Читать онлайн книгу «Friends With Benefits» автора Margot Radcliffe

Friends With Benefits
Margot Radcliffe
‘You made the rules…But you forgot I’m really good at games. ’ Casino mogul Alexa Lawson always keeps the lines between her and drop-dead gorgeous bestie Carter Hayes firmly drawn. That is, until Alexa's solution to all her problems is to make Carter her super-hot, fake fiancé! Now Carter's changing the game—into one that's white-hot and deliciously dirty. But what happens on one wild night in Vegas might just cost them their friendship… and their hearts.


“What we’re about to do isn’t friendship...”
But what happens when you cross that wicked line...with your best friend?
Some friendships are too important to jeopardize—ever. It’s why casino mogul Alexa Lawson always keeps the lines between her and bestie Carter Hayes oh-so-firmly drawn. No matter that her once nerdy, shy neighbor is now a drop-dead gorgeous tech genius. Or that a frisson of sexual tension still crackles between them...
But with her personal reputation in shreds, her casinos on the line and Carter’s announcement that he’s leaving Las Vegas, Alexa’s smooth, unshakable exterior is on the verge of cracking. Fortunately, Alexa’s come up with a plan to deal with all her problems. For the next month, Carter won’t just be her best friend—he’ll be her superhot fake fiancé, too!
But when Alexa makes the rules, Carter decides to change the game...into one that’s filled with white-hot pleasures, wicked toys and endless orgasms that shake Alexa to the core.
They’ve denied each other for so long. Now they’re going where they swore they never would.
It’s addictive.
It’s deliciously dirty.
But when a wild night leads to accidental “I dos,” Alexa will learn that what happens in Vegas won’t just cost them their friendship...it might cost them their hearts, too.
Mills & Boon DARE publishes sexy romances featuring powerful alpha heroes and bold, fearless heroines exploring their deepest fantasies.
Four new Mills & Boon DARE titles are available each month, wherever ebooks are sold!
MARGOT RADCLIFFE lives in Columbus, Ohio, right now, but surrenders to wanderlust every couple of years, so it’s hard to say where she’ll end up next. Regardless of location, her apricot dog will be by her side while she writes fun romances that hopefully make readers laugh and space out for a bit. With heroines who aren’t afraid to take what they want and confident heroes who are up to a challenge, she loves creating complicated modern relationships. She can be found @margotradcliffe (https://twitter.com/margotradcliffe) on Twitter and @margot_radcliffe (https://www.instagram.com/margot_radcliffe/?hl=en) on Instagram.
Friends with Benefits
Margot Radcliffe


www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08714-8
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
© 2019 Margot Radcliffe
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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Note to Readers (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
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Text to speech

To Catfish,
for giving me a valid reason to not bring carrots into
my home.
Contents
Cover (#u9ce716af-51a6-57fd-b7bd-b2a9bd6a5b2c)
Back Cover Text (#uf320ccdd-41b7-5833-be04-f548dd80444b)
About the Author (#u6ca9dc0b-60a6-5ba4-a71f-7d71193dde2d)
Title Page (#u37eedb43-cdda-590a-ad9b-b2ca5e53fb99)
Copyright (#u13ff852d-f152-5554-89b3-6c2f2b71d471)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#u2b9c7502-4939-5b25-bafb-306b5514cee4)
Chapter One (#u42d91f28-6f9c-5c70-8026-42ad2037f9a4)
Chapter Two (#u5f64bd5c-1959-534b-b876-cc40dcd38e97)
Chapter Three (#ucb3974c5-5134-5eb1-8e66-57dcee57437e)
Chapter Four (#u96b8671d-4a82-567a-886c-38a53c2cdc47)
Chapter Five (#ud7e968ca-2d74-5712-b79b-af3af506c2e9)
Chapter Six (#ua1ec7f74-61a7-5a1b-9e5b-952ccd0191f1)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
ALEXA LAWSON STEPPED OUT of the plate glass elevator onto her casino floor. While her uncle was out of the country on business she was the head bitch in charge at Halcyon, the newest and hottest den of decadence in Las Vegas. She was known in town for running all three of her uncle’s casinos, but this one was her baby because she’d designed it on her own.
Halcyon was the only casino in Vegas with a true woman’s touch. Twinkling fairy lights draped sensuously from the ceiling like long ropes of iridescent pearls, their reflection dancing across the lavish white marble floors. Gold finishes and furniture glittered like starbursts under brushed-brass chandeliers, and luscious greenery with exotic cream and peach blooms burst from the walls as reminders of the earthly pleasures one could find when people lost their inhibitions.
Designed after a wedding Alexa had been to in Athens, the casino was old-world romance with a touch of new-world naughtiness.
On her way out the door for the day, she snagged a chocolate-covered fig from the tray of a passing waiter. Wearing nothing but a pair of beige linen pants and a leather wristband with Halcyon embroidered in gold on it, this new waiter with his chiseled abs was a customer favorite.
His name tag read Apollo, but she doubted that was his real name.
“I see you’re taking the casino’s theme seriously,” Alexa told him. She glanced down at the tag hanging from the gold chain around his muscled neck and back up again to his sexy grin.
“Yes, ma’am,” Apollo returned, giving her a jovial wink that made her smile.
“Are you flirting with your employees?” a familiar voice said from behind her. His voice was deep with just a little grit in it, like a rich and chalky cabernet sauvignon.
Her best friend, Carter Hayes, appeared beside her looking supremely amused.
She thanked the waiter and he left to spread the wonder that was his abdominal region to the paying customers.
“Hey there, darling,” she said, biting into the fig. She met Carter’s eyes as she caught a smear of chocolate in the corner of her mouth with her tongue. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
He shook his head at her deliberate provocation. Teasing him was one of her favorite pastimes. He could be so uptight. It was one of her responsibilities as best friend to make sure he lightened up sometimes.
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his worn chino pants, he frowned. “We should talk somewhere else.”
“Is that so?” she asked. She took another bite of the fig, letting her lips linger on it just a moment longer than required. “Sounds important.”
A corner of his full mouth quirked. “You know you’re turning me on, right? I’m not made of stone.”
She laughed. “Trust me, I know.” One of her girlfriends had bragged to her only days ago about how much of a real live man he was. She’d stopped Maggie before she shared any real details, but it had been enough.
Carter plucked the fig out of her fingers and popped the rest of it in his mouth before she could torment him with it again. His strong jaw chewed, the muscles methodically clenching and unclenching, his eyes on hers. Then he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down in his tanned, corded throat. He’d been her nerdy, shy neighbor who’d once asked her out with a “check YES or NO” note, but he’d all of a sudden grown up into one of the richest people in Las Vegas as well as its most eligible bachelor.
“Was it good for you?” she asked, her eyes sliding to the fig stem in his hands.
