was about, but he had shown her just how much of it she had. All for him. And only him.
When the elevator finally reached her floor, Monica was glad. She hadn’t been comfortable with those guys eying her like she was a juicy piece of steak. She’d put her hand in her pocket, making sure her phone was there, just in case. But thankfully, she hadn’t needed it.
A few minutes later, she walked into her suite. It was spacious and beautiful…and it even had a balcony. Leaving her purse on the table, she opened the French doors to the balcony and stepped out. The strip looked especially beautiful this time of year.
Monica had no idea what room Landon was in but at least they were at the same hotel. If she had to search this entire city tomorrow, she would find him. She had to.
Walking back into the room, she pulled her phone from her jacket pocket. Bree would have heard about her change in plans and wondered why she’d made them. When she looked down, she saw that she had missed several calls from Bree. They must have come in while Monica was in flight.
The time was two hours ahead in St. Paul. It was midnight here, which meant it was two in the morning there. Chances were Bree was at work. Monica decided to call her anyway, at least she could leave a message explaining her change of plans.
CHAPTER FORTY
SEBRINA SAT IN THE darkened living room, drinking wine and staring at the blinking lights on the Christmas tree that she and Parker had decorated together. She remembered that night well. It had been his first day in town and they’d spent the entire day getting to know each other.
She then looked at the gifts under the tree which were nothing more than empty boxes wrapped in beautiful Christmas paper to make it look like there were loads of presents. Parker had helped with the wrapping a few days before Monica had come home. He had laughed about them having a real tree but fake gifts under it.
Then afterwards, he had swept her into his arms and taken her into his room and made love to her. She had to clamp her legs together to alleviate the ache, just thinking about that day. In fact, she got a physical thrill every time she thought about being with him, in bed and out. Since she was leaving tomorrow, she wouldn’t see him again until after New Year’s. And already she missed him.
She’d wished he would have called, if for no other reason than to say he’d made it to Maine. But there had been no contact, so she could only assume he was still upset with her for ending things between them.
Her phone rang. She immediately recognized the ringtone and grabbed it off the table. “Monica? Are you alright? What is going on with you? Why aren’t you in Atlanta?”
“Slow down, Bree. One question at a time.” Monica then paused before saying. “I’m fine. I just decided to fly to Vegas at the last minute because…because Landon is here.”
“Really? So, the two of you reconnected and he invited you to join him in Vegas?”
“Not exactly.”
Sebrina frowned. “Then what is it, exactly?”
“Landon has no idea I’m here.”
Sebrina took a sip of her wine. In fact, she took two sips. She had a feeling that she would need both. “I think you’d better start from the beginning.”
She listened attentively as Monica told her everything—that she realized she loved Landon, that she was determined to find him and let him know, as well as his friend Duan’s help, so she could do it.
“And you think you’ll be able to find him in Vegas? That’s going to be hard even if the two of you are staying at the same hotel.”
“I know, and since they can’t give me his hotel room number, the only thing I can do is have them call his room every so often, hoping that I will reach him.”
“Then what?”
“Then I’ll let him know I’m here and want to meet with him.”
“Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. What if he doesn’t want to see you? You said you pretty much pissed him off that last night on the cruise.”
“Yes, but he told me he loved me, Bree. I have to believe that if he truly loved me then, he would still love me and that he’ll forgive me.”
“And if he won’t?”
“Then I’ll fly back to Atlanta to attend