She gazed at her vehicle and then glared at him. “Look what you did to my car!”
“Actually, it was my driver,” Tanner said humorlessly, glancing at Johan. “Technically speaking. Beyond that, you didn’t exactly give him a choice with your sudden stop.”
“I stopped because a car swerved into my lane,” she snapped. “It would have hit me if hadn’t slammed on the brakes. Maybe if your driver hadn’t been riding my bumper for a couple of blocks, he would have had more time to react.”
Johan furrowed his brow. “You’re blaming me for this?”
She turned her brown eyes to him. “The damage speaks for itself.”
Tanner got between them as if they were ready to come to blows. He looked ahead of her car and saw that traffic had begun to move again, including the careless driver who had apparently been responsible for this entire mess. He didn’t doubt that she was telling the truth, knowing how crazy some of the drivers were in Vegas, but that didn’t change their situation.
“Well, what’s done is done,” Tanner told the attractive woman.
“What about the damage to my car?” she asked tartly.
“Isn’t that what your insurance is for?” Tanner asked.
“Yes, when it’s my fault. Other than that, I’d rather not have to go through my insurance company, only to have my rates go up unfairly.”
“I see.” Tanner put a hand to his chin. Though there was no way of knowing who truly was at fault for the damage outside of the other driver, he decided to cut her some slack. But only because he was in a hurry and didn’t want to drag this thing out any longer than necessary. Besides, a buddy of his owned an auto repair shop and owed him a favor. Now, with two cars that needed work, he would owe his friend a favor. “We’ll take care of it, no problem. I can call for a tow to take your car to be repaired and give you a lift anywhere you like.”
“Fine,” she said with seeming reluctance, as though he planned to kidnap her in broad daylight.
“By the way, I’m Tanner Long and this is my driver, Johan.”
“Bianca Wagner.”
Tanner took out his cell phone and met her eyes. This ought to be interesting, he thought. Maybe in more ways than one.
* * *
Bianca sat in the limousine, wondering if she would have been better off simply driving her car to the repair shop herself. But why should she? The rear end of her car was damaged, through no fault of her own, and Tanner Long was footing the bill to have it repaired.
She glanced at him as he sat next to her, checking her out. Pretending not to notice, she turned away. But the image of him was indelibly seared in her mind. After all, she’d seen him enough on television, the paper and online. In person, he was even more gorgeous, if that was even possible. Tall and trim, he was bald with chiseled features, gray-black eyes, a thin mustache and small chin beard. His business-casual attire was a perfect fit and suited him.
I’d love to ask him a few questions about himself and his business success, she thought, but I wouldn’t want him to get any more conceited than he probably already is. Especially since she was vulnerable as his passenger and a car-accident victim, rather than being here in her professional capacity.
“Where are you from?” Tanner asked, as if strictly for conversation.
“Excuse me?” Bianca’s eyes widened.
“It doesn’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“What does my voice sound like to you?” She was curious, considering she believed she had no accent.
“It sounds sexy,” Tanner said, a half grin playing on his lips. “Aside from that, I think I detected a slight Southern inflection there. Maybe from Texas, Georgia, or Alabama. Am I getting close?”
Too close, Bianca thought. “Actually, I’m from Houston,” she confessed.
He smiled. “Houston’s a great city. How long have you been in Vegas?”
“Awhile,” she responded, deciding to turn the tables. “Where are you from?” She seemed to recall that she’d read he was from the East.
“New York,” he said. “I loved it there, but my brother and I needed to chart our own territory, so we ended up here in Vegas.”
“Good for you.” Bianca paused thoughtfully. “And your brother is Solomon Long...?”
“Yeah, you know him?”
“Only of him—and you,” she said tonelessly. “I read the papers.”
“I see.” Tanner sat back. “So are you a gambler?”
Bianca met his eyes. “Not really. I only like to bet on a sure thing.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Me, too.”
She colored under the weight of his stare, as though she were that “sure thing” in his mind. Or was she misreading him as a man who was used to getting who and what he wanted?
“Is that why you’re opening up a casino?” she asked.
“Good question,” Tanner said. “Actually, I do consider it a sure thing. People come from all over the world to Las Vegas to gamble, among other things. There’s always room for one more place to spend and lose money.”
“Aloha Seas,” Bianca said.
“You’ve got it.” He smiled. “If you’d like to come to the grand opening in two days, consider this an invitation.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be busy that day,” she responded, knowing that another reporter had already been assigned to cover the event at the newspaper.
Tanner frowned. “Really? All day...?”
“Part of the day,” she said truthfully.
“So spend the other part at the grand opening. It’ll be fun, even for a nongambler.”
Bianca didn’t doubt that, even if she was sure he’d be far too busy as cohost to even notice her there. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fair enough,” he said evenly.
“You can let me off here,” Bianca instructed Johan.
He pulled up in front of the Owen-Knight Building.
Bianca looked at Tanner. “Thanks for the lift.”
“Anytime,” he said smoothly. “But hopefully next time it won’t be because we ran into your car.”
She smiled. “I agree. Speaking of...”
“It may take a few days to get it repaired, but my man will take care of it. If you need a loaner or...”
“I can wait. I’ll take a cab until then.” She certainly couldn’t expect him to shepherd her around. Nor would she want him to. They exchanged contact information. “Bye.”
“Till we meet again,” Tanner told her, as if it were written in stone.
Bianca wasn’t so sure about that. Yes, she was definitely attracted to the man. Who wouldn’t be? But that didn’t mean she was eager to become another notch on his belt. That was, if he hadn’t already lost count, she thought
She watched as the limousine drove off. Her thoughts turned to the grand opening gala at Aloha Seas and the opportunity to see Tanner again in his element.
Chapter 2
“Since