In Like a Lion (22 page)

Chapter 27

Coins clanged, beeps assaulted the ears, and lights dazzled as Jake surveyed the casino.

After their ordeal in the desert, it had been startlingly easy to steal a car, make their way to Las Vegas, ditch the car, and wander into the MGM Grand.

The hotel was like another world. The smell of alcohol and perfume warred with lies and desperation. To his superhuman senses, there was even a hint of lion in the air from the lion enclosure situated in the casino. The bright, busy whirl of colors in the carpet herded the eye to the shining machines lining every inch of available space.

He glanced down at Anjali. She bit her lip charmingly, eyes intent as she slipped a nickel into a one-armed bandit.

Thankfully, since they’d probably seemed like homeless people when they first strolled in, they hadn’t run into any security.

A trip to the bathrooms had fixed most of the grime. Of course, there was only so much you could do with hand soap and paper towels. He scrubbed a hand over the long stubble on his chin.

“Do you come here a lot?” Anjali fed another coin into the slot.

She’d been quiet in the car, and since they’d arrived at the casino they’d danced around each other like two boxers, neither willing to make the first jab.

“When Los Angeles gets too hot.”

“You’re not talking about temperature, are you?” Her face scrunched up, her nose wrinkling like a little kid and something twanged in his gut.

He shook his head. The pang expanded into his chest. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

She concentrated on feeding the slot. “Why?”

“I’ve caused you nothing but trouble since the moment we met, but you don’t blame me, do you?” He searched her face, the answer more important than he cared to admit.

“None of this is your fault, Jake.” Anjali’s eyes were solemn. “When are you going to believe that?” She swiveled to yank the arm of the machine.

He eyed her slender back, wanting to say more, but this wasn’t the time or place. His attention turned to the casino floor.

A woman gave him a lingering glance as she slinked past, but he felt no attraction from her sparkling necklace. A fake.

He let her go by.

Two coins cascaded into the metal tray of Anjali’s machine and she laughed, beaming up at him with shining eyes.

Damn, she was spectacular.
It was all he could do not to lean down and capture those full lips in front of God and the casino’s hundreds of cameras.

“This is fun!” she said.

He didn’t answer. An almost physical tug pointed him toward a blond woman crossing in front of the blackjack tables. Her rocks, flashing in the deep crevasse of her cleavage, were real.

“I’ve got to go.”

Anjali’s grin faded as she noticed the direction of his gaze.

“Jake—” Her eyes were troubled, her brow creased.

“It’s why we’re here.” He reminded her and headed after the woman.

They didn’t dare use credit cards, and the places that took cash wanted it up front.

The blonde stopped at a blackjack table and mounted a stool. He bellied up to the table. The woman slid a mascaraed glance in his direction, flicked her gaze away, then immediately back. A coy smile lifted the corners of her mouth and her pupils expanded.

A wedding ring shone on her manicured finger.
Perfect
.

She was young, maybe twenty-five. Pretty, though he didn’t much care for the heavy makeup she wore, but none of it mattered. She was just a means to an end.

He smiled back.

Anjali caught a glimpse of her face in the chrome of the one-armed bandit and was stunned by the raw pain. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the evidence of her distress.

She fought the need to cast a glance over to the tables where Jake chatted with a woman so beautiful and well dressed, she could be a movie star. Hell, she probably was.

They needed money. But watching Jake flirt with another woman roused a sick ache in her throat and formed a knot her stomach. Her hand shook as she dropped another coin into the slot.

Jake leaned close to hear something the other woman said and she put her hand on his strong bicep.

The lioness roared inside Anjali, begging for the woman’s blood, and she trembled with the strain of keeping the beast contained. She rested her head on her hand.

“Are you OK, lady?” An older man stared at her from several machines over. He wore a business suit and a nametag. Here for some sort of convention, probably.

Anjali managed a weak smile while tamping down the need to vault across the room and remove the blonde’s fluffy head from her body. “I’m fine. Jet lag.”

Jake put his powerful hand on the woman’s shoulder. He made the black T-shirt and khakis he wore look like high fashion. She scooped some chips into a silver purse, and he led her away from the table.

They disappeared in the direction of the elevators.

For Jake, the trip to his mark’s hotel room was little more than a blur, an endless parade down corridors lined with bright, overly patterned carpet designed to confuse the eye.

It took all his willpower to paste on a charming smile when she glanced back from leading the way. The manicured hand clasped in his felt cool and alien. It was all he could do not to thrust it away.

Though, he only stole when he couldn’t find, or didn’t have time for, a ‘paperless’ job, stealing had always been a necessary evil in his fight to elude Kincaid. Now more than ever he needed to carry-through, but as she unlocked the door and invited him in, reluctance poured over him. The impersonal luxury of the room closed around him, tight and claustrophobic.

He retook her hand as she turned toward him. All he had to do was get her to take off the necklace and lie down on the bed. The task should be easy. Making it a game always seemed to appeal to these women, but as he opened his lips to do just that, he found he couldn’t.

Not because he felt he couldn’t betray Anjali—nothing was going to happen anyway—but because the man who’d scammed and stolen from so many women no longer existed. That man had thought of himself as a cipher, a being without substance, whose actions had no bearing on the real world.

Thanks to Anjali, whether she could return his feelings or not, he knew there could be a place for him, that his actions had weight and consequence.

“Is everything OK?”

The blonde’s voice wavered around the edges and he caught a vulnerable quiver of her lip. This was a woman held fast in the grip of real pain. He couldn’t bring her more. He would provide for Anjali some other way.

Her skin felt soft as he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You’re very lovely. But what about your husband?”