“Always,” he told her with a wink.
Shaking her head, she started walking toward the elevators. It wasn’t unusual for Carter to show up at one of her casinos. He’d created a facial recognition software that took pictures of customers and then matched them to a database to make sure dealers and customers weren’t working together to win money from casinos. It did a lot of other stuff, too, but that was the part she understood. It had been over a decade since he’d done the grunt work of programming software, but his right arm had a sleeve of binary code tattoos to remind everyone how he’d built his fortune.
Inside the elevator, she stuck in her key card to go to her private office floor.
“I see you’re wearing my favorite hoodie today.” When he was out with other girls he wore bespoke three-piece Savile Row suits that hugged his broad shoulders and cost more than a down payment on a house, but she didn’t warrant that kind of effort apparently.
He looked down at his navy blue sweatshirt. “You have a favorite?”
“Of course. That one brings out your eyes.”
He laughed. “Whatever you say, Alexa.”
“I pay attention, Carter. You give me far too little credit.”
He crossed his thick arms over his chest and raised a judgmental sandy brown eyebrow that winged up over the top of his round tortoiseshell glasses. “You haven’t returned a single text I’ve sent you in the past three weeks. The only reason I know you’re alive is because of social media. The photo montage of your current dating spree is impressive even for you.”
“Now, Carter, let’s not argue,” she appealed, giving him a jovial pat on the shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer your texts, but I am running three casinos in Uncle John’s absence, you know.”
“And playing just as hard, apparently.”
Alexa shrugged again. “It’s Vegas. I have a reputation to maintain. Besides, at least I haven’t chosen any of your friends to sleep with. That’s a little close to home, don’t you think?”
He had the decency to look embarrassed. “I didn’t know you and Maggie were friends until afterward.”
“For a man so interested in my social media presence, it would have only taken a quick search to find out.” She should keep her mouth shut. It wasn’t any of her business who he slept with. It wasn’t like she was scrolling through his follower list before she slept with someone.
The elevator dinged open and they stepped out onto her floor. They suspended their conversation until they reached her office. She loved what she thought of as her sanctuary in the middle of the chaos. Sprays of cream roses, peach peonies and blue hydrangeas graced her desk and sitting area, while ivory velvet curtains framed the large window overlooking the Vegas Strip.
“Dinner?” she asked, making them both dirty martinis at her minibar.
“Mexican?” he suggested.
She recited their orders to her assistant over the phone, then handed him a drink.
She took a seat on the white velvet sofa next to him. “I see you haven’t brought me a gift, so I hope the news you’re intending to share with me isn’t too bad.”
He pulled a small package out of his sweatshirt pocket and she blew out a breath. She didn’t want bad news when she’d been having such a good day.
“There are two things, but I’ll tell you the mostly good one first. We’re building a satellite office in San Francisco, so it looks like I might be gone for a while.”
Alexa stared at him, jittery anxiety pooling in her middle. “You’re leaving Las Vegas?”
“Not permanently, but for probably at least a year.”
“An entire year?” she spluttered. “Are you serious?”
At his affirmative nod, she tried to digest his bombshell, but the wrenching in her gut made it hard to think. She stared blankly at the sign on the coffee table in front of her of a famous singer/dancer who was starting Halcyon’s first residency in a month. She’d worked day and night to put the event together, enticing the performer to her casino instead of one of the more established places, but the accomplishment felt like dust in her mouth now.
Carter was her best friend, her rock and her brother all rolled up into basically the most important person in her life, and they’d been together since elementary school in the same city. She didn’t doubt the strength of their friendship, but a lot could happen in a year. They’d miss so much of each other’s lives—the small, mundane details of the day-to-day, late-night drinks and quickie lunches that made their friendship tick. Plus, he’d been right earlier—she’d barely seen him the past couple of months as it was.
“But it’s not final yet?” she asked hopefully.
“The final plans for the office need to be approved by the board, so it’ll be a month or so before we can start officially hiring, but it’s definitely happening.”
“Well,” she managed, her voice unnaturally cheery to cover up the sudden urge to cry, “congratulations on the expansion, but you really should have brought me more chocolate considering the circumstances.”
He handed over the package, a small box wrapped simply in silver paper with a periwinkle satin bow. Pulling it off, she lifted the lid and found eight delicate and colorful chocolates. “I know these didn’t come from anywhere around here,” she told him.
“I got back from Paris earlier in the week.”
“Parisian truffles,” she cooed, slightly mollified by his typical thoughtfulness. “A man of taste and sophistication as usual.” She closed the box and stuffed it into her purse. “Were you planning on giving these to some other girl before you found out you were leaving?”
He met her eyes, amusement dancing in his. “You’re the only woman I give truffles to, Alexa.”
That rang true, since he gave other women more expensive gifts. He’d sent Maggie an Hermès scarf after they’d slept together. Of course, that was the last time Maggie had ever heard from him, but still, an Hermès scarf was an Hermès scarf for pity’s sake.
“How nice to know I’m special,” she returned.
Their eyes met, the muscle in his jaw twitching, and it looked as if he was about to say something but changed his mind. “Unfortunately, there’s more bad news,” he told her, his expression mild again. “Chris Miller is stealing from you.”
“Chris Miller?” she repeated, completely floored. “My best general manager? That Chris Miller?”
At his solemn nod, she digested the truth of the news even though she was loath to. However, she trusted Carter literally more than any other person in the world, so there was no way he was lying, which meant she needed to accept the inevitable.
“How? How long? And how much?”
“He’s been working with one of the new poker dealers, having him lose to one of their friends. The three of them are splitting the takes. Probably two days and over $100,000 so far.”
Alexa laughed because it was an insignificant number for Chris to risk his job over. He made over three times that as his yearly salary. “He must be in some kind of trouble,” she speculated.
Carter shrugged. “You need to fire him. And the dealer.”
She bristled at the order. Of course she would fire them, but she didn’t need Carter to tell her so.
“Would you like to tell me how to do the rest of my job as well?”
He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. He could be down there right now overseeing another run.”
“I’ll fire him after we eat,” she assured him, taking a much-needed sip of alcohol. She liked Chris and he’d been a good general manager, but she’d learned not to take this kind of stuff personally. The lure of so much free money was quite frequently too much temptation for employees to resist. She did, however, instruct the other general manager on duty to send the poker dealer in question on break.
“I’m sorry about this,” Carter told her. “I thought you’d rather hear the news from me instead of one of your tech guys.”
“That’s nice of you, but it happens.”
Besides, she was more broken up by the fact that her best friend was basically moving light-years away even though he hated San Francisco and the whole Silicon Valley scene. Just two months or so ago after a particularly nasty client meeting, he’d literally spent an entire evening ragging on everything about it, including the relatively blameless and objectively delicious sourdough bread.
