Page 5 of Rags to Vegas
Berkley turned her head in my direction, and when she noticed me, she took small steps in my direction.
I didn’t judge her for having a one-night stand with me, because I wasn’t looking for anything besides a drunken night of fun. But when I saw her again at the auto shop that I owned, I recognized her instantly. Berkley looked even better than I’d remembered. Still, I didn’t press the issue. When I saw her again at the club, however, I was beginning to think it was fate or some shit.
“Hey,” she offered a small smile once she was up on me.
“Bet you never thought you’d see me again after you ghosted me.”
Berkley’s eyes widened, and I had to stifle a laugh at how uncomfortable she looked. She came across as real green. In a cute way. I could tell she wasn’t a professional hoe. Not thekind that bagged wealthy men on the regular and used them as a come up. “I didn’t mean to ghost you.” She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “One night stands just aren’t really my thing and once I sobered up a bit to be honest, I was embarrassed. I had fun. But I didn’t want to face you.” She looked off to the side, and I gripped her chin lightly and turned her face back toward me.
“We’re grown. I didn’t judge you and hopefully, you didn’t judge me.
“No judgement here,” she chuckled.
“How long you been working here?” my gaze traveled the length of her frame, and she looked damn good. So good that my manhood started to stiffen.
“Tonight was my first night.”
I nodded my understanding. “Well, I’m sure you’re tired and want to get home. Can I at least have your number this time? Maybe take you out on a date?”
Berkley smiled bashfully before rattling off her number. I locked it in my phone then walked her to her car. The Universe kept throwing Ms. Berkley in my face, so I was going to see if there was a reason for it. Before she could close her car door, I caught it in my hand.
“Please don’t think I’m a jerk. But, can we chill?” my dick was uncomfortably hard, and being in her personal space had jogged my memory. Sex with her was amazing and seeing how she was so different from the usual kind of woman that I normally ran into, it was turning me on more than her looks were.
Berkley’s brows hiked. I held my palms out in surrender. “If you say no, it’s cool. I still want to take you out on a date.”
“Um sure.”
Even though she seemed green, I could never be too careful. I had no clue where she lived, and I couldn’t risk my safety blindlyfollowing her home. “I can get a hotel room. There’s a nice one less than two miles from here. Follow me.”
“Okay.”
As I drove toward the hotel with Berkley following closely behind me, I was glad I was more sober than I had been the first time we linked. If I was willing to consider her for something more than just a drunken night of fun, I needed to be around her when I wasn’t drunk.
“I remember the night I met you in the bar, you said you were from North Carolina. What brought you to Vegas?” After an hour of sex, I ordered room service. We were both exhausted, but I was starving, and I was sure she was too.
The fact that I remembered that small detail made her brows hike with surprise. “I was in a bad relationship for three years. He paid the bills because I was supposed to be going to school, but the relationship was abusive, and I ended up dropping out of school. When I finally made the decision to leave him, I had no money and nowhere to go where he wouldn’t harass me, so Rachelle, invited me out here.”
“And he doesn’t bother you anymore?”
“Not at all,” I assured him.
“You come from a big family?”
“Kind of, but my mother died when I was nineteen. My father remarried and has other kids. He and I are close enough, and I’m close with my siblings, but his wife is kind of standoffish. I don’t like her, and I’m sure she doesn’t like me.”
“My mom died when I was twenty-two. I hadn’t even been in the league that long when she passed. She had Lupus.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. My mom found out she had breast cancer and was gone ten months later. May as well have been ten days because I wasn’t ready.”
“I feel you on that,” I chuckled somberly. “What were you in school for?”
“Dental hygiene. I’d love to go back and finish, but shortly after I moved out here, Rachelle got married. She said I didn’t have to be in a rush to move out, but I didn’t want to intrude on the newlyweds. Being a big girl and paying my own bills has me working so much that school isn’t a thought right now.”
Berkley was indeed different and a breath of fresh air. “Did you know who I was when you met me?”
“No. I had no clue.Malone,” she said my last name in a sarcastic manner making me laugh. “I’m not a sports girly at all. What’s crazy is I was at Rachelle’s house a few days later, and her husband was watching high lights from a game. They were comparing one of the players to you, and when I saw your picture, I almost choked on my food. When I saw you at the shop, I was praying you didn’t remember me. I was looking like a damn crackhead.”
That time I laughed a little louder. “You were not looking like a crackhead. The plain look when you’re dressed down and not even trying, in my opinion, that’s when you’re sexiest.”
