“My room. Please.”
“Fine, fine.” The man checked his ledger and made a note. “Number fifteen, next to the ice machine. Oh, and don’t kick it if it doesn’t work right away. You need to give it a minute.”
Gordon picked up his bag and headed down the hall.
“Enjoy your stay,Mr. Johnson. Pleasant chatting with you.”
Gordon didn’t care if he’d offended him. This little sojourn wasn’t about making new friends in Las Vegas, and he certainly didn’t want to be that guy’s friend.
This trip was about making Markov pay.
***
Alex sat at his streamlined desk Thursday morning and fired up his laptop so he could check his emails. He glanced once out the window but the activity out on the Strip barely registered.
Something else was on his mind, the same thing that had been on his mind all night long.
Dana Hamill.
He wanted her.
He wanted her the way he’d wanted that glass of water at three in the morning, after he’d awakened parched. It had been a long time since he’d desired anyone that way.
Considering the way his one-track mind worked, he’d get little peace until he could make his daydreams a reality.
It had been a couple of years since Alex had trained himself to keep his emotions at bay, ever since things started to sour with Shannon. It was just easier that way.
Dana brought those emotions back, as well as several others he hadn’t felt before. When he’d spotted her holding back tears in the alcove that day, a cyclone of feeling had whipped through his body. Most powerful of all was the need to make someone pay for those tears.
When she’d been drunk on slushies, he’d been plagued by worry and an overwhelming need to protect her.
And now, after admitting he was flirting with her? His curiosity was killing him.
Yeah, right. You just want to sleep with her.
Who could blame him?
Dana was gorgeous, although he suspected she might not agree with him right now. There was a gentle slope to her shoulders that suggested a lack of confidence, and yet she clearly had no problem speaking her mind.
It wasn’t that she lacked confidence.
Someone had tried to destroy it.
That made him angry.
Surely, she wasn’t pining over her ex any longer. He might not know her well, but something told him she’d exorcised those demons with him that night at the tiki bar.
Whatever it was, it went deeper than getting dumped by some loser named Tommy.
Leave her alone. It’s none of your business.
If it had been any other woman, he might have succeeded. Because it was Dana, he had a bizarre compulsion to make things better. Maybe it was because when they’d first met, he’d seen her at her lowest. Their encounter, so unresolved, had caused him to become obsessed.
He had a chance to resolve things now, one way or the other.
He checked the clock on his laptop. Nine in the morning. How was it his eyes felt so heavy so early in the day?
Marissa had warned him about burning the candle at both ends. She was probably right, but with a party tonight, he had no choice but to power through the day.
