Nicole Edwards - Temptation

“Fuck.” Luke ground out as he pushed out of his chair, nearly sending the damn thing over backward. He had too much shit to do to sit around pondering the reasons why he felt so off kilter lately.

He should just leave again, take another extended vacation and get away by himself. Not that it would do him any good. After all, he’d spent the better part of two months doing exactly that and look where it had gotten him.

Not a damn place.

Resigning himself to staying at the club and attempting to take care of business, Luke grabbed an invoice off of his desk and headed back downstairs to talk to Kane Steele, his bar manager. According to their earlier conversation, it appeared that there were some issues with the deliveries while Luke had been away.

Either that or someone was fucking with him and stealing his inventory. Luke didn’t even want to contemplate that happening; Heaven help the asshole who would be brave enough to steal from him in the first place.

Sierra Sellers wasn’t all that enthusiastic with the idea of being set up, regardless of how hot and mysterious – her mother’s words, not hers – the man might be. Apparently her mother was under the impression that Sierra needed a date, and rather than asking her if she were capable of finding one on her own, Veronica Sellers had chosen to make her own arrangements. Those arrangements had led to Sierra piling into the backseat of Logan McCoy’s supercharged Cadillac CTS while he and his wife talked quietly in the front seats.

After a very brief, very one sided conversation with her mother, Sierra had resigned herself to this outing. Very reluctantly she might add. Veronica’s argument consisted of the words “new to Dallas”, followed by “essential to network”, with the cherry on top of the conversational sundae being “get your business established”.

So, no, Sierra hadn’t come up with a strong enough excuse not to go along with her mother’s logic, though she still didn’t understand how a date was going to help her in that regard.

When Veronica had mentioned that XTX – the company her mother worked for – was holding their annual vendors conference in just two days, Sierra hadn’t thought anything of it. Why would she? XTX didn’t have anything to do with the interior design company that Sierra had yet to even name.

Only when Veronica mentioned that the conference was in Las Vegas had Sierra’s ears even perked up. And here she was, on the next leg of this journey that she only hoped would turn out the way her mother intended.

And yes, she was incredibly nervous, despite her reluctance and despite the fact that she felt as though she were being led to an execution. Even armed with a few details about the man she was going to meet, Sierra wasn’t feeling all warm and fuzzy about the outcome. The positive side of this endeavor was that she at least knew what the man looked like. Or at least she thought she did.

According to both her mother and Samantha, she was off to meet Logan’s identical twin brother. That had immediately piqued her interest because hell, she had to admit, Logan McCoy was smoking hot. Not that she would share that little tidbit of information with anyone, especially the man’s wife who she had become close to over the course of the last few weeks.

But realistically, how similar could the two of them actually be? They were grown men for goodness sake, and surely their personalities would set them worlds apart in appearance. So when Sam and Veronica had reiterated the fact that they were identical, Sierra had mentally rolled her eyes and resigned herself to finding out on her own.

Maybe her mother’s physical descriptions were accurate. Although Sierra liked Logan enough, she still wasn’t all that enthusiastic about the idea of being set up with a man – gorgeous or not. The one positive that she could manage to conjure up from this entire screwed up ordeal was that she and Sam had actually become good friends. Since the woman was the epitome of what Sierra had worked her entire life to become, she knew she would ultimately win in this deal.

At twenty nine years old, Sierra still had some growing to do when it came to establishing herself in business, but after meeting Sam, she knew she’d found a role model who could undoubtedly teach her some things along the way. And when said role model had ganged up on her with the help of Veronica and another woman they worked with at XTX, insisting that Sierra actually meet Luke McCoy, she had found herself outvoted.

Both Veronica and the other woman, Deanna, had spoken very highly of Luke, but something had set her sensors off when Sam had talked about him. If Sierra wasn’t mistaken there was something much more intimate about the way Sam spoke of her brother-in-law. Just in case she was imagining things, Sierra hadn’t bothered to ask. Not that it was any of her business anyway.

Now, two days later, she was on her way to meet the man, though she got the impression that he had no idea he was being set up.

“You said we were going to a club?” Sierra asked, interrupting the loving couple holding hands in the front seat. “Isn’t it a little early in the day?”

“It’s a club, but it isn’t what you’re thinking.” Sam offered. “Well, at least not entirely.”

Sierra noticed the subtle way Logan squeezed his wife’s hand.

What other kind of clubs were there? Besides the ones that offered drinks to people who congregated to laugh, drink and have a good time?

Oh!

Her mind struggled with the possibility before shrugging off the comment. Glancing at her watch, Sierra added, “I didn’t realize clubs were open this early.”

Eleven thirty on a Tuesday and Sierra was on her way to meet a mystery man who, despite the fact that they didn’t know each other at all, would likely accompany her to a four day business conference to be held in Las Vegas.

The Entertainment Capital of the World.

Sin City.

And one of Sierra’s favorite vacation destinations.

She could certainly get down with going to Las Vegas, no matter who she was going with. She was quite fond of the city, having gone numerous times for girl’s only getaways. Never once had she come back disappointed. Going for business, now that would be a first, but no more so than going with a man. Any man.

What would they do if they didn’t get along? How was she supposed to suffer through four long days in the party capital of the world with someone she had nothing in common with?

Granted, she was jumping ahead of herself. She hadn’t even met him yet. The one upside to it all, if he looked anything like Logan McCoy, at least she was in for a visual treat.

Logan maneuvered the car into an underground parking garage, and Sierra felt the butterflies take flight in her stomach.

Glancing down, she noticed that she was wringing her hands in her lap, a sheer sign of the tension coursing through her veins. She chalked it up to the fact that she suspected Luke had no idea she was coming or anything else that was in store for him, in the coming days. She’d gathered that from the conversation she’d overhead – ok, more like eavesdropped on – earlier between Logan and Sam. When Logan mentioned that Luke didn’t seem to be in the best of moods, she’d momentarily questioned her sanity.

Not that she really cared what kind of mood he was in, as long as he could manage to be polite and courteous for four days, only a few hours at a time while they were in Vegas.

Moments later, Sierra was climbing out of the back seat, coming to join Samantha standing at the side of the car.

“Brace yourself.” Sam smiled brightly, looking almost playful.

“Is there something I should know before we go in?” Sierra asked, for the second time questioning what she was walking into.