I study her.
Behind her physical mask is another mask, and that one is not easily taken off.
At least for the average man.
Luckily, I’m anything but average.
Suddenly her phone buzzes. I glance at the screen. It’s a text from a woman. Annelise scoffs and shakes her head, bulleting out a text in return.
“Everything alright?” I ask.
“My sister. Remember how I said she likes to let loose when she gets the chance? She’s playing a drinking game at the island bar.”
“Are you going to join her?” I ask.
“I’d rather not. Honestly, I think this will be my last for the night. I never do things like this. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love event planning. All of this is lovely. But I’d rather be just…the party planner, not the party goer.”
I click my tongue against my teeth. “You think your sister will be tied up for a moment?”
“At least an hour if I had to guess. She’s very competitive,” she says.
“Listen,” I say, leaning in a little. “Like you, I can’t leave yet either. My presence is sort of…mandatory. It would be a lot more bearable if I had a date.”
“A date?” She echoes.
“Yes, someone to play the part just for the evening. I’m not a people person, but your company has been enjoyable.”
Annelise swallows hard, and I earn myself another blush.
“What would this date entail?” She asks, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger.
I lean in, setting my glass down on the table and closing the distance between us enough that I can smell the sweet rum on her breath.
“Behind the scenes of the public gala you and your sister wandered into is a party. A party for the owners and proprietors of every high-end hotel in Vegas. Not the swill of the casinos,” I say.
“Ah. I would have taken you for a blackjack player,” she teases, and it makes my throat tingle.
She’s sassy. I have no weaknesses, but if I did, there’s a slight possibility that would be one of them.
“I’m not a gambling man, Ellie,” I say, and her smile fades. But the intrigue remains.
“So you need a date for a ritzy party,” she summarizes.
“I don’t need anything,” I correct her. “But I want a date, and seeing as how you are stuck in this purgatory with me…”
Her eyes flicker with interest, but she’s still careful. As she should be. I am a stranger after all.
“Why me?”
Because you’re stunning. Because you caught my eye the moment you walked into the hotel. Because I am not often captured by a woman. Most of them don’t meet all the required criteria to so much as turn my head.
She has, but I don’t say any of that.
Instead, I lean in even more.
My palm covers her cheek, my fingers lace around the nape of her neck under her hair, releasing the scent of jasmine and rose into the air around us.
I kiss her.
