“And I appreciate you being protective of me,” she says. “I really do.”
The air inside the limo seems to grow lighter, more relaxed. The strained atmosphere that had saturated it before has dissipated. It allows me to relax a bit and I settle back in my seat, pulling her close to me. She snuggles closer and grips my hand.
“So, a limo?” she asks. “Very fancy.”
“Only the best for you,” I reply. “You look absolutely radiant, by the way.”
“Thank you,” she says softly.
I don't have to look at her to know she's blushing. Holly is a woman who doesn't take compliments well. Maybe she hasn't been given enough of them throughout her life. Which is a shame. A jewel like this woman should be complimented and worshipped on a daily basis.
“And thank you for all the dresses you sent over,” she says. “You really didn't –”
I hold up a hand to stop her and laugh softly. “No, I didn't have to,” I say. “But I did. So, we can just leave it at that. Let me do something nice for you, huh?”
She turns her face up to me, her smile warm and genuine. “You've been doing nice things for me since the moment I met you.”
I shrug. “You deserve it,” I declare. “You deserve to be spoiled and pampered.”
“I'm not used to that,” she says. “It makes me feel kind of uncomfortable.”
“Well, I think you may need to get used to it as long as I'm around.”
She smiles again and there's a long pause between us, one that is filled with expectation and charged with electricity. I know that eventually, we're both going to have to leave Vegas and go back to our normal lives. This fairy-tale can't last. I'm smart enough to know that.
But I also know that I’m going to feel restless and unsettled when it does happen Something about Holly has begun to change something within me. It's insane and makes no logical sense. I'll never claim that it does. But being with her has flipped a switch and lit up a room inside of me that I didn't even know was dark before.
And I have to wonder, once we leave Vegas and go our separate ways, how am I going to be able to readjust to that darkened room again, knowing how amazing it felt to be in the light?
“So, where are we going?” she asks.
“It's a surprise,” I say.
“Oh, a surprise?” she asks. “You’re just full of surprises, aren't you?”
“I promise you'll like this one though.”
We laugh and hold each other as the limo pulls into the restaurant – the same restaurant we dined at last night. She looks at me and laughs.
“Here again?”
I shrug. “I figure why mess with a good thing?” I ask. “Besides, it's like our one-day anniversary or something like that. Call it the start of a tradition.”
“The start of a tradition then,” she says. “I like it.”
The limo drops us off out front and Holly takes my arm. I escort her inside, so we can begin our night, the scuffle in front of her hotel hopefully forgotten.
Chapter Fourteen
Holly
After another amazing meal, we come out of the restaurant, completely stuffed. The place really isn't much to look at and comes across kitschy and touristy as hell, but they sure know how to make good food. I'm in much better spirits by the time we get out to the car – and I still can't believe he rented a stretch limo for the evening. Talk about feeling like a fairy tale princess.
The fight he had outside the hotel, however, is still nagging me in the back of my mind. When he walked up to those two men, I was genuinely worried he was going to kill them. His face, twisted by murderous intent, did not resemble the man I thought I knew.
Brayden, the man I know, is soft, gentle. He’s kind and considerate. The man who'd walked up to those two guys – was hard. Calculating. His eyes were cruel and the air around him seemed to crackle with anger and violence. As badly as those two men frightened me, that version of Brayden had scared me even more.
Deep down, I know Brayden would never hurt me. I don't know how, but I do know it – all the way down to my bones. I genuinely believe him when he says he'd rather shoot himself than raise a hand to me, which makes me feel slightly better.
But still, knowing that pool of darkness and anger exists deep inside of him – gives me pause. I abhor violence and don't enjoy the macho types who feel the need to exert their physical dominance over others.
Brayden though, doesn’t seem to be exactly that kind of guy. He's – complicated. There seems to be many facets and layers to his personality. Most seem to be amazing. But, he proved that he has some quirks that are less so. He's not quite the perfect White Knight I initially thought him to be.
In a way though, it makes him more real to me. It means he's not just some idealized fantasy man. He's got flaws and problems, just like the rest of us. Strangely enough, that thought makes me feel a bit better about Brayden in general.
“That place is amazing,” I say. “I've never had better Italian food.”
“Not outside of Italy,” he says. “I did think that waitress was going to have a heart attack when she saw you come through the door though.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I noticed they put us on the opposite side of the restaurant as her.”
“You've developed a reputation as quite the badass, apparently,” he says.
The driver pulls to a stop at the curb and runs around to open the door for us. Brayden helps me in and then slides in himself. The door is closed and a moment later, the driver sits in front of the wheel and we're driving again.
“I don't suppose you're going to tell me where we're headed this time?”
He shakes his head and smiles at me. “You really suck at handling surprises, don't you?”
I shrug. “Sometimes.”
“Well, I'm going to teach you patience,” he says.
“Yeah, I kinda suck at that too.”
We share a laugh as the driver confidently weaves through the crowded streets of Las Vegas, making me happy as hell that I didn’t have to drive in this mess.
“So, Gabby wanted me to ask you a question,” I say.
“Oh? And what's that?”
“She wants to know if you have any brothers,” I reply and laugh.
He smiles wide. “Three, actually,” he says. “One older, two younger.”
I nod. “And do you all live in Texas?'
He shakes his head. “No, we all live in our geographic territory.”
“Your what?”
A wry laugh escapes him. “When my father passed away, he divided his company – a national company – into four separate pieces,” he says. “Each of us was given one slice of that pie and basically had to move to a location central to our specific piece of the empire. It's just more efficient and convenient that way.”
“Wow,” I say. “That's quite a company.”
He nods. “My father built an amazing business. Vast. Incredibly profitable. He was a very smart man,” he continues. “He believed that dividing it up amongst us equally was the smartest thing to do to guarantee that the company wouldn't be torn apart by a power struggle between the four of us.”
“Do you think you and your brothers would have done that?”
Brayden gives me a shrug. “I want to say no,” he says. “But, we're all super competitive and always trying to out-do each other. We all think we've got the greatest ideas and want to be the very best at whatever it is we do.”
“I can see how that could be detrimental to a company.”
“So can we. Which is why what my father did was such a clever move. Especially when you think about the fact that since he now has us competing amongst ourselves to be the most profitable territory and make the most money - the company has only gotten bigger and better.”
I nod and laugh. “Your father sounds like a very smart man.”