Her Secret Lover (What Happens in Vegas) by Robin Covington Page B

her. “What do you want?”
    “A beer. Whatever’s on tap and not domestic,” she answered, liking how he pressed a quick kiss against her hair before he took off with Aiden. It wasn’t crazy sexual but the gesture got her heartbeat revved up at least a couple more RPMs.
    “Okay, he is still geeky, but really fucking sexy,” Sarina said as soon as the guys were out of earshot. “I completely get why you’re breaking your rule for him.”
    “Wait? What? Breaking what rule?” Lilah asked, leaning across the table, eyes wide as she took a sip from her frozen fruity drink. Kelsey could feel her lips pucker just imagining the sugar level in her beverage; Lilah liked her alcohol to taste like Kool-Aid on crack. “Who was the hot guy?”
    Sarina stepped in to explain before Kelsey could get her mouth open. “He’s a VIP guest at the hotel, and she’s been assigned as his personal concierge.”
    Lilah’s hand paused in midair as she lifted her drink to her mouth. “That could get your ass fired.”
    “I know. I know.” Kelsey leaned in close, not wanting to yell her business in the crowded club. “I have my reasons.”
    “Are you talking about the favor you need from him for another guest, or the fact that you want in his pants?” Sarina asked, her green eyes shrewd as they drilled into her from across the table. It was clear that she didn’t approve.
    Lilah lifted a hand. “Wait. I’m sensing a lot of ’tude coming off you, so what did I miss?” She turned to look at Kelsey. “What’s going on with Micah?”
    She explained the situation with Babette and Saul and the recommendation, and then the entire interaction with Micah. She left out nothing. There was no point in hiding stuff from her friends; both Lilah and Sarina had a bullshit detector about people that was spot on.
    “So, you haven’t told him about the Babette thing, but you hope to persuade him to do it for you when you butter him up enough, and you agreed to have a sorta friends-with-benefits arrangement with him so that you can get laid.” Lilah cocked her head at her, the precision of her thoughts cutting through all the bullshit. “But they aren’t related in your mind, and you can sleep at night because he agreed to be fuck buddies until Sunday. Did I get that right?”
    Lilah was spooky smart. Brain surgeon smart, aerospace engineer smart. And she’d have been one if her life had been different, if her traditional Korean family had encouraged her to go and do something other than get married and have a family and then ditched her when she’d refused. Instead, she was managing one of the popular marriage chapels on the Strip, going to college part-time, and refusing to deal with the estranged relationship she had with her family.
    But she was serious, and everything about her tone and expression told Kelsey she thought her rationale was complete and utter bullshit. In case Kelsey didn’t get all the signals, she spelled it out for her.
    “That’s nuts, Kelsey, and it’s going to backfire in your face. I don’t know if it will be on the job front or on the personal side of things, but this is too interwoven for them not to create the cold-fusion equivalent of disaster for you.” Lilah nodded emphatically before taking another quick sip of her drink. “I’ll keep the Ben & Jerry’s stocked up for when this goes tits up.”
    “And I’ve got the perfect vibrator to use post-heartbreak. You’ll love it. I can’t keep it in stock,” Sarina said as serious as a heart attack. Sarina never joked about sex toys. That was serious business.
    “Fuck you both,” Kelsey groaned, wondering why she told them anything.
    Sarina held out her drink, and Kelsey accepted it gratefully and took a long swallow of whiskey on the rocks.
    “Thank you for that concise depiction of the apocalypse also known as my life.” She continued after the whiskey had burned its way down her throat.
    “I’m not trying to be a bitch, but you’re breaking