He looked surprised, his eyebrows raising slightly. She felt a flush of heat creep up her neck. Way to make a fool of herself. Her lips moved, but she couldn’t think of a graceful way to backpedal from her presumptive invitation.
All set to tell him not to worry, that she should go home and get some shut eye anyhow, the serious, focused expression on his face softened. A slow, genuine smile spread across his lips, reaching his eyes and making them sparkle with a warmth that was entirely unexpected. It transformed him, chasing away the shadows of the soldier and revealing the man underneath. “I think I’d like that.” His voice came out low, a warm rumble that sent a shiver down her spine.
“Good.” She tried not to squeal like a schoolgirl invited to the prom by the captain of the football team. “Give me ten minutes to change, then I’ll show you the real Friday Night Vegas.”
His grin widened. “Looking forward to it.”
And much to her surprise, so the heck was she.
Chapter Three
The automatic doors of the casino slid shut behind them, and the desert heat, dry and honest, settled over Kade. The cacophony of the casino floor faded, replaced by the distant hum of city traffic. Standing beside the woman who was about to show him the real Las Vegas, it struck him that he didn’t even know her name. “I guess I should introduce myself properly. I’m Kade Sweet.”
“Sweet?” A soft smile teased at her lips as she extended her hand. “It suits you. I’m Cassidy Barker.”
“Nice to officially meet you.” All his siblings had been razzed at one time or other over their last name, and there certainly was no shortage of teasing from the men he served with, at least at first, but she was the first to suggest the name suited him. “And thank you—I think.”
“It was a compliment, I promise.” She beamed at him.
Many a time he’d heard the word infectious in relation to another person’s smile. Sort of like when one person in a theater laughs raucously, within moments, the whole place is doubled over in laughter. Her smile seemed to have the same power. There was no resisting the impulse to smile back. “Where to?”
“We need to get some food into that tummy of yours.”
As if cued, his stomach rumbled again—loudly. “Good idea. I skipped breakfast and guess I skipped lunch too.”
“Follow me, soldier.”
She led him away from the main boulevard’s overwhelming glare, turning down a side street where the buildings had character and the noise of the Strip faded. Tucked into a Chinatown strip mall, they settled at a small taqueria where the neon sign flashed and the smell of charred meat and fresh tortillas promised to satisfy anyone’s appetite. Not what he’d expected to find in Chinatown, but then again, if he’d learned one thing in the military, it was never to be surprised.
“Tacos El Gordo.” She slid into the vinyl booth across from him. “Best kept secret in Vegas. Well, not so secret anymore, but the tourists don’t usually venture this far off the Strip.”
“You come here often?” He tried to keep his tone casual, but found himself genuinely curious about the many sides of this particular woman.
“When I need to remember there’s actual life beyond the casino floor.” She unwrapped her first taco. “The adobada is the best. Try it.”
He did. The spiced pork hit his tongue with a burst of flavor that made everything he’d eaten at the casino taste like cardboard in comparison. “Wow.”
“Right?” Her smile was triumphant. “Told you.”
After silently shoveling down a few mouthfuls, he glanced up at her. “How long have you lived in Las Vegas?”
“All my life.” She shrugged. “Well, not in the city itself but the suburbs. I guess sort of all over.”
“Sort of?” Something about the way she suddenly began picking at her food didn’t sit right with him.
That shoulder hefted in another lazy shrug. “Foster kid. Moved around more than most.”
His heart actually squeezed at the words. Having grown up in the same house as generations before him, he couldn’t imagine being passed around from family to family like a hand-me-down pair of jeans. “Do you have any siblings?”
She shook her head in silence, still toying with the food on her plate.
No siblings. One more thing he couldn’t imagine living without. No Garret, Preston, Carson, Jillian or Rachel. No one. All alone. A change of subject was in order before he wallowed in nostalgia. “How’d you wind up dealing in a casino?”
“Actually, it was the son of my last foster family. He’s a dealer here and thought that my ability to remember numbers made me a good candidate. He got me the job. How did you wind up in the…” her words hung.
“Army.” He chuckled. “And honestly, I don’t know. All my other siblings went to college. That had always been my plan. Then I ran into a K9 handler for the army and the next thing I knew, I was signing up. Been working with the best dogs on the planet ever since.”
Her smile brightened. “I bet it’s amazing working with dogs all day.”
