Chapter 10
Olive
Iadjust the towel holding my hair on top of my head as I kneel next to my suitcase to find something to wear.
I have no idea what I’m going to do, but I don’t want to just sit in my room and wallow.
It’s only a little after five. Cade is meeting up with some high school friends tonight, so I’m on my own.
We arrived in Las Vegas a few hours earlier, and on the drive from the airport to the hotel, I talked to Benny.
He sounded depressed, but otherwise okay.
He was going to go home for the night, but I repeatedly made him promise to call James the second he felt like he might be slipping back under.
I also called James to make sure he would keep an eye on Benny.
It makes me feel better that he seems optimistic about my brother.
After getting to the hotel, I took my time in a long, hot shower. I washed and shaved every part of myself, and now I feel like a new woman.
Even if I’m going to go out alone tonight, I still want to look cute. It’s Vegas, after all.
It takes me about an hour to get ready, and as I stand in front of the mirror, I look over my appearance.
My dark-wash skinny jeans hug my voluptuous hips, the black peplum top accentuates my waist, and the square neckline shows the perfect amount of cleavage.
I paired the outfit with black wedges that give me a little extra height and confidence.
I smile at my reflection. I look pretty freaking good, if I do say so myself. I wonder what Nate would think.
My hands freeze where they are smoothing down my shirt, frustrated with myself. Whenever I’m around him, it gets more difficult to tell myself that letting him in is a bad idea.
Grabbing my purse, I shake off those thoughts and head downstairs to enjoy my evening.
I wander through the casino, absorbing all the sounds and sights. I’ve been here once before, but it’s been a while. It’s fun people-watching, if nothing else. I don’t have a lot of money to gamble with, but I have a twenty-dollar bill that I plan on taking a chance with.
I find an area where there aren’t a lot of people and settle into the cushiony chair, the lights from the slot machine illuminating me.
“Do you want a drink?” a cocktail waitress stops by my chair to ask.
“Sure, a white wine, please.”
She gives me a smile. “You got it. Be right back.”
I start playing, the colorful screen mesmerizing me. I play slow so my money lasts me as long as possible.
“Win anything?” A deep voice resounds over my shoulder, making me yelp.
I whip around and Nate’s grinning down at me from behind my chair. “Nate, you scared the crap out of me.”
“I could tell.” His sexy smirk has butterflies chaotically flipping in my belly.
The waitress reappears in record time and hands me my wine. Fierce jealousy fills me when she turns to Nate with a flirty smile and asks if he wants a drink. It’s quickly doused when Nate never takes his eyes off me while placing his order. I wrap my lips around my teeth to hide my smile.
When she leaves, Nate removes his wallet from his back pocket. He pulls out two one-hundred bills. Sliding into the seat beside me, he feeds one into his machine. Before I can react, he’s feeding the second bill into my machine.
“Nate, what are you doing?”
He shrugs and starts playing. “You know what they say, gambling is more fun with friends.”
I scrunch my face. “Who says that?”
He playfully pats my thigh. “No idea. I’m sure someone has. Now, play. Don’t make me sad.”
I huff out a laugh and roll my eyes. “Fine.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes until the waitress brings Nate’s drink. He takes a sip and tilts his head toward me. “Besides playing penny slots, what are you up to tonight?”
I shift in my chair to see him, and air catches in my throat.
He’s in jeans and a loose t-shirt. His normally clean-shaven jaw has a bit of a scruff.
He’s so breathtakingly handsome. Tingles run straight between my legs as I watch his arm muscles flex slightly with the motion of him pushing the button.
I almost forget his question for a moment.
Ripping my gaze from him, I refocus on my machine so I can answer.
“I, uh, wasn’t sure. Cade ditched me, but I didn’t want to stay in my room. ”
He nods slowly, as if lost in thought. After a beat, he spins in his chair so his knees brush the side of my thigh. When his arm slides across the back of my chair, desire zips across my skin where his fingers brush across my back. “I have a proposition for you.”
Tilting my head, I raise my eyebrows. This should be good.
“Well, we’re both clearly out alone tonight.” He sweeps his hand back and forth between us. “We should team up so we can enjoy the city together.”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“Don’t look at me like that. Strength in numbers and all that. Vegas can be a scary place.” Pausing, he takes a sip of his beer. “And I want you to protect me.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, but only because I would feel really bad if something happened to you. Like you getting married to a cocktail waitress.”
