Can't Buy Me Love - 9 - by Maro Z
It's Vegas Baby!
Overwhelmed at all you wonderful readers yet again, and thanks for all your kind words!
Swtfrnd - you were missed!! :) And yep I LOVE a cliffhanger!! So glad you've loved my stories, and thanks for your kind words!
Annie - Hope she lives up to your expectations! Thanks so much!
Mal K - Lots of issues, nothing sorted yet...but hey we'll see!!
Surabhi - Intriguing? I like that!! :) Yep about time Marina had a little freedom!!
Babe - Thank you so much. I think more of their pasts will become apparent, but sorry, you'll just have to wait a little longer!! :)
Anonymous- Who knows? :x lips sealed!! Glad you liked the award!! :)
Lovelypalacious - Sparks? You're not wrong! but will there be a fire?? Glad my rapid post caught you out!!
Lee Lee - :)
Klara Noel - Jr Prom? hope that goes well! So good luck! hope you have a hunky date? Thanks for the comments!
Justine.A - Both married, but we can look can't we?? And lucky them in Vegas baby!! Ha ha!!
Poornima R - Yep three in four days isn't bad is it? but my life is being neglected!!! There are a lot of things brewing, and it will come out soon, there are sparks of interest, but he's an ethical man!!
Prince.sandyx3 - She needed a change of scenery, and didn't think she'd be able to leave the country....next state maybe pushing it with her criminal activity! Nice to know you go for smooth men!! :PP
Sami - Not romantic, but fun, fun, fun!! Marina's clean but still not cleared...hopefully soon!! Thanks for reading!!
Poonam Sharma - what a wonderful thing to say. I prid emyself on trying to make my stories as real as possible, and from the comments I receive, I think I'm getting there!
So here we are chapter nine already! Doesn't time fly!!! ???
===========================================================================================================================
"Dress smart!" Marina announced to herself as she looked through the small bag she'd hurriedly packed. She had a couple of pairs of shorts, some vest tops and a sundress, hardly 'smart'. She didn't presume that Nathan was a black tie kind of guy, but you could guarantee that if a man suggested smart dress, then it was definitely a dressing up affair. So she made sure the next morning when she went for a stroll that she took her purse, and more importantly her credit card, scratch that, her father's credit card.
In the cold light of day Las Vegas seemed even more impressive, all the all the hotels were so much more than that. Everything was co ordinate to the last sign, costume. It was more than impressive. She walked past a perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower, a roof top rollercoaster and a dozen Elvis impersonators before entering the Mandalay hotel. She'd heard about the shark reef. She'd always wanted to swim with sharks, but this seemed like a good alternative. She spent hours watching the various aquatic creatures meander through the overhead water.
She was much calmer once she walked back out into the humidity of the Las Vegas day. There were various boutiques scattered through the strip, but instantly she realized they were catering for elegant and rich ladies. Everything was tailored, or frilled, or just too old for her. She sighed as she headed for lunch in a small cafe off a side street. A club sandwich and a strong black coffee did seem to give her a boost.
She asked the young waitress for the bill, and then closed her eyes. A dress, that's all she needed to find. She didn't open her eyes until the waitress placed the bill on front of her.
"Are you ok?" the woman who probably a few years older than her asked with concern.
Marina half smiled, "I'm fine, I just can't seem to find a place selling anything I'd wear and I'm going out for dinner tonight..."
"You can't find party clothes in Vegas?" she guffawed.
"Well I could find something suitable for a Royal Wedding, if you were fifty, but teenage stuff?"
Again the woman laughed, pulling a napkin out of the holder on the table, she roughly drew a map bisecting some of the hotels and asterisked a place that she promised was a shopping mall that would answer her prayers.
Marina sighed, then left a huge tip!
