And he was looking right at me.
“Oh my god,” Pauline whispered.
I couldn’t respond. He was getting closer. Then he was there.
“Claudette.”
My name in his voice. That was all it took. Just my name and everything in me went liquid.
“Michael.” I barely recognized my own voice. “H-Hi.”
What was he doing here?
His eyes moved over me slowly—starting at my face, lingering on my lips, then drifting down and back up in a way that should have been offensive but wasn’t. In a way that made heat crawl up my spine.
“Hi,” he said with a smile that undid me. “That’s new,” he added.
“The… lipstick?”
“All of it.” His gaze came back to my face and stayed there. “Vegas. The fact that you’re here at three in the morning.”
“Trying something different.”
“It’s working.”
The air between us felt thick. Heavy. Like if I moved wrong, something might ignite.
Pauline cleared her throat. I’d almost forgotten she was there.
“I’m going to get another drink,” she said, already backing away. “You two look like you need to talk.”
“You don’t have to—” I started.
“I really do.” She was grinning. “Take your time, we can complete our bucket list later.”
She disappeared into the casino crowd, and suddenly it was just us. Me and Michael and this charged space between us that felt dangerous.
“Your brother’s been trying to reach you,” he said.
Just like that, reality crashed back. “Oh, Jack sent you.” I don’t know why that disappointed me. Except I did know. I knew exactly why.
“He’s worried.”
“He’s always worried.”
“He said you left a note and disappeared.”
“I left a note saying where I’d be.”
“A note that said you were visiting your friend. Not that you’d flown to Vegas.”
“Well she is in Vegas. Note was accurate.”
His mouth did this thing. Not quite a smile but close. “You’re going to give him a heart attack. He asked me to make sure you hadn’t joined a cult or married an Elvis impersonator.”
“The night’s still young.”
This time he did smile. Small, but it looked genuine. And it did things to me that were completely inappropriate for a casino at three in the morning.
