Leaving Las Vegas (Entangled Ignite) (17 page)

Chapter Twenty

After calling Burke from Conan’s office, Luke found it hard to concentrate. He was too damn tired. A fresh change of clothes and a turn in the shower had helped, but his arm still hurt, his head still pounded, and all he could think about was the way he’d felt buried deep in Glory, with her wrapped in his arms, as though the entire world was gone and they were the only people left. As though he was finally home in a place where he belonged.

And then he’d made the mistake of trying to help. His offer to buy Dandelion House had been genuine and well intentioned. The words she’d thrown at him had hurt.

The worst part was the knowledge that she’d been right.

He didn’t deserve her—not if he couldn’t see Dandelion House the same way she did. The old house was an essential part of her hometown. Her community. Her family. Not a goddamned investment.

He’d screwed up, bad, and she might never be able to forgive him. They were from two different worlds, and he’d proved it by thinking he could turn a profit with the one thing she wanted.

He still couldn’t leave her alone. Burke had reported that there were private security people crawling over the interstates, from Wichita to West Virginia. None of them had seen Tiffanette. There had been a few reports of black SUVs nearby in Ohio, but it wasn’t exactly a rare type of car. Luke wasn’t taking any chances. He’d marshaled reinforcements, calling on three different law enforcement agencies and two more private security firms. They’d arrive in six hours to back up the few men he already had in Beaux.

They’d track Tiffanette down—and the man behind her—and deliver them to justice. Glory would be safe.

Luke walked back into the body of the bar, only to run into Conan, who blocked Luke’s path, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned back on his heels. “If you’re looking to go, sooner’s probably better than later.”

Oh, for God’s sake. “You trying to threaten me?” Luke asked.

Luke didn’t doubt Conan’s act would scare a lesser man. He’d faced down tougher. If wannabe mobsters with guns and hard-faced businessmen in sharp suits didn’t scare him, then there was no way he was going to be afraid of an unarmed bartender.

“You mistake my meaning.” A wry smile crossed Conan’s face. “I’m not from here. Before I bought this bar, I was just a big-city tourist. Not exactly looking for a change in career. There’s just something about this town. All the petty squabbles and silly fights. The food, and the parties—they throw great parties. If you’re not careful, you can lose yourself. A single weekend and it becomes your whole life.”

“He’s already got a life,” Glory announced, walking into the kitchen, avoiding eye contact with Luke. “In Las Vegas. He’s going back this morning.”

She was wearing a creamy halter top with splashy red poppies printed on the front. The shirt bared her shoulders and cupped her breasts. It rode high over her hips. Underneath, she was wearing a matching skirt. The printed cotton skimmed her knees. Knees he’d knelt between the night before.

That was then. Since he’d offered to buy Dandelion House, Glory had been clear he’d never be anywhere near her knees again.

The thought made his chest go tight. Damn him and his stupid ideas. Why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut about developing the site? Why had the idea even popped into his head?

Glory wanted him gone. He wanted to stay and fight for whatever it was they’d started. But he would do anything to make Glory happy—even if that meant leaving first thing.

“I’m going back to Las Vegas,” Luke agreed. “And you’re going back to Beaux.”

Her straight spine uncharacteristically wilted. “I’m not sure I can. Not sure I can face them. Ashley—” Her voice faltered, but then she dug down deep and lifted her chin, threw some attitude into her tone. Shaky attitude. “You should have heard her on the phone last night when I told her I didn’t go back to Las Vegas to get the money. Sometimes people get ideas stuck in their head and it makes them blind to what’s really important.”

Luke’s stomach churned. Was she talking about Ashley, or him? He would give Glory the world if she asked for it, but he couldn’t give her what she needed. Him. Not for quick weekends and dirty holidays. Permanently.

Don’t joke about things you don’t understand
, she’d told him. The last few days had been a real adventure, wild and free. Unlike anything he’d ever experienced before. And it was almost over. He’d go back to his carefully constructed life in Las Vegas with the secure condo and the gun-toting driver who escorted him everywhere.

