Page 7 of Nothing Stays in Vegas

Cal looked back at the woman descending the staircase, searching for any sign of recognition. Nothing, just one big smile and a mouth full of perfect white teeth. She was good, but it only took one look and he was sure. This was the woman from Vegas, who had used every tacky trick in the book to get him back to her room. And she was planning on marrying Adam in less than one week’s time.

“This is your fiancée?”

Blood rushed the surface of his skin as he tried to swallow down the bitter taste of betrayal he knew too well. His friends had stood by and let a woman make a chump out of him. Cal had been blindsided by Paige’s cheating and swore if he ever had the chance to protect someone else from that kind of pain and humiliation, he’d take it. And here it was. This woman wasn’t going to make a fool out of Adam when Cal knew the truth.

Shifting his gaze between them, he tried to pull Adam aside. “Look, man, I need to talk to you in private for a minute.”

“What the hell for? Dette, do you know Cal?”

Thank God, it wouldn’t have to come from him.

Dette opened her mouth but the words spoken next came from the landing above her.

“Cal?” the voice faltered. “Oh my God, it’s you?”

Cal’s head snapped to the Dette replica paused at the landing wearing a look of shock. Her eyes pinched shut for a second as though she were debating what tack to take and when they reopened, steely determination was all he could read. She started down the stairs at a leisurely pace, one hand dragging along the mahogany banister beside her. “I thought you said your name was Kenneth or something.”

She didn’t even remember his name. “I told you, twice. Caleb.”

That was his girl from Vegas, all right. Relief washed over him in a wave of confusion. Dette had sisters. Thank God. Shit, he had to find Lara. Sleeping with her sister was a fuck up, alright, and he hoped like hell it wasn’t going to cost him what they’d started.

Keith stared at his shoes and let out a completely inappropriate whistle.

Cal shot him a look. “Yeah, thanks for that.”

Crap, he needed to fix this

mess.

Glancing back and forth between Adam and Dette, Cal felt the color rushing to his neck and face. This would be embarrassing to explain, but it was a world better than what he’d thought he was going to have to say. “Dette, forgive me. It’s very nice to finally meet you. I didn’t realize you had a twin and it seems that she and I have already met.”

Dette continued smiling at him, shrugging her shoulders like she hadn’t a clue what had transpired. “We’re not twins.”

Turning to Adam, he threw up his hands. “Punch me if you have to, but I thought—you don’t want to know what I thought. Look, man, I need to find Lara.”

“I’m Lara.” There was a waver in her voice, but the words were clear enough.

“What—” Obviously, he knew Lara was Claudette’s sister, but his mind had skipped straight to a third sister. There was no way he could reconcile the shallow, indifferent woman in Vegas with the funny, sensitive girl he’d been communicating with for the past three weeks. Cal swallowed hard, inspecting her from her coiffed head to heeled toe. Shaking his head slowly, he uttered his denial. “No, you can’t be.”

This wasn’t the woman he’d been fantasizing about. The cool, laid back girl who kept him on the edge of his seat waiting for her next insight. The sexy kitten who got hot in her little sweat short pjs. This wasn’t her! Damn, he’d been so stupid—that girl didn’t exist anywhere but in his head. He’d been so desperate to get past his breakup with Paige, he’d talked himself into finding the perfect girl by filling in the gaps of an internet relationship with details that didn’t jive with who she really was.

Adam looked like someone had just stepped off his lung. But with a quick rub of his palm across his brow and through his neatly combed hair, all evidence of strain vanished leaving only the charming gloss of playful banter. “Lara, you little minx. So how do you know Cal here?”

“You said your name was Eve.” His disbelief came out sounding like accusation. Maybe it was. Disappointment was beating its way through his body, throbbing in his temples, tightening his throat and lungs, sickening his stomach. He’d never wanted something to be untrue more in his life.

Lara stopped mid-step, her eyes darting briefly over to her sister. She looked nervous. Suddenly, he felt like a jack-off. Even if she was the prissy witch from Vegas, she was still a person, a woman with family and he’d just humiliated her in front of two of them.

Dette’s gaze shifted back and forth between them, her smile looking a little less easy. “It’s like that commercial, with the fake names. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Isn’t that what you told me, Lara?”

Lara, Eve, whoever she was, smiled stiffly. “Sure. Just like that.” Cocking her head to the side, she glowered down at him.

Her eyes were intense, more so than he remembered. And the look she burned into him left him feeling smarmy and low. Almost like he’d betrayed her in a way he didn’t totally understand.

After a beat, she shook her head dismissively. “Isn’t there supposed to be some sort of camaraderie between tourists? An understanding of sorts? I guess they’ll have to change that slogan to nothing stays in Vegas.”

Adam was shaking his head, chuckling as he rocked on the balls of his feet. “Lara, never would have pegged you for the type. Cal, looks like you’ve already met her after all, sport. But at least the introductions, as much fun as they’ve been, can come to a close. I don’t know about any of you, but it’s after five and after this…a stiff drink is definitely in order.”

Crossing to Adam, Dette draped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into him. “I’m positively parched. A cocktail sounds wonderful.”

---