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“Great! Just what I need,” Tanner grumbled. He watched Johan open the driver’s door and get out, then followed. Tanner stepped onto South Las Vegas Boulevard, jam-packed with vehicles that were now at a standstill, and made his way to the front of the limo. A cursory glance told him that the damage was relatively minor.
When he looked at the other vehicle, a red Subaru Legacy, it was clear that it had sustained the worst damage from the collision.
He watched as the Subaru’s driver got out and approached him. “I’ll handle this,” he told Johan before turning his attention to the female driver. She was tall by female standards, though still about eight inches shorter than his six-foot-four frame. Her blond, brown streaked hair was long and wavy, and she had nice lips that were presently a crooked line, but that didn’t stop him from finding her drop-dead gorgeous.
She gazed at her vehicle and then glared at him. “Look what you did to my car!”
“Actually, it was my driver,” Tanner said humorlessly, glancing at Johan. “Technically speaking. Beyond that, you didn’t exactly give him a choice with your sudden stop.”
“I stopped because a car swerved into my lane,” she snapped. “It would have hit me if hadn’t slammed on the brakes. Maybe if your driver hadn’t been riding my bumper for a couple of blocks, he would have had more time to react.”
Johan furrowed his brow. “You’re blaming me for this?”
She turned her brown eyes to him. “The damage speaks for itself.”
Tanner got between them as if they were ready to come to blows. He looked ahead of her car and saw that traffic had begun to move again, including the careless driver who had apparently been responsible for this entire mess. He didn’t doubt that she was telling the truth, knowing how crazy some of the drivers were in Vegas, but that didn’t change their situation.
“Well, what’s done is done,” Tanner told the attractive woman.
“What about the damage to my car?” she asked tartly.
“Isn’t that what your insurance is for?” Tanner asked.
“Yes, when it’s my fault. Other than that, I’d rather not have to go through my insurance company, only to have my rates go up unfairly.”
“I see.” Tanner put a hand to his chin. Though there was no way of knowing who truly was at fault for the damage outside of the other driver, he decided to cut her some slack. But only because he was in a hurry and didn’t want to drag this thing out any longer than necessary. Besides, a buddy of his owned an auto repair shop and owed him a favor. Now, with two cars that needed work, he would owe his friend a favor. “We’ll take care of it, no problem. I can call for a tow to take your car to be repaired and give you a lift anywhere you like.”
“Fine,” she said with seeming reluctance, as though he planned to kidnap her in broad daylight.
“By the way, I’m Tanner Long and this is my driver, Johan.”
“Bianca Wagner.”
Tanner took out his cell phone and met her eyes. This ought to be interesting, he thought. Maybe in more ways than one.
* * *
Bianca sat in the limousine, wondering if she would have been better off simply driving her car to the repair shop herself. But why should she? The rear end of her car was damaged, through no fault of her own, and Tanner Long was footing the bill to have it repaired.
She glanced at him as he sat next to her, checking her out. Pretending not to notice, she turned away. But the image of him was indelibly seared in her mind. After all, she’d seen him enough on television, the paper and online. In person, he was even more gorgeous, if that was even possible. Tall and trim, he was bald with chiseled features, gray-black eyes, a thin mustache and small chin beard. His business-casual attire was a perfect fit and suited him.
I’d love to ask him a few questions about himself and his business success, she thought, but I wouldn’t want him to get any more conceited than he probably already is. Especially since she was vulnerable as his passenger and a car-accident victim, rather than being here in her professional capacity.
“Where are you from?” Tanner asked, as if strictly for conversation.
“Excuse me?” Bianca’s eyes widened.
“It doesn’t sound like you’re from around here.”
“What does my voice sound like to you?” She was curious, considering she believed she had no accent.
“It sounds sexy,” Tanner said, a half grin playing on his lips. “Aside from that, I think I detected a slight Southern inflection there. Maybe from Texas, Georgia, or Alabama. Am I getting close?”
Too close, Bianca thought. “Actually, I’m from Houston,” she confessed.
He smiled. “Houston’s a great city. How long have you been in Vegas?”
“Awhile,” she responded, deciding to turn the tables. “Where are you from?” She seemed to recall that she’d read he was from the East.
“New York,” he said. “I loved it there, but my brother and I needed to chart our own territory, so we ended up here in Vegas.”
“Good for you.” Bianca paused thoughtfully. “And your brother is Solomon Long...?”
“Yeah, you know him?”
“Only of him—and you,” she said tonelessly. “I read the papers.”
“I see.” Tanner sat back. “So are you a gambler?”
Bianca met his eyes. “Not really. I only like to bet on a sure thing.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Me, too.”
She colored under the weight of his stare, as though she were that “sure thing” in his mind. Or was she misreading him as a man who was used to getting who and what he wanted?
“Is that why you’re opening up a casino?” she asked.
“Good question,” Tanner said. “Actually, I do consider it a sure thing. People come from all over the world to Las Vegas to gamble, among other things. There’s always room for one more place to spend and lose money.”
“Aloha Seas,” Bianca said.
“You’ve got it.” He smiled. “If you’d like to come to the grand opening in two days, consider this an invitation.”
“Thanks, but I’ll be busy that day,” she responded, knowing that another reporter had already been assigned to cover the event at the newspaper.
Tanner frowned. “Really? All day...?”
“Part of the day,” she said truthfully.
“So spend the other part at the grand opening. It’ll be fun, even for a nongambler.”
Bianca didn’t doubt that, even if she was sure he’d be far too busy as cohost to even notice her there. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fair enough,” he said evenly.
“You can let me off here,” Bianca instructed Johan.
He pulled up in front of the Owen-Knight Building.
Bianca looked at Tanner. “Thanks for the lift.”
