Vital Secrets Vol 1-3

CHAPTER TWO-3

Bella stood on her balcony, watching the lights twinkle up and down the Strip. The wedding had quite frankly been classier than she thought. For some reason, she had envisioned Brad and Stacy exchanging vows in front of an Elvis impersonator and surrounded by the musical cacophony of slot machines.

She sighed and went back into her room to remove the sky-blue floor-length dress Stacy had rented for her. Hanging it up carefully, she made her way into the bathroom and turned the water on for a nice hot shower. Attending a wedding in Vegas just made her realize how alone she felt.

Well, maybe I can cheer myself up in the casino later, she thought wryly as she washed her hair. Maybe I will meet a tall, dark stranger who happens to love literature and languages as much as I do.

“Yeah right,” Bella said aloud. “With my luck he’d either be married, gay or a criminal.”

Laughing to herself, she stepped out of the shower and toweled off. Seriously – Who was she fooling? She had only had one serious relationship in her whole life. Bella and Anthony had dated through high school, at least until the senior prom when she caught him making out with the homecoming queen. He had had the nerve to blame it all on Bella because she wouldn’t, as he put it, ‘prove her love for him.’

Jackass.

After that she had written off boys for the foreseeable future.

But seeing Stacy and Brad beaming with happiness as they exchanged vows and rings had awakened a longing in her, a desire to not be isolated anymore.

She sighed again, pulling on jeans, a sweater, and tennis shoes.

“What the hell,” she said aloud to no one. “Let’s hit the slots and see what happens!”

She tucked her money and her room key into her pocket, hooked her cell phone to her belt, and set off. She stopped in the gift shop and bought a pack of smokes and a lighter before making her way to a bank of penny slots. It was a bad habit she had picked up and she really needed to quit, but she was in no mood for self-recrimination or analysis.

Putting a twenty into the machine at the end of the row, she lit a cigarette, selected her bet amount, and pressed ‘spin’ half-heartedly. Bella looked around the casino and people watched a bit, only barely paying attention to her machine. It seemed that everywhere she looked she saw nothing but happy couples.

God, this would be so much more fun if I had someone to talk to, she thought wistfully.

Her machine beeping and blinking caught her full attention. A fifty dollar win on a fifty-cent bet.

Not bad!

She smiled to herself as the credits added to her total.

“Nice spin!” came a voice from her right.

She turned and looked into the most amazing hazel eyes. Her field of vision widened to take in a chiseled face, attached to a muscular body. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen, ever. She felt herself smiling back at him.

“Um, thanks,” she said, slightly flustered. “It’s the luck of the draw, I guess.”

“Pretty darn good luck, I’d say,” the vision before her responded. He held out a hand.

“My name’s Nathan Thomas.”

She hesitated, then shrugged her shoulders and shook his hand.

“Bella Amsel.”

“What brings you to Vegas, Bella?” Nathan asked. “Besides good luck on the machine?”

“Marriage,” she replied as she pressed the spin button again. “My best friend got married today.”

“Oh, good. At first, I thought you meant you,” Nathan replied. “That would have been awkward.”

They both laughed.

“What about you? What brings you here?” Bella asked him.

“Fun,” he said. “I start my new job next week, so I thought I would blow off some steam before I hit the ground running.”

“What type of job?” she asked. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Law enforcement,” Nathan replied. “I got a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and spent two years with the Virginia State Troopers. But,” he continued, leaning a little closer to her and dropping his voice, “I recently graduated from the FBI academy, and I go into the field next week. So, I am taking a little vacation first; sort of a ‘happy graduation to me’.”

“Congratulations,” Bella said sincerely. “Quantico is beautiful.”

“You’ve been there?”

“Virginia’s my home state. I grew up in Manassas,” Bella explained. “And my grandfather teaches languages and literature at the University of Virginia. But he’s done some guest lecturing at Quantico, and I got to go with him once when I was about twelve.”

“And,” she continued, leaning closer to him and looking him straight in the eyes, “I was taught to not talk to strangers, and to always ask policemen for ID.”

Laughing, Nathan drew out his wallet and showed her both his identification and his badge. “Satisfied?”

“Very, thank you,” Bella said. “Now I can keep talking to you.”

“That’s wonderful,” Nathan said. “But only if you let me buy you dinner.”

“That would be nice,” Bella said, trying to be nonchalant as she scouted for a wedding ring.

He caught her surreptitious gaze, and said solemnly, “I’m not married, Bella. Not even dating anyone, not for a long time.”

She flushed crimson, and managed, “It never hurts to check.”

Nathan stood.

“Come on,” he said, extending his hand. “Grab your bounty of winnings and tell me about yourself over some nice Italian food.”

“Sixty-five dollars isn’t exactly a bounty. And Italian food happens to be my favorite,” Bella said with a smile. “So now I couldn’t tell you no even if I wanted to.”

And she took his hand.

Bella cashed in her ticket, and they strolled leisurely down the Strip to the MGM.

“The place is called Fiamma, and it’s excellent,” Nathan told her. “I tried it about a year ago when I was here for my best friend’s wedding.”

They were graciously ushered to a cozy table in the corner. For the next three hours, they ate and talked and laughed. Nathan talked about his family and upbringing; he was the youngest of four and the only boy. Then he listened as she shared her journey with him, and held her hand when she talked about her parents’ and her grandmother’s deaths.

Over tiramisu he asked her, “So, a degree in literature to go with all those languages. What are your plans?”

