Justus
“Kaci. Can we talk about this?”I whispered, as close to her as I could get without looking like a psycho stalker as we got off the plane and walked down the narrow, enclosed jetway toward the airportgate.
She only swung her backpack onto her shoulder as she walked, forcing me back a step to keep from gettinghit.
“Kaci!” I hissed as we stepped into the airport, where hundreds of impatient passengers were waiting to board the plane we’d just disembarked. And now that we were free of the jetway, she took off at a jog, dodging passengers waiting in line for coffee and soft pretzels, business men and women hauling suitcases and talking on their phones, and a couple of small children turning in circles in the middle of the broad aisle between gates, their eyes closed, oblivious to life going on aroundthem.
“Wait,” I called as I caught up to her, hoping the rest of the world saw a couple running late for their connecting flight, rather than a young woman fleeing a guy chasing her. “Let meexplain!”
She stopped so fast I nearly crashed into her, then she turned on me, eyes flashing with fury. “A vacation,” she snapped. “You said this was avacation. You said you were coming back to stand trial.” Her voice dropped into a whisper on the last two words, and suddenly we were having a very quietly obvious argument in a very public place. “But what you were actually doing was using me to aid yourescape.”
“That isnotwhat happened,” I whispered. “Youblackmailedme into bringingyou.”
Kaci’s hazel eyes widened. Then she frowned. “Okay, that isnotthe point. The point is that I thought you were coming back. That this was just a trip. But thisis—”
“This is me running for my life,” I said in as firm and as soft a voice as I could manage. “You’re on vacation, but I’m fleeing certain death at the declaration of a bunch of men I’ve never even met. I didn’t mean to drag you into this. I didn’twantto drag you into it. But Ihadto go, and you gave me no choice but to bringyou.”
Her frown deepened as she studied my face, conflict written clearly on hers. Then she glanced around the airport, as if she were just then realizing where we were. “Why the hell would you escape to Las Vegas? This isn’t even the free zone. If you think Paul Blackwell won’t find you here you’recrazy.”
“This is only the first part of the plan.” I hardly dared to breathe with the admission, for fear of pissing her off again. I wasn’t sure how far into the airport I could chase her before security decided I was athreat.
“What’s the rest ofit?”
“Can we talk about that some place less public?” I glanced pointedly around at all the people who shouldn’t overhear anything about shifters, and murder, andescape.
Kaci exhaled slowly. “It’s not like I have a choice. Where are wegoing?”
“To Caesar’sPalace.”
A flicker of her earlier excitement flashed over her face. “I’m so mad at you I almost forgot we were in Las Vegas.” Her gaze wandered over a long row of slot machines stretching down the aisle between gates. “I should drag you back onto a plane to Houston without even leaving the airport. But Ireallywant to go see ashow…”
I opened my mouth to tell her that wasn’t exactly on my list of escape plan bullet points. “Yes. We can do whatever youwant.”
Son of a bitch. Where the hell had that comefrom?
I told myself that keeping her happy was a newly necessary part of my plan—if she told anyone where I was before I had what I’d come for, Marc would show up and drag me to my trial inhandcuffs.
But then she smiled at me again, and I spared a moment to thank the universe that Kaci Dillon wasn’t a con artist or a gold digger, because in that moment, I would have given her everything I owned to keep that smile on her face. To keep her looking at me like that. As if I—the guy who’d snuck her out of her territory under kind-of false pretenses—were somehow the only light shining in herworld.
* * *
“Holy crap,”Kaci breathed as she stepped into the hotelroom.
I laughed. She’d said the same thing about the fountains outside, the statues in the lobby, and the ornate main floor, as we’d passed it when I gave her a brief tour. Unfortunately, even if she’d had a fake ID, no one would have believed she was twenty-one. Which put a definite cramp in my plans, unless I was willing to leave her in our room or abandon her at a show while I hit the pokertables.
And so far, I’d hardly been able to drag myself from her side long enough to check usin.
She dropped her backpack on the long gray sofa and wandered into the bathroom. “Holy crap!” Her voice echoed out at me. “This place is huge. Thistubis huge. This shower is huge. This sink… Well, the sink’s pretty normal sized, but there are two ofthem!”
I leaned against the bathroom doorjamb, watching her as if I were seeing it all for the first time withher.
She turned to me, hazel eyes wide. “You don’t look impressed. I assume you’ve been herebefore?”
“Not this specific room, but one likeit.”
“It’s so expensive!” She edged past me into the main room and sank onto the couch, then twisted to look out the window. “I saw you pay in cash. If you’re broke without your trust fund, where did that money comefrom?”
“I have a credit card. Titus pays the bill. Yesterday I took out a cashadvance.”