She released a scoffing laugh edged with a sob. “Don’t worry about him. He couldn’t care less what I do.”

Jake made himself meet her watery gaze. “How ‘bout you? You care what he does?”

She pursed her lips and after a moment gave a tiny jerk of her chin.

“Then go find him. Give him another chance. I can’t imagine sleeping with a stranger is really going to make you feel better.”

Even with his preternatural senses, he never saw the slap coming.

Anjali shoved another coin into the slot.

Several minutes passed in agonizing slowness. The novelty of the clinking coins and spinning tumblers had long worn off. She focused on dropping in one coin after another, using the task to keep her mind off what might be happening in some room in the hotel.

She would
not
visualize Jake taking the blonde into his arms, kissing her, touching her . . .

The concerned bystander snuck another glance, this one alarmed, and moved to a different machine. Apparently, throat clearing could only cover a growl so well.

When Anjali had exhausted most of five dollars in the nickel slots, Jake appeared. The wave of relief she felt when she saw him rocked her down to her shoes. Anger followed quickly, though she wasn’t sure exactly who she was mad at. Jake? The blonde? Herself?

“How’d it go?” she asked, striving for a casual tone but failing.

He took her arm. “It didn’t.”

She stared at him.

He shook his head. “I just couldn’t make myself go though with it. We’ll have to find another way.”

The oppressive jingle and whir of the casino suddenly sounded like a friendly country carnival. She restrained a giddy laugh of relief. “We’ll figure something out.”

Jake checked over his shoulder. “Damn.”

“What is it?”

“Seems like security is coming our way. It might not have anything to do with us, but I’d rather not take a chance. Let’s go. Quickly.”

In seconds they were standing out in the hot, dry night. Anjali stuck her hands in her pants’ pockets. “Where to now?”

In the light radiating from the casinos stretching as far as the eye could see down the strip, Jake’s face appeared shuttered. “I think I have a place where we can regroup.”

He led the way to a two-story motel, several blocks from the strip. It appeared old, but well kept.

Jake had seemed lost in his own thoughts since they’d left the MGM. Anjali didn’t know how to break through to him or even if she should.

She felt torn up inside, exhausted from the heat and fighting her instincts, and puzzled by her conflicting emotions. Her body and mind were at war and she couldn’t figure out a solution, no matter what angle she studied the problem.

He entered the tiny lobby with its mandatory video poker games ahead and she followed.

A pretty Indian-American teenager glanced up from behind the high desk. After a moment, a startled smile lit her face. “Jake!” She rounded the desk in seconds and wrapped him in a quick hug.

Jake shifted, his cheeks pinking. “Hi, Neha.”

She drew back and punched him lightly on the arm. “You jerk. Why’d you disappear like that? We were worried.”

He ducked his head and palmed the base of his neck. “I’m sorry. I had to get out of town.”

She huffed. “A note would have been nice. You heard of email? Texting?” She shook her head, but Anjali could see the girl wasn’t angry. “Hi, I’m Neha Patel,” she said, seeming to notice her for the first time.

“Anjali Mehta.”

“Ah.” Neha grinned and poked him in the ribs. “Found a nice Gujarati girl, after all, hmmm?”

Jake scanned the brightly-lit, van-sized lobby over his shoulder. “If it’s possible, we’d like a room for the night. But we’re broke. I’ll have to owe you for it.”

A speculative gleam shone in the girl’s dark eyes, but she leaned into a back room and snagged a key. “No problem. You never got your last paycheck anyway. Come on.”

She opened the lobby door and led the way outside.

Jake strode even with her. “No need to leave the desk. We can find it.”

She raised an eyebrow and handed him the key. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go on your way without having a little girl talk with Anjali, do you?”

Jake opened and closed his mouth. Seeing the large, dangerous-looking man flabbergasted by a teenage girl made Anjali hide a grin.

Neha patted his arm and dropped back to stride next to Anjali. They passed several doors before the girl turned to Anjali and began speaking in Gujarati. “So how did you two meet?”

Anjali buried another smile at the motherly tone coming from the skinny teenager. She glanced at Jake and answered in Gujarati. “At work.”

“He must be very into you. I can’t imagine anything else would get him to ask for help.”

As they walked, Neha grilled her in such depth Anjali was tempted to answer only with her name, rank, and serial number.

When the girl appeared satisfied, Anjali said, “You seem very close to Jake. He doesn’t trust many people.”

Neha laughed. “I don’t know if he trusts us, but we trust him. I know he seems scary. I was surprised when Pappa hired him, but he saved my father’s life when he was working here.”

Anjali gasped. “What happened?”

“Some guys had been coming by, trying to extort money from my father. Pappa kept refusing, said he’d left that kind of thing back in India. One day, I guess they decided to make an example of him. They were hurting him pretty bad. Jake ran out, pulled them off my father and made sure they’d never come back.”

Anjali studied his broad back in front of them. It must have taken a lot for him to get involved when he must have known any trouble could bring Kincaid to his door.

“Here we are.” Jake stopped before the door number on the key.

Neha lifted an eyebrow at him. “I suppose you’ll be gone in the morning?”

Jake shrugged. She smiled lopsidedly and stood on her tiptoes, giving him a peck on the cheek. “Just leave the key on the nightstand.”

She turned to go. “It was nice meeting you, Anjali.” She wiggled her fingers in a jaunty wave and started down the long row back toward the lobby.

Jake opened the door and held it open for Anjali. She went in, but he stood there for a moment, clearly watching for Neha to enter the well-lit lobby.

After a moment, he closed the metal door and began checking the room, even jerking the shower curtain aside to check inside, then peering through the frosted window on the back wall of the stall.