Page 20 of The Hero + Vegas = No Regrets

“This way,” Worth says, leading us to the front of the fountains.

“Are we allowed here?”

Worth doesn’t respond, but the fountain display starts as we get to the edge of the pool.

“I bet you’ve done this a million times if you’ve been to Vegas a lot?” I ask.

“I’ve never done this,” he says. “I’ve passed by the fountains, and I once had a room opposite with a view of them, but I’ve never stood and watched them like this.”

He must feel me staring up at him, because he glances down. “It’s a first,” he says, and then lets out a small huff of laughter.

“What?” I ask, half shouting because the music has been ratcheted up. “What’s so funny?”

He glances back at me and down at our hands, and then back at the fountains as they start to spurt. “Just having a lot of firsts at the moment—” He shakes his head. “I’ll tell you later.”

I get the feeling it isn’t the music that has stopped him explaining what he means.

We watch, hand in hand, our heads tipped back as the water climbs hundreds of feet in the air.

“Is this weird?” Worth calls out.

“What?” I call back, even though we’re close enough to still be holding hands. Is it weird that it’s not weirder that this man I hardly know is holding my hand? Is it weird that I feel oddly comfortable with him, like I’ve known him for years rather a handful of hours? Is it weird to be in Vegas at my best friend’s wedding when she hated the man she’s marrying for years before falling in love with him for the second time?

Yes, all of it is very weird.

“That we’re watching water being propelled into the air to music?” Worth asks as he frowns.

I laugh. “Well, now that you put it like that, maybe it is a little weird.”

“Do you like it?” he asks, his attention still on the display in front of us.

“I’m not sure.”

He chuckles. “Me neither. I don’tnotlike it.” Then he turns and looks at me, and my nipples pebble beneath my bra like I’m naked and his gaze is trailing across my bare skin.

“I like being here with you,” he says.

It’s not what I was expecting him to say. It’s so direct. To the point. And I have no doubt he’s telling the truth—like he’s totallytransparent and I can see right through him and can tell he’s not keeping anything from me and doesn’t want to. On a laundry list of sexy things about Worth, that might be number one.

“Samesies,” I reply, then close my eyes, trying to wish away the past five seconds. Samesies? Am I eleven?

He lets out that half-laugh again at my clumsy response, and I open my eyes. Once again, Worth has surprised me. I half expected him to be offended. But I get the feeling Worth isn’t telling me anything to get a specific response. He’s saying it because it’s true and he doesn’t want me not to know. His shoulders are broad in more ways than one.

I feel his fingers curled around mine. The heat of them. The strength of them. The way they feel so protective. They feel like truth. Right about now, that’s exactly what I need.

We stay watching the fountains for a few more minutes. The spray occasionally mists my face, the cooling sensation of the water a balm against my heated skin.

“We should get this water,” he says.

I agree, but I don’t know how. There’s a barrier between us and the pool where the fountains are.

“You stay here,” he says. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Worth!” I say. “Don’t?—”

But before I can finish, he’s off. He slips effortlessly through the crowd to the other side, where the balustrading ends. Then he jumps over a barrier like he’s some kind of Olympic athlete, and extends his arm, plunging the empty water bottle into the pool.

I scan the crowds, looking for security closing in on him. There’s a security guard coming up behind him, but Worth has got what he needs. He screws the lid on the now-full bottle before making his way back across the barrier. The security guard meets him on the other side. The two of them have an exchange of words that ends in a handshake.

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