She bit her lip. She knew that most of her issues with wearing something like this stemmed from the fact that she was the plain sister. The one everyone expected to stay plain. But that didn’t bother her. She liked knowing where she fit into the scheme of things. This dress smudged the lines of that nice neat picture she had planned of her life, and Kylie didn’t know if she was ready to see herself in this new light.
“How’s it fit?” Deacon asked.
Deacon in a woman’s dressing room was like a tiger in a cage. He’d prowled restlessly from one end of the room to the other while she’d been trying on clothes.
“Fine. I don’t think this one is going to work, either,” she said. As tempted as she might be to actually buy the dress, she knew she’d be uncomfortable wearing it outside the dressing room.
“None of them work? I can’t believe this. I’m going to get the owner.”
“No, Deacon. Don’t do that.”
He sighed. His cell phone had rung several times while she was trying on clothes. He probably had better places to be than in a dressing room waiting for her to pick out a dress. “We’ll go to the Chimera. I bet we’ll find a dress there.”
She sighed. He was being so nice. But this wasn’t working. She was leaving for home in the morning and she didn’t want to spend her last night with Deacon in the dressing room. “I don’t want to go to another boutique.”
“What’s the matter, angel?”
She leaned her forehead on the dressing-room door. The tips of his Italian leather loafers were visible under the door. “Don’t make me say it.”
“Let me come in,” he said gruffly.
She turned the handle and stepped back. He closed the door and leaned against it. Arms crossed over his chest, he studied her the way an art connoisseur would study a painting by one of the Dutch masters. “You look lovely.”
Of course she did. When the price tag on a dress was just shy of a thousand dollars, one thing you could count on was a dress that fit well. “It’s not me.”
“Of course it is. This exactly what I had in mind for this evening.” Gently he held her arms out from her sides. There was something innately sexual in his gaze now. She felt awareness spread through her body. Only Deacon had this kind of power over her.
He put his hand on her hip and turned her toward the mirror. He stood a few paces behind her in his designer suit. Seeing the two of them together in the mirror made her realize that they looked like a couple. A very good-looking and successful couple. Her lightness complemented his darkness.
“We look perfect,” he said, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her back to rest against him.
“Deacon, this isn’t the real me.”
He lowered his head to nibble on her neck. Shivers spread down her body, pooling in her center.
“I’d say this
is
the real you,” he murmured against her skin.
She couldn’t concentrate on how right it felt to be in his arms. She knew he didn’t mean that the real her was the one in his arms. He meant the woman in the dress. “I’d never spend this much on one dress. Why can’t I look at the sale rack? I’ll find something there, I promise.”
He shook his head. The hand on her waist started to move upward. Tracing the delicate pattern on the filmy over-dress.
“You don’t have to buy off the sale rack. This is my gift to you.”
“Well, I won’t be able to eat in this gift.”
“Why not? Is it too tight?”
The indulgent tone in his voice usually thrilled her, but today it sounded almost patronizing. “No, it’s not too tight. I’d be worried about ruining it.”
“I want to give you something nice. If not this dress, how about one of these?” he said, gesturing at the pile of rainbow-colored dresses the saleswoman had gathered for her at Deacon’s request.
“It’s not this dress. It’s this place. I feel like…”
“Like what?” he asked, stepping away from her.
God, she missed his touch. How was she ever going to settle back into her old routine once she was home?
“An impostor. A fraud. Like I’m trying to be someone I’m not.”
“You’d never do that, Kylie. Of all the people I’ve ever met, you are one of the few who really knows who she is.”
“Yes, I do. But you don’t know who I am.”
He ran his fingers through his thick hair, sighing heavily. “I just want this to be a night to remember. I don’t expect you to wear the dress every day.”
“I’m making too much of this, aren’t I.”
“Yes. Why?”
“I…I gave up part of myself for my husband. I tried to be what he wanted in a wife and I vowed to never do that again.”
“I’m not asking you to be an evening-gown-wearing woman.”
“I know that in my rational mind. But my heart, Deacon, my heart is urging me to do whatever I have to in order to please you.”