“Well,” she said, “I’ve had an opportunity to work with troubled kids as a languages tutor for the last several months. And I’ve found I truly enjoy it. I definitely foresee working with children in some form. I’m not sure yet what age bracket, though.”

She took a sip of her hot tea before she asked, “And what about you? What led you to law enforcement?”

“Two generations of my family were D.C. cops,” he said. “I guess it’s in my blood. And working as a trooper got me some valuable experience on the ground. But I decided I wanted to be a criminal profiler. I want to be more proactive in identifying and catching the bad guys before they can do damage, rather than just chase them once they do. So, I applied to the FBI.”

Dessert was cleared and beverages refilled. Then Nathan took her hand again, and asked, “So, when do you leave for Arizona?’

“My flight is at four tomorrow,” she replied softly, savoring the touch of his hand on hers.

“What about you?”

“Mine leaves at six,” he said. They were both quiet for a long moment.

“Bella,” he said gently, reaching over to touch her cheek, “I know we just met, and forgive me if this sounds stupid, but... oh hell,” he muttered. “Never mind.”

“What?” she asked, a little breathless.

“May I kiss you?”

She flushed again, but her eyes did not leave his as she whispered, “Yes.”

He smiled, leaned in, and gently traced her lips with his. And a thunderbolt shot through her, all the way down to her toes. She shuddered involuntarily from the sudden heat that burned in her.

“Are you all right? Did I upset you?” Nathan asked, his eyes filled with longing and concern.

“No,” she said. “I just haven’t been kissed in a really, really long time.”

“That surprises me, quite frankly,” Nathan replied. “You’re stunning, and you’re one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. I’m amazed you’re even single.”

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of that, but I’m most definitely single,” Bella said. “In fact, this is the first date I’ve been on since high school.”

The waiter appeared with the bill.

“Let me settle this, and then let’s get out of here,” Nathan said quietly.

She nodded silently. In her head she was thinking all sorts of things, none of which were proper, especially with someone she had just met. But the images in her brain refused to go away. She wanted to spend the night with this man. She wanted to feel his mouth, his skin, his body on hers.

Isabella Rose, get hold of yourself, her inner matron intoned. What the hell are you doing? You’ve only known this guy for about three hours.

But she realized she really didn’t care. She wanted to be with him tonight and the future could be sorted out later.

“Bella?”

She pulled out of her inner conflict and smiled at him. “Are you ready to go?’

“Yes,” he said, returning the smile.

They left the restaurant and arm in arm headed back toward Planet Hollywood.

“Nathan?”

“Yes?”

“It’s my turn to ask something awkward.”

He laughed. “Okay, shoot.”

She stopped and turned to face him. Taking hold of both his hands, she took a deep breath, and said, “Like you said, we just met. But it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time.”

She blushed a deep, deep red and took the plunge.

“I cannot believe I am about to say this to you, but...what I mean is, this is not like me, but....... dammit.... ...I want to know if you want to....um...come to my room with me,” she finished in a whisper and looking at the ground.

She felt him let go of her hands and closed her eyes and cursed inwardly.

Christ, I finally meet a great man and I scared him off, she thought to herself. I am such an i***t.

Then she felt two strong arms wrap protectively around her and his breath on her hair. He was shaking, she could feel it.

“Bella,” he murmured throatily. “I know how you feel; I know where you’re coming from.”

He tipped her chin upward until she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“I will come with you, to talk. Nothing else will happen unless and until you are absolutely ready for it to. Okay?”

“Okay”, she said simply.

They reluctantly broke the embrace and continued their walk back to the hotel.

They rode the elevator hand in hand and in silence. Her heart was racing so hard she had trouble swiping the key card to her room.

“Here, let me,” Nathan said gently.

He opened the door and held it for her. She made her way past him over to the little fridge and pulled out two sodas to occupy her shaking hands.

Suddenly her words came out in a tumble.

“I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a s**t or something. I swear to God that this is not normal behavior for me, at all, ever. I’ve never even...” Bella’s voice trailed off in complete embarrassment.

“Why would I think that?” Nathan prodded as he filled two glasses with ice. “And what makes you think I’ve ever done it, either?”

Bella was flabbergasted. “Seriously?”

“Completely,” he admitted as he opened the sodas and poured. “I know it’s not hip or cool or the norm, but yes, I am a twenty-six-year-old virgin. I had opportunities to change that, of course, but I wanted to wait for the right woman, someone special.”

“I know what you mean,” Bella said. “After Anthony cheated on me because I wouldn’t put out, I decided not to bother with dating anymore. I figured that if a boy I had known for years could turn out to be that shallow, that all the rest must be too.”

He walked over to her and handed her a glass.

“We’re not all like that, Bella, not by a long shot,” he said. “And I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

He took her hand and led her out onto the balcony.

“You know, this is so ironic,” Bella said almost in disbelief. “About five hours ago, I was standing in this very spot, feeling very isolated and sad because I realized I’m tired of being alone. I even daydreamed about meeting some tall dark stranger,” she added, poking his side as she noticed Nathan grinning at this bit of news.

“And wonder of wonders, here you are. So, where do we go from here?” she asked as they looked at the traffic and lights up and down the Strip.

“Well, I definitely want to see you again, as much as possible, regardless of where tonight leads,” Nathan said. “We met for a reason, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let distance or anything else get in the way of getting to know you.”

Setting his glass down, he turned and wrapped his arms around her.

“I want to spend the night with you, Bella, even if we just talk all night.”

She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Nathan?” she said in a small voice.

“Yes, Bella?”

“I’m so glad I met you.”

They went back inside and talked until somewhere around three a.m. before drifting off in each other’s arms.

***