Brandon’s mouth tasted sweet on Leah’s as balloons fell from the ceiling and the clock struck midnight. Somewhere not far from them, Kate and Dix were kissing too, but for now Leah concentrated on Brandon’s hands on her waist and the slide of his tongue on hers. They kissed until it was twelve-oh-one.
‘Happy New Year,’ Brandon said.
‘Same to you.’ She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly, once more.
Though the party wasn’t over – hell, in Vegas was it ever over? – Kate and Dix were heading back up to the room. Since Brandon and Leah had already spent the past couple hours in the suite taking advantage of the privacy, Leah felt morally obligated to give her friend the same amount of time. They’d all managed to change their flights so they could leave together, and she knew getting to the airport tomorrow by 10 a.m. would be pure unadulterated hell, but she wasn’t tired.
‘You want to dance some more?’ Brandon gestured at the couples bumping and grinding on the dance floor. ‘Grab something to eat?’
Leah shook her head. ‘Let’s go for a walk.’
He cast a dubious look at her shoes. ‘Uh huh.’
Leah laughed. ‘When I can’t stand it any longer, you can carry me on your back.’
Brandon raised one lovely dark eyebrow. ‘Uh huh.’
She stood on tiptoes again to brush her mouth on his. ‘You’ll be my pony.’
He laughed at that, though the cutest faint blush appeared at the base of his throat. ‘Whatever you want.’
She linked her fingers through his. ‘C’mon, baby. Maybe we’ll even hit Nathan’s for a hot dog. Or ride the roller coaster.’
Now both brows went up. ‘It’s after midnight!’
‘And we’re in Las Vegas,’ she pointed out. ‘Let your hair down.’
Brandon bent to curl his arm around her waist, lifting and twirling her while she laughed. She didn’t care if people were watching, or that the room spun as she got dizzy. It was the perfect excuse to cling to her big, strong man so she didn’t stumble.
Hand-in-hand, they wove their way through the crowd, which seemed no smaller than it had at any point during the night, and into the hotel lobby. Here there were more fetish con people. Maybe they’d had their own party.
The chilly air after the heat inside was nice for about five minutes, but then Brandon shrugged out of his tux jacket and slung it over her shoulders. She hadn’t even asked. Leah looked up at him.
‘How’d you know I was cold?’
‘Um, aside from the fact your teeth were chattering?’
They paused in front of the huge M & M store. Leah slipped her arms into the sleeves. ‘So it was obvious.’
He shrugged. ‘Well, it’s cold out here. Your arms are bare. I figured you’d be cold. You’re always cold at home, anyway. It’s why you always wear a sweater.’
‘I love that you know that about me.’
He smiled. ‘I should, don’t you think?’
They walked a little further, slowly. Brandon’s hand anchored in his pocket to make his arm a loop just right for her to hold. ‘I’m not sure if it’s a matter of should.’
He looked down at her and steered her gently around a scatter of broken glass. ‘I think it is. If you love someone you should know the important stuff about them. Not just things like their favourite colour but you know. Stuff that’s really necessary for getting along with each other.’
God, he was smart. Not just book-smart, though she knew he was that, too. Brandon was insightful. Intelligent in the way that mattered. And she was an idiot for ever thinking they weren’t meant to be together.
‘If you’re going to live with someone, it’s especially important,’ she said wryly.
Benches in Vegas were hardly ever empty, but this one was, and Leah grabbed it to give her poor feet a rest. They had a fabulous view of the Bellagio fountain show from here, one of the many Vegas spectaculars she hadn’t yet seen. Maybe they’d be lucky and it would go off while they were here.
Brandon laughed and sat next to her. ‘Well, duh.’
She gave him a look. ‘Did you just “duh” me?’
‘Absolutely.’
She watched him stretch out those long legs and put his hands behind his head. A man fully pleased with himself. She leant closer to say in a low voice, ‘Pretty cocky, aren’t you?’
‘Absolutely,’ Brandon said again.
‘Shameless.’
‘That too.’
Leah snuggled against him and watched people pass by, most of them drunk. They were going to be hurting in the morning. God. The morning. She looked up at the sky that was probably still dark, but it was too hard to tell with all the Vegas lights.
‘I don’t want to go home,’ Leah said suddenly.
Brandon slid an arm around her shoulders. ‘No? How come? I mean, aside from the obvious.’
She sighed and put her head on his shoulder. ‘Back to work, for one thing.’
‘Yeah.’ He sighed, too. ‘I’m sure I’ll have a buttload of crap to deal with. If I’m lucky nobody will have quit while I’m gone. If I’m luckier, I won’t have to fire anyone when I get back.’
She laughed. ‘Same here.’
Brandon kissed the top of her head. ‘I thought you liked your job.’
‘I do. It’s work I don’t like.’
They both laughed at that. A very drunk woman wearing a cone-shaped party hat, her dress halfway up her thighs and her date stumbling behind, whirled around at their laughter. She waved a noisemaker at them.
‘Happy Fucking Nude Year!’
Leah covered her mouth to hide a guffaw at that – usually drunk people didn’t amuse her but this woman was clearly beyond shit-faced. The woman’s date, his tux shirt open, tie gone, zipper undone, did a little dance. Brandon snorted.
‘Did you hear me, honey?’ The woman stumbled forwards and Brandon caught her neatly before she could end up on his lap. ‘I said, Happy Nude Year!’
‘I heard you.’ Brandon, pinned on one side by Leah and by the woman in front
