“I don’t need cards. You’re an open book.”
He emptied his glass and set it gently on the counter with a little clink. “Then what am I thinking now?” He unfastened his belt and drew it from around his waist. When he dropped it on the floor, he was pretty sure she gulped.
“Stop that,” she said.
“I seldom shower with my clothes on.” His solemn joke lightened the look of panic on her face, though she still eyed him warily.
“Maybe we should get to know each other first.”
“Did I mention that I’m flying out in the morning? Leave if you want to, Cass, but soon. I don’t want to go any further with this if you aren’t sure.”
She paled, her brown eyes round with a mix of emotions he couldn’t decipher. “I want to be sure.”
“But you’re not,” he said, reading her fairly well.
“I thought I could be spontaneous and adventuresome. But it turns out I’m not really that girl.”
He swallowed his disappointment. “I understand. Get dressed and I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
She took a step in his direction, placing her small hand on his forearm. “How about a compromise?”
It became painfully clear that Cassidy Corelli didn’t know much about men at all. She was naked for all intents and purposes, in his bathroom, and yet somehow she expected him to play nice. Even her fingers on his skin made him shudder with hunger.
Moving out of reach, he ran two hands through his hair. “What kind of compromise?” He was asking for more physical torture, but he didn’t have it in him to kick her out.
“This is your first trip to Vegas, right?”
“Yes.”
“I could show you the sights for a couple of hours. Enjoy the ambiance.”
“And then what?”
“Whatever we want to do next.”
Her smile seemed genuine. Was she deliberately teasing him, or did she honestly want to go to bed with him but was uncertain about the wisdom of that plan?
He was hard and ready. It wasn’t conceit to think he could coax her into having sex right now. But he’d been raised to be a gentleman. Despite the demands of his body, he was well aware that Cassidy was not 100 percent on board with the idea of intimacy. Even if she had been the one to come on to him in the first place.
The smart thing for both of them would be for him to boot her out before somebody got hurt. He couldn’t give her anything beyond tonight. And it was pretty clear that she was not a woman who went in for casual sex.
But she fascinated him, intrigued him...and he couldn’t remember ever wanting a woman more. He was not in the habit of picking up strange females, especially not ones like Cassidy. Too many unknowns. Too many warning bells.
He’d learned the hard way not to be taken in by a seemingly innocent come-on. Cassidy was more than that, though. He believed it, or told himself he did. Otherwise, he was about to break his personal code into tiny unmanageable pieces.
His desire for her and her undeniable appeal could be blamed on Vegas, but whatever compelled him was strong and urgent.
“Fine,” he said tersely. “Put your clothes on, and we’ll see the sights.” He’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours, but what the hell. Carpe diem it was...God help him.
* * *
When they reached Gavin’s rental car, Cassidy was delighted to see it was a convertible. “Why don’t I drive so you can enjoy yourself?” she said.
Gavin yawned and nodded. “Probably a good idea. I’m sleep-deprived.” He went around to the passenger side. “You’re in charge.”
She didn’t think he meant that statement to be provocative, but the image it conjured made her shift restlessly as she settled behind the wheel. Gavin Kavanagh was an imposing man. Imagining him nude and at her mercy made her mouth dry and her cheeks hot.
Once they folded back the top and exited the parking garage, her passenger slumped in his seat with his head against the headrest. She drove down the strip, pointing out places of interest that were unique to Vegas. The fabulous architecture, the neon lights, the endless spectacle and the marquees touting famous entertainers.
When she paused at a traffic light, Gavin waved a hand. “You love it here, don’t you?”
His perception surprised her. “I suppose I do. We take the good with the bad. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world.”
“I wasn’t too impressed with Vegas before tonight. You’ve convinced me it has a lot to offer.”
When she glanced sideways at him, the look in his eyes made her shiver. He wanted her. And he planned to have her.
Sweet heaven. Without asking, she turned the car around and headed out of town. She barely remembered her name. Sexual arousal flooded her veins, hot and sweet. Exhilaration, laced with anticipation, made her feel as if she could fly.
Fortunately, gravity kept her grounded. Driving in the desert at night was a special pleasure. The road was straight, traffic sparse and the spring air invigorating.
She was a good driver, and she knew her limits. Pressing down on the gas, she watched the speedometer hit sixty, then seventy, then eighty. In her peripheral vision, she saw Gavin straighten. “I’m not paying for any tickets,” he said.
The implied but laconic warning made her grin. She pushed it to ninety and laughed out loud as the wind tangled her hair. “Don’t worry. I know every law enforcement official in a fifty-mile radius.” She had to raise her voice for him to hear her.
A rush of adrenaline took over, encompassing an odd mix of sexual hunger and sheer fun. Her hands were steady on the wheel. Anticipation rose in her chest like a wave of bubbles. The night was hers...the open road, as well. Earlier, she had panicked, plain and simple. She had second-guessed her decision to change the status quo. But now she was ready. She wanted Gavin Kavanagh, and she wasn’t going to let her inexperience stand in her way.
Only the late hour curtailed her road trip. At last, she eased off on the accelerator and dropped back to a more sedate speed. At a pullout on the right, she slid the car to a stop and turned off the engine. The sudden silence was deafening. Overhead, a million stars twinkled and sparked.
Gavin reached for her before she had a chance to take her hands off the wheel. His kiss was urgent. Thorough. Masterful. She had assumed he was half-asleep. Which proved how wrong a woman could be. This was a hunger that had been building since she went to his hotel room.
The kiss was firm and demanding. It sent little squiggles of lust into every cell of her body. His hands anchored her head, one on each side of her jaw. Tilting her face to his, he ravaged her mouth, barely giving her a moment to breathe.
For Cassidy, it was earth-shattering. She’d never been too impressed with foreplay. In the course of her limited experimentation, it had proven to be awkward and usually disappointing. Apparently her subconscious had recognized Gavin Kavanagh as the man to prove her wrong.
Desperately, she pondered the logistics of getting naked in the backseat. But while she didn’t mind being pulled over for speeding, getting caught in sexual flagrante delicto was another matter entirely. This was Vegas, true. But her father would have a coronary, and this was not a time she wanted to court his displeasure.
Gavin had more control than she did, apparently. He eventually gentled the kiss and released her, though his chest heaved. “You dazzle me, Cassidy Corelli.”
His rough praise stroked her ego. Coming from a man like Gavin, that was a compliment worth savoring. “The feeling is mutual.”
He