coming. He wanted to marry her quickly to “take care of her.” She needed breathing room. She’d told him, and he hadn’t listened.
Winston switched tactics, saying they didn’t have to go through with a marriage, but she needed some fun. He planned the entire trip and “surprised” her. She should have refused to go. That would have been the adult thing to do. The intelligent thing. She did what she always did. She drifted. She let him talk her into it because she wasn’t a fighter. She’d never been a fighter. She liked peace. She liked creating peace.
Her longtime lawyer and guardian, Kevin Bennet, had died unexpectedly in an accident just a month earlier. He had always managed her affairs, looked after her trust fund and been more like a father to her, although she didn’t really know what a father was supposed to be like. She was grieving. She’d told Winston that repeatedly, but his answer was to get married and let him take care of things. He had rushed out and hired a lawyer, but she was uneasy around the new lawyer, a man by the name of Donald Monroe, and felt like she wasn’t ready to move on. Again, Winston’s answer had been to get married and let him handle the lawyer.
She touched the bruises on her arm and shook her head, knowing she was at her lowest point. She’d lost the one man she could talk to and figure things out with. Everything felt so tangled, and she had absolutely no real idea of what to do next.
“Honey, he’s not worth it. No matter how much money he’s got, no matter how big a ring he puts on your finger, if he puts his hands on you, you should run the opposite way as fast as you can.”
Soleil lifted her gaze in the mirror to see the woman standing beside her. She had been the one in the sitting room changing. She looked at the woman and then dropped her gaze to the ring. “You’re so right,” she murmured, and pulled it off her finger to shove in the pocket of her dress. “Thanks for the advice.”
Up close, the stranger was even more gorgeous. Really, really beautiful. It took some doing not to stare. The woman rinsed her hands in the immaculate bowl and Soleil couldn’t help glancing down to see if she wore a ring. She didn’t. She wasn’t quite as tall as Soleil had first thought but looked it because, although she had curves, she was on the slimmer side. She wore skinny jeans, motorcycle boots and a leather vest over a dark tank. She’d gone from glamorous woman to hot biker babe in about three minutes. Who could do that?
“You all right, honey? I could get you a room if you need it for the night.” Even her voice was sultry.
A perfect stranger in the women’s room of a hotel was nicer to her than her fiancé, the man who had sworn he loved her. “Thank you, I really appreciate the offer, but I have a room. I’m going to pack and get out of here fast.” The problem was, she was going to have to face Winston. They shared the room.
“Good for you,” the woman approved.
“Did you hear all those sirens?” Soleil asked, trying to change the subject so she didn’t look so pathetic. “It sounded like half the police force were going somewhere.”
The woman nodded. “Around the corner, a couple of streets over. I heard there was a shooting in a massage parlor. Someone said everyone inside is dead.”
“What is wrong with everyone these days?” Soleil asked.
The woman shrugged. “Most likely someone didn’t pay when they should have.” She picked up a small tote, started out and then stopped, turning back. “You have a cell phone?”
Soleil nodded.
“I’m Lana.”
“Soleil.”
“You here alone?”
“With him.” She held up her bruised arm.
“Where’s your family? Maybe you should give them a call.”
Soleil looked down at the floor. It was absolutely clean, just like everything else. She sniffed and wasn’t at all shocked to find even the bathroom smelled good. That citrus fragrance from the sitting room had drifted right in.
“I don’t have a family,” she admitted in a low voice.
“Friends nearby?” Lana stepped closer to her, concern in her voice. In her eyes.
Soleil struggled not to burst into tears at the obvious sympathy. The few friends she’d had, Winston had managed to alienate. She shook her head.
“Sometimes these things get ugly. You have any trouble at all, you can call me. I have friends. They’ll come get you out of any situation.” Lana snapped her fingers and held out her hand. “Give me your cell.”
Soleil had no idea why in the world she would allow a perfect stranger to take her cell phone, but she did. She pulled it from her pocket, keyed in the code and handed it to Lana.
“I meant what I said. He’s already proven he’s willing to put his hands on you, so when you break it off, make certain you’re not alone with him. Have your cell handy and call the cops. If you can’t, you call me, understand?” Lana turned and pointed to her vest even as she programmed her number into Soleil’s cell. “It’s under ‘Lana.’ Don’t you forget it.”
On the back of her vest there was a very cool tree with ravens in the branches and skulls in the roots. A rocker above the tree proclaimed her Torpedo Ink. The one below said Sea Haven-Caspar. Soleil had heard of Sea Haven but not Sea Haven-Caspar and had no idea where that was, or what Torpedo Ink was other than a club. But it was cool as hell and Soleil’s first time ever talking to a woman who rode motorcycles.
“We’re in Vegas celebrating our brother’s wedding to his woman, but you call, you understand? He lays his hands on you again or does anything that frightens you, lock yourself in a room and call.” She handed the phone back to Soleil. “Someone will come for you, I promise.”
“Thanks.” Soleil wrapped her hands around her phone as if it were a lifeline. Maybe it was. At least, it was the first truly nice thing someone had done for her since Kevin had died.