Nate nods thoughtfully, a teasing glint in his eyes. “You’re right. That would be bad.” He rubs the dark scruff covering his ordinarily clean-shaven jaw. “I should probably marry a flight attendant instead.”
I choke on my sip of wine. Nate casually pats my back while smiling at me, as if what he just said doesn’t have me dizzy.
“So, what do you do in all the different cities when you’re stuck there?”
After we played slots for a little while longer, we ate dinner at another casino. Then Nate suggested we go to a different restaurant he heard was famous for its desserts.
Even though we were seated in a curved booth with room for five or six people, we ended up sitting mere inches apart at the back of the booth.
We ordered another drink, and despite my objections, Nate ordered all seven of their desserts.
I’ll have to tell Cade about how wrong he was about Nate and sugar.
I’m not sure who’s more excited about the spread before us—me or Nate.
With a shrug, I take a bite of the cheesecake. “I do what I did tonight. Go out to eat. Or go to museums. And sometimes, just relax at the hotel.” I hum through a sip of wine as my favorite part of traveling comes to the forefront. “There’s one thing I always try to do in any city if possible.”
“Oh, this sounds naughty. Okay, tell me,” he teases.
I laugh. “I can assure you, it’s not. I like to go to local chocolate or candy stores. I like to find something that is unique to that place, and I have a major sweet tooth.”
His grin is wide when he says, “I love that. And also, good to know I’m scoring points to impress you by ordering all of these.” He sweeps his hand across the table.
Butterflies flutter in my stomach at his comment about wanting to impress me. “Well, it’s working. I’m impressed.”
“Fun fact, before we moved to Nashville when I was in high school, I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, and my mom also had a huge sweet tooth. And with three kids, we didn’t have a lot of money to take vacations, so for maybe, like, five years in a row, we went to Hershey’s Chocolate World.
It was my parents’ amusement park compromise since we couldn’t afford to go to Disney World. ”
I laugh. “I would have loved that. Way more than Disney World.”
“After the second year, us kids were kind of bored, but we all pretended we enjoyed it because we knew our parents were trying.” He takes a sip of his beer. “Considering your love of candy, I’m shocked you’ve never been.”
A sad smile fills my face, not wanting to go into detail about my childhood when we’re having so much fun. “My dad left when I was very young. I don’t even remember him, and he never tried to come back into our lives. And my mom couldn’t afford to take me and my brother on vacation anywhere.”
Nate makes a low humming noise of understanding. “Okay, well, I’m checking the tour schedule tomorrow, and if we go anywhere near Pennsylvania, you better clear your day because we’re going.” He gestures to the table full of desserts. “And you will eat so much chocolate, it’ll put this to shame.”
Laughing, I agree we should go. I don’t know if he would follow through with that, but the thought is fun. “Do your parents still go?”
His smile grows sadder. “They both passed away.”
A gasp tears from my chest. I reach out and grasp his forearm. “Nate, I’m so sorry to hear that. You don’t have to talk about it anymore.”
His palm rests on mine, holding me against him as he gives me a small shrug. “It’s okay. It was a while ago. It was a car accident. My parents were the best, so it was really difficult for me and my sisters. We were really lucky.”
My parents were always either nonexistent or terrible for my entire childhood, so not having them in my life is normal.
I can’t even imagine being happy and having a wonderful relationship and then losing both of them so tragically.
It makes me think of me and Benny. My chest tightens, heart shattering, for not only Nate, but for the fear I have over losing my brother.
I’m at a loss for words, so I squeeze Nate’s arm a little more.
His smile brightens. “Let’s talk about something less depressing.” Scooping up a forkful of tiramisu, he holds it out for me to take a bite. “Like dessert. You can’t be sad while eating dessert.”
I laugh. “Being sad is the perfect time to eat dessert.”
He gives me a grin as he takes a bite of cheesecake. “Tell me about why you became a flight attendant. Was it always what you wanted to do?”
“Not exactly. But I suppose part of me decided to do it because I always wanted to travel.” I shrug. “It was a means to an end.”
“What’s your favorite place you’ve flown to?”
I tap my finger against my lips in thought and don’t miss when Nate’s focus zeros in on the motion. “Probably Italy. There’s just something magical about Italy. It’s like nowhere else I’ve ever been. Have you been?”