Carter responded to a text, which was a thing he did all the time while they were hanging out. His undivided attention didn’t really exist. She assumed it was work-related, but when she glanced over, she saw that a cute blonde girl had literally sent him a nude picture. She looked away quickly since it wasn’t any of her business, but the image was burned in her brain.
Instead of being embarrassed like she was, Carter looked as if getting nudes was just an everyday occurrence for him. And maybe it was. Lord knew her DMs were crammed with dicks both figurative and literal. Of course, unlike Carter had just done, she never responded to said dicks.
“That’s one way to say hello,” she joked.
“Yeah, and a pretty effective one, too.”
She laughed, but the fact that Carter might be dating someone was inspiring something new and terrible in her—pure and simple jealousy. Maybe it was PMS hormones or something, because she’d never cared who Carter dated before. Of course, he’d never been leaving before, either.
Thankfully, a knock sounded and Carter got their food from the delivery guy before she could analyze her wayward emotional state.
While he set out the food, she texted her uncle about Chris Miller’s theft, making sure he knew she had everything under control.
“You got a hot date tonight?” Carter asked, referring to her texting.
She shook her head, setting her phone aside and piling a couple of tacos on her plate. “Nope, tomorrow.”
“So I get woman-about-town Alexa Lawson to myself for an entire night. I can’t remember the last time that happened.”
She snorted. “We hung out just last month.”
“On a Tuesday,” he pointed out. “For coffee.”
“I think we can admit we’ve both been guilty of getting bogged down with work lately,” she acknowledged. “Why don’t we go back to my place and catch up on some movie time? I’ve had to wait for you to finish that documentary series we started and I definitely resent you for it.”
Deep-cut documentaries were one of the first things they’d had in common as kids and had sustained them ever since.
“Sounds perfect,” he agreed.

CHAPTER TWO (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
THEIR DINNER, from their favorite Mexican place, was fantastic as usual, and a comfortable silence fell as they ate, wherein Carter wondered if Alexa was going to say more about his move to San Francisco. She seemed upset, but since she basically never admitted she had emotions it was typical of her to pretend everything was fine.
Their history was littered with complications. The fact that all those years ago he’d created a program for her casinos mainly so he’d always be in her life should have been clue enough for her that he wanted to be more than friends, but she’d been willfully oblivious. After college, he’d even told her straight-out that he loved her, but she hadn’t taken the admission seriously, which had been the wake-up call he’d needed.
She hadn’t been interested in the pudgy nerd he’d been back then so he’d gotten a gym membership and started his company in the crappy studio apartment he’d rented on the Strip, and the rest was history. He’d moved the fuck on and any boyhood fantasies he’d had about Alexa had gone in the trash along with the majority of his oversize hoodies. His reputation with women was legendary, which was saying a shit-ton for a town with the highest population density of fuckboys in the country.
He and Alexa both were two of Vegas’s notorious players, but over the past few months he’d been considering showing his hand. He’d accomplished his goals and now he was ready for something else, a new challenge before things got stale. He didn’t want to be that creepy old guy out on the prowl.
And if there was ever a challenge to be had, it was Alexa Lawson, who was currently living up to his boyhood fantasies in a painted-on black pencil skirt and silky red camisole.
“Let me take care of that other little problem and we’ll get going,” she informed him, rising from the couch and shrugging back into her suit jacket. Her demeanor already signaled that she had returned to business mode, which was equally as sexy as her relaxed mode. As far as his dick was concerned, she actually didn’t have a non-sexy mode.
Carter installed some updates on her assistant’s computer while Alexa dealt with Jason and Chris. Both men were shouting angrily and he suppressed the urge to rush in there and protect her, but she didn’t need him. Before too long the room got quiet and she must have shown them the evidence. His software had uncovered Chris’s friendship with the customer who kept winning and video evidence of them talking and splitting the take. It was a cut-and-dried situation.
He was impressed that Alexa never had to raise her voice, she just got shit done. However, when the cops showed up, he realized just how serious the matter was. Software company CEOs like himself generally didn’t deal with the police even though, ironically, his software literally caught thieves. Watching the men in blue cart Chris and Jason away in handcuffs was awkward to say the least, especially considering the way Chris sneered at him. Everyone knew what his software did, so while Alexa did the firing he was technically the one who put Chris in jail.
When they were gone, Carter returned to her office as she was pouring herself another drink.
“You didn’t tell me about the police,” Carter said, scratching the back of his head.
“They’re thieves,” she said simply, joining him on the sofa. “Thieves go to jail.”
Her phone rang and her uncle’s face appeared on the screen.
She put him on speakerphone, and John Lawson’s perpetually jovial voice crackled through the international phone lines loud and clear as a bell.
“Well, Alexa my love, thank you for taking care of another snake in the grass.”
She grinned at Carter and he returned it. Alexa’s uncle was a big personality but also a man of integrity, which was hard to find in Vegas. Like Alexa, he’d admired him all his life.
“I know you’re going to be upset, dear, but like we talked about, I’m ready to retire. I think we should put the casinos up for sale,” John said, shocking both him and Alexa.
“What?” Alexa burst out, her eyes wide and stunned. “Uncle John, I thought you were joking about that. You just went to France to scout out new casino locations.”
Alexa jumped off the couch and started pacing, clearly about to lose her shit as she turned the speaker off and held the phone to her ear. He ignored the urge to comfort her because he knew she wouldn’t let him.
“Yes, of course, Uncle John. The next news article you read about me will be about my heroic dog rescue or helping an elderly widow find love again.”
She sank back down onto the edge of the sofa next to him and tapped the phone to end the call.
“What the hell was that?” Carter asked, resisting brushing away the piece of hair stuck in her red lipstick.
Alexa shook her head, mystified. “Like you heard, he wants to retire and sell the casinos, but my reputation is causing a problem with potential buyers. If I clean it up and he can sell the Wild Nights and Hard Eight casinos, he’ll give me Halcyon outright.”
Carter refilled her glass with the last of the martini from the shaker. Even though it was a good deal for her as far as Halcyon was concerned, he knew she’d rather die than lose the other casinos, too. Alexa was Las Vegas and those casinos; she’d lived and breathed them her entire life. As kids, they’d run the floors of Wild Nights and Hard Eight instead of their backyards, as teenagers they’d worked whatever odd jobs they could, and as adults they’d enjoyed the casinos as they were meant to. But she’d also do whatever her uncle needed no matter how it might hurt her.
“So what’s the play?” he asked, handing her a glass. He often felt like he lived to serve Alexa. Whatever she needed, he did. It was a mutual codependence, as long as he never tried to press her to talk about feelings. Ever since her parents died she’d cut herself off from anything too serious.
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding a little lost. “I have to clean up my image, I guess.”
