With Love From Las Vegas. Cat Schield

chocolate truffle he wanted to devour. Unsettled, she stammered her first word. “H-he broke up with me because I wouldn’t quit working for you.”

      “Why would he care that you worked for me?”

      Because he thinks I’m in love with you.

      And, of course, she wasn’t. Well, maybe she had been a little in the beginning. For the first year or so. But after Tim came along, she’d gotten over her feelings for her boss. Unrequited feelings. Feelings with no hope of ever being reciprocated.

      She wasn’t in Sebastian’s league. He dated women with money and prestigious social status. She knew the type. For a time in high school, she’d dated a boy from the wealthiest family in town. She’d been as infatuated with his promises to take her out of west Texas as she’d been with the guy. But in the end, it was the sting of why he’d broken up with her and how he’d handled it that remained branded on her psyche.

      “Tim hated how I went running whenever you called,” Missy continued. “Every one of our fights was over you. I should’ve quit a long time ago.”

      “Why didn’t you?”

      In true Sebastian fashion, he arrowed straight to the heart of her dilemma. Her boss grasped underlying problems faster than anyone she’d ever known, including her father, who had an uncanny ability to read people. People, but not his daughter.

      She couldn’t answer his question. To do so would force her to admit that leaving his employ would be akin to chopping off her arm. She needed him in her life. Needed to be around him to feel alive.

      How pathetic was that?

      “I just did.” Only not soon enough because yesterday Tim had told her he’d met the girl of his dreams, and they were getting married. Her hands shook. “I waited for two years for him to propose.” Her throat tightened, blocking the next few words.

      And he decided to marry someone else after only knowing her a month.

      Tears dampened her eyes, but Missy blinked rapidly to make them go away. Facing her undesirability hurt too much. If she wasn’t good enough for Tim, an unmotivated pharmaceutical salesman, who was she good enough for?

      “Place your bets,” the dealer called as people began setting chips all over the table.

      Missy pushed all her chips onto red. “Five thousand dollars on red.”

      “Don’t do this.” Sebastian spoke softly but it was a command.

      “Why not?” She didn’t attempt to keep defiance out of her voice. He needed to realize she wasn’t his to boss around anymore. “It isn’t as if I have anything left to lose. Not really.”

      “Take the money and spend it on something of value. A new car. A down payment on a house. Something that will last longer than twenty seconds.”

      Solid advice, but she could never look at the thing she’d bought with the money and not see her wedding dress. The gorgeous flowing gown of satin and lace with the gathered skirt and beaded bodice. She’d cut the picture out of a bridal magazine two years ago when she and Tim had had their first conversation about the future.

      “Tell you what,” she began, feeling audacious and desirable beneath Sebastian’s keen appraisal. Mad impulses had been driving her all day. Maybe turning thirty wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to her. Start a new decade with a new attitude. “I’ll make you a bet.”

      Sebastian set his hands on his hips and looked resigned. “What sort of a bet?”

      “Last call,” the dealer announced.

      Missy heard the wheel begin to spin and the ball start its journey around and around. From reading up on roulette, she knew she had a forty-seven percent chance of winning. Those weren’t such bad odds.

      “If the ball lands on black and I lose, I’ll keep working for you.” She gave a rueful smile. “I’ll have to, won’t I, because I’ll be five thousand dollars poorer.”

      Sebastian’s eyes locked with hers. The winds of change had begun to blow. Storm clouds loomed. Dangerous for the unwary.

      “And if the ball lands on red?”

      She licked her lips and his attention shifted to her mouth, lingering as if something fascinated him. Fever consumed the last of her hesitation. Every one of her senses came to life and soaked up the sights, smells and sounds of the man towering over her.

      Hunger thrummed, longing to be sated. Only one man had the passion, sensuality and persistence to do just that.

      She moved her left leg forward, bringing her thigh into contact with his. The effect on him was instantaneous. His nostrils flared. His entire body went perfectly still. His fist clenched where it rested against the table.

      Intrigued, she shifted a few inches more. Her skirt rode up her thigh, baring more of her leg. She wore thigh-high stockings, the sort with a backing beneath the lace band at the top that allowed them to stay up on their own. Standing before the mirror in stockings and her brand-new black silk underwear earlier tonight, she’d been flushed with confidence in her sex appeal.

      How many times had she watched his steely muscles flex beneath his tailored suits and wondered what it would be like to get her hands on all that unadulterated male beauty? To experience the immense power contained in his body.

      Suddenly, she knew exactly how she wanted to celebrate her birthday.

      His chiseled mouth flattened as she leaned into the space that separated them. Thick lashes hid his gaze from her, but a slight hitch in his breath told her he wasn’t undisturbed by her nearness.

      “I want a night with you.” The proposition tasted like warm honey against her lips. She had no idea where she’d found the boldness to voice it, but now that she had, she wouldn’t take it back for a million dollars.

      “I’m not going to take advantage of you like that.”

      A chuckle broke from her. Was he kidding? She was the one doing the advantage-taking here.

      “One night,” she coaxed, silencing the sensible voice in her head that howled in protest. One night to rediscover what made her happy. “That’s all I want.”

      “This is ridiculous.” Despite his words to the contrary, he didn’t pull back.

      Did he desire her? Was she brave enough to find out?

      “Black, you get me,” she said, hearing the ball slow. Only seconds now. Seconds that would change her life forever. “Red, I get you.”

      She slipped her fingers beneath the lapel of his suit coat and rested on the expensive cotton covering his broad chest. He grabbed her hand with his as her fingers grazed his nipple. His harsh exhalation thrilled her.

      If something as mundane as standing close to him and touching his chest made her feel this incredible, what would happen when they were naked together? Her knees wobbled as his hand slipped around her waist.

      His eyes burned into her. “Why are you doing this?”

      “Because it’s my birthday.” Because I’ve wanted you for four years but never dreamed that you’d want me in return. “Because it’s Vegas, baby,” she crooned.

      “Very well,” he growled, arm tightening to draw her body against his. “It’s a bet.”

       Two

      The ball dropped into the slot.

      It landed on red. Missy didn’t need to look for herself or hear the dealer announce it. She just knew deep down that it was so.

      And she knew because Sebastian stiffened.

      In all sorts of interesting ways.