Back to the people he’d thought were his friends until Glory taught him what being a real friend meant.

Back to emptiness.

“Is the car ready?” Glory asked, directing her attention to Conan and pointedly ignoring Luke.

“Bobby says it’ll take a couple of days. He’s no miracle worker. I’d lend you my car, but I don’t have one.” Conan gave a short sigh. “Either of you know how to ride a motorcycle?”

Glory raised a hand. “Halleluiah taught me.”

Of course.

He knew how to handle a world-class, one-of-a-kind imported car. She knew how to ride a motorcycle.

No wonder she didn’t want him around. Like a bent key, he didn’t fit.

His teeth ground together. She wasn’t going back to Beaux without him, though. No matter what she’d said—insisting that whatever it was they had together was over—he wasn’t ready to walk away from the table just yet. He still cared about her, and he hoped that she still cared about him. He knew she wanted him; that much was clear from the way she looked up at him through her dark lashes. The way she’d called out his name the night before.

Besides, she’d told him she was his friend. That had to mean something. Right?

Especially to a woman like Glory, who valued friendship more than her own safety. A woman who’d shown him what real friendship was all about. Not discussing business plans over cocktails. Just a couple of people hanging out, without an agenda, talking about
stuff
.

The way he’d talked with Glory over the last couple of days, being chased by bad guys.

Glory was his friend, and he wasn’t going to leave her.

He took a deep breath and called her bluff. “I’m coming with you,” he said.

“No—”

“It’s not an option. I said I’d take you all the way home. You agreed. And when I arrange a deal, both sides are always kept.”

In the quiet of the empty bar, it wasn’t a question or a statement. It was a command.

Glory’s eyes flickered slightly. Her hands dropped to her side, clenching into tiny fists. She was pissed, and the color the emotion brought to her cheeks made her sexier than ever. She had the power here. All she had to do was walk out the door. Leave him behind. He held his breath and prayed to Lady Luck with everything he had.

“Fine.” When she finally spoke, her voice cracked with emotion. “You can come with me.”

Relief flooded his system. Glory hadn’t given up, not completely. And that meant there was one more thing he needed to do… “I’m going to make a phone call. Wait for me until I’m done.”

Glory still refused to look at him, but her expression changed from pained to peeved. “Give me your watch first.”

His watch? He looked down at his wrist. “Excuse me?”

“Your watch.” She held out a hand expectantly. “I’m leaving in ten minutes, and if you’re still on your phone call, I’m going without you.”

The watch was lightweight. It was a family heirloom, passed on from father to son. His great-grandfather had given it to his grandfather, who’d passed it on down the line. His mother had given it to him when he graduated from law school. It was one of the few personal things that he had of his father’s. It was an antique Rolex. He’d had an appraiser look at it a few years earlier. The damn thing was worth more money than he wanted to think about. Thank god it was water resistant, or the river water would have ruined it. The way Glory had been wriggling underneath him, he wouldn’t have cared.

He undid the catch and slipped it off his wrist.

Ten minutes. Luke didn’t know if that was enough time for what he needed to do, but it was all the time he had. Over his long and varied career, he’d dealt with harsher deadlines—two days to comply with government regulations, six hours to negotiate a multimillion-dollar deal—but he didn’t think that any deadline had been more important.

Ten minutes, that’s how long Glory had given him. Hope sparked inside his chest. It might not be forever, but it was a start.

…

Eight minutes and forty-six seconds after making her ultimatum, Glory was regretting it. She sat perched on top of a tricked-out Harley-Davidson, a thousand times more powerful than the off-brand motor scooter Hallie had used to teach her to ride, the bag of cash heavy on her back. Why had Luke left the bag with her anyway? It was his money.

The heat of the sun rising high over the mountains meant that she should already be gone, but here she was waiting for a man she’d only just met. A man who would never think twice about her if they’d met each other in a coffee shop or passed each other on a crowded street.

They were two completely different people. His offer to buy Dandelion House and rent it out to strangers proved that. As fantastic as the night before had been, as wonderful as the last forty-eight hours had proven, Luke Morrison was a man who’d always put money before love.

