Being in the limelight tore at his nerves but his date thrived on it. She’d been the perfect person to have on his arm that night and the high of the event had carried them upstairs when she made her interest clear.
Alliyah was gone in the morning and the next time he contacted Excursions he asked for a professional woman so he hadn’t seen her again.
Excursions’ quality control was slipping if they’d sent him a dancer. And he didn’t even have her name beyond Miguel’s addressing her as Lexi. He usually got notice and a new profile when he was getting a replacement date. He liked to know something about the women he spent time with even when he paid for the pleasure. He sent off a text.
“A dancer.” He repeated.
“No. I told you, I work at Modern Goddess. I used to be a dancer.” She licked her lips drawing his attention to the sultry lines of her mouth, the perfect bow over a plump bottom lip. “Now I do hair at the spa. I just thought pampering a new mother totally made sense. I remembered how tired and stressed my roommate was after having my goddaughter, Jasmine.”
“Hmm. What’s your name?”
“Oh, goodness.” She laughed—an infectious sound that filled the back of the car. “We kind of skipped that part, didn’t we? I’m Alexa Malone, but you can call me Lexi. And of course you’re Jethro Calder. I read the article in the Pinnacle newsletter where it showed you and the other executives holding up the lifetime award of excellence for the Pinnacle game. That must have been exciting.”
“Yes, it was a nice acknowledgment for the success of the game.”
“I should say so. A top ten seller for ten years, that’s awesome.”
“It’s actually been for fifteen years and more than half those years it was in the top three, but they wanted to have wiggle room for future awards.”
“What’s it like working with Jackson Hawke?”
He frowned. He got that question a lot, mostly from people trying to angle through him to Jackson. But there was nothing in her tone or demeanor to indicate anything other than simple interest.
“He’s a brilliant programmer, but he leaves the finances to me.”
“Of course.” She nodded and pointed at him.
She used her hands a lot when she talked. He couldn’t decide if he found it charming or annoying. Whether he found her charming or was just attracted to that luscious mouth.
“We all have our talents, don’t we? Mine is music. So, Jethro, where are we going?”
Music, he noticed, not dance.
“We’re going to an event at Caesar’s Palace.” His phone buzzed and he read the text. “At least I am. I’m not sure what you’ll be doing.” He held up his phone. “Excursions doesn’t have your name on file. Who are you?”
OOPS. LEXI BLINKED at Jethro. She’d been caught out. She shifted her gaze to the phone he held aloft as evidence of her culpability and her eyes went wide.
The position of his arm caused his suit and shirtsleeves to slip down revealing his wrist and the tip of the birthmark. Enough for her to see it matched Jazi’s.
The mark reminded Lexi of a dragonfly with a curled tail only kind of blotchy. She’d been stunned when she saw it on Calder’s wrist in the picture accompanying the article she told him about. The top execs of Pinnacle had all been holding the award aloft. Calder had been standing closest to the camera and there on his wrist was the same birthmark as her precious Jazi’s.
Lexi had known instantly that he had to be related to the baby, most likely her father. When she’d read his stance on never having a family, she firmly believed it was a sign. With his help she could get Jazi back.
Between the matching eyes and the birthmark, Lexi had all the confirmation she needed that Jethro Calder was Jazi’s father.
“Ms. Malone?” Fingers snapped in front of her eyes.
She blinked and focused on the man next to her, staring into his unreadable features, into Jazi’s blue eyes. Thoughts of how important he was flooded her mind, crippling her with fear. If she blew this she’d never get Jazi back! And she was about to blow it. Big-time.
Stop. Get a grip.
She drew in a slow, deep breath, released it around a sheepish smile. She only had one option now. She looked him right in the eye and confessed. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I don’t usually work for Excursions.”
A dark brow lifted at her easy admission. “So you were just at the restaurant to shanghai a date with me?”
“Oh, gracious, no.” Now his other brow lifted. Had she offended him? She half shrugged. Best to stick as close to the truth as possible without getting Excursions in trouble. “Today was my best friend Alliyah’s birthday. She used to go to work for Excursions. She passed away six months ago and I needed a distraction tonight, so I called Sally and asked if she could hook me up with a date. She said she had a cancellation and here I am.”
“A cancellation?” Suspicion dripped from the question.
“Yes. You can call her if you like.” Lexi held her breath—the last thing she wanted was to cause trouble for Sally.
“You recognized me.”
“Yes, from the article. Why, did you know Alliyah? Alliyah West?”
He looked away, but nodded. “We had a couple of dates. You said she passed away.”
“She was killed in an auto accident just over six months ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. She was a charming companion.”
Lexi glanced out the window and saw they were cruising along the dazzling Las Vegas Strip. “So listen, I’m sorry I’m not what you were expecting. You can let me out anywhere along here. I’ll catch a cab back to the Pinnacle.” She batted her eyelashes at him in an obvious ploy. “Unless you still need a date for the evening?”
“Now you’re propositioning me?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You know you can be a bit of a stuffed shirt. You might want to watch that. I’m offering—free of charge—to go with you to whatever thing you have going on so you don’t have to find a replacement date.”
“You’re willing to spend the evening with a stuffed shirt?”
“Hey, I’ve been out with worse. At least you smell good and have a nice ride. But if you’re not interested, just have the driver pull over and drop me off.”
“Let’s say I agree to allow you to accompany me, I’d prefer to pay you for your time.”
Lexi blinked at him. “Why?”
“Because I prefer to keep our association on
