“Oh, come on.” Cassie stopped resisting and pressed herself against Taryn’s body. “That’s not fair. You can’t use those eyes after being naughty.”
Taryn laid it on a little more. “I think I can.”
“You two have got a room; maybe you should use it.”
Cassie flushed and backed up a tiny step at Andi’s intrusion.
“Don’t think we’re not tempted.” Taryn put her arm around Cassie’s waist and pulled her closer. “We’re just trying not to be rude to our wonderful host.”
She nodded toward Bernice, who flashed a bright smile and flicked her wrist. “I appreciate that, but don’t concern yourself with what I might think. It’s all I can do to keep myself from dragging Andi up to the penthouse.”
Andi wiggled her eyebrows and held up her hand, which Taryn high-fived. “There’s life in the old dog yet.”
Cassie arched her eyebrow. “You’re not even fifty, are you?”
“She isn’t. She’s my toy boi.” Bernice raised her glass, and Cassie clinked hers to it.
Cassie smiled, hoping she had the same verve for life and sexual appetite at her age, though Cassie had no idea what Bernice’s real age was. She looked spectacular, and if anything, Andi looked older than her. “Congratulations on a successful first week,” she said.
“Thank you. We’ve smashed all expectations. My CFO, Dade, has had a change of opinion and is suddenlyextremelyhappy I followed my heart.” Bernice hooked her finger in Andi’s pocket, tugged her closer and kissed her cheek.
Andi grinned. “I think you were following a different part of you.”
Bernice shrugged elegantly. “Initially, perhaps. But I had a strong feeling you were going to be perfect for me.”
Cassie smiled along with everyone else but wondered how that was possible when Bernice had never previously met Andi. And she tried hardnotto be envious that Bernice was getting to keep her idea of perfect when Cassie would soon have to relinquish Taryn like she was returning her to the store after a trial run. Though Bernice would have to deal with Andi going back on the road with her crew soon enough. Would she continue to view her vision of perfection so positively, or would distance dull the shine?
“And Dade issohappy that it didn’t take much to convince her that the stunt show should be in permanent residency here.”
Cassie’s heart thudded against her ribs.They were staying?Was that the great news Taryn had bounced in her chair about earlier before they’d ended up having the dark discussion about Cassie’s mom? Hope became something tangible in her heart, forming a bubble of potential joy for the future. If Taryn remained in Vegas, everything Cassie had begun to depend upon for her happiness would only grow.
Taryn squeezed Cassie’s waist. “That was what I wanted to tell you about.”
Cassie quelled the unfamiliar optimism that almost lifted her from her feet. She would’ve reprimanded herself, but her anticipation stood guard and shoved the negative thoughts back.
“Andi has asked me to be her partner in the business.” Taryn’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. “She wants me to build a bigger team so we can still have the traveling show as well as the hotel residency.” She smiled widely. “Isn’t that amazing?”
Cassie’s ankles threatened to give way as the tentative ground she’d stupidly tried to build a potential future on began to shake beneath her heels.No. No, it’s not amazing, actually.It was devastating, which seemed like the polar opposite of amazing. “Wow, that’s wonderful.”Liar, liar.She smiled as brightly as she could, though the result was likely dimmer than a solar-powered light installation in the middle of a Scottish winter. “You seem really excited about the prospect.”
Taryn nodded, and her eyes widened. “I am… I am.”
Cassie’s hope temporarily reignited at Taryn’s hesitation, but she dismissed it as swiftly as it had risen. She’d already made herself a fool in thinking that Taryn might make a sudden U-turn in her raison d’etre. She shouldn’t hang onto her sinking dream and go down with the ship.
“I’m going to stick around for another four weeks,” Taryn said, “so I can fully train my number one and make sure she’s confident to take over my parts of the show. Then I’m going to concentrate on auditioning for new talent.”
And the ship hit rock bottom, her dreams suffering a watery demise. Four months less time together. Cassie steadied her breath before responding. “Where will you do that?” she asked, trying to keep the desperation from her voice. From the way Bernice’s expression turned to pity, she didn’t succeed. Andi continued to grin however, so maybe she’d done enough to get away with it, and Bernice would be kind enough not to reveal her sorrow.
“At Andi’s ranch in Ponder, Texas,” Taryn said. “It’s about eighty acres, isn’t it?”
Andi nodded. “Eighty-seven.”
“We set up a lot of tracks and jumps, so it’ll be a great place to audition people.” Taryn nodded toward their host. “Bernice is going to loan us her recruitment and marketing team for us to do a worldwide talent search.”
“Yep, and we might even make our own reality show.” Andi grasped Taryn’s shoulder. “It’s the beginning of a whole new era for us.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.” And if it didn’t signal the early end of her relationship with Taryn, Cassie would have genuinely been happy for the development. But she was already too deep in her emotional investment, and her devastation equaled, if not exceeded, their excitement.
“It’s less than a three-hour flight from Vegas, and the ranch is about an hour’s drive from Dallas.” Taryn squeezed Cassie close to her. “Maybe you could visit?”
