Page 20 of Gamble
“Yeah, well if he doesn’t show up by tomorrow morning, no stealing will be necessary as he’ll be given the boot.” Her blunt response surprised even her as she realized she wasn’t bluffing.
“I’m too much of a gentleman to wish for anything that would hurt you, but I’ll go on record to say that even though I haven’t met him, I’m pretty sure you could do better.”
“Are you judging him because he is late?” she asked.
“No, delays can happen to anyone.” Elijah paused, cocking his head a bit as he pondered his answer. “But I do think he could do a better job of keeping that amazing smile on your face. It’s beautiful.”
She felt a blush on her pale cheeks. And since Reagan agreed with Elijah’s assessment, she had to bite her tongue to keep fromagreeing with him. Instead, she reached her hand back out and added, “Thanks again for your help, Elijah Keaton. I’ll let you go so you can grab that steak. Maybe I’ll see you around more this weekend.”
“I sure hope so,” he added, still holding her hand longer than etiquette called for.
Rather than being angry, Reagan found herself admiring his cool confidence.
Elijah released her hand before walking back to the entry of the chapel. Cracking open the door, he peered outside and then turned to announce, “The coast is clear. Good luck making it to the ice cream without getting caught.”
And then he was gone. For a moment, she had to fight down the temptation to call after him—to take him up on his offer for dinner. But that was crazy.
“I haven’t met your boyfriend either,” the woman still standing next to her said before adding, “But you just let one of the good guys get away.”
“How do you know he’s a good guy?” Reagan asked, curious since her past romantic history proved she sucked at picking men.
“That man didn’t take his eyes off you. I’ve been in this business for decades, and I can weed out the good from the bad with eerie accuracy.”
The woman’s words made her pause. “Don’t you think he’s a bit too old for me?”
There was no denying Elijah was good-looking, and she could tell by the way he carried himself that he was in great shape, but still… his salt and pepper hair made her think he had more than just a couple of years on her.
The woman leaned in before adding, “Honey, those are the best kind. He has the full package and looks old enough to know how to use it, if you get my drift.”
The women shared a naughty laugh before Reagan took off in the direction of the ice cream before Jeff and Jules could find her.
Hours later,Reagan lay awake, getting angrier by the minute. As if ditching her for the first day of their weekend getaway wasn’t bad enough, she’d still not been able to speak with Tristan. The most she’d gotten out of him were a few quipped text messages that told her nothing about what his delay was about.
She’d done her best to go to sleep, but the more she thought about it, the more she needed to get her concerns off her chest. If Tristan would not pick up her call, she at least knew one person who would.
“Hey, are you having loads of fun?” Meena asked as her friend answered her call on the first ring.
“I should have stayed home. This entire weekend is a bust.”
“What’s going on? Is Tristan spending the night at the casino like he did last time? I swear he doesn’t listen to you at all when you tell him the casino’s smoke makes you sick.”
“Oh, don’t I wish that were my problem. He hasn’t even made it here yet.”
“What?!”
Reagan had to pull the phone away from her ear when her friend shouted.
“He texted me while I was in the air to tell me he’d be here tomorrow morning. Like seriously, what the hell could he be doing in Phoenix that is so important that he had to stay another day?” She hesitated before adding, “He usually goes on his sales calls on business days.”
Meena waited before answering. “Do you really want me to say it?” When Reagan didn’t answer, she added. “That’s why you called me, isn’t it? You were already thinking it and needed to hear me say it out loud?”
Tears came to Reagan’s eyes as the truth hit her hard. “This is so humiliating. Why do I keep choosing men who do this to me?”
“Honey, this is not on you. You are an amazing person. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.”
“I thought this one might be different,” she choked out around the lump in her throat. “Maybe he’ll have a good reason for his delay when he gets here tomorrow,” she added hopefully.
“What reason could that possibly be? I can only think of one, and that’s that he was sick or injured and in the hospital, but since he’s still texting, that isn’t the reason.” Meena waited a few seconds to let her answer sink in before adding, “You know, this keeps happening to you because you are so beautiful.”
