The door swings open without anyone knocking.

I look up and see Laura standing in the doorway. She’s wearing a black and silver sequined mini-dress with geometric patterns, a pair of sheer black pantyhose, and heels that show off every inch of her perfect legs.

She sees me looking and holds up my keycard with a mischievous smile. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by.”

I’m sitting at my laptop at a desk in the suite and putting through the sales that have come in over the last couple of days. I was about to look up the routes to the hospitals I’ll be visiting tomorrow. Nothing exciting. My shirt is completely unbuttoned, and my sleeves are rolled up.

I spin around in my leather desk chair to run my gaze up and down her body. I rise from my chair to go toward her, doing up my buttons as I go.

“Looks like someone’s had a good night. It’s one-thirty in the morning.”

Laura skips into the suite, laying my keycard down on the sideboard. She strides boldly across the room and pulls herself up onto my desk, crossing one leg over the other and fixing me with a seductive stare.

“We went to a Whitney tribute act.”

“I see.”

Looking her over, I’m amused. She’s clearly a little tipsy, but she’s having a good time. There’s a happy little smile plastered on her face, and she’s started to swing her legs like a child on a playset. She grins up at me like a Cheshire cat.

“I have to be a gentleman. How much have you had to drink?” I ask.

She lifts up her hands in an exaggerated shrug. “One Jackpot, and one vodka red bull.”

I laugh out loud. I know exactly which bar she’s been to on the strip, and which cocktail she’s referring to. They’re known for their Jackpot specials — a drink that’s responsible for more vomit on the strip’s sidewalks than all the other bars and casinos put together.

“Have you eaten anything?”

She shakes her head. “Not since four. I had a Caesar salad.”

I wince. “A Caesar salad isn’t doing much good against a Jackpot. I’ll order us some room service.”

“At one-thirty?”

“We’re in Vegas, remember? It’s twenty-four-hour service here.”

She kicks off her heels. “That’s lucky for us, then.”

I cross the room to her and pick her up, cradle-style. Laura giggles and tilts her head back. She’s tipsy, but not wasted. I won’t do anything to take advantage of her when she’s not sober.

I sit her down on the sofa, put a glass of raspberry cordial in her hand, and dial room service for two. I order large steak dinners and two chocolate lava cakes.

“Do you feel okay?” I ask, taking a seat at her side.

She curls her feet up under her. “Are you worried I’m drunk?” She laughs lightly and shakes her head. “You should have seen me in college. I was wild. I’ve got a pleasant buzz, that’s all. Have you been drinking?”

“Not today. I’ve been on the road. I didn’t get back in until an hour ago. I’m starving.”

Laura sits up straighter and leans in toward me. Her auburn hair is shining brightly. I’m not sure if she’s leaning in that much to listen closely to me or to give me a glimpse of her cleavage. She leans one elbow on the back of the sofa and rests her head against her hand. She looks completely at home.

“What did you have to do for work today?”

“I went to three different hospitals to make pitches.”

“Any sales?”

“One so far.”

“I see.” She smiles wickedly and shifts her position so she can run her foot up and down my calf, biting down on her lip suggestively. “That sounds like cause for celebration.”

I reach out to put my hands on her waist and pull her onto my lap. She happily clasps her hands behind my neck and leans back to watch me.

“After being so coy the last few days, I have to say I’m surprised to see you walk right into my room. I was getting the feeling you didn’t want to meet again.”

Laura laughs. She tucks her hair behind her ear. “Something one of my friends said tonight got me thinking.”

“What was that?”

She runs her finger up and down my arm, less seductively, more in contemplation. “I’ve been working hard lately. She’s worried I don’t know how to have fun anymore. Now that it’s my last night in Vegas, I realized she’s right.”

Laura’s so sexy perched on my leg. The hem of her dress has ridden up so I can glimpse her smooth thigh almost up to her panties. I want nothing more than to rip that little dress off of her and take her right on the sofa.

“What does she mean by fun?”

She smiles knowingly. “All kinds of fun.”

“Vegas is a great place to let your hair down.”

“My friend Hannah can sense how much I like you.” She rests a hand on my chest. “She’s always been able to read me like a book. She’s telling me I should go and let my hair down and have some fun with you. But I’m thinking something different. Too much fun and I’ll miss you when it’s time to leave. It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man. Does that freak you out?”

