I can make him understand.

But I have to try.

I don’t even know where to go. Cooper runs for the elevators, so I assume he’s checking the suite where they got ready. I run to the high limit area, and I check the bar.

I don’t find him.

I wander around the hotel for over an hour, feeling very much like a lost little girl looking for her daddy, and eventually I windup out by the pool, where I find Joanie sitting in a lounge chair crying.

“Have you found him yet?” I ask, sitting beside her and taking her hand.

“No,” she sobs.

“I’m so, so sorry,” I begin. “I don’t even know what to say.”

She shakes her head. “It’s my fault. I never should have agreed to keep a secret like that from him.”

I squeeze her hand. “We need to find him. We need to make him understand.”

She shakes her head. “Hewon’tunderstand. You don’t know him the way I do, and trust me when I say that lying is the ultimate betrayal for him.”

My brows crinkle. “Then why’d you do it?”

“Because I knew the truth would hurt him more than the lie. He’s so protective of you, Gabby, and I didn’t know what you two were up to. I didn’t know if you were just, you know…doing it, or if you were more serious than that. I caught you once, and I told you not to do it at work. I assumed it was a fling, and we never talked about it again.” Her voice trembles through her words.

“I’ve been so scared to tell him for fear that it would hurt his relationship with me or with Cooper. But you can’t help who you fall for.” I blow out a long breath.

She huffs out a mirthless chuckle. “No, you sure can’t. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. Instead I’m afraid I’ve lost him for good.”

“He’ll come around,” I say, hoping there’s truth to my words.

She presses her lips together. “I don’t know if he will. You’re his daughter, so you’ve got the best chance of forgiveness. His best friend’s lies?” She shakes her head. “His would-be wife’s lies?” She shakes her head again. “I broke his trust, and that’s not something he will let go.”

“How do you know?” I ask. She just seems so…sure. Like she already knows he will never forgive her for keeping something from him.

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