“You shouldn’t be here,” Ares said to his brother. “Orion’s going to figure out you sent him on a fake errand.”
“Let him figure it out. I got her fed, didn’t I?”
Ares’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he moved to the windows, checking the locks with practiced efficiency. Then the door. Then the panic button by the bed.
“Security’s outside,” he said. “Handpicked. They know to call me directly if anything seems off.”
“Off how?” I asked.
He turned, and his dark green eyes met mine with an intensity that made my breath catch. “If anyone approaches your door who isn’t supposed to be here. If anything feels wrong. If you so much as think something’s not right.”
“That seems excessive.”
“It’s necessary.” His voice carried an edge that suggested this wasn’t up for debate. He moved closer, standing with military posture that screamed control. His hands flexed at his sides. “This floor has the best security in the building. We’re here. You’re safe.”
“And the flowers? The laptop? The clothes?”
Leo squeezed my shoulder. “We want you to feel welcome.”
I looked between them. Leo with his warm eyes and effortless smile. Ares with his rigid posture and barely controlled fury. Two very different men who’d apparently coordinated to make sure I was fed, protected, and reassured.
I wasn’t used to this.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Ares nodded once, sharp and military.
Leo grinned and squeezed my shoulder again. “You get some rest. And later, dress up,” he said. “I want you to see the real Vegas.”
Then they left.
And I sat in my luxury suite, surrounded by flowers and food, and wondered what I had done to deserve all this.
Chapter 4
Leo
I stoodoutside Tashi’s door at exactly seven p.m., wearing my favorite Hugo Boss suit—the charcoal one that made me look like I knew what I was doing—with my stomach jittering like it did when I went on my first date with a girl as a teen.
Now I couldn’t even remember the girl’s name. Sarah, or Sally, or something. The date had been that unmemorable. Part of that was my fault. I had no money then, so we had taken a walk in the park.
She never answered my calls again.
I would not be making the same mistake tonight. I’d spent three hours arranging our dinner. A dinner that was supposed to be professional, but in my zeal had drifted into the romantic, something that Orion would do.
Considering what it had taken to pry Orion from her, he was going to kill me.
Ares was going to help him hide the body.
I knocked anyway.
The door opened and whatever speech I’d prepared evaporated like water on hot asphalt.
Tashi stood there in the cocktail dress from the gift shop—the one I’d picked out personally, betting on black because it workedon everyone. Except I hadn’t factored in what it would do to me when she wore it. The fabric hugged curves that had been haunting me since that photo, and her hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, still slightly damp from the shower.
“Too much?” she asked, uncertainty flickering across her face.
“Perfect,” I managed. “You look perfect.”
