Lucky In Love by Deborah Coonts Read Free Book Online Page A

eyes, they followed him like lambs to slaughter.
    Vera leaned into Walker as his arm circled her shoulder. She looked stricken. I didn’t blame her—nothing to take the starch out of your shirt like the prospect of the world knowing that you were so desperate you had to pay an actor to pretend to love you. Well, you live by the contract, you die by the contract. No wonder everyone hated lawyers.
    “Walker, what am I going to do?” The ice had melted.
    “You two know each other?”
    “We’ve done several deals together,” Walker explained, before turning to Vera. “As ceo s, you and I know how to spin anything to our advantage. Why don’t you let me buy you a drink? We can put out heads together.”
     
    * * *
     
    M y father found me in Delilah’s Bar, contemplating various healing waters. “Pick your poison, I’m buying.” He snaked an arm around my waist and gave me a squeeze, then let go as he straddled the stool next to mine. He was a handsome man, shorter than me by several inches but fit and trim, with chiseled features and salt-and-pepper hair. He looked twenty years younger than his mid-sixties age. Tonight, he had abandoned his normal suit and tie in favor of an open-collared pink button-down and charcoal grey slacks.
    “You sure? Tonight calls for a double dose.” I’d left the contestants to solve their own problems. Usually, not being able to bring about a good solution made me twitchy. Not tonight. Besides, I didn’t see a ready happy ending, which took a bit of rose tint off my glasses.
    “That bad?” My father nodded at Sean, our head bartender, who set to work. Apparently the mixologist had heard enough of the conversation. With a flourish and a smile he slid a tumbler filled with Wild Turkey to me, then put the same in front of my father.
    Holding the glass to the light, I eyeballed the contents. More than a double. To hell with the Self-Betterment Program. “I’m seriously considering serial monogamy.”
    My timing was impeccable—my father had just taken his first sip. He spluttered and choked until I thought I might need to hammer him on the back.
    “I don’t know,” I continued. “It seems there comes a point in every relationship where something changes. One or both quit trying. The honeymoon ends. Whatever. It just doesn’t seem to work so seamlessly anymore.” I cast a forlorn look at my father.
    His face red, he dabbed at his eyes with a cocktail napkin and still could not draw a full breath.
    “This is where the serial monogamy comes in. After a couple of years, when things start to settle into that whole taking-each-other-for-granted phase, my friends and I could get together and trade.”
    “Trade?” My father managed to choke the word out. I ignored the fact that he looked ready to do something rash.
    “Yeah. We could pass the guys around, sort like musical chairs, and we each could move one spot to the right. Then it would still stay fresh. Know what I mean?”
    My father looked defeated. “I’m sure there’s a law against that, or something.”
    “Please, it’s Vegas. Long-term relationships here are measured in hours, not to mention paid for in similar increments.” I took a dainty sip of my Wild Turkey and relished the ball of fire that chased down my throat and exploded in my stomach. Bliss. “Speaking of which, where’s Mother? Aren’t you two attached at the hip or something?”
    “I know you love her, as I do, so I’m not going to give you the fight you’re angling for.”
    Fathers. They could see right through you. I hated that part.
    “I’m not really picking a fight, but something’s bugging me, I’ll admit that. I just don’t know what exactly.”
    My father seemed to think that over for a minute as we both worked on our firewater.
    “Seriously, where’s Mother?”
    “She knows me well,” my father said. He spun around on his stool. Back to the bar, he leaned back resting his elbows on the polished mahogany as he surveyed the casino.