More incoherent mumbling from the guy attached to her ear.
“I thought that was meant to be a surprise for when she got back?” replied Anne.
Mal finally surfaced. “But it’s just so cool. I am just so cool. I think she deserves to know this.”
“It’s your present, it’s up to you. Tell her if you like.” Anne laughed.
The smile Mal gave me was megawatt, blinding. “I got you a baby blue 1967 Mustang GT for your birthday.”
“You did?” I shrieked in glee.
“Exactly. Aren’t I just the best? Ohmigod I’m fucking amazing! My own mind is just blown by me. Put it there, little sis.” He held up his hand for a high five.
I slapped palms with him with much zest. “That’s awesome, Mal!”
“I know, right?”
“Thank you so much.”
“It’s nothing.” A careless hand waved my gratitude away. “Sheesh.”
Only Anne seemed unenthused. “You got Liz a muscle car? You bought me a Prius.”
With pouty lips, Mal framed her face with his hands. “Because you’re my Pumpkin Prius princess. Girls like you don’t drive muscle cars.”
“Girls like me?”
“Beautiful, clever, good girls with lots of respect for traffic lights and shit like that. Besides, you’ve got me. You don’t need any more muscle in your life.”
I wouldn’t say Anne looked appeased, exactly. But she did drop the subject after yet another lingering kiss.
“What are you up to tonight?” she asked me eventually.
“I thought I might go dancing or something,” I said, rocking back on my heels in excitement. Vegas, here I come. “Put my legal ID to good use.”
Anne’s grin faltered. “Right, yeah. Listen, Sam was thinking of going around to a couple of clubs too. You mind if he tags along?”
Ruh-roh. “Sam the security man?”
“Yeah.” Her gaze wandered around the room for a moment, avoiding mine. “He won’t get in the way, I promise. He’s a really great guy and going out on your own in Vegas isn’t the smartest idea. You don’t mind do you? I promise he won’t get in your way or anything.”
“No, I guess not.”
“Good.” She visibly relaxed, leaning against Mal. “I think they took your stuff up to the penthouse suite already, by the way. You’ve got the key, right?”
“Yep. All set.”
“And if you go anywhere on your own, don’t get lost in the hotel. That place is huge.”
“I’ll be fine. Go make merry with your husband.” I smacked a light kiss on her cheek. “Congratulations. It was a wonderful night. You looked beautiful.”
“What ’bout me?” came from Mal.
“Very pretty.” I gave him a pat on the head. “Later!”
I had a man to forget and a town to explore.
CHAPTER FOUR
“What’d you say your name was again?”
“Liz.”
“Lisa?”
“Close enough.” I gave the drunken blond a smile and took another sip of my margarita. He might be cute, but cute didn’t make up for rampant stupidity or a blood alcohol level sky-high, such as he had to have. He gave me his version of a pantie-wetting grin and I had no doubt it worked when the dude was sober. Or when the object of his lustful affections was in the same state of inebriation.
Sadly, my two-and-a-half-margarita happy buzz didn’t even begin to qualify.
We’d been dancing for an hour or so, having fun. There’d been no real touching or grinding or anything to lead him on.
Because I knew limits, didn’t I? Yes I did.
The hotel had a large selection of bars and nightclubs. Not to mention the plethora of nearby ones. We’d started at a place across the road before heading back closer to home. Good music, lots of dancing, and a couple of drinks. My fun had been found, my hair let down.
Anyway, a pity he had to go and wreck it now by trying to score. Over my shoulder, Sam the security man (who most definitely didn’t dance) kept the same position he had for the past three hours, holding up the bar with a glass of whiskey in hand. He’d wanted to check out a couple of clubs, my ass. The man had been sicced onto me for certain. For not the first time tonight, he narrowed his eyes at my dance partner and shook his head in disbelief. I just smiled back at him. Tonight wasn’t about serious. It was about laughing, dancing, having a few drinks, and celebrating being young and single.
My drunken companion slipped an arm around my waist, licking his lips. “So, Lila.”
“Yeah, Mike?”
A frown. “Mark. My name’s Mark.”
“Oh, gosh, sorry, Mark. My bad.”
“No worries, babe.” A hazy grin slipped across his face once more as he leaned forward, moving in for the kill.
I think not.
I turned my face away and took a hasty side step, escaping his attempt at any mouth-on-mouth behavior. Once my last half of salty, tequila-infused heaven on ice was finished, I was out of there. Sam and I could find somewhere else to hang. If it wasn’t guaranteed to give me a brain freeze I’d have just downed it. “Well, this has been great.”
“Party’s just starting,” he slurred.
In what was no doubt planned to be a smooth move, the douche stumbled into me, knocking my back into the bar. Worse yet, my god damn drink spilled all over the floor. Those things were not cheap, and I sure as hell hadn’t been willing to let Mark buy me any. He’d started getting enough ideas as it was. Idiot.
“Shit.” I shoved at the drunken twit’s chest, trying to get him off of me. “Move it.”
Like my words had suddenly grown superpowers, the dickhead flew backward into the crowd, landing sprawled on his ass several yards away. Whoa. How about that. I gazed in slack-jawed surprise. Then, into the wide-open space in front of me stepped Ben.
Crap.