I had long since mastered the art of shutting my brain off when I was on stage. For the most part, I loved the attention, but there were some nights when I just didn’t want to be up here, dealing with the lights, the heat, the music…the hands.

Tonight was one of those times. And to make matters worse, I couldn’t keep my brain from drifting in the one direction it shouldn’t go.

It was like Camry had turned into my own personal North fucking Star.

We’d had sex.

We’d had seriously mind-blowing sex.

The kid who’d once stared at me with her heart showing out of her big blue eyes had lain under me and whimpered as I’d driven deep inside her. Had been so bloody responsive that I’d almost lost it the moment she’d touched me.

That kid had grown into a beautiful woman who had clung to my shoulders and gasped as we rode each other to the hardest climax I’d ever experienced.

Fuck.

Kaleb should beat the shit out of me. He should kick my ass for what I’d done.

Hell, I was tempted to do it myself.

I’d put my hands on his baby sister.

And I’d enjoyed it. More than I should have.

The whole experience had left me unsettled.

Every inch of her – her face, her body, even her mouth – had seemed to reveal pleasure, but her eyes had been shuttered, even when she’d cried out my name. I was fairly sure she hadn’t been faking it, but she also hadn’t let herself go the way I’d thought she would. The girl who’d let the world see her pain in her eyes now hid from everyone...or maybe just me.

I couldn’t decide what troubled me the most. The fact that her eyes had lost that openness, or that she’d touched me with confident, certain hands, but when I’d touched her, I’d see the surprise cross her face before it had disappeared behind those walls.

It was like she’d never had somebody focused on her pleasure before.

The thought of her with another man made my stomach knot, but knowing that whoever she’d been with in the past hadn’t cared enough to make sure she’d enjoyed herself made me want to hit someone for a whole different reason. I may have done my fair share of sleeping around, and I’d been a bastard a time or two when it came to one-night stands, but I’d always gotten them off at least once.

And Camry had been more than a one-night stand. I’d never been so determined to please a woman, and never so smug as when I’d made her come apart with my hands, my body. I’d kept touching her through the night. Small touches that wouldn’t wake her, but that reassured me she’d been real.

She’d been the one woman I should’ve never taken. Oh, I had no doubts about her consenting, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t have tried a hell of a lot harder to resist.

The music came to a halt, and if it wasn’t for muscle memory, I doubted I would’ve remembered what to do next. The rest of the dancers faded into the background, and I took a step forward as the MC called out my name. Screams echoed through the theater and I flashed a smile.

My heart wasn’t into it, but nobody out there needed to know how little I cared about being here.

Bright lights flashed as I twisted, swiveled, then went to one knee. I barely heard the new music though. That little voice in my head called me out on the lie I was trying to tell myself.

I did care. I hated having to be here right now. I wanted to be out looking for Camry. Looking for her, touching her, getting her to look at me and talk to me. I wanted to get to know what had happened to the girl I’d known, and more about the woman she’d become.

And give Kaleb one more reason to want to kick your ass.

That too.

Shaking my head mentally, I shoved thoughts of Camry out of my head and focused on the music. I had a job to do, and one that was necessary if I wanted to keep working after she was long gone.

* * *

“I always knew you were a sexy son of a bitch, but you just about gave me a heart attack up there.”

That voice…

Slowly, I looked up from the mirror over the table in the small closet that the club referred to as my dressing room. Her face came into view and...shit.

“Adelina.”

One corner of her crimson mouth curled up in the smile that was currently setting the modeling world on fire.

“So you haven’t forgotten me.” Adelina Caceres stepped inside my dressing room, her long hair swept up in a loose topknot, a few sandy curls left loose to frame her face. Her eyes were dark, stormy gray, made up to look even darker and deeper. The gray was echoed in the swishy, see-through tunic she wore over a white catsuit that showed off a body that was almost too perfect to be real.

“You’re a hard woman to forget, Adelina,” I said slowly as I turned toward her.

She was beautiful, brash and bold, and a few times, I’d gotten lost in that. But as I sat there watching her approach, all I could think about was how…complicated she was.

Camry was complicated, too.