The watch on her wrist was light and delicate, an elegant piece of machinery. It was a pale gray color, with just a hint of rosy tarnish to show that it was real silver. The second hand ticked away, marking off the seconds. Just looking at it, she’d been able to tell that it was worth real money, but she hadn’t been able to judge its true value until it was resting in her hands, weighing her down.

A deep breath forced air down into her lungs. Eight minutes and fifty-nine seconds. One minute to go, and then she’d be gone. She couldn’t afford to stay. Not when she could taste the trouble brewing in the air. Although she couldn’t be certain what was more dangerous: the gun thugs who’d chased her ass across state lines or the green-eyed man who’d made love to her all night long.

Nine minutes and twenty-two seconds.

This was it, she was going to leave. She brought up one foot, knocking around in a pair of heavy motorcycle boots. The boots were the smallest that Conan could find, left behind by a biker who’d stayed in the garage a few weeks earlier.

“Ready to go?”

A shiver ran down her spine at Luke’s voice. She glanced up, blinking in surprise when she realized how close Luke had gotten without her noticing. He stood only a few feet away, sexier than ever in clothes Conan had found for him somewhere. Faded blue jeans with holes in the knees and a black T-shirt that pulled tight over lean muscles. She knew he was stronger than he’d looked in his fancy suit, with broad shoulders and muscular arms that had her imagining all the ways that he could hold her close, but standing in the early-morning sunlight the visual reminder of his strength rocked her to the core.

“Glory, you ready?”

A deep breath, forcing air into her lungs. They wouldn’t get anywhere with her mooning around, no matter how damn good-looking he happened to be. She blinked, twice, trying to shake away the lust that was flooding through her body, but found it difficult to concentrate. Luke was attractive in a suit, handsome and respectable, but in the busted denim that was the uniform of Beaux he was absolutely devastating. The only thing better would be if he were standing there in the morning light without a stitch of clothing on.

It didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself. He was leaving. Just the way she’d always known he would. Men like him didn’t belong in Beaux. Didn’t belong with her. She whipped her head back around to look at the long and winding road ahead of them.

“Mount up and hang on,” she said. “It’s going to be a wild ride.”

Two steps forward and he was towering over her, grabbing the helmet she held out. “You sure this thing’s safe?”

“Safer than anything else we’ve done the last few days,” she said, latching a skullcap-style helmet on her own head. “You hear anything about Tiffanette?”

“Someone might have spotted her in Ohio, near the West Virginia border.” He shrugged. “The security team will find her.”

He threw one leg over the side of the bike, settling behind her on the narrow seat. It was going to be a cramped ride, their bodies rubbing against each other. His arms wrapped around her waist, sending a sharp bolt of electricity through her body. “You sure this thing’s safe?”

“It might not be,” she said, “but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.”

Glory moved her booted foot forward, jump-starting the motorcycle’s powerful engine. In less than a minute, they were on the narrow road leading away from Conan’s place toward Beaux. She let the motorcycle fly. She’d been serious when she’d said it was going to be a wild ride. Conan’s bike was a tricked-out piece of work, with custom modifications to the engine and no muffler to speak of. The only thing louder than the roar of the internal combustion speeding them forward at sixty-five miles an hour was the pounding of her heart.

Damn. They’d better get to Beaux fast. She could feel every breath he took. Making her remember the way his naked body had felt sliding against hers the night before. Reminding her of all the things she could never have.

For a while they rode in silence, one long moment turning into another. Whipping past tall trees and green bushes, the earth spread out lush and verdant in every direction. This part of the country really was heaven on earth.

Overhead, hawks were gliding easily on drafts of wind coming up from the valley floor. The road widened and she opened up the throttle, leaving the speed limit in the dust. After living in the area all of her life, she knew the twists and turns of the mountain road like she knew the back of her hand. In another few miles they’d be passing the old oak tree that had been hit by lightning her junior year in high school.

After that they’d have to slow down for a few hairpin turns until they passed the old covered bridge that crossed the winding Holly Oaks River, and then it was a straight shot into town.