“So how do you want to do that? I can take over the media aspect of it, make sure content of you doing wholesome stuff gets shared in cyberspace.”
She nodded. “That’s good, but I need to do more. Like practice abstinence and wear a chastity belt, apparently.”
He laughed at the impossibility and she smacked his arm, unamused.
She slumped down into the back of the couch and he put his arm around her shoulders, breathing in the light apple scent of her hair. She’d used the same shampoo and conditioner since high school and it tugged at his gut like it always did.
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Carter told her, letting go of her to take a fortifying drink of his martini.
She stilled then, looking over at him speculatively.
“I don’t like that look,” he drawled.
“I need a fake fiancé,” she announced, clapping her hands together. “That would solve everything!”
“And exactly how would that solve everything?” he pressed. Perfect, he thought. He was about to leave for a year just as she decided to get fake-engaged to some random Vegas loser.
“Think about it,” she insisted, kneeling on the couch and facing him. Her hair fell over her shoulders in thick chestnut waves as she moved. “For example, if you and I got fake engaged, it would solve all my problems. We don’t have to invent a backstory because everyone in town already knows we’re close, and spending more time together wouldn’t be terrible because we actually like each other. It would be the quickest way to get everyone to believe that I’ve settled down.”
“Wait, you want me to be your fake fiancé? Uh, no way in hell.”
“Why not?” she asked, her head doing that cute little tilt it always did when she was curious about something. “If you’re worried about San Francisco, I think a month is more than enough time to convince people I’m a changed woman.”
Why wasn’t it a good idea for them to pretend to be engaged? he mused. Maybe because their friendship had become a game to see how long he could be in her presence without throwing her down on the nearest surface and fucking her until they both couldn’t remember their own names? Yeah, maybe that was why.
“I just don’t think I’ll have time. There’s a lot to do before the move.”
She looked slightly crestfallen, but a fake engagement was just too much to ask of him.
“You could stop dating for a while,” he suggested. “You’d get the same result.”
“Maybe,” she agreed. “But it will take longer.”
“Yeah, but that’s a good thing, right?” he reasoned. “You don’t want your uncle to sell the casinos right away. In the meantime, maybe you’ll think of a way to change his mind.”
The possibility seemed to at least distract her. “I’m too wired to talk about this now. Let’s get out of here.”
He nodded and followed her out of the office, relieved that he’d put an end to the fake fiancé thing.
They stepped out of the elevator onto the ground floor and the crush of the Friday night crowd was instant sensory overload. The electronic whirring of machines, the tinny clink of coins and the underlying bass beat of rumbling conversation was enough to drive a decent person to recklessness. The anonymity was liberating.
When they finally stepped outside into the bright lights of Vegas, he could tell that Alexa needed to blow off some steam and wasn’t surprised when she grabbed his arm.
“Come on,” she urged, pulling him across the street to Elysium. “Let’s gamble and make bad decisions.”
“So much for reinventing yourself,” he pointed out.
“Tomorrow,” she promised with a wink, shoving open the front doors to the towering casino.

CHAPTER THREE (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
AS SHE’D KNOWN he would, Carter waited for her while she played several hands of blackjack even though he hated gambling. She won her last hand with twenty-one and turned around to celebrate with Carter, but he wasn’t there.
She collected her winnings and left the table, roaming around until she finally found him in the grand lobby talking on his cell. As he spoke, a deep crease formed between his eyebrows and he ran an agitated hand through his already mussed hair. He was completely oblivious to the women around him doing everything but stripping to try to get his attention.
She waded through the crowds, intending to apologize for ignoring him, but when she reached him he didn’t notice her, either.
It was positively demoralizing, as she was literally right in front of his face. Both of them were married to their jobs, but he could at least acknowledge her existence. She put an arm around his waist just to see if she could get his attention away from work, but he barely glanced at her. Instead walked out of her arms as he barked at someone about profit margins.
Flustered, Alexa watched him walk away before turning her attention to the rest of the lobby.
Her gaze stuck on the glass art installation. It was an explosion of color and light and fanned out over most of the lobby’s ceiling, the flower pinwheels stunning in their intensity. Customers’ phones all pointed up to capture the joyful riot of bold-colored flowers. But the pictures people took wouldn’t capture the significance of the glass sculpture, the subtle striations of color in the individual pieces, or the delicate and thoughtful way the flowers had been arranged and hung to maximize the light. So much of it would be lost in translation.
Her parents had taken her to see it as a teenager when the casino first opened. It was one of the last things they had all done as a family before her parents died.
She glanced back at Carter, but he was still on the phone.
Skirting the perimeter of the display, she found the piece she wanted. The bright magenta flower with a dark red center that fanned out to the palest of pink on the ruffled edges had been her mother’s favorite. She’d been Alexa’s best friend. She’d told her mom everything, from getting her period, to her first crush, Perry Knightly, who now sat on the Las Vegas City Council, and all the little inconsequential things that made up her life. But since her parents died, she’d had trouble opening up to people, because having to wade through the abyss of that kind of grief to get to happiness again felt insurmountable.
She blew out a frustrated breath and gave the flower a final look. It was still beautiful, but rather than grounding Alexa as it usually did, the memory of her parents made her anxious. She would never stop missing them, but she loved her life and was thankful for everything she still had. Her uncle had made her work her ass off doing every job in the casino, including scrubbing toilets, which wasn’t a pretty picture in a casino that gave alcohol away for free. She’d worked hard and was making her mark on Vegas. Life was good.
However, now Carter was leaving town, quite possibly her uncle if he was serious about retiring, and even Halcyon might be out of her life if she didn’t get her shit together. Where did that leave her? Alone in Las Vegas without her best friend and only living family? That sounded awful.
A man in faded, ripped jeans and two full sleeves of tattoos comprising vivid Mexican sugar skulls and raging flames stopped next to her to study the sculpture. His tight black T-shirt hugged imposing biceps and pecs that practically begged to be touched. Just the kind of guy she liked to have a good time with.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” she asked him, following his gaze upward.
He glanced over at her, and she felt him take her in from bare legs to ample cleavage. His deep brown eyes met hers with an appreciative twinkle.
“I’ll say,” he drawled, his voice gruff and a little rough around the edges, like his outfit.
She smiled up at him, loving the chance to flirt with someone. It was so easy. Men were so easy.
“Do you ride?” she asked, nodding to the chain on his pants and the scuffed black motorcycle boots.
He nodded. “You?”
Head tilted, she gave him a coy smile. “Of course. But not usually on the first date.”
“Set you up for that one, didn’t I?” He grinned, taking a step into her space.
The smell of leather and oil tickled her nose as she breathed him in, vaguely thinking that she preferred Carter’s fresh and spicy scent. It reminded her of laundry and money. Not that biker guy didn’t have his own appeal based on sheer muscle mass alone.