She found the mall, and the waitress was right, it was full of stores stocking the kind of thing she had in mind. But it didn't make it any easier to choose something. She tried on dress after skirt, after dress but to no avail. Finally she started again at the first shop. She'd never been a really happy shopper so this was driving her mad, and she tried not to acknowledge that the biggest problem was her anxiety of how Nathan would react to whatever she wore. She sought his approval all the time, and over time now realized that she respected him as an influence on her life.
Back in the second shop, she found a dress she'd overlooked first time around, a bronze fitted bodice with a layered ruffled skirt in the lightest chiffon. It wasn't quite the prom dress that most stored seemed to think she'd want, but it definitely qualified as smart and suited her figure. She wasn't curvy, yet she wasn't slim, she seemed to sit somewhere in mediocrity in between. A quick glance at that clock revealed time was running out, so she dashed across to another store and managed to find some bronze gladiator sandals to match. She caught a cab back to the hotel and it pulled up outside at six o'clock. She didn't have long, so shower, relax, pamper and dress was all done as fast as possible.
Marina emerged from her room at half past seven, her hair was more uncontrolled than usual, she'd wondered how an inch and a half of hair could behave so badly, but as usual it was more gooseberry than Halle Berry. As it was late, and very humid, she called a cab and took it to the Stratosphere Casino. Inside she asked after the reservation for Nathan Hughes and was escorted to a lift that took her up to the Top of the World Restaurant. The tower was, she was told, eight hundred feet up, and when she left the elevator, she was amazed to see the whole room was rotating...slowly. A maitre d' showed her to a table for two at the far side of the room, a window seat. Smiling, she ordered an orange juice, then greedily drank in the view as opposed to the chilled drink.
Nathan had had a bitch of a day. His sister was still finally found, and after chastising the Las Vegas Police Department, she was now in custody facing a jail term. It was safer than the hell hole he'd found her in, off her face and unable to even recognize him. He was weary and depressed, but he'd promised to meet Marina, take her out for dinner. He'd rued that decision all the way back to the hotel, and his way here, but now as he saw her watching the revolving City from the huge observation deck windows a smile of pleasure that lit up her face. He'd thought about her far more than was healthy that day, traumatic as it was, and now as he watched her, he realized that this arrangement, this meal was the oasis in the desert, the port in today's extreme storm. As he was led to the table, Marina looked up her face a picture of unrestrained rapture.
"This place is awesome Nathan!"
He grinned, "I know I love it here!!" Sliding into the seat opposite he ordered a beer. "How was your day?"
She shrugged, "I saw the Eiffel Tower, a pyramid and free swimming sharks! It could only be Vegas! How was your day? You look terrible."
"It was long, but finally my sister is on the map, as opposed to MIA, so I can't complain that much...."
She sensed a 'but' but didn't want to push him, they were getting on, and she liked that sensation.
"So what do you recommend on this menu?"
He chuckled, "it's all good. My only advice is to try something you've not tried before!"
She nodded, "good thought, but there are some real faves of mine here....I'm going to have herb and lemon rack of lamb - I haven't had lamb since I was in London, I can't wait!"
He ordered steak, and all the trimmings then slumped back into his chair to observe her, "new dress?"
Nodding she ran her hands self consciously over the fabric, "it wasn't easy to find something..."
"Well you look stunning!"
"Why thank you! You don't scrub up too badly yourself..." she'd been admiring the charcoal suit with the darker shirt and tie since he'd walked up to the table. He was an attention grabbing man, tall and attractive, she spotted several women looking over at him, as they waited for their food to arrive, He struck up an easy conversation, but she realized that he wasn't about to reveal any more about himself, about his life, family, but slowly he seemed to draw things out of her.
"So tell me about your brother."
"Alex? He's brilliant. Clever, funny, you'd love him! He's everything my father isn't! Blonde, tall...." she laughed, "no wonder Dad hates him!" She twirled her glass between her fingers, "I think it's the fact that he is so much like my mother, and that grates on my father's nerves. He runs a software business from this beautiful lodge in the Alps. Heidi was a model before she had the children, and now she's like this perfect mother in her immaculate yet lived in home...." she mused quietly for a moment. "I really miss them."
