“How did you find this place?”
Her question pulled him back into the moment. He unfolded his arms and let them hang at his sides. “The Internet. You can find anything there.”
They parted ways and wandered around the museum. Noah was checking out an exhibit about some old cowboy at one side of the museum, while Libby was squatting in front of the skeleton again. A young woman approached Libby with an apologetic grimace. “I’m so sorry. My associate should have told you that we’re closing soon. You and your husband will need to leave in ten minutes when we close.”
Libby stood. “That’s okay. We’re almost done.”
The woman leaned closer and winked. “Your husband is really hot,” she said in an undertone he could just barely hear.
Libby’s face reddened. “Oh, he’s not my husband. He’s just a friend.”
The museum employee looked stricken. “Is he gay?”
Libby laughed. “No. Definitely not. But Noah . . . he’s not husband material . . . if you know what I mean.”
The woman nodded. “Too many of them aren’t nowadays.”
Libby flashed him a smile before returning her attention to the skeleton, but Noah was too caught up in her words to even pretend to pay attention to anything else.
Not husband material.
Somehow it was worse that she hadn’t hesitated to say it in front of him. Well, it was sort of true, wasn’t it? Up until recently, that’s exactly how he’d wanted it. Unencumbered. Unattached.
Unloved.
How come he’d never realized he was lonely? Libby was like a warm ray of sunlight, and he wanted nothing more than to bask in it. He wanted more than one-night stand after one-night stand, but he didn’t want just anyone. He wanted Libby. He just had to prove to her that he was suitable, that he was the type of man who could be her partner.
But first he had to get his job back. Even if it meant crawling back to his brother with a peace offering.
The Abrahams account.
He pulled out his phone and responded to Tiffany’s Facebook message.
I hear your boss is on a work trip this week. Any hint where he might be?
She responded within seconds.
Las Vegas. At that stupid machine convention. I’m going with him. We arrive Monday afternoon.
Noah knew exactly where they were going next.
Vegas.
Chapter Ten
“Las Vegas?” she grumbled in disgust. “Why are we going to Vegas?”
He shrugged as they pulled onto the highway. “It sounds like fun.”
“You told me you hate Vegas as much as I do.”
He grimaced. “I thought we could see Hoover Dam. Remember we watched When Fools Rush In, that stupid movie with the guy from Friends? You said you wanted to see the dam after that.”
“True . . .” But that wasn’t why he really wanted to go to Vegas. She had no idea how he’d managed to snow so many women. She found him so transparent. He was up to something else, she just didn’t know what yet.
“It’ll be fun.”
“If you say so.” But she had to admit that anything with Noah was fun. If he wanted to go to Las Vegas, she was willing to give it a shot.
They stopped for the night in Liberal, Kansas, only an hour away. She suggested they continue driving, but Noah said he needed to plan out the next day’s adventures.
“I thought it was Vegas,” she said over dinner at a barbeque restaurant.
“That’s the final destination,” he said, typing into his phone. “We can still have an adventure on the way.”
He’d spent more time on his phone in the last fifteen minutes than she’d seen him do in the five months she’d known him. That was one of his appealing traits. She’d gone through a ton of men who seemed more attached to their phones than they were to her. Noah was always totally engaged with her. Except tonight. Then the obvious reason hit her square in the face. He didn’t want to be there.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” she said without accusation. “You can take me home. Or even put me on a bus.”
His face jerked up, his eyes wide with alarm. “Why would you say that?”
“Noah,” she leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Where would you be right now if you weren’t here with me in Liberal, Kansas?”
He placed his phone on the table and sat back in his chair. “If you had gotten married, probably in a hotel room in Kansas City.”
“You weren’t planning to take a flight back to Seattle today?”
“No.” He frowned. “Josh and I were supposed to have a meeting tomorrow.”
Guilt washed through her. “We need to go back. You have to go to that meeting.”
He shook his head, his eyes hardening. “No we don’t. Josh can handle the meeting and I was owed some vacation time.”
“Just last month you told me that you’d used up all your vacation time.”
He groaned, then leaned closer. “Libby. This is where I want to be. With you.”
“Because you feel sorry for me.”
He laughed. “Sorry for you? Why would I feel sorry for you? Well, other than the fact you’re wearing clothes from Walmart.”
The way he was blowing off her concerns irritated her. “Noah, I’m serious.”
“Libby. So am I.” He sighed, then put his hand over hers. “Are you having fun?”
“Well, yeah. But that’s not the point.”
He smiled, that dazzling megawatt smile that usually won him any woman he wanted. She’d been immune to it. Until now. Her insides warmed and her breath caught in her chest as she stared into his deep brown eyes.
“The point is,” he continued, apparently unaware of the impact he had on her, “this is where I want to be. With you. There’s no self-sacrifice involved. You should know me well enough by now to know that I’m incapable of that particular trait.” He gave her a wry grin, and she decided to let it drop even though she didn’t agree with his assessment of himself. But she also knew him well enough to know when it was pointless to argue with him.
She flashed him a smile. “Okay. You’ve sold me. You want to be here. I want to be here. We both want to be here. What are we doing tomorrow?”
He pushed out a breath, looking more relaxed. “It’s a surprise, of course.”
“Why? Today was my day. Tomorrow can be yours.”
He shook his head. “No can do. You don’t have a license, so you can’t drive.”
Well, shit. He was right. “Where are we staying in Vegas and when will we get there?”
“Caesar’s Palace. I made reservations for Tuesday night.”
She reached her hand across the table. “Let me borrow your phone.”
“Why?”
“I need to call Blair.”
He hesitated. “Why?”
“Since when did you start giving me the third degree? I’m going to see if she’ll send some things to me at the hotel.”
“Okay.” He tapped on his screen before handing it over. “Do you need some privacy?”
“No,” she released a mock laugh. “That went so well with Megan last time. I need a witness in case Blair figures out a way to reach through the phone line and strangle me.”