“You did,” she agreed, glancing up at him. “So are you here to gamble or just look at the art?”
His head tilted. “Would you believe me if I said just to look at the art?”
It was her turn to give him a once-over then, which he visibly enjoyed, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amusement. “I’d say there’s a fifty-fifty chance,” she concluded.
“I’m a tattoo artist. Sometimes I come look at this to get inspired.” He lifted up the front of his shirt to reveal a massive tattoo covering his washboard abs, the bombs of color similar to the flowers above them.
She reached out a hand and traced one of the blue shapes with a finger. “That’s...unexpected,” she murmured, marveling at the artistry of it and the myriad of colors and shapes winding over his skin like a trippy Pollock painting.
“Yeah, I’m only a hardheaded motorcycle dude like sixty percent of the time,” he joked.
She pulled her hand back and his shirt fell down, which made her nearly sigh out loud in disappointment. Abs and art like that should never be covered up.
“What about you?” he asked, taking her hand in his like a pro, tracing the same fingertips that had touched his chest. “You here to gamble?”
She didn’t necessarily feel a spark between them, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be one later. He was just the kind of distraction she needed. “I’m always ready to gamble.”
His thick arm slid around her waist then and her eyes slid closed in anticipation of a kiss that never came.
Her eyes popped open to see Carter standing there, his arms crossed and mouth knotted into a sinister frown.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Carter demanded, looking more pissed off than she could ever remember him being. Especially at her. He never got angry at her.
Biker Guy released her, but kept a hand on her back. He didn’t look scared of Carter, but he should be. Though Biker Guy’s muscles were larger, Carter had been studying jujitsu since he was a kid and could kick a lot of ass in very little time. Specifically, he’d put a football player in the hospital for grabbing her ass at a party in college once.
Alexa wasn’t exactly sure who Carter was addressing, but before she could answer, Biker Guy did it for her. “Who are you?”
Alexa stepped in front of Carter, imploring him to be cool with her eyes. “I’m busy, Carter. Can I just catch you later?”
Carter’s blue eyes darkened dangerously under the lenses of his glasses. “I don’t think so.”
Biker Guy gave Carter an assessing look. “If the lady wants to be left alone, I’d say that’s what you should do.”
Alexa sighed. As much as she was annoyed by Carter’s intrusion and high-handedness, this interaction needed to end before it turned into a scene that would get back to her uncle. That was exactly the last thing she needed at the advent of her reputation-cleanup initiative.
She held out her hand to the Biker Guy. “Mind if I see your phone?”
A corner of his mouth lifting, he reached into his back pocket and handed it over. She programmed her number into his contacts, showing him the face where she’d typed in her name as Your Best Ride. Someone sue her, he was hot.
“Call me soon,” she instructed.
“I look forward to it,” he said with one last once-over. “You take care.”
When he was gone, Alexa returned her attention to Carter, who was still standing with his arms crossed over his chest and looking murderous.
“What the hell is your problem?” she demanded.
“I was gone for all of three minutes and you’re hitting on some random guy who by the looks of it could be a serial killer?”
She doubted serial killers were lovers of rainbow glass, but she could be wrong. More importantly, that wasn’t the point at all.
“First of all, you were completely ignoring me to open up your new office in Seattle or whatever other hipster town you’re leaving me for. Secondly, I’m allowed to hit on whomever I like.”
“I am not leaving you, Alexa. I’ll just be out of town for a while.”
“An entire year,” she clarified.
“I don’t know why that’s a problem for you. I’m sure that extra from Sons of Anarchy will keep you busy.”
“Why are you so bothered by him? You were busy so I flirted with a cute guy. It’s been known to happen before.”
He ran an agitated hand through his sandy blond hair. “Because we were supposed to hang out tonight, and instead you chose to gamble for over an hour and were just about to go home with some dude.”
“Okay, I’m sorry for that,” she allowed, trying to calm him down. “Let’s go back to my house now. It’s not a big deal, Carter.”
She took a few steps toward the exit, but he remained rooted to the spot, his expression still uncharacteristically dark and moody.
“Are you going to pout all night?” she prodded. “Or are we going to salvage this evening and actually spend some time together before you leave?”
He stalked toward her, his blue eyes flashing with anger as he grasped her arm. “You’re not the one giving orders here, Alexa.”
A shiver of awareness danced across her skin, sending up a wave of goose bumps in its wake.
Carter suddenly pulled her toward the back of the casino. They passed a startled concierge as he led her into a remote stairwell with a big staff-only sign on the front, but as a contractor for Elysium’s security system he had access to all areas of the casino.
The concrete stairwell was cold and quiet, but they were in a standoff, eyes clashing in anger, confusion and denied lust. She didn’t know exactly how she’d gotten so angry so fast, but she was plenty pissed off at his attitude and the fact that he’d dragged her across the casino like she was his property. She wasn’t the one who was leaving town for some bullshit extension office that could be handled remotely or by his countless executives who would love to relocate to San Francisco. In the course of several hours the life she loved was in danger of becoming extinct and he was upset because she was flirting with some guy? He needed to check himself.
“You have no reason to be pissed right now,” she bit off.
His eyes widened in incredulity. “I don’t have a reason to be pissed off? You’re supposed to be fixing your reputation and you can’t even do it for one fucking night.”
She bristled at the censure. “You’re not my boyfriend or my dad, and I’m allowed to flirt with guys. If you’re not going to be my fiancé, then my reputation is none of your business either.”
“Why are we even here in the first place? You talk a good game of being sad that I’m leaving, but you can’t even spare a couple hours off from flirting and gambling to hang out with me. You know I hate crowds and casinos.”
“If you didn’t want to gamble, you should have spoken up and we’d have gone home. I’m not a damned mind reader.”
Her blood was raging now and she shivered. Something was different here. The tension that always simmered below the surface was so second nature it was easy to ignore, but now it was reaching a boiling point. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to shake the living daylights out of him or rip his clothes off.
Carter pulled her into his arms and her breath caught. “I’ll speak up then.”

CHAPTER FOUR (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
CARTER’S LIPS MET hers and the world suddenly felt like the glass flower exhibit, upside-down and chaotic. His lips were firm and confident as he threaded strong fingers through her hair and held her tightly against his solid body. The body of her friend, whom she’d lusted after for years. She’d denied herself for such a long time, only imagining what it would be like with him, but those daydreams were incredibly vivid now.
She moaned against his mouth as he took the kiss deeper, opening her up and invading her with gentle but insistent explorations. It was methodical and thorough, just like the man himself. Carter was the most intelligent and inventive person she knew and she wanted him to apply all of those skills to her while they were both naked and in her bed. Or his bed. She wasn’t picky.
