Page 247 of Vegas Heat

“What are you doing here?” she asks, opening the door wider to let me in. I step in and grab her around her waist, pressing a soft kiss to her mouth.

“Joanie said you were quiet during dinner, so I wanted to come check on you. Is everything okay?”

She nods. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long week and we’re capping it off with a wedding tomorrow.” She shakes her head and sets her hands on my biceps. “As if we weren’t already stretched to the max. And then you’re leaving Sunday, and Iguess I’m just not in the partying mood. Besides, it’s not like I was going to go to my dad’s club with Joanie.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?” I tease with a cheeky grin.

She giggles as she shakes her head. “Not even the tiniest fraction.”

“Come home with me,” I say, nipping a soft kiss to her neck.

“You smell like whiskey,” she says.

“Is it better than the usual pepperoni smell?”

She laughs, and then she pretends to think about it while I pretend to look supremely offended.

“Pepperoni just smells like home to me now,” she admits, and I press another kiss to her lips. I may be a little drunk, but those same feelings that seem to wash over me like a wave at the most random times plow into me once more. She pulls back with a soft sigh. “Let me go get my things and we can head over.”

As she drives me toward home a few minutes later, she says, “You know, I was almost asleep when you rang my bell. You’re messing with my beauty rest.”

“I’m gonna ring your bell once we get back to my place too. And you’ll be as gorgeous as always with or without sleep.” I squeeze her knee, and she chuckles. “I have to be up fairly early anyway as your father has set a tee time of nine o’clock.”

“You’re going golfing in the morning?” she asks.

“Groom’s request. I sort of have to, don’t I?”

She nods, conceding, and we pull into my driveway. I take a quick shower to get the smell of strip club off me even though I didn’t actually go to one, and by the time I get out, she’s asleep in my bed.

As much as I’d hoped for a romp between the sheets before sleep with her, I’m just as happy to hold her in my arms tonight. We only have one of these left before I head to Arizona for an entire month, and neither of us knows what the other side of that will look like.

Of course, neither of us knew how much would change in the next twenty-four hours, either.

CHAPTER 25: GABBY

Something feels off when I wake up. It’s almost like I’m getting hit with the flu or something, like I didn’t sleep nearly long enough even though I got a solid eight hours of rest.

Cooper is still asleep beside me, and I shake him awake. “You need to be at the golf course in twenty minutes,” I say.

“Fuck,” he murmurs, and I laugh at his first word of the day. There’s just something cute about a Cooper who doesn’t want to get out of bed.

Of courseeverythingabout Cooper is cute. And sexy. And perfect.

I love everything about him, and I just wish today was the day we were going to come clean instead of another day where we’re hiding. We should be holding hands as we skip down the aisle, the best man and the maid of honor—and instead, we’re tucking away our feelings in mixed company for yet another day.

I make him some oatmeal while he gets ready, and then he leaves for the golf course after the kind of hug that makes me feel all warm inside.

I opt for eating breakfast once I get home, and it’s as I’m making my way toward the stairs to grab my overnight bag that I feel like maybe I stood up too fast again.

Little black dots edge in on my vision, and the next thing I know, I’m lying on the floor at the foot of the steps.

Did I pass out…again?

If it’s a blood pressure thing, and my dad just had double bypass surgery a few months ago…the thought makes my blood run cold, so I decide to head over to urgent care just to get checked out to be sure I’m okay.

I don’t even need to tell anybody I went. I’ve been feeling a little off the last few days, so this is just preventative. Peace of mind to get checked to make sure I don’t have a bug, to make sure everything’s okay with my heart. I wouldn’t want to spread around the flu at my father’s wedding the day before the men leave for spring training. It’s just a precaution.

I tell myself that over and over as I drive toward the urgent care—after I grabbed a protein bar from Cooper’s stash. I repeat the mantra in my mind as I check in at the desk, as I fill out paperwork, as I ignore incoming text messages from my father and Joanie about today.

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