Her High-Stakes Affair

She’d been out of the game too long to pull a con on this guy and she knew it. Besides, her hormones were making it difficult to concentrate on conning him. She wanted to just tip her head back and enjoy being around Scott. This man who’d been acting before he could walk or talk. This man who made his living betting on everything under the sun.

“Me, neither,” he said. He pulled into the visitor center parking lot. Turning to look at her, he tugged off his sunglasses, but his eyes still weren’t visible under the brim of his Red Sox cap. “Have you been here before?”

His tone was conversational. No more flirting. She wasn’t disappointed. Really, she wasn’t. “No. I read about it in the area information in my room.”

“I’ve been here a few times. How adventurous are you feeling?” he asked, a hint of speculation in his eyes.

“Moderate.” She suspected he was talking about more than the trail. And she’d never been adventurous; she’d always chosen the safe and sane route. Even her career, which was in a field that was constantly changing, had always been stable. Being unadventurous was her one goal in life.

“What would it take to bump that up?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe getting to know you a little better?”

He nodded and put his sunglasses back on. “What kind of shoes are you wearing?”

“Why?” she asked.

“There’s a trail that involves some climbing and leads to a waterfall. But if you don’t have hiking boots on…”

“I don’t. Plus I’m not really very athletic.”

“Then how about an easy trail?” He pulled a well-thumbed-through guidebook from the side pocket on the door. “Can you do two miles round trip?”

“I guess driving through the park is out of the question?”

Considering he’d only arrived in Vegas a few days ago, Raine thought, he seemed very comfortable and at home here. But then he was a gambler, so he’d probably spent a fair amount of time in Sin City. She had the feeling that he was always at home, wherever he was.

She envied him that. She was still searching to find that kind of peace deep inside herself. And she knew she needed things around her. The same things, the same routines, the same people, to find her comfort level.

He was a chameleon, she reminded herself. He changed to fit all of his surroundings, and she’d do well to remember that.

“Hell, yes, it’s out of the question. I really want to do the Ice Box trail but I don’t think you’re up to it.”

“Fine. I can go two miles. I do more than that at the Galleria during the holidays.”

Raine went into the ranger station to register them while Scott gathered supplies. She met him back in the parking lot five minutes later and found him talking baseball with two guys.

“There’s my lady,” he said, leaving the men and joining her.

“I’m your lady?” she asked.

She’d never belonged to any man before. She’d had sex with exactly two men in her life. Her first boyfriend had been in college, and that had lasted one semester. The second guy had been looking for a job in the industry and saw her as the most expedient route to where he wanted to go.

She knew that she was to blame for her love life. She didn’t trust men or even want to trust them. She liked her career and got by focusing on that. This current situation with Scott was just a con. She tried to remember that, but it was hard.

“I want you to be my lady,” he said, leading the way out of the parking lot and toward the Moenkopi Loop.

She wished he’d stop saying things like that. But it fit perfectly with his bet, and she realized she had to keep her mind sharp. That was another of her dad’s lessons—don’t forget the end goal.

But Scott was different. He made her want to reevaluate her life. Take stock in where she was—almost thirty and still single. And he made her want to change things, to forget she was very happy with who she was.

“Why are you here?” she asked when they found the trail and walked side by side. Get to know the mark, she thought.

“You asked me to come.”

“Ha-ha, smart-ass. I meant, why are you doing the show?” she asked, focusing on Scott and not on how easily the rules of grifting were returning to her.

“I’m friends with Joel Tanner. He needed a name to take to the networks.”

Joel was the executive producer on the show. He was riding a string of popular hits on television that threatened to rival Aaron Spelling’s golden touch in the eighties and nineties. Raine found him to be a fair man most of the time. She didn’t have to deal with him too often, which she liked. He was also her boss, so if this thing with Scott didn’t work out, Scott had the inside track on making sure she never worked again. “That was nice of you.”

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