Vegas, Baby. Theodora Taylor

his gaze roam down her body. Her yoga pants and tank top combo, while not the jewel-covered bikini she was required to wear for The Revue, only seemed to accentuate her curves. An image of himself disrobing her, yanking that thin cardigan down her arms, and pulling that tank top over her head to reveal what lay underneath flashed into his mind.

      He considered himself already married. To his job. The occasional discreet one-night stand arranged when he found that his other needs were getting in the way of his concentration at work. But obviously he’d let the time between one-night stands go too long, because he found himself suddenly unable to focus on the business at hand. Maybe Nora had been right about the needing to get laid part.

      In any case, he found himself going off script to say, “Ms. Johnson, you are doing me a great favor, so this arrangement can be whatever you want it to be.” He then asked her, “Do you want it to be intimate?”

Chapter 5

      “Do you want it to be intimate?”

      Sunny felt something catch in her throat and then there came a flood of emotion, suffusing not just her cheeks but also her entire body.

      And though she barely knew the man, suddenly she was wondering what it would be like to kiss him. The lines of his face were so sharp and hard. Did they soften when he kissed a woman? What would his hands feel like on her body? She could almost feel them now, disappearing underneath Sunny’s cardigan, pushing it off her shoulders—

      Sunny! she chastised herself. What are you thinking? Get it together, girl!

      Obviously she’d been single way too long. It had been a year since her breakup with Derek, the one that had inspired her to finally apply to grad school, and apparently the longtime drought was making her mind go to some seriously inappropriate places.

      She averted her eyes, trying not to notice how rock solidly handsome Mr. Benton was in real life, how much hotter and sexier he read than his picture downstairs, as she answered, “I think it’s probably best if we keep this strictly professional, don’t you, Mr. Benton?”

      Cole’s face remained impassive, but she could sense him smirking behind those green eyes. “Professional it is behind closed doors, but you do understand that when we’re out in public, we’ll have to at least act intimate...for my grandmother’s sake.”

      Sunny thanked the heavens for her melanin, because she could once again feel her cheeks burning. “Yes, I understand, Mr. Benton.”

      “Then perhaps you should call me Cole.”

      Sunny bit down on a rising panic, wondering how she’d come up here to fight for the survival of The Benton Girls and had somehow ended up agreeing to pose as Cole’s fake girlfriend.

      “I understand...Cole.” His name felt foreign in her mouth. “What exactly would I be expected to do?” she asked him.

      Strangely, this question was the one that finally drained the sexual tension out of the conversation. “Yes, good question,” Cole said, leaning back in his chair, as if some spell had been broken and he was able to return to his businessman persona. “Let’s talk terms...”

      * * *

      “What did you do?” Rick screamed when she came back to the Nora Benton theater about an hour later. He was on the phone, but that didn’t stop him from catching Sunny up in a bear hug. “Sunny’s here. I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you for tonight’s show. Six p.m. sharp,” he yelled into the phone to whoever he had been speaking to.

      When he hung up he looked at Sunny as if she were made of magic. “Cole Benton’s secretary called a few minutes ago. She said the show was back on for at least another three months. How did you do it?”

      Sunny shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach. “It’s a long story,” she said. “And you’ve probably got a lot of calls to make if you want to make the six o’clock call time. Maybe I can help you with that?”

      “Oh, sweetie, would you?” Rick said, handing her the second sheet of the dancers’ contact info list. “You truly are an angel. One of my best dancers and you got Benton to put the show back on. I still can’t believe it.”

      “Actually, only one of those things are true now,” Sunny said with a grimace. “I can’t be one of your dancers anymore.”

      “What!” Rick responded to her announcement. His voice could probably be heard all the way on the pit floor, which only made Sunny more reluctant to go on. This was going to be way harder than quitting her cocktail waitress job, but she stuck to the script Cole had given her, even if it made her feel guilty as hell for outright lying to her stage dad.

      “Well, Mr. Benton—ah, I mean Cole—said that he’d bring the show back, but he’d need someone to help him with his grandmother, Nora, and he offered me the job.”

      “So you’re going to be Nora Benton’s caretaker now?” Rick asked.

      “No, not exactly. Technically, I’ll be her assistant. I’ll be accompanying her to the show every month, helping her plan her August charity ball. Stuff like that.”

      “Why does Nora Benton suddenly need an assistant?” Rick asked. “She has more connections in Vegas than pretty much anybody else on the planet, and she’s a total control freak. She’s never needed any assistance before. What’s changed...”

      Rick’s voice trailed off, then his eyes widened. “But The Benton Group doesn’t allow its employees to date. Cole Benton wants into your pants! That’s why he agreed to put the show back on, but made you take a job as his grandmother’s assistant. He’s into you!”

      Sunny felt her cheeks warm for the third time in as many hours. Seriously, she was beginning to long for the days when the most embarrassing thing she did was wear a rhinestone bikini every night on stage. “I’m sure that’s not it,” she said, trying to keep her voice as demure as possible, despite knowing that was exactly what Cole Benton wanted people to believe, and that Rick was already playing right into his made-up story of a whirlwind romance.

      “And I’m sure it is,” Rick said. “But I’m not going to complain. You got the show back on, so I’m happy. Good job, Sunny!”

      “Um...thank you, I guess,” Sunny said, trying to decide whether she should be offended that Rick was more than willing to pimp her out to what he believed to be a predatory new boss if it kept The Revue going.

      Rick soon redeemed himself with a sad look. “But baby girl, I have no idea how I’m going to replace you. I mean who’s going calm the dancers down enough to go onstage after I finish screaming at them?”

      Sunny threw him a surprised look. “You knew I was doing that?”

      “Of course I did,” Rick said. “I’m like God, I know everything that goes on in my backstage. But seriously, I’m going to need a name. I’ve got a doozy of a rant I’ve been writing out in my head for weeks, and I’m pretty sure there’s going to be tears from some of the newbies. Do you think Pru can handle backstage mama duties?”

      Sunny laughed. “I think she’s ready, I really do.”

      “She better be!”

      Sunny had to give her incorrigible boss a warm hug then. “I’m going to miss you so much, Rick,” she said, meaning it.

      “Me, too, sweetheart.” Then he leaned back, and held his finger up. “Go take one for the team with Cole Benton, but be careful with that one. He’s good lookin’, but he’s a shark. Don’t let your heart get involved or he’ll eat you alive.”

      A chill ran down Sunny’s spine. She had the feeling she should be taking Rick’s warning seriously, even though she was the one who’d agreed to help out Cole.

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