“I’ve fantasized about this,” he said. “It’s taking everything I have not to rip your clothes off and make love to you, injured or not.”

His words sent a bolt of heat through me, his body so close to mine that my chest brushed his when I breathed. My gaze dropped to his mouth and I licked my lips, remembering what it had been like when he’d kissed me before. His hold on my wrists tightened almost to the point of pain. My breath came faster and my pulse pounded.

Our eyes locked, the unholy fire burning in his making the blood pound in my veins. “So what’s stopping you?”

“I’m not your rebound guy. You want to get back at Blane, use someone else.”

Well, that was a douse of cold water if I’d ever felt one.

And just like that, he was up and gone from the room.

I wasn’t proud of myself in that moment. As a matter of fact, I felt pretty much like a complete slut. I’d actually made a pass at Kade and been rejected because of my ex-boyfriend.

I groaned and buried my face in the pillow. This all had to be a nightmare and I’d wake up anytime now.

Well, I did wake up, several hours later, but nothing had changed. I was still in Kade’s bed. Alone.

I’d been covered with a blanket and the duvet at some point during the night and now I pushed them aside. There was a master bath in the bedroom and I went in there. It was beautiful and luxurious. Knowing I didn’t want to face Kade yet, I took a shower, taking an inordinately long time to sniff his shampoo before lathering it into my hair. Searching through the drawers turned up some extra toothbrushes, still in their packaging, so I chose one and brushed my teeth.

I wrapped myself in a towel and used Kade’s brush on my hair, carefully cleaning the long strands caught in the bristles once I was finished. When I came out of the bathroom, Kade was sitting on the edge of the bed.

I paused outside the door, and our eyes caught. I felt my face heat as I remembered last night, and I was unsure what to say or do. Maybe he wouldn’t talk about it and we could pretend it never happened. I was all for that.

“I brought you some things,” he said, motioning to a suitcase sitting a few feet away. “And your purse.”

I still didn’t know what to say. Exactly how long did Kade plan on me staying with him?

“I’m leaving town,” he said. “Thought you might want to come with me. Get you out of Indy for a few days until the mess with Gage is… resolved.”

I think Kade’s version of “resolved” included an obituary, but who was I to complain? It seemed it was going to be either Gage or me, the way things had been going the past couple of days.

So a trip, then. With Kade. “Where?” Not that I particularly cared. Getting away from my life for even a short time sounded heavenly.

Kade’s lips twitched in a smirk. “Vegas, baby.”

I’d never been to Las Vegas before. Well, actually, I hadn’t been much of anywhere before. The heat of the Nevada desert took my breath away and I was glad for the AC blowing full blast in the Mercedes that Kade had rented.

I couldn’t conceal my excitement as I peered out the window like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time. The ride from the airport to the hotel was barely long enough for me to get a glimpse of the looming hotels and casinos flanking the Strip.

“We’ll take the tour later,” Kade said as he pulled up to a hotel. I had a glimpse of a huge fountain as we passed by. “It’s better at night.”

A few days of relaxation sounded too good to be true, and I was grateful Scott had said he’d cover my shifts at The Drop. I’d miss a couple of classes but could get caught up without too much of a problem. Mona had happily agreed to watch Tigger for me, and though the trip was last minute, Kade and I had flown on a private jet borrowed from “a friend” of his.

Barely had Kade stopped the car before my door was being opened by a uniformed valet. Another was getting the luggage from the trunk, and I saw Kade hand his keys and a tip to a third and then pocket a ticket. Kade’s hand settled on the small of my back as he guided me inside the hotel.

The moment my eyes adjusted from the brightness outside to the interior, I stopped short, my mouth gaping. The lobby was the most beautiful I’d ever seen, with a huge glass sculpture crafted into the ceiling, every color of the rainbow shown in gorgeous detail.

“Wow,” I breathed, feeling precisely like Dorothy dropping from Kansas into Oz.

“You like that, huh?” Kade asked with a smile, hooking his sunglasses in the neck of his shirt.

“It’s… amazing,” I said. There were no words to adequately describe the sculpture, and I kept craning my neck to look up as Kade led us to the registration desk.

Although we didn’t have a reservation, that didn’t seem to matter once Kade gave his name. The woman behind the desk looked him up in the computer and said, “Welcome back, Mr. Dennon,” then handed us a small packet. “Joseph will show you to your room.”

Kade thanked her and we followed a uniformed man while another pushed our luggage on a cart behind us. Joseph had to insert a key card into a slot in the elevator before we could access the correct floor, and a few minutes later he was opening the door to the kind of hotel suite I’d only ever read about.

There was an honest-to-goodness foyer in the hotel room, and I passed by doorways going to a bedroom on my left and another on my right. Kade had gotten us a two-bedroom suite. I filed that information away for later, my attention completely absorbed now in the view out the curved windows stretching the width of the wall in front of me.

I barely noticed as Joseph mentioned amenities to Kade and the valet placed our luggage in the bedrooms, my nose just inches from the glass as I tried to take it all in. A few minutes later I heard the door click shut and realized they were gone.

It occurred to me that rooms like this didn’t come cheap. I turned to Kade, who was standing nearby, watching me.

“This has to cost a fortune,” I said. “I won’t be able to pay you back.” Which I knew to be true. There was no way I could afford even my share of a place like this.

“No worries,” Kade said with a shrug. “You’re my plus-one. Besides, I don’t pay for this.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I did a favor for a certain friend a year or so ago. He was very grateful, and he offers accommodations when I’m in town.”

“That must have been some favor,” I said, wondering how illegal it had been to deserve free, luxurious accommodations. It must be nice to have “friends” like Kade’s, I mused.

Kade just smirked at my thinly veiled fishing expedition. “It was.”

“So… now what?” I asked.

“Now you’re going to the spa for a while to relax, then you’re going shopping,” he said, heading to a nearby table to pick up the phone.

Alarm shot through me. “Kade, I can’t afford—”

“Yes, can I get a spa appointment for my guest?”

I listened while Kade made spa and salon appointments for me, and when he hung up the phone I was all up in his business.

“Kade, I can’t afford to do any of that and I’m not having you pay for it,” I said. Even though it all sounded divine—a massage, facial, mani/pedi, the works—I wasn’t about to be anyone’s charity case.

Kade barely glanced at me as he fixed two drinks at the wet bar. When he had finished, he walked over and handed me one of them.

“Why not?” he asked, taking a sip of the clear liquid.

“Because,” I insisted, “it’s just… wrong.”

“Consider it a belated birthday present.”

I gave him a look. His lips twisted and he turned to go sit on the couch, an arm stretched along its back.

“I want to. I can afford it. So enough already.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Unless you’re ethically opposed to being pampered?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”