Lovely Trigger(33)

She’d caught on by then, folding her arms across her chest. “I’m tired. I need to get to bed, sometime tonight.”

“You want me to go to bed undernourished? Let me finish this last thing, and then I’ll take you back.”

I finished the entire omelet, and all of the sides that came with it, dragging it out to the last.

“You flying or driving back to Vegas?” I asked her, as I finally took her back to her hotel.

“I have a flight in the morning. Early.”

I nodded. I’d driven, as this trip had been a last minute impulse; I’d learned about the show the morning prior. Also, I liked to drive. If I thought I had a chance in hell, I’d have put some real effort into getting her to drive with me.

“Well, I drive in the morning. Let me know if you miss your flight, or just want to sleep in, you can come with.”

She didn’t respond. I hadn’t thought she would.

I walked her in and got a room there myself.

I tossed and turned all night, obsessed with the fact that she was under the same roof, somewhere.





CHAPTER TWELVE





DANIKA

I’d bought a house the year prior, less than two months after I’d moved back to Las Vegas.

It was an odd move, because I’d never even considered buying a place before. I’d been a pretty happy renter.

But I made good money, and I’d just started looking at houses, with a mind to planting some roots. Very quickly, I’d found a cute little place in Seven Hills. The commute wasn’t bad into work. The traffic was a dream, compared to what I’d gotten used to in Los Angeles, and my location gave me a few route options, if I hit it at the wrong times.

It was a quiet area, and for the most part, my neighbors kept to themselves.

The lady next door had what seemed like thirty cats, but that didn’t bother me. I didn’t have pets, but I loved pets, so I found myself buying cat food, and putting it on my back porch, shamelessly feeding the felines so they’d like me.

I traveled too much to have my own pets, so I just borrowed a few sometimes.

There was an orange tabby and a blue point Himalayan I was particularly fond of, and those ones even got to come into my house.

I had a promising future as a lonely cat lady.

I’d been back in town for two days and still hadn’t had any contact with Tristan. I’d gotten right back into work, and I knew Tristan’d had his show the last two nights.

Some days I enjoyed the peaceful solitude of my little house in Seven Hills. Some days there was nothing I loved more than coming home from work, putting on a pair of sweats, collecting my furry friends, and curling up with a good book, shutting out the world, getting lost in fantasyland. Nothing beat an absorbing book in terms of distraction.

I wasn’t feeling that need for solitude so much that night. I wasn’t in the mood for reading or borrowing cats.

In fact, I felt so lonely that I found myself doing something I almost never did.

Logging onto Facebook.

It was my personal account, so there wasn’t much going on. I had two friend requests, but only one of them had my heart racing. I clicked confirm on both before I could talk myself out of it.

Less than two minutes later, a little red number one appeared above my message box, and breathless, I clicked on it.

Tristan had left me a short message.





Tristan Vega: Thanks for accepting my friend request. I promise to try my hardest to refrain from sending you too many dick pics.





That surprised a laugh out of me, and then a smile that just wouldn’t go away.





Danika Markova: How sweet. What a gentleman you are.





Tristan Vega: By too many, I mean more than a dozen, just so you can’t say I didn’t give you fair warning.





Danika Markova: Don’t make me find the unfriend button.





I sent it as a joke, but his response back was effusive and apologetic.





Tristan Vega: I’m very sorry. I was totally joking.





Danika Markova: I was only joking, too.





Tristan Vega: You have any exciting plans this weekend?





I sighed, not knowing what to tell him, not knowing what to do. What I wanted to do and how I needed to handle things were two polar opposites at the moment, actively working against each other.





Danika Markova: I do have plans. How was the show tonight?





Tristan Vega: Good. Want to have lunch tomorrow, at the casino? I’ll be in early, and I know you’re working.





I shut my eyes, knowing that I should find an excuse to say no. I needed to slow this thing down, and if we started seeing each other on a daily basis, that wasn’t going to happen.

He was easing his way into being a big part of my life again, and I knew that it was nothing that I should encourage. He took a mile for every inch I gave. He always had.

Still, I told myself it was only lunch. And if he was already going to be there, it seemed over the top rude to turn him down.





Danika Markova: Sounds good. Just let me know when you want to go. My lunch hour is flexible.