“Sure. Ladies, we’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” The women laughed at the teasing note in his voice. Blane would bet by the way they were eyeing him and Kade that they weren’t going anywhere.
Blane pulled Kade aside. “What are you doing?” he hissed. “You just pick up a couple of random girls for the night?” Not that Blane was opposed to a little feminine companionship, but he didn’t need his little brother to pick up chicks for him. He was perfectly capable of persuading a woman to join him for an evening without assistance.
“Trust me,” Kade said. “It’ll look less obvious if they’re with us.”
“Less obvious for what?” Now he was really starting to get a bad feeling about this.
But Kade was already heading back to the women.
“Shit,” Blane muttered, following him. He wasn’t about to ditch Kade, no matter how little he was actually telling him, but he was so going to hear about it later.
“Shall we?” Kade offered his arm to one of them—Brandy?—who smiled widely and took it.
Liz turned to Blane and smiled. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said. “Your brother said it was your first night in Vegas.”
“It is,” Blane said, settling his palm on the small of her back and following Kade to the door, now guarded by two big bouncers. “And it looks like it’s getting off to the right start.”
Liz seemed pleased by the compliment and Blane focuses half his attention to her and the other half on Kade, who was talking to the doorman. The guy consulted a clipboard in his hand, then spoke into the earpiece microphone he wore. After a moment, he waved Kade and Brandy on inside. Blane and Liz followed.
Kade led them through the masses of people, pass the bar and to the back of the club. A DJ was on a stage playing tunes Blane vaguely recognized, which just made him feel old. If the party Kade was leading them to wasn’t any better, he was going to pull rank and take them elsewhere and screw his “business.” Maybe they’d find someplace where you could actually hear the person you were with when they spoke.
Blane’s gaze swiveled around the place, making automatic note of the location and number of exits, the type of crowd, how many security or bouncer types milled about the edges. Some habits became ingrained, and knowing the path of least resistance for a quick escape was one of them.
There was an obvious VIP area with a raised dais, couches, and more ropes. The guy standing in front of one of them saw Kade and motioned him in.
Since Kade said he’d never been to Vegas before, Blane thought that a bit strange, though he didn’t think Kade would outright lie to him.
It wasn’t as crowded up here as the rest of the club and he felt like he could breathe. People stood around or were sitting on the couches, and Blane’s eye was drawn to one man in particular.
He sat on a couch, two women flanking him, though he didn’t seem to be paying much attention to either of them. Dressed in a suit and tie, he looked a bit old for this crowd, too, and bored. Then he saw Kade.
He stood, a smile breaking out on his face as he motioned Kade over. Blane followed, figuring this must be the “business” Kade had said he had to do while here.
“Blane, this is Raymond Hoff,” Kade introduced him. “Ray, this is my buddy Blane.”
Blane shook Raymond’s hand, giving him an easy smile. He wasn’t offended that Kade hadn’t introduced him as his brother. It was a secret Kade had insisted on years ago, once he’d learned that Blane was eyeing a political career in the future.
“No way am I going to be the skeleton in your closet weighing you down,” Kade had scoffed. “The illegitimate reprobate brother? I don’t think so.”
Blane hadn’t had a choice but to agree to keep the fact that they were related private knowledge that few possessed.
“Sit down! Sit down!” Raymond said, shooing away the women on the couch.
Kade sat next to Raymond, pulling Brandy down beside him. He began conversing in a low voice with Raymond while Brandy looked bored. Blane sat on the end of the couch and Liz perched on his lap. His arm went around her back to steady her.
“You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, resting her hand on his shoulder.
“Not at all,” Blane said, half his attention on Kade and what he was doing. He saw him hand something small to Raymond, who smiled and pocketed it.
“Let’s have a drink to celebrate,” Raymond said, gesturing to a cocktail waitress hovering nearby. He said something to her and she nodded.
“What are we celebrating?” Blane asked Kade in an undertone.
“My genius, of course,” Kade said, with a wink.
Blane rolled his eyes at Kade’s cocky grin.
“So you’re a genius and hot?” Brandy teased, draping herself against Kade’s side.
“That’s right,” he said. “Lucky you.”
She laughed in delight and Blane had to stop himself from another eye roll.
“He seems quite full of himself,” Liz said in his ear. Blane noticed she smelled nice. Very nice.
“It runs in the family,” Blane said. Defending Kade was an automatic response.