“You do please me, Kylie, in ways you’ll never understand.”
Deacon left the dressing room and paid for Kylie’s dress and shoes. He asked the saleswoman, Maria, to send Kylie next door for a hair and makeup appointment. He left a note for Kylie explaining he’d return to take her to dinner.
He had some last-minute arrangements to take care of. Though Mac had ribbed him about it, Deacon had purchased one of those bridal magazines. He had found an article featuring the most romantic proposals and had decided to combine a few of them when he asked Kylie to marry him.
He wanted her to be so bowled over by him that she forgot his earlier faux pas. When he couldn’t tell her how he felt. Admitting he’d missed her carried a price that was too high. That she forgot that sometimes, emotionally, he couldn’t give her what she needed. That she forgot that maybe he wasn’t the kind of guy she wanted forever.
He took his private elevator to his penthouse apartment. As ordered, there was a candle on every surface. He had his Bose CD player keyed up for a compilation of Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis songs. He hoped the music would be a pleasant reminder for her of their first date.
There were two large vases filled with roses—six dozen in all. A discreet jewelry box containing a stunning diamond choker and matching bracelet sat on a table. Rose petals were strewn on the floor leading to the bedroom.
Everything was perfect. So why was he sweating? This was just what the magazine said every woman wanted. He had planned every detail to guarantee success. But if he knew anything about Kylie, it was that she was unpredictable.
His cell phone rang. “Prescott.”
“Hey, buddy, tonight’s the big night, right?” Mac had been keeping track of his courtship of Kylie. Utilizing the many security cameras that lined the strip it had been shockingly easy for Mac to spy on them. In fact, it was virtually impossible to have any real privacy in Las Vegas.
“Don’t you have a hotel to run?” Deacon asked.
“I can do that in my sleep. Watching you plan the perfect proposal is definitely more interesting.”
“Back off, Mac.”
“Hey, I was only kidding. She’s going to say yes. And I’m not even going to mind losing the bet.”
“Goodbye, Mac.”
“Good luck, Deacon.”
Mac hung up and Deacon straightened his tie one last time. He patted his pocket for the ring. He’d ordered it from a jeweler that Mac had recommended in New York City and had had it flown in by special courier.
He checked on the bottle of champagne that was chilling, called the kitchen to make sure everything was as he’d ordered for dinner and then had no choice but to cool his heels while he waited to go meet Kylie.
He paced to the window and looked out at the city. His city. Vegas embodied everything that was Deacon: past, present and future. Kylie was the key to moving from casino-owner upstart to upper-class society. She would give credibility to everything he’d worked so hard to accomplish.
He checked his watch and went back downstairs to meet Kylie. He met the photographer he’d hired to take pictures of the two of them. Josh was a new employee to the Golden Dream but had earned his reputation in Los Angeles by photographing celebrities. Deacon had paid top dollar for Josh tonight because he’d learned the hard way that you get what you pay for.
And if you’d never really had anything, then you had to pay a little more for everything.
“We’ll meet you by the El Dorado. I’m going to have the security guys trigger the waterfall when we’re ready for the picture.”
“You’re the boss.”
Deacon nodded and walked away. He took a deep breath and reassured himself that he had nothing to lose this evening. If Kylie said no… She wasn’t going to say no. He’d bet good money on it. A lot more than good money.
The door to the salon opened as he approached and Kylie entered the hallway. For a minute he couldn’t speak. He could just stare at her. She was everything he’d imagined she’d be and more. Her hair was piled on top of her head with a few tendrils framing her face. Her eyes were wide and serious as she met his gaze, and he felt his heart beat speed up.
He wanted to toss her over his shoulder and carry her back to his cave. He wanted to mark her as his and make sure that no one, not even Kylie, especially not Kylie, ever forgot she was his.
“What do you think?”
“Beautiful, angel. You’re beautiful.”
“I’m kind of amazed,” she said, walking slowly toward him.
She stopped only inches from him, resting her hands on his shoulders, the way she always did before she leaned up to kiss him. But she didn’t lean up. She just stood there watching him. Studying him and searching, he imagined, for some answer in his expression to a question only she knew.
