He came a second later. He cradled her close to his body, very aware that even if it wasn’t wise he was falling for Shelby Paxton, again.
Eight
Shelby spent the next few days in her store readying it for the grand opening tonight. She tried to ignore that more than sex had happened between her and Hayden. They were both busy with work but Hayden made time for her in his schedule. He’d shown up unexpectedly one afternoon after one of her staffers had to go home for a family emergency and helped her unbox the merchandise.
He’d also taken her for a ride on his prized custom West Coast Chopper. He was everything she wanted in a man and more, and she knew she was falling hard for him. Every day revealed another facet of the man and she had yet to see anything she didn’t like.
But she remembered Alan and what had brought her to Vegas and worried over that. Not to mention what she’d been forced to realize about herself that night in the private garden. That Hayden already owned her heart and soul. She could try to pretend she hadn’t completely given him her heart but she knew that wasn’t true.
A part of her rejoiced. After all, she’d returned to Vegas with just that goal in mind. But the other part of her worried. Alan had been out of touch since the night she and Hayden had spent on his yacht, and Shelby worried that Alan was going to show up before she had a chance to talk to Hayden.
She’d tried several times with Hayden to bring up the subject of her return to Vegas. Tried to find the words to make him understand that she hadn’t realized how much he’d changed, how much she had. But last night a letter from her mom had arrived and she’d been unable to deal with anything but that.
Hayden had taken her up to his penthouse and they’d sat on his balcony and talked until two in the morning. Talked about their single parents. She’d learned more about Alan than she’d expected to. Realized that once Hayden’s mom died when Hayden was quite young, Alan had focused on Hayden, making his son’s success the purpose of his life outside the casino.
When Shelby had talked about her own mother, she’d realized that it wasn’t her mother she was ashamed of. It was the way other people had always looked at them. She told Hayden about how her mother loved to crank up old Elvis Presley albums after dinner and they’d danced and sung while they’d cleaned the dishes.
She’d forgotten how much she’d loved her mom until that moment. She’d made the decision to call her and set up a time to visit only to have to leave a message on the answering machine when she followed through.
Shelby felt as if all the loose ends in her life were finally being straightened out. She was thirty-two and just starting to get it together.
Last night Hayden had pushed her hard to move in with him, even going so far as inviting his friends Kylie and Deacon Prescott to his penthouse for dinner. Shelby had enjoyed meeting the couple. But more than that she’d enjoyed the feeling that she and Hayden were a couple. A real couple. A happily-ever-after couple.
And that scared her.
She glanced at her watch. 8:50 a.m. She had ten minutes until she’d be addressing her staff. Paige was due in this afternoon and they were having a soft opening by invitation only for the other casino owners in the area and VIPs from each of the surrounding resorts.
A soft opening was a pre-grand opening that was a test run for business owners. Shelby was always nervous at this stage. But as she stood in her office and glanced into the showroom at the gilded shelves filled with unique, sexy lingerie, she felt her confidence return. After all, this was the twentieth store she’d opened.
Her staff had been handpicked and Shelby knew they’d do a fabulous job. She’d decided that tonight, after the formal grand opening, she’d tell Hayden she’d move in with him. And she vowed to talk to him about his dad. To let him know that Alan had blackmailed her into coming back.
She had chosen her clothing for the day carefully, donning the red leather bustier and thong under a long-camel colored suede skirt with a black silk shirt. She’d pulled her hair up into a loose chignon and left several tendrils of curls hanging around her face.
She wore a pair of black heels, and a small gold choker as her only jewelry aside from her watch. Her clothes looked good on her and gave her an added boost of confidence as she exited her office and entered the shop.
Her small staff was already assembled, talking quietly among themselves. Shelby’s cell phone rang.
She glanced at the number and saw that it was Hayden.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself. Will you have time before the opening for a drink with me?”
The day was jam-packed with activities and last-minute details. “Sorry, I don’t think so. I’ll probably be going over something with Paige.”
“How about if I come to you?” he asked.
Nothing would make her happier. She liked that Hayden had made sure his schedule was always available to her so that she could find him whenever she wanted him. “Sure. In fact, I have a little surprise for you.”
“Yeah? Is it something I’ve been waiting for?”
She thought about it. Thought about how long they’d both been together and apart. Thought about their lives and how they’d both used work as a substitute for relationships. And thought about how this time she wasn’t leaving. “Oh, yeah.”
“Dammit, I’m on my way to a meeting but I want to come to you. Take you away from all this and just make love to you.”
“Stop it. We both have work to do.”
“I know. I’ll be by around five.”
She hung up quietly and turned to her staff. After giving them a pep talk, she walked outside the shop to observe the store, to see it from beyond the gilded gold leaf–inset doors. The window displays looked erotic and sophisticated.
“Nice job.”
Shelby froze. Slowly she turned to face an older, more jaded-looking version of Hayden. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on my investment,” Alan MacKenzie said, putting his hand under her elbow and leading her out of the path of the foot traffic.
Shelby took a deep breath and tried to tamp down the sense of panic she felt. Everything was starting to go so well for her and Hayden. “This really isn’t a good time. You know this entire casino is wired with security cameras that record everything. I don’t want Hayden to get the wrong idea.”
“I don’t trust you to carry out our plan,” he said.
“It’s not our plan,” she said, pulling her arm away. “Not anymore. I’m not sure I can do what you wanted me to. Please, Alan, just leave this to me.”
Shelby turned away determined to leave Alan standing there. She ran into a solid chest and glanced up with a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach.
“Hayden—”
“Leave her alone, Dad,” Hayden said, putting his arm around her shoulder and anchoring her to his side. “She’s here because of business, not to be bullied by you.”
Shelby was shaking and she knew that this moment was going to end badly. She should have told Hayden about his dad’s proposition before now. Why hadn’t she?
Because she’d wanted to make sure he really liked her before she dropped her bomb. Because she’d always understood that they had to have more than a great sexual bond between them. Because she knew that she needed Hayden’s love and wasn’t sure she’d had enough time to convince him that what they had would last.
“I’m not bothering her, Hay. I was congratulating her on her store. She’s come a long way from the girl we both knew.”
“Don’t