“Anytime,” he said smoothly. “But hopefully next time it won’t be because we ran into your car.”
She smiled. “I agree. Speaking of...”
“It may take a few days to get it repaired, but my man will take care of it. If you need a loaner or...”
“I can wait. I’ll take a cab until then.” She certainly couldn’t expect him to shepherd her around. Nor would she want him to. They exchanged contact information. “Bye.”
“Till we meet again,” Tanner told her, as if it were written in stone.
Bianca wasn’t so sure about that. Yes, she was definitely attracted to the man. Who wouldn’t be? But that didn’t mean she was eager to become another notch on his belt. That was, if he hadn’t already lost count, she thought
She watched as the limousine drove off. Her thoughts turned to the grand opening gala at Aloha Seas and the opportunity to see Tanner again in his element.
Chapter 2
“Since when did you start arriving at work in a limo?” Melanie Rice, Bianca’s coworker and friend asked.
“Since the limo driver ran into my car,” Bianca said as they both went inside the building.
Melanie, who was the same age and a little taller, cast Bianca a doubtful look. “And that’s how he’s repaying you?”
“Something like that.” Bianca suppressed a smile. “The limo actually belongs to Tanner Long.”
“The Tanner Long?” Melanie asked, her blue eyes widening.
“Unless there’s another one I don’t know about,” Bianca joked.
“There’s only one man who looks that good,” declared Melanie as they entered the elevator. “Maybe two, if you include his brother.”
Bianca found it hard to argue the point, but decided to do so anyway. “He’s not that great. But Tanner did step up and offer to have my car repaired, free of charge.”
“Oh, really?” Melanie pushed a strand of curly dark hair from her face. “How’d you manage that?”
“Wasn’t too difficult,” Bianca said. “After all, it was his driver who was too close to my car when I had to stop suddenly to avoid hitting someone else.”
“Either way, my guess is that you left as much of an impression on Mr. Long as he did on you.”
Did I? Bianca wondered. Or would any attractive woman who kept herself in shape have impressed him?
“I doubt that,” she responded. “He was too preoccupied with the grand opening of his hotel-casino to be thinking about leaving impressions.”
“We should go to the grand opening,” Melanie said as the elevator doors opened to the sixth floor. “I know Oscar Presley has been assigned to write a piece for the paper. But now that you know one of the owners personally—”
Bianca chuckled. “I wouldn’t exactly put it that way,” she said, then admitted, “But he did invite me.”
“Then it’s settled,” Melanie said, practically jumping for joy, as if they had both won the lottery. “I’m sure he won’t mind if I tag along, and maybe I’ll even put a few dollars in the slot machines.”
“I’m sure he won’t mind,” Bianca agreed, especially when they would probably fade into the woodwork with all the city’s dignitaries on hand to welcome the Aloha Seas to Las Vegas.
Melanie beamed. “Now I just have to decide what to wear. You never know who we might run into.”
Knowing that her friend turned heads all the time, Bianca was certain that would be no problem. “I’m sure we’ll both look great no matter what we wear.”
“Maybe so,” Melanie said. “But there’s nothing wrong with a little icing on the cake, so to speak.”
Bianca grinned. “Whatever you say.” She reached her workstation. “I’ll talk to you later.”
Sitting at her desk, Bianca attempted to concentrate on a few articles she was working on. If only her thoughts weren’t filled with images of Tanner Long.
* * *
Tanner walked into the hotel. Everything sparkled, and it was a damned good imitation of Hawaii, complete with palm trees, sand, pool replicas of the ocean, an amazing luau area, and authentic Hawaiian cuisine and drinks. There were two nightclubs and a concert hall. Of course, there was also a casino that was pure Las Vegas with plenty of slot machines, blackjack tables, card dealers and a professional and friendly staff to keep things running smoothly.
He thought about Bianca. Perhaps it was serendipitous that their cars had collided. Otherwise he might never have laid eyes on the beauty. He was a firm believer in fate and that all things happened for a reason.
He liked the idea of getting to know Bianca better. But first, she had to show up for the grand opening. Then they could take it from there, assuming she didn’t bring a date. He certainly didn’t mind a little competition from time to time. But when it came to women, he preferred not to have to compete for anyone he had his eye on.
And currently that was Bianca Wagner, whom he knew far too little about at the moment. He hoped to rectify that soon.
“There you are....” Tanner heard the familiar voice, breaking his reverie.
He turned to see his brother approaching with Frank Regan, the general manager.
“For a minute there, I thought you’d gone to the wrong place,” Solomon said.
“I had to make a slight detour,” Tanner explained, gazing at his brother. They were the same height. Many had said they would be hard to tell apart between their close features and size, except Solomon chose to wear his black hair long and curly instead of shaving it all off. Tanner was glad that set them apart. The last thing he needed or wanted was to have people getting him confused with his brother and vice versa. Particularly where it concerned the ladies, as their tastes were about as different as night and day.
“Oh, right, the accident,” Solomon said.
“What accident?” Frank asked, scratching his thinning blond-gray hair.
“Just a slight fender bender,” Tanner said. “I took care of it. No big deal.”
“Glad to hear that,” Solomon told him. “We’ve got less than forty-eight hours till the big opening, and there’s still a lot to be done.”
Tanner smiled. “Including cost cutting?”
“Hey, someone has to watch the bottom line,” his brother said with a chuckle.
“And you’re the right man for the job. Don’t you agree, Frank?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Together, you two are unbeatable.”
“Which makes the three of us that much more formidable,” Tanner told him, patting the fiftysomething general manager on the back. They began walking and Tanner regarded both men. “So bring me up to speed on anything I’ve missed, and I’ll do the same.”
“Well, for one, you missed the glamorous Kendre Kelly rehearsing for her opening act in the concert hall,” Frank told him.