His strong, steady hands drifted down her back and gripped her ass just tightly enough to let her know he meant business and drew her hard against his erection so that she was cradling him right where she wanted him. He was big, and she rocked her hips against him, wanting to feel the length of his cock against her wet heat. She arched into him, needing to be closer and feed the feverish ache between her legs, but he only gave her a fraction of what she wanted, his hands stilling her hips when she wanted nothing more than to ride him to her own release.
One of his hands caressed up her side, the rough calluses dragging against the silky fabric of her blouse as he cupped her breast in his hand. He drew a blunt thumb lightly over her beaded nipple, and she groaned in pleasure as liquid heat poured through her like the first sip of rich hot chocolate on a cold day.
His lips crashed onto hers again as they fought for dominance in the kiss, tasting each other, their tongues invading and retrenching, teasing and commanding.
She found his chest under his shirt and stroked along his abdomen, the fact that she’d done this to another man just moments ago not lost on her. Carter felt perfect under her fingers, taut and smooth and hot.
“Mine better be the last chest you touch tonight,” he growled, lifting her into his arms.
The new height put them face-to-face. The hard length of his erection finally pressed against her core and she closed her eyes against the onslaught of desire that stormed through her insides.
“You’d better make it worth my while then,” she told him, nipping at his bottom lip.
Their lips locked again, the heat rising between them like a bubbling geyser. He pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her exposed in a red silk bra. In response she scored his thick hair with her fingers and guided him to her peaked nipple, which he drew into his mouth without hesitation. Bolts of desire roared to her clit and her hips rolled against his erection, creating a maelstrom of sensation. Just a few more seconds and she could come just from some innocent dry humping like a teenager in the back seat of a car.
“Carter,” she whispered against his lips.
Tracing a thumb over the corner of her mouth, he coaxed her to let him go deeper, explore and taste all there was to discover.
“Touch me,” he murmured against her lips.
“Are you telling me what to do?” she asked, drawing back with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah,” he grinned. “Now stop being so damned contrary and do it.”
“Oh, this so is not how we’re doing this,” Alexa declared, waving her pointer finger as she attempted to climb out of his hold. Orgasm be damned, she wasn’t his servant.
He let her go, but then crowded her underneath the stairwell until she was flat against the wall. Anticipation danced up her spine.
“Hey!” she snapped, pushing at his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“You think this is going to be like our friendship, where I look the other way when you try to boss me around, but Alexa, what we’re about to do isn’t friendship.”
None too gently, he spread her legs apart with his knee, pinning them there until she squirmed.
“Now touch me.”
She obliged immediately, her soft fingers gliding up his abdomen.
“Someone’s been working out,” she purred, scraping her nails over his dark nipples.
“I’ve looked like this for years.”
“I know, but this is the first time I get to touch,” she explained, grinning as her fingers brushed down his sides. “I liked your old body, too, you know. I’d take your brain in whatever package it came in.”
A weird look passed across Carter’s face for an instant before he grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms to the wall. “Stay.”
Then he knelt in front of her, pushed her skirt up to her waist and revealed the smallest scrap of a black lace thong.
He licked up the inside of her thigh, spreading her legs wider as he went. He threw one of her legs over his shoulder and pushed the thin piece of underwear out of his way. But then he stilled for a moment, and she thought she might die from want.
“Do it,” she commanded, clutching at his hair.
Smiling at her bossiness, he obeyed, setting his lips to her. His tongue found its way into her, leaving no inch untouched. He explored her vagina as thoroughly as if he were going to make a damn map of it afterward. She didn’t give a shit what he did as long as he kept it up. The long strokes of his tongue, the teasing brush of his thumb—he was a man on a mission, and her desired destination was pleasure.
“Carter,” she rasped, trying to catch her breath. “I want you inside me.”
Her skin was on fire, as hot as a car hood on a Vegas desert summer afternoon, unrelenting and merciless. His fingers replaced his tongue and he pumped inside her, the slick channel offering no resistance, only friction and anticipation. She squirmed underneath his ministrations, unable to control herself as his thumb and tongue worked in tandem to drive her in-fucking-sane.
“Not until I say,” he told her, biting down gently on her engorged nub as he added another finger. He pistoned furiously, his tongue laving the spot he’d bitten, soothing the bolt of electricity he’d delivered to her core.
She’d had sex before, even been ordered around, but it was different with Carter. Everything he was doing was better, more considered. His shoulders were wide, keeping her legs pinned to the wall when she would have tried to take control of the situation. The brush of his thumb on her clit was practiced and precise, the angle calculated just right to touch her where she needed to be touched the most.
The rush of pleasure hit her hard, shoving her off the edge of the cliff with wild abandon.
Her cry of climax rent the still air of the stairwell. Carter soothed her gently, tonguing her lightly until she stopped shuddering and regained some measure of normalcy.
“That was really great work, Carter,” she joked, giving his shoulder a friendly pat to try to make it normal when she felt anything but. She had no idea what this meant for them, but it was too late to stop now. He’d knocked down the door and she didn’t have the tools to put it back up at the moment.
His blue eyes turning smoky, he rose and pulled her into him. She fought for the kiss this time, aggressively sucking his tongue into her mouth and running her hand over his straining erection. She wanted more of him, wanted the heavy weight pulsing under her hand inside her.
Unzipping his pants slowly, her eyes met Carter’s. It was officially the last gasp of their friendship, because there was no going back now.
She hesitated for just a split second, enjoying her new view but also to tamp down the terror that edged her buzz that Carter would want more than she could give if they went through with this. Adding sex to their friendship was basically putting them into relationship zone, which generally included those messy emotions she liked to keep in check.
She pushed the worry aside because she was sure Carter didn’t want anything serious, either. He was even leaving town, so they were safe. Switching their positions, she pushed him back against the wall and ran her hands over his chest.
She met his eyes as her hands moved lower and lower, and his flared as she came to his kelly-green boxer briefs. The color delighted her since she knew it was his favorite. She pulled them down and let his cock spring free.
Grinning at him and what she’d revealed, she murmured, “I just didn’t know what I was missing, did I?”
He kissed her hard, letting their desire rage out of control.
Her heart beating rapid-fire, she tore away from the kiss and nipped and licked her way down his chest and abdomen and finally ran her tongue up the length of his impressive cock. Thick, long and gorgeous, she wrapped her hands around him, feeling his hardness and heat as he throbbed against her hand in time to her own pulse.
Breaking eye contact, she leaned down and took the tip of him into her mouth, loving his growl of pleasure. She fell in, taking his length, tasting, sucking, caressing until his muscles tensed. Increasing the pressure, she slid up, almost letting him slide out of her mouth before taking him all the way in again. She loved the feel of him on her tongue, his skin, his musky smell. Her core squeezed in pleasure as the first salty drops of come greeted her tongue.
His big hands ran through her hair, pulling just a little. The time for slow was over; she was too turned on for finesse and she handled him easily, alternating between hard and soft pressure, fast and slow speed until his whole body froze against her.