Nathan saw the wistful look in her eyes; he knew all about her brother, who despite everything he'd been through, had built himself into a mogul in just a few years completely legally.
"So Paul isn't Alex's Dad?"
She shook her head, pausing as the waiter laid their highly decorative meals in front of them. "Dad brought him up from the age of four, and when I arrived a few days later I don't honestly think my father looked at him in the same way. You've met him; he's so....territorial, defensive....another man's child just was more than he could take. So when Mum died, he sent him away. The second worse day of my life."
They ate some of their meal with only the odd culinary compliment. The atmosphere was suddenly morose as they both digested the mess each family had become.
"Dessert?" he asked as he laid his knife and fork on the empty plate in front of him.
She shook her head, "that meal was huge; I'd love a coffee though."
An hour later they left their table and as they made their way to the lift, he spotted a glint in her eye. "What is it?"
Marina grinned, "I was watching people Skywalk earlier...."
He shook his head, "I've just eaten a forty dollar steak, I have no intention of throwing myself off the top of a tower eight hundred feet up."
She shrugged, she'd been watching this all night as the tower rotated the 'walkers' had passed them. People dressed in a safety suit stepped off the building and literally floated down to the ground on safety wires. It looked thrilling, and now she'd thought of it her adrenaline was pumping. "You can meet me at the bottom; I really want to do it. I understand if you're chicken!"
His face paled and he squared up to her, "are you pushing me Miss Beaufort?"
She chuckled, typical man hating the word chicken.
Just half an hour later, she watched as he was strapped into a safety harness and climbed up to the platform to make his skywalk. When he disappeared from view out into the night, it was her turn to be harnessed. Her short dress had fitted under the overalls she'd been given, and she'd had to borrow some lace up shoes. As she was secured into a harness the instructor gave her verbal commands on how to travel safely. She nodded appropriately as he explained the procedure, then it was her turn to step up on to a platform above the restaurant they'd eaten in.
"Step away!" She was finally instructed, and as she overcame her nerves, swallowed the lump in her throat, managed the butterflies in her stomach, she stepped off the building.
Secure between the safety wires she drifted towards the ground, a serene yet exhilarating experience. Things became bigger as she descended and her heart soared as she struggled to find her stomach. It wasn't how she'd imagined, an eternal rollercoaster dip, it was far calmer. Then she slowed and her feet hit the floor and she was stood between two further instructors who unhooked her from the cables.
Marina had never felt so great; it was the best experience she could ever remember, her legs were still floating and her whole body was quivering. Looking towards the edge of the safety landing zone she saw Nathan laughing. Running across to him she threw herself at him. As he caught her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him.
"Good?" he asked.
"Unbelievable!" she hugged him tightly, and without thinking she planted her lips on his. Her heart that was battered from the gravity and adrenaline now surged for another reason, desire. His lips were warm, and firm, and for a second there was resistance. But as soon as his lips responded, he kissed her, covering her mouth with his own she relaxed into him, his hands securing her to him, one around her waist, the other reaching into her hair, drawing her face to his.
She'd never been kissed like this, had her whole being possessed by such a dominating force, yet she was encouraged not intimidated, and each little venture she made was met by a soft moan escaping his lips onto hers. His tongue was pressing at her lips, a sensation she more than enjoyed.
Then suddenly her closed eyes, upturned face were bereft of his touch, and her legs were slithering to the floor, as he separated from her.
"I'm sorry Marina. That was my fault; I should never have done that. All that adrenaline, hey? I'll let you get changed then see you back to the hotel."
===================================================================================================================================
:)
MZ
Swtfrnd - you were missed!! :) And yep I LOVE a cliffhanger!! So glad you've loved my stories, and thanks for your kind words!
Annie - Hope she lives up to your expectations! Thanks so much!
Mal K - Lots of issues, nothing sorted yet...but hey we'll see!!
