for morning action. Troy eased away from a warm Julie and peeked through the heavy curtains. The neighbors on the other side were just coming in.
Welcome to Vegas.
Since he could kiss his gym goodbye for the next couple of weeks, he hit the carpet and pumped out alternate sets of fifty pushups and fifty crunches. An hour later, he showered and got dressed, letting Julie grab as much sleep as she could before he rousted her out of bed.
The cuts on her face still looked bright against her pale complexion. He wanted to get his hands on the asshole that hurt her and break every bone in his body.
Troy knelt next to the bed and stroked his thumb across her cheekbone. “Julie,” he whispered. “Wake up, sweetheart.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Hmm? I’m up. What time is it?” Her husky voice had a new level of sexy that arrowed straight to his groin. She took in his clothes. “Are you going somewhere?”
“We’re going. It’s almost seven. I want to get on the road. You can sleep in the car just like last night.”
“I don’t get a shower?” she complained.
“You rinsed down at your place last night. Besides, you can’t shower with the stitches. How about I give you twelve minutes in the bathroom to do what you need to do. I’ll go get us some doughnuts and coffee and check out, and we can hit the road.”
“Gee. Twelve whole minutes. You’re a real stand-up guy.”
He grinned at the delivery, loved her sense of humor. “I try.”
She leveled narrow eyes at him. “Fifteen and you’ve got a deal.”
“I can live with that.” He kissed her forehead and pulled back. “You need some help getting up?”
“Pft. No,” she said as she threw the covers off, but her first move to get out of bed brought a grimace to her face. She needed a pain pill.
Troy ignored her words and helped her up anyway. He handed her the crutches that she’d placed at the bedside. “You can wash down your antibiotic and pain meds with the coffee. I’ll be fast.” Although he felt relatively sure they were safe, he didn’t want her out of his sight. The coffee shop across the street had everything he needed and he could be back in minutes.
“Can you get me a chai instead of coffee if they have it? Otherwise, coffee is fine.”
“Got it.” He watched her hobble to the bathroom and every possessive cell inside him screamed with fury. Tamping down his anger, Troy jogged to the coffee shop and got an assortment of doughnuts, a coffee for him and chai for Julie.
He brought back everything and knocked on the bathroom door to make sure she was okay. Her curt “I’m fine!” made him grin.
After checking out, he went back to the room. Julie had changed into black yoga pants and a white form-fitting strappy top that showed off the soft curves of her figure. With her thick blond hair up in a ponytail, she looked like a college student. He was glad to see some color in her cheeks too.
She’d already dug into the breakfast bag and had white powder on her lips from the frosted doughnut.
“Hey, I wanted that one,” he said with just the right amount of pout.
“You snooze, you lose. Sorry, pal.” She took another gigantic bite and Troy held back the urge to smile. He couldn’t remember wanting to smile so much.
He shuffled through the outside pocket of her bag where he’d tossed her meds yesterday. “Here,” he said, tapping out a pill from each bottle. “Wash these down with your tea.”
“You know you’re not my keeper, right? I’m perfectly capable of taking these without your help.”
“Yeah. I know.” He nodded and took a step back. Why was he so freaked out when it came to this woman? Why did he feel so off balance around her? Because she wasn’t what he expected in a superstar? Because her unique beauty and personality hit him square in the chest and made him want something he couldn’t have?
Julie’s cell phone rang and interrupted the silence. Troy stopped her from punching the talk button.
“Just so we’re on the same page. No one knows where we are or where we’re going and it stays that way.”
She lifted the phone, showed him the screen. “This is Cal. I can tell my best friend where I am. Besides, I don’t even know where I’m going.”
Troy shook his head. “Not your best friend, not your mother, not anyone. What