“Ouch! That wounds me deeply, Lia.”
“I think you’re just pretending to be worried about us, but deep down, even a man as manly-man such as yourself, is dying to see La Rêve. I’m sure we’ll be safe among the other ten thousand people out walking on this stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard,” Rachel mocked.
“I’m not dissing your dancing show, but I’ll take the Ultimate Fighting Championship fight card that’s on this weekend any day over a chick concert, even if it is at a nice venue.”
“Oh, you macho, macho man. How could we have been so wrong about you?” Lia said as the door opened.
Rafe was trying hard to tune out the bantering between his little sisters and Shane while he waited for Ari to appear. He wished that the three of them would leave so he could show Ari what happened to little teases. Her act on the jet deserved to be…rewarded.
He couldn’t even pretend he hadn’t liked it. He’d been ready to throw her on his bed and sink deep inside her, but he wanted more than that. Her growing confidence was like fuel to a fire. He wanted to take her so hard, she wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.
“Are you kidding me?”
Everyone in the room had stopped talking and turned in his direction before Rafe realized he’d spoken the words out loud. At what must have been a furious expression on his face, Ari had the nerve to smirk at him before sending a wink his way and then swaying her h*ps as she walked up to Lia and Rachel.
“Is there a problem, Rafe?” the minx asked innocently.
Hell yes, there was a problem. Her dress was indecently short and hugging her in all his favorite places, and with her hair tied back in an elegant knot, the smooth lines of her neck screamed its own come-on to half of the world. Rafe knew that every single — and married — man who came within twenty feet of her would be picturing himself in the most X-rated positions known to man — and those images were for him alone.
“Don’t you think you’re dressed a bit inappropriately for a nice show?”
As his sisters gasped in outrage and disbelief, Rafe knew he’d said the wrong thing. He’d never win this battle. Even if Ari gave in and decided to cover herself up, his sisters would drag her from the room first. Rafe really hated it when women banded together. They were more impenetrable that way than the freaking Great Wall of China.
“On that note, we’ll be leaving now, you egotistical a-hole,” Rachel said as she took Ari’s arm and pulled her from the room.
Rafe thought about chasing after her, but then he saw Shane’s face and sent a withering look his way before walking to the wet bar and pouring himself a double shot.
“You know, you were the object of their fury first,” Rafe reminded him. Shane’s laughter spilled out and Rafe had to admit the humor of the situation.
“Damn, Rafe. With you around, I look like a superhero. I think we need to start double-dating again like we did back in the day. You play bad cop, because you’ve got the role down pat. I’ll swoop in and save the poor damsels.”
“And how does that help me?”
Oh, I was just thinking of myself, but I guess there are some women out there who like ass**les.”
If Rafe hadn’t known his friend so well, he might have been tempted to slug him, but even though Shane was wearing a deadpan expression as he spoke, the twinkle in his eyes gave him away.
“I need to get out of this room,” Shane said. “Let’s go play cards.”
“I’ve never understood your desire to gamble, Shane. You sit there playing a game in which the outcome doesn’t affect you in the least. Who cares if you win twenty thousand? You have more money than you’ll ever need in this lifetime, and the next.”
“Rafe, why are you always so serious? The point is to sit at a table with other people, let loose, drink a lot, and, most importantly, watch the entertainment.”
“You expect me to go to the Pussycat Lounge again?”
“Come on, Rafe. You have to admit, the dealers are a whole lot easier to look at than at most places,” Shane answered with a laugh.
“I’d rather work.”
“Tough. You dragged me to Vegas and we have nothing to do until tomorrow. Tonight we get drunk, eye the ladies and lose a bunch of money.”
Rafe thought about refusing, but it had been a while since he’d enjoyed himself like that. Besides, he knew Shane wouldn’t let up, so he might as well go and at least enjoy a good cigar. He could be doing worse things than spending an evening with his best friend.
*****
“You girls have no idea how much Rafe is going to flip out if he finds out we’ve done this.”
“Loosen up, Ari. The man doesn’t own you, and believe me, you’re going to want to see this show.”
“I’m not protesting too much,” Ari said with a big grin as they walked in the front doors of the Excalibur Casino. Ari wouldn’t admit it, but she was beyond excited. Before meeting her three girlfriends at work, she’d never gone out on the town.
Now that she’d had a taste of the weekend social scene, she had to admit that she’d really missed out over the years. She would certainly avoid clubs with spiked drinks, but watching a good male strip show while hanging with friends seemed to be something all women should do at least once.
Ari loved Amber, Shelly and Miley, but she’d also grown quite fond of Lia and Rachel. When she and Rafe ultimately broke up, Ari was afraid that friendship would be lost. She’d tried to not get close to the girls, but they made that impossible.
“I really don’t want to put a negative note on the evening, but what happens when Rafe and I are no longer…friends?”
The two girls stopped and twisted around to face her, for once wearing serious expressions. Lia turned first with Rachel right behind as if choreographed, and both girls threw their arms around Ari, making her eyes fill with tears as the sisters held on tight.
“I hate to admit this, but Rafe has gone through a lot of women. We’re not stupid. We know about his so-called rules. We hate that about him — despise how he is with his women. However, before you came along, there wasn’t one of his girlfriends whom we wanted to know. We were relieved when he grew bored and off those bimbos went. They tolerated us and vice versa,” Rachel started. Ari gulped down the knot in her throat.
“That being said, you’re different, Ari. I honestly wouldn’t say this to you if I didn’t believe it. Rafe cares about you. I’ve never seen him act the way he does with you with any other woman — not even with his ex-wife. He may have thought he was in love with her, and he may think his heart was broken, but that’s not really it. He was humiliated, disillusioned — but not heartbroken,” Lia added.