Surabhi - Intriguing? I like that!! :) Yep about time Marina had a little freedom!!
Babe - Thank you so much. I think more of their pasts will become apparent, but sorry, you'll just have to wait a little longer!! :)
Anonymous- Who knows? :x lips sealed!! Glad you liked the award!! :)
Lovelypalacious - Sparks? You're not wrong! but will there be a fire?? Glad my rapid post caught you out!!
Lee Lee - :)
Klara Noel - Jr Prom? hope that goes well! So good luck! hope you have a hunky date? Thanks for the comments!
Justine.A - Both married, but we can look can't we?? And lucky them in Vegas baby!! Ha ha!!
Poornima R - Yep three in four days isn't bad is it? but my life is being neglected!!! There are a lot of things brewing, and it will come out soon, there are sparks of interest, but he's an ethical man!!
Prince.sandyx3 - She needed a change of scenery, and didn't think she'd be able to leave the country....next state maybe pushing it with her criminal activity! Nice to know you go for smooth men!! :PP
Sami - Not romantic, but fun, fun, fun!! Marina's clean but still not cleared...hopefully soon!! Thanks for reading!!
Poonam Sharma - what a wonderful thing to say. I prid emyself on trying to make my stories as real as possible, and from the comments I receive, I think I'm getting there!
So here we are chapter nine already! Doesn't time fly!!! ???
===========================================================================================================================
"Dress smart!" Marina announced to herself as she looked through the small bag she'd hurriedly packed. She had a couple of pairs of shorts, some vest tops and a sundress, hardly 'smart'. She didn't presume that Nathan was a black tie kind of guy, but you could guarantee that if a man suggested smart dress, then it was definitely a dressing up affair. So she made sure the next morning when she went for a stroll that she took her purse, and more importantly her credit card, scratch that, her father's credit card.
In the cold light of day Las Vegas seemed even more impressive, all the all the hotels were so much more than that. Everything was co ordinate to the last sign, costume. It was more than impressive. She walked past a perfect replica of the Eiffel Tower, a roof top rollercoaster and a dozen Elvis impersonators before entering the Mandalay hotel. She'd heard about the shark reef. She'd always wanted to swim with sharks, but this seemed like a good alternative. She spent hours watching the various aquatic creatures meander through the overhead water.
She was much calmer once she walked back out into the humidity of the Las Vegas day. There were various boutiques scattered through the strip, but instantly she realized they were catering for elegant and rich ladies. Everything was tailored, or frilled, or just too old for her. She sighed as she headed for lunch in a small cafe off a side street. A club sandwich and a strong black coffee did seem to give her a boost.
She asked the young waitress for the bill, and then closed her eyes. A dress, that's all she needed to find. She didn't open her eyes until the waitress placed the bill on front of her.
"Are you ok?" the woman who probably a few years older than her asked with concern.
Marina half smiled, "I'm fine, I just can't seem to find a place selling anything I'd wear and I'm going out for dinner tonight..."
"You can't find party clothes in Vegas?" she guffawed.
"Well I could find something suitable for a Royal Wedding, if you were fifty, but teenage stuff?"
Again the woman laughed, pulling a napkin out of the holder on the table, she roughly drew a map bisecting some of the hotels and asterisked a place that she promised was a shopping mall that would answer her prayers.
Marina sighed, then left a huge tip!
She found the mall, and the waitress was right, it was full of stores stocking the kind of thing she had in mind. But it didn't make it any easier to choose something. She tried on dress after skirt, after dress but to no avail. Finally she started again at the first shop. She'd never been a really happy shopper so this was driving her mad, and she tried not to acknowledge that the biggest problem was her anxiety of how Nathan would react to whatever she wore. She sought his approval all the time, and over time now realized that she respected him as an influence on her life.
