KING: Las Vegas Bad Boys by Frankie Love Read Free Book Online

Landon jokes.
    “McQueen, you have a girl?” Tess asks, eyes wide, always wanting to know the scoop. “When did that happen?”
    “No, I don’t.” McQueen shoves Landon in the arm. “Don’t start rumors. Tess is susceptible to believing anything she hears.”
    “Be nice,” Emmy says. “I’m gonna show the girls the photos, and then we’ll all have a drink, okay?” She plants a kiss on Ace’s mouth. The kind of kiss you can only get away with when you’ve just returned from your honeymoon.
    Sitting on her sofa, she opens her MacBook and scrolls through hundreds of gorgeous shots. She and Ace really do look like they belong on the cover of a magazine.
    When I tell her so, she replies, “Oh, actually, Vegas Weekly is featuring us next month.”
    “No shit?” I shake my head.
    “Look,” Tess says. “See, Claire, you and Landon did look cute dancing together.”
    “You really did,” Emmy says. “You know your moves.”
    “I was bit obsessed with Pride and Prejudice as a tween. That’s why I learned the waltz. I’m a dork, I know,” I say, feeling lightheaded from the champagne. Lightheaded in a good way. In a way that makes me crane my neck to see if the guys are almost done with poker.
    I want to see Landon again.
    Another half hour passes, and the guys still haven’t emerged from the den. Realizing my dreams of some hook-up with the hottest guy I’ve ever seen naked aren’t going to come true, I let the girls know I should probably head home.
    I have a hall pass from my mother, but no one to use it with.
    “Stay here tonight,” Emmy says. “You too, Tess.”
    “No, I should get home.” I shrug, knowing the only reason I’d stay out all night was if Landon and I had a chance to reconnect. “Thanks though.”
    “Why? You don’t even work tomorrow.”
    “Sorry, girls, I’d rather sleep in my bed.”
    “Is it nice? Your bed?” Tess asks. “You know, I’ve never even been to your place. Isn’t that weird?” She scrunches her nose up and laughs. For a moment, fear fills my stomach. Are they going to ask to come over? I’ve dodged that bullet for months.
    I am being such a shitty friend and, in a moment of vulnerability, I realize something: if they asked right now, I’d let them inside.
    I need to be real with the people who have let me into their lives—and maybe showing them my apartment, where the My Little Ponies and the Barbie dolls are strewn about, would be the perfect way to reveal who I really am.
    But Tess and Emmy don’t press me. Mostly because we all know this penthouse is a hell of a lot more fun to hang out in than any apartment off the strip.
    Ace and the guys walk into the room as I am standing to leave.
    “Let me call a car for you,” Ace offers thoughtfully.
    “Actually, I’ll help you get home,” Landon offers. “I need to run, too.”
    “You sure?” I ask. “I mean, if you have somewhere you need to be?” I squint my eyes, not believing him. Where does anyone need to be at eleven o’clock at night?
    “No, it’s fine, I need to stop at the, uh, the....”
    “Where you headed, bro?” Jack snorts. “The strip club?”
    “I got her,” Landon says to Emmy, ending the discussion.
    I don’t argue. This is what I wanted the moment I walked into this penthouse tonight.
    Him and me. Alone.
    Looking at Landon, warmth spreads through me, remembering his hands on my skin and my mouth on his. It doesn’t take much imagination for my panties to get wet.
    Leaning over to give Emmy and Tess hugs good-bye, I can’t help but feel like I could have been a better person a million times over tonight. Truthful and real and an actual friend.
    Instead, I’m sorta drunk and leaving with a man I let go down on me two weeks ago.

Chapter Seven
    Landon
    C laire steps into the elevator with me, biting her lip in a way she doesn’t seem to realize gets me hard just by watching.
    “Did you have a good night with Tess and Emmy?” I ask as the elevator falls to the ground