“Alexa, stop, I’m there,” he growled, his voice raspy and strained.
She didn’t listen, sucking harder until he came apart in her mouth. It was the least a best friend could do. The pressure of his fingers on her skull intensified and she swallowed him down, licking around the tip to finish.
Lifting her head, she met his eyes, seeing a fierceness she’d never witnessed before in them.
Just then the door creaked open and her heart stopped. In an instant, Carter had himself zipped and her pushed behind him so the two uniformed Elysium employees didn’t see her face.
The two men exchanged greetings with Carter and her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. Christ, she’d had sex in weird places before, but never this public and never with Carter.
Once the two men had reached the second floor, Carter helped put on her shirt. He watched her, his deep blue gaze intent and focused on her face as he straightened out the hem of her camisole. They were both breathing hard.
“You okay?” he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She nodded and the moment of awkward silence seemed to stretch out for minutes instead of the actual seconds it was.
“Well, that’s a first for our friendship,” she tried, giving a forced laugh.
He shook his head at her lame attempt at humor. “My place or yours?”
The question jolted her back to reality. Sleeping with Carter would be the biggest mistake of her life if she lost him afterward. Her love life track record wasn’t exactly filled with functional long-term relationships. For Christ’s sake, her nickname in Vegas was literally the Disposal, because that’s where all her men ended up, thrown away and emotionally mangled beyond recognition.
She also had serious doubts about whether or not she could be in a real relationship. Her parents’ deaths had turned the entire trajectory of her life around. One minute she’d been a carefree sixteen-year-old, and the next she was the girl who everybody pitied because her parents died. It had taken her years to feel like Alexa again and not just a pity case. It made her extremely hesitant to enter into a relationship where not only would she have to deal with someone leaving her again, but that it would be Carter. He was her last link to what she would always think of as the happiest time of her life.
He took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “Don’t chicken out now.”
“Sleeping together would hurt our friendship,” she entreated, catching his gaze.
He drew her back into his arms and heat again, and it felt natural and right. “You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do,” she insisted. “I don’t like the way you fold your clothes in rolls. It would drive me nuts to be in a relationship with you.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t know your excuses could get any lamer. We’ll figure it out.”
“Maybe I could wear a wig or something.”
She felt his chest rumble against her as he chuckled. “What?”
“You know, like I’ll wear a wig and sneak into your house and have my way with you and then we’ll pretend I was a girl named Marci and never speak of it again. Then we’ll return to our regularly scheduled friendship.”
He nudged her chin up so she could see him. “Is this something you do with guys?”
“Yeah, it’s called role-playing and it happens, Carter.”
“Jesus, Alexa, you’re fucking killing me.” He took her mouth again, quick and rough.
Taking a deep breath, the familiar scent of his clean cologne hit her like a brick wall of need.
Then her phone rang. Pulling it out of her bag, she saw that it was Carter’s mom. The woman who’d, for all intents and purposes, filled in for her own mother after she died. Carter’s mom had been the one to buy Alexa the dress she’d worn for the funeral, the one who, along with her uncle, had held her hand during the service as the priest droned on and on about people he only barely knew. For an instant, Alexa thought about not answering, but it was the second call she’d missed from her today and she felt ashamed.
Carter saw who was calling and blew out an annoyed breath.
By the time the conversation was over and Carter’s mom had reminded her to bring her famous brownies to Sunday dinner, Alexa realized what a mistake she’d been about to make. Carter and his family were her family. If she and Carter didn’t work out—and all signs pointed to her not making an actual adult relationship work—she wouldn’t just be losing him.
She stepped out of his arms and out from under the stairwell.
Meeting his eyes, reading the disappointment already there, she said it anyway. “I’m sorry, Carter, but we can’t do this.”

CHAPTER FIVE (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
ALEXA WOKE UP with a pounding headache, knowing she’d totally fucked up. She grabbed at her phone on the pillow beside her, cringing at the eleven missed calls and ten urgent text messages from her uncle.
After her parents died, Uncle John had raised her with unconditional love and support and all she ever wanted was to make him proud. She’d been an okay student, but as soon as Uncle John told her she’d only have the casinos one day if she applied herself, she’d gotten her shit together and graduated at the top of her business class in college. He’d given her a purpose at a time in her life where she’d felt rudderless, and it was absolutely killing her that she was basically crapping all over the opportunities he’d given her.
His first text was a link to the local paper, so she tapped it with enough trepidation that a pit of dread opened up in her gut. Glaring at her in bright white light on the homepage of the Las Vegas Gazette was an enormous picture of her and Carter in Elysium’s stairwell. Her legs were wrapped around him and they were basically sucking each other’s faces off. In that light, the rest of her uncle’s text messages, which were some variation of FIX IT, made much more sense.
She groaned, a sound from deep in the bottom of her chest. And she’d thought yesterday had been a shitty day.
Calling her uncle, she prepared herself for his disappointment and the reiteration of his earlier directive to clean up her image. It was exactly what he delivered.
“I’m calling Carter, too,” her uncle expounded, fuming. “The Carter Hayes I know has more respect for women than to put them in compromising positions like that. He should be ashamed of himself.”
“I think—” she started, in an attempt to explain that neither of them had been thinking straight, but her uncle wasn’t interested in excuses or equivocations.
“You need to fix this, Alexa, or we’re both out of a lot of money,” he grumbled.
“Understood,” she told him, her heart clenching with the thought of hurting the investment her uncle had worked his whole life to build. “I will take care of it.”
“Please do,” he instructed, some of the steam going out of his bluster. It wasn’t like her uncle to be mad, but seeing his niece semi-nude in his daily newspaper would probably put anyone in a less-than-gracious mood. “And Alexa, if anything else like this happens, the deal we had about Halcyon is out the window.”
Her heart squeezed at the thought of losing Halcyon, too. “I promise I’ll make it right,” she reiterated. “Please just enjoy the rest of your vacation.”
She expected her uncle to hang up, but he stayed on the line.
Finally, he spoke again. “You and Carter, of all people, know that there are cameras everywhere in a casino. What the hell were you thinking, dear?”
Alexa so did not want to have this conversation. Especially since the moment she’d walked into that stairwell she’d known there would be a camera. She just hadn’t given a shit.
“We got into a fight. It didn’t, um, end like I expected it to,” she explained lamely.
Uncle John chuckled softly and some of the panic in her chest subsided. Business or not, he was still her uncle.
“Well, seems like this is a problem you two could work on together.”
Alexa blew out a breath. Unfortunately, he was right. After that photo in the news, Carter was her only solution.
Running a hot shower and scarfing down some pain relievers, she tried desperately not to think about just what had happened last night. Carter knew everything about her, stayed up late with her after her parents died and she couldn’t sleep, been her confidant about guys, her trusted friend as she’d learned how to run the casinos. And they were one bad breakup away from losing all of it.
