Read Online Hot on His Heels (What Happens in Vegas) by Margo Bond Collins - Free Book Online Page B

other side of the street, he almost ran into her, so caught up was he in listening to her talk about mysteries he’d never heard of.
    I don’t even like mysteries that much.
    “Where now?” Sadie asked, looking up and down the street.
    Right. Dinner.
    Kamille had made reservations at Andre’s at the Monte Carlo, determined to make this as romantic an evening as possible.
    That’s where the cameras would be, waiting to get the pictures of the prizewinner’s Cinderella evening. Although he had managed to wrest a promise out of Kamille that the pictures wouldn’t show his face, Jake didn’t need to worry about it. He suspected that Sadie would shut down in front of the photographers. She wouldn’t want the students and academics in her everyday life to stumble across a photo of her actually having fun.
    And this was it—his one chance to get to know this tiny woman who had been emailing him for months, and whose presence he suddenly craved.
    “We’re supposed to meet the photographers now.” He watched her carefully for her response.
    There it was—a tiny shudder, quickly suppressed.
    “But I have a better idea.” With a grin, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the escalator. “Let’s ditch the chaperones and go make our own fun.”
    “Not go to dinner?” Sadie sounded uncertain.
    “Oh, we’ll have dinner. Just not the dinner Kamille had planned for us.”

Chapter Nine
    Sadie trailed behind Jake, once again feeling slightly stunned by his smile—not to mention the fact that apparently he wanted to spend the evening alone with her, without photographers hovering around.
    Either that, or he wanted to get it over with as fast as he could.
    That wouldn’t surprise her, really—after all, she had just been lecturing him as if he were one of her students. All he had to say was that he read mysteries sometimes, and she was off and running.
    Oh, I’m such an idiot.
    Of course he didn’t want to be photographed with her—who would? She was a mousy, plain English professor who had been thrust upon him for the evening, probably against his wishes. The dress, shoes, and makeup had done a lot to bring out her inner siren, but it wasn’t a permanent change, just one night.
    That didn’t mean she couldn’t hope for more, even if it was for just a little while. “‘A regard, which despite all my struggles, has overcome every rational objection,’” she muttered.
    Jake cocked his head in her direction. “What was that?”
    “Nothing,” Sadie mumbled, staring at the ground.
    “No. I recognize it. It’s…Jane Austen, right?”
    The quick uptick in her heartbeat warned Sadie that she was about to turn bright red from chest to hairline. She needed to remember that this guy wasn’t just a pretty face. He might say he didn’t have much time to read any longer, but he had gotten a solid education somewhere along the way.
    She nodded, wishing she could shake her hair out to cover her flaming cheeks. “ Pride and Prejudice .”
    “Right. When Darcy proposes the first time.” Jake’s self-satisfied nod made Sadie laugh, even through her embarrassment.
    When they reached the Bellagio and Jake ushered her through the door, the cool air-conditioning caught her skirt, swirling it around her thighs. She pushed it down, feeling just a little bit like Marilyn Monroe.
    Albeit less glamorous.
    Though surely it would be okay if she pretended for one night to be someone else. Someone more beautiful, more confident. Someone who might actually catch the eye of a man like Jake Blaine.
    Could she do it? She had compared herself to Cinderella earlier in the evening. What would it take for her to be that make-believe princess? Could she convince herself to believe in the role enough to make it real?
    Okay. Maybe not the whole evening. But through dinner? She could be someone else through dinner.
    Maybe, if she kept the right words in mind, she could believe them.
    “‘…all that’s best of dark and bright /