This time, I was too busy staring at Sunny to answer. Watching her watch Rich.
Sunny hadn't protested my firm clasp all night, but suddenly, she took her hand back, forcibly tugging it out of mine. "Um, I...need to go to the restroom. Excuse me."
Without waiting for my answer, Sunny—who'd been acting the part of the perfect fiancée all night—rudely rushed away.
"Oh, that's too bad," Aretha said. "I wanted you to introduce me to your young lady, Cole."
Finally, getting back on script, I assured her I'd make introductions as soon as Sunny returned from the restroom.
However, I wasn't able to keep that promise.
Sunny took forever in the restroom, and this time, it wasn't because of Max, who I could clearly see flirting with one of Lacey Hollander's granddaughters on the other side of the ballroom.
I was just about to go out to the lobby to check on her when my phone dinged with a message from Agnes.
Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Benton, but Sunny texted to tell me she wasn't feeling too well. She doesn't have your number, so she wanted me to let you know that she's already caught a bus and is returning to the hotel. Would you like me to send her a return message for you?
I narrowed my eyes at the phone screen.
Sunny had left—just left, without any warning. After her run-in with the only man at the dinner who appeared to make her uncomfortable. Part of me wanted to believe she really wasn't feeling well.
The othermuch largerpart of me was a cynical bastard who knew better.
Did I want to send her a message?
Yes. Yes, I did.
I'd had the strangest melting sensation all night. As if just being in Sunny's presence was eroding the triple serving of ice I'd become known for throughout Las Vegas. But those layers of ice refroze around my heart as I typed out a message to Agnes. With explicit instructions.
CHAPTER17
Sunny
The messageI sent to Agnes wasn't technically a lie. I truly wasn't feeling well.
That's what I told myself on the bus back to the Benton with guilt—such terrible guilt—gnawing away at my insides.
Yes, I was sick with guilt, and there was no scenario in which I would have been able to keep playacting in this condition—in front of Rich freaking Harrison. Of all the cronies that cronied in Las Vegas, why did Rich Harrison have to turn out to be one of Cole's?
I'd definitely done the right thing in leaving.It's better this way, I assured myself over and over again on the regular-people elevator ride back up to my room.
However, just a few moments later, that gnawing guilt was replaced by a sinking feeling when the unlock indicator on the hotel door standing between me and a quick pre-shift nap kept lighting up red.
"Sorry for the confusion, Ms. Johnson, but it looks like your things were removed from the room and sent up to the penthouse suite,” the hotel clerk informed me after I waited in line twenty minutes behind a tourist group of senior citizens who had lots of questions about which Cirque show they should go to, even though the Benton didn't currently host any of the performances put on by those French-Canadians.
"Would you like me to call the person who authorized the move to provide you with the code for that suite?" the clerk asked with a polite and extremely curious smile.
"No, I have it," I muttered before leaving—without the room card I'd given her to check.
But I refused to use it. All my guilt was replaced by a determination not to let that dastardly (and ridiculously handsome) billionaire villain win.
"Sunny! What are you doing here?" Stella Reyes, Lucia's second oldest sister and one of Tony's favorite cousins, looked shocked to see me when I showed up almost two hours early for my shift still wearing the slinky red dress Cole had picked out for me.
"Hi-hi!" I answered with a little wave. "You were complaining the other day about never having enough waitresses on Saturday nights, so I was wondering if maybe I could start my shift early. I'll just...um..."
I gave my bold red evening gown a sheepish look. "Yeah, I'll definitely need to borrow another dress uniform."
Stella's face fell. "Oh, Sunny, I assumed someone would have given you a call...."