She changed for work into a charcoal skirt and an aqua sleeveless blouse, hoping she didn’t look as awful as she felt. She had no idea what she’d say to him now. Maybe, “Hey, I know we almost boned, but I got scared because I’m an emotional kindergartner, so do you mind if we just get fake-engaged instead?”
The drive to the bakery and then to Carter’s was short, but thankfully gave her enough time to think of a plan of action. If heavy and shameless groveling was, in fact, considered an actual plan.
His house was ultramodern; the standard Southwestern adobe tile roof and white stucco didn’t interest Carter. Instead he’d designed a three-story building with sharp angles of steel, glass and countless windows. Five stone columns reached from the ground to the top floor, the middle floor cantilevering out into the air over the floor beneath.
It wasn’t really her style, but it was very expensive and creative, the latter of which probably most appealed to Carter. He’d always been a little bit of an odd man out, never quite fitting into the crowd. In high school, he’d carried a briefcase instead of a backpack. That fact had subjected him to a fair amount of ridicule to the point where Alexa had to step in a couple of times, except it never seemed to matter to him. If people made fun of her, she would have switched to a backpack, but the next day, Carter doubled down and added a pocket watch to his briefcase. It was one of the reasons she liked him so much. He was always himself, and there was a lot of comfort in that for her, especially in a place like Vegas where everyone wanted to be something else.
His house doors had smart locks and her fingerprint was already programmed in, so she let herself in without ringing the bell. It was a much better idea to not give him a chance to slam the door in her face before he could hear her best groveling.
She stepped into his foyer, a wide-open space with dark wood floors and an enormous modern brass light fixture hanging down from the high ceiling. Just as she headed in the direction of the kitchen to set down her bags, a youngish girl in her twenties tiptoed down the suspended staircase, silver stilettos dangling from her hand. It was clearly the commencement of a walk of shame.
When the girl saw Alexa, she froze mid-step, eyes wide with an arrested expression on her face.
“Don’t worry,” Alexa offered. “We’re just friends.”
The blond-haired girl blew out a relieved breath. “Thank God.”
The two exchanged another brief smile before she bolted toward the front door, taking a moment to slip on her shoes before she opened it.
The girl had her hand on the knob when Carter appeared at the top of the steps. Looking from his guest to Alexa, his eyes shuttered, as if he couldn’t handle the sight of what was happening.
Alexa attempted to rein in her rage, because Carter had every right to seek out someone else last night since she’d basically left him high and dry. Except, wait a second, no, he damned well didn’t because she’d given him a fucking amazing blow job.
More importantly, had it meant that little to him that he could turn around on a dime and sleep with someone else? They had been best friends for over fifteen years and their actions last night had changed everything.
Her heart stopped for a second at the thought that he might be seriously dating that girl, but he would have told her and she wouldn’t have been sneaking out the door at first light.
So basically she was just pissed again. The door closed shut behind his late-night date.
“It’s not what you think,” Carter began, holding a hand up as if to halt her train of thought.
Alexa was a power player and she’d spent years perfecting her poker face, which was just what she gave him.
“What you do is your business, Carter,” she said, meeting his eyes as he came down the steps. “We’re just friends.”
Jaw ticking, he crossed his arms over his bare chest and stared her down but she didn’t give anything away.
“Alex, you can pretend you’re not pissed all you want because far be it from me to presume that last night meant anything to the man-eater of Vegas, but I promise nothing happened. You fucking know me better than that. Now would you like to tell me why you’re skulking around in my house so early?”
“You know why I’m here,” she threw out, walking briskly into his expansive kitchen, where slate countertops and butter-colored eco-friendly wood cabinets lined the space. She sat her purse on top of the island along with the bag of pastries and fruit salad she’d picked up from his favorite bakery, vaguely irritated that she’d brought breakfast for a person who at the very least slept in the same room as another woman. “And since you now seem to be in a position to owe me a favor, I’m very glad I did stop by so early.”
“Nothing happened,” he gritted. “She was here when I got home—”
Alexa raised a hand. “Like I said, your love life is not my business.”
“Right, how can I forget that we’re just friends,” he mocked. “Your lips are wrapped around my dick every day.”
A bolt of heat shot up Alexa’s spine, which enraged her because she wasn’t interested in revisiting last night. She might not want to do it again, but it had meant something to her. A whole hell of a lot, in fact. Clearly, he didn’t feel the same way, which felt a little like a vise mercilessly squeezing her insides and jiggling them around at the same time. Additionally, she did not at all appreciate his sarcastic tone considering what he’d done, sexual penetration or not.
“Well, apparently that wasn’t enough of an evening for you,” she said, kicking herself for not being able to hold it back. “Nevertheless, it’s for the best because you’re going to have to pose as my fake fiancé.”

CHAPTER SIX (#u858095a9-30e7-57c1-8bd3-0d4fe0c73b74)
CARTER WAS ASTONISHED to see Alexa in his house this morning at all, much less with pastries, witnessing a near indiscretion on his part and proposing a fake engagement. It was a less-than-ideal wake-up call.
When he’d gotten home last night, Kelly had been waiting in his driveway. She was an old friend who’d just shown up with an expectation that usually he was up for, but they hadn’t slept together last night. He should have sent her away, but he’d been just pissed off enough to hope Alexa got wind of it to let Kelly stay. He was still pissed now, as a matter of fact, because last night had been some pretty epic bullshit even from Alexa, who was never honest about what she was feeling.
However, the call he’d gotten from his board just minutes before she arrived was the reason he’d nudged Kelly out the door. His company’s stock had risen in value today after the story of his and Alexa’s stairwell indiscretion hit the national news circuit. Apparently, the tech world loved that one of their geeky own had conquered the closest thing Vegas had to royalty. The increase had more to do with the fact that he was about to launch a product to expand his business, but his board would say anything to maximize their investment. They’d gone so far as to suggest him making the most out of his relationship with Alexa even though they’d previously been against his friendship with her because of her rep. It was nonsense that he ignored, so he wasn’t about to take their advice on his personal life now, either.
“You really want to get fake-engaged?” he asked Alexa.
“You know it would work,” Alexa contended. “Uncle John is madder than I’ve ever heard him. He threatened to sell Halcyon, too, if I didn’t clean this up.”
It figured. John knew that selling Halcyon would be just the incentive Alexa needed to take the threat seriously.
“Alexa, I still don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said, shaking his head.
He would literally give her the shirt off his back in an ice storm, but they needed to talk about what had happened last night. Unfortunately, now that she’d seen Kelly this morning, Alexa was closed up tighter than one of her casino vaults.
“Come on, Carter. You’re my best chance to turn this around quickly.”

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