Page 36 of Tequila & Lace
“You might have to show me that talent one day.” I choked a little on my drink but before I could respond she asked, “So how long have you been in the business?”
I wasn’t sure why she’d changed the subject. I liked the flirty Andi, and I wanted to lick tequila and salt off of every inch of her, but I didn’t press her on the matter. Instead, I answered her question with a sigh. “Long enough.”
“You sound like you don’t enjoy it.”
Looking into the eyes of the woman asking me the question felt like a million light bulbs going off. I wanted to tell her how I felt about her, but it was hard because I didn’t know how she felt about me. I really liked her. I wanted to see where things could go between us since we lived together. I didn’t want it to be awkward at all. I’d already gotten my heart broken once and I was ready to move on with my life, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell a woman I was ready to move on with her. I wanted to get to know her—in more ways than one, but was I ready to actually quit S&R?
“I’m starting to realize I want more out of life.”
“You’ve never been in a serious relationship before?”
I sighed then took a long sip of my drink, contemplating if I wanted to tell her about Vanessa. After a few seconds, I realized that getting into a deep conversation about Vanessa wasn’t something I wanted to do on a first date even if Andi and I lived together. If we did want to give whateverthiswas between us a chance, then maybe I would eventually tell her that I was in love once.Everyonehad been in love before.
“It’s been a long time, gorgeous. A really long time.”
Before she could ask me to elaborate on the subject, the waiter dropped off our food and the subject was changed—thank God. We ate our food for a bit and then we picked up on more of the conversation.
“How are you liking Vegas?” I asked moments later after we’d gushed about how delicious the food was.
“It’s definitely different. D.C.’s nothing like it is here.”
I smiled behind my straw. “I heard through the grapevine that you’re going to titty bars with some of the girls. You into girls, too?”
She snorted as she tried to contain her laughter. “Definitely not. The girls claim it’s a good way to pick up clients, and seeing as I’m new to the area, I guess I’m trying to pull whatever tricks are out there.”
“So you’re not out there having threesomes with your clients and the girls?” My smile hadn’t faltered as I thought about Andi with another chick.
“I’ve never slept withanyof my clients. Do… Have you?” Her gaze avoided mine as she waited for my answer.
Would she not want to be with me because of something I’d done before I met her? I took another long sip of my tequila and coke, slurping the remaining content. “Honestly, gorgeous, I have. I have with a lot of them. But since you barged into my house—literally—I haven’t. I haven’t wanted to. I’ve been looking forward to this date since before I knew I wanted to take you on it, and hearing that you don’t sleep with your clients… Fuck, that makes me so happy. You have no fucking idea how much that makes me happy.”
Before we could continue, the waiter came and dropped off the check. “We can talk about this later. Let’s go check out the High Roller.”
“What if I freak out?”
“I’ll wrap you in my arms until it’s over.”
She stared up at the metal wheel. “It’s… so high.”
“Look how big the pods are. Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll stand in the middle if you’re scared.”
She tore her gaze to mine. “Promise?”
I smiled and grabbed her hand, missing the contact that was only brief from me paying for our tickets. “I promise, gorgeous.”
We waited in line to enter onto the white pod. Occasionally the wheel would change colors from pink to green to blue and so on. Earlier I thought I would be the one that needed to have the death grip on Andi’s hand, but she was the one that had one on mine.
“Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay,” I promised, pulling her closer to me. I got a whiff of her hair and I noticed that she smelled of coconuts. “You smell like paradise.”
She looked up at me. “Are you trying to distract me?”
I smirked. “Is it working?”
“Maybe a little.” She looked back up at the wheel and I shook my head. I didn’t get the heights thing. Maybe it was because I was used to helicopters in the Army and that shit didn’t even have doors on it.
The line moved and it was our turn to enter the pod. Andi glanced at me and I whispered that it was going to be okay and I gave her hand a final squeeze. I saw her chest rise and then she entered and went straight to the center of the ball while everyone else went to the glass walls. I walked up behind her, wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest, not saying anything while she took in her surroundings.
“Okay,” I heard her say after a few minutes.