She’s opening up to me like a flower blooming under the sun. A one-night-stand is quickly turning into something more, but I don’t want to walk away. I want to know Laura better, even if Vegas is all we’ll ever have.

“No. But it’s a little surprising, to tell you the truth. You’re a beautiful woman.”

Laura twists a strand of hair around her finger and bites down on her lip. “This isn’t my real hair color, you know. I wanted to look feisty.”

I laugh. The thought of Laura trying to look Vegas-ready is incredibly endearing.

“What color are you naturally?”

“Brown. Mousy brown. Like Hermione Granger, before she grew up to be Emma Watson.”

I stroke Laura’s hair, letting my hand come to rest on the back of her head. I pull her gently toward me into a soft kiss. “You knock Emma Watson out of the park.”

There’s a sharp rap on the door to the penthouse. Laura slides off my lap, and I get up to answer it. The smell of steak and thick-cut fries hits me as soon as I open the door. I’m salivating.

The bellhop wheels in the serving tray and leaves it with us. I tip him well before closing the door.

Laura twists in her seat and looks back at me over the back of the sofa. “It smells amazing.”

“Some food in your stomach will do you good.”

“Stop fussing. It was only two drinks.”

I chuckle. “I’ve been to Vegas more than once. I know what a Jackpot is. You might as well have hooked yourself up to a champagne IV.”

“It’s not quite that bad.”

“And the three chasers?”

Laura’s smile is wide and mischievous. “It’s a bachelorette party.”

“Yet you’ve wandered away from your friends.”

“They passed out as soon as we got back.”

“You’re still standing.”

“I always drink the least. Amy’s notorious for not being able to handle her booze. Naomi and Hannah are notorious for throwing up whenever someone else throws up. Someone’s got to hold back all that hair.”

“That’s both sweet and disgusting.”

I take the platters with the steak over to the table by the window, overlooking Las Vegas. I remove the dome lids with a flourish. Laura floats across the room like a cartoon when she smells the fries.

I pull out a chair for her, and she sinks down with a delighted expression on her face.

“Dig in,” I invite her.

She doesn’t waste time. Laura picks up her fork and serrated steak knife and goes to town on the fillet steak. She cuts off a large chunk and pops it in her mouth. Her whole body sinks as she lets out a blissful sigh.

“I think it’s the best steak I’ve ever had.”

“I find it always tastes better at two a.m.”

Laura laughs. “I’m not usually a night owl.”

“No? Tell me what a day in Laura’s life looks like.” It’s my turn to lean forward. I can see Laura hesitate.

“Well,” she begins, “I get up at five-thirty and go for a run. It’s the only chance I’ll get all day. I walk to my office in town. Hannah usually brings breakfast.

“I look at customer emails and do any boring stuff before I get started on graphic design. I personalize everything we do by hand. I design it all on the computer. I figure out where it’s going to go on the product and put in the order with our manufacturers. We can take care of some things in-house. At five I go home, cook something, and then work again until nine or ten when I go to town on marketing. I’m also taking a few different online courses.” She looks at me with patiently raised eyebrows. “Does that sound like a glamorous life?”

“It depends on who’s living it.”

Laura smiles down at her plate, picking up her last French fry and biting off the end. “Even if it is boring, I kind of love it.”

“You think your job is boring? I sell CAT scans and MRIs. It’s hardly a life of adventure.”

“Are you kidding?” Laura asks me. “You get to travel around the world.”

“That’s true, but my favorite place is still Vegas. Now more than ever.”

Laura bites down on her lip as I say the words. She leans across the table and sidles forward a little. “My friends are right, you know. I like you.”

She fixes her gaze on mine and holds it there. I don’t know if she’s challenging me to run away or hoping I’ll say something back.

I take her hand, pulling her up and away from the table. Circling my arm around her waist, I press my lips down over hers, loving the way it feels when she lets all the breath in her body escape and sinks against me like melting butter.

“There’s a jacuzzi up here.”

Laura’s eyes light up. “Really?”

“I say we eat dessert somewhere more intimate.”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

“I don’t think you’ll need one.”