Camry…

She was complicated, but it was a different sort of complicated. Adelina would pick out her heels to make sure her date was taller, but not too much taller than she was. She’d want to know what said date was wearing well in advance so she could coordinate her outfit.

Because of the cameras, of course. Always the cameras.

Adelina’s heels clicked on the tiled floor as she moved closer, coming to a stop a few feet from me. Head cocked, she looked around for a long, leisurely moment before meeting my eyes, her smile widening.

“From the second I climbed off the plane here in Las Vegas, your face has been everywhere. It was…surreal. I insisted my manager get me a ticket.”

“Did you now?”

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes, laughing. It was a bright, infectious sound, bringing back to mind the fun she and I’d had together. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw your face on one of those billboards. I was a little jealous…you’ve got more real estate here in Las Vegas than I do.”

Again, laughter shone in her eyes and I had to smile back. A fellow Australian, Adelina had been starting her slow rise to stardom back when I’d been at my peak in our country’s premier football league. We’d spent some time together, and then I’d started my decline just as she’s hit her stride.

“What are you in town for?”

She shrugged, one smooth shoulder going up. “A photo shoot here, a photo shoot there. They’re even talking about trying to get me on a billboard…assuming there’s any left, between you and all the magicians.”

“I’m sure they’ll find something...fun for you.”

She grinned at me as she leaned over and put her hands on the arms of my chair. “I think I already have.”

* * *

“Now that was fun.” Adelina collapsed against my arm, clutching a laser gun to her chest as we leaned against the wall.

The tally for the course we’d just run flashed across the board across from us and I grinned down at her.

“Yes, it was,” I agreed.

I meant it, too. It had been fun. But fun wasn’t what had prompted me to suggest we come here. I’d needed the distraction. Otherwise, I would’ve been sitting in my room, brooding and wondering about Camry, thinking for the tenth time, the twentieth, the fiftieth time about calling Kaleb, chatting a bit, casually mention his kid sister. I’d even rehearsed the right way to do it so he wouldn’t get suspicious.

I had it so well planned, I knew that if I didn’t keep myself occupied, I’d end up calling him, mentioning Camry, and then who knew the hell what would happen after that.

So I’d avoided temptation, turned my phone off, and taken Adelina for a night out of Vegas—and we hadn’t gone to a single casino. First, we’d done a light dinner, then ice cream, then laser tag. Now, I planned on taking her to a small, out of the way bar I’d found with the most amazing–

“Hey…Adelina! Ms. Caceres! Mr. Barbour! Over here for a minute!”

The sound of my name was unexpected enough that I looked up.

It took only a split second to regret that choice. It took longer for the stars to fade from my vision as I blinked away the aftereffects of the camera flash that had just gone off.

Adelina stiffened next to me, the change in her posture so minute, I doubted anybody who wasn’t gripping her hand would have felt it.

“Ms. Cross. Mr. Barbour! Are the two of you dating now?”

Shit. Okay, so I was late on the uptake. I hadn’t been the center of attention in a good long while, and even then, it had been never liked this. Hell, I hadn’t even been the negative center of attention in a good while.

Sure, I had billboards because I was headlining Flames Down Under, but outside of Vegas, the only people who knew my name were ones who followed the careers of washed-up former athletes.

But old habits died hard, and without even thinking, I moved in front of Adelina and lifted a hand to block the next camera flash. Since we were still inside the entertainment center of one of the hotels, I looked around and when I saw the nearest security guard, I lifted my free arm. “Hey, excuse me. Some help please?”

The right tone always got immediate attention, no matter what the circumstances.

“Oh, come on, Mr. Barbour…” The moron with the camera nearest me gave me what I supposed was meant to be an ingratiating smile. “Just answer a question or two. You’re both Australians. Has this been going on long?”

Ignoring him, I reached behind me and folded my hand around Adelina’s, then started for the team of security guards who were moving in on us.

“I’m so sorry,” Adelina said, her voice low. She was practically glued to my back. “I thought I’d managed to ditch them.”

“It’s alright, luv,” I told her absently as I wracked my brains for some way out of this mess.

Another camera flash went off. “Love, huh? So I guess things are serious?”

“Fuck off,” I said succinctly.

This was great. Just fucking wonderful.