“I realized I’d been remiss earlier in the dressing room,” she said at last.
“Remiss?” he asked. God, he couldn’t think when she ran her tongue over her lower lip. Everything masculine in him was on red alert. He was a heat-seeking missile and he knew the target was in sight. He inclined his head and settled his hands on her waist.
She had about thirty seconds to say whatever it was she wanted to say before he was going to claim the kiss they both needed.
“Yes, remiss,” she said. She bracketed his face with her hands and pulled his head a little closer to hers. Rising on tiptoe, she smiled at him and brought her lips to his.
“Thank you,” she said against his mouth.
He showed his appreciation for her gratitude with a kiss that left nothing to doubt. He tried to show her with his embrace all the things he’d never been able to say to her out loud. Because as she’d walked toward him, he’d realized why this one woman was making him sweat.
It didn’t matter the cost; he’d gladly pay double just as long as he could be guaranteed she’d stay in his arms and in his life forever. And for the first time ever, he offered a silent prayer, wishing for the luck he’d always taken for granted to hold true.
She was aware that Deacon took complete control of the embrace, his mouth moving over hers with a surety that brought every nerve ending to life. Her breasts felt full and aching, needing more than just contact with his chest. She slipped her hands down his chest, caressing him. His hands on her back shifted, sliding down to cup her buttocks and lift her more fully against him. She shuddered at the full-body impact.
She knew he worked out twice a day. He’d brought her with him to the gym once and then took her to the jogging track on the seventeenth floor twice. But Kylie wasn’t a big fan of exercise, so she’d ended up just watching him.
He worked hard for the muscles she loved to feel under her.
This made the ordeal of shopping for a dress and becoming someone she didn’t recognize worthwhile. There was a genuineness in Deacon’s embrace that confirmed what she’d started to feel for him. Confirmed that her heart and her mind were on the same page, because Deacon had proved himself to be much more than a vacation lothario.
Kylie had felt like Cinderella getting ready for the ball. But she remembered what happened to some princesses and knew that sometimes fairy tales didn’t work out.
Suddenly he dropped his arms and pulled away from her. “Dammit.”
Concerned, she watched him as he paced to the wall and muttered another curse.
“You okay?” she asked. The man she’d come to know never lost his cool. And he also never stopped any physical embrace between them until they’d both been fully satisfied. She was still aroused, still aching and still very much in need of Deacon.
“Yes,” he replied. “But I almost forgot my plans for this evening.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets as she moved closer to him.
“I’d say a change in plans is in order,” she said, wetting her lips.
“Stay there. Everything has to be perfect.”
Now he was confusing her. Deacon had shown himself to be flexible. What kind of plans did he have for tonight that he was afraid to break? “Why?”
“I want this to be a night to remember.”
“Every night with you is a night to remember,” she said. Deacon had changed the way she looked at men and relationships. He’d changed her in so many ways. There wasn’t another man who’d have gone the distance he had to make her feel this…precious to him.
He gave her a half grin, for the first time tonight looking like the man she’d come to know. “We aim to please.”
“And you do,” she said.
“Come on. The evening awaits.”
He put his hand under her elbow and led her back through the hotel and outside. “Where are we going?”
“To the El Dorado. I’ve hired a photographer to take some pictures of us.”
A nervous knot formed in the pit of her stomach. Why had Deacon gone to so much trouble for this night? The only answer she could come up with was one that made her hands shake.
The photographer posed her and Deacon in front of the waterfall. And then Deacon radioed someone and the waterfall turned to gold. Her job was just to look up at Deacon. And that was easy to do. His cold gray eyes were filled with a warmth she’d never seen in them before. She knew her own eyes were filled with love—and clearly broadcasting that emotion.
Deacon brought one hand up to her face and lowered his head to kiss her softly. Then he pulled back and she felt a certain magic at being here in this time and place with this man.
Everything else disappeared and she focused solely on Deacon. On the man who’d become the center of her world. She stifled her fear of loving a man who lived in a world that was totally foreign to her. In a world she’d had fun visiting, but could never be comfortable in.