Back in the second shop, she found a dress she'd overlooked first time around, a bronze fitted bodice with a layered ruffled skirt in the lightest chiffon. It wasn't quite the prom dress that most stored seemed to think she'd want, but it definitely qualified as smart and suited her figure. She wasn't curvy, yet she wasn't slim, she seemed to sit somewhere in mediocrity in between. A quick glance at that clock revealed time was running out, so she dashed across to another store and managed to find some bronze gladiator sandals to match. She caught a cab back to the hotel and it pulled up outside at six o'clock. She didn't have long, so shower, relax, pamper and dress was all done as fast as possible.
Marina emerged from her room at half past seven, her hair was more uncontrolled than usual, she'd wondered how an inch and a half of hair could behave so badly, but as usual it was more gooseberry than Halle Berry. As it was late, and very humid, she called a cab and took it to the Stratosphere Casino. Inside she asked after the reservation for Nathan Hughes and was escorted to a lift that took her up to the Top of the World Restaurant. The tower was, she was told, eight hundred feet up, and when she left the elevator, she was amazed to see the whole room was rotating...slowly. A maitre d' showed her to a table for two at the far side of the room, a window seat. Smiling, she ordered an orange juice, then greedily drank in the view as opposed to the chilled drink.
Nathan had had a bitch of a day. His sister was still finally found, and after chastising the Las Vegas Police Department, she was now in custody facing a jail term. It was safer than the hell hole he'd found her in, off her face and unable to even recognize him. He was weary and depressed, but he'd promised to meet Marina, take her out for dinner. He'd rued that decision all the way back to the hotel, and his way here, but now as he saw her watching the revolving City from the huge observation deck windows a smile of pleasure that lit up her face. He'd thought about her far more than was healthy that day, traumatic as it was, and now as he watched her, he realized that this arrangement, this meal was the oasis in the desert, the port in today's extreme storm. As he was led to the table, Marina looked up her face a picture of unrestrained rapture.
"This place is awesome Nathan!"
He grinned, "I know I love it here!!" Sliding into the seat opposite he ordered a beer. "How was your day?"
She shrugged, "I saw the Eiffel Tower, a pyramid and free swimming sharks! It could only be Vegas! How was your day? You look terrible."
"It was long, but finally my sister is on the map, as opposed to MIA, so I can't complain that much...."
She sensed a 'but' but didn't want to push him, they were getting on, and she liked that sensation.
"So what do you recommend on this menu?"
He chuckled, "it's all good. My only advice is to try something you've not tried before!"
She nodded, "good thought, but there are some real faves of mine here....I'm going to have herb and lemon rack of lamb - I haven't had lamb since I was in London, I can't wait!"
He ordered steak, and all the trimmings then slumped back into his chair to observe her, "new dress?"
Nodding she ran her hands self consciously over the fabric, "it wasn't easy to find something..."
"Well you look stunning!"
"Why thank you! You don't scrub up too badly yourself..." she'd been admiring the charcoal suit with the darker shirt and tie since he'd walked up to the table. He was an attention grabbing man, tall and attractive, she spotted several women looking over at him, as they waited for their food to arrive, He struck up an easy conversation, but she realized that he wasn't about to reveal any more about himself, about his life, family, but slowly he seemed to draw things out of her.
"So tell me about your brother."
"Alex? He's brilliant. Clever, funny, you'd love him! He's everything my father isn't! Blonde, tall...." she laughed, "no wonder Dad hates him!" She twirled her glass between her fingers, "I think it's the fact that he is so much like my mother, and that grates on my father's nerves. He runs a software business from this beautiful lodge in the Alps. Heidi was a model before she had the children, and now she's like this perfect mother in her immaculate yet lived in home...." she mused quietly for a moment. "I really miss them."
Nathan saw the wistful look in her eyes; he knew all about her brother, who despite everything he'd been through, had built himself into a mogul in just a few years completely legally.
"So Paul isn't Alex's Dad?"
She shook her head, pausing as the waiter laid their highly decorative meals in front of them. "Dad brought him up from the age of four, and when I arrived a few days later I don't honestly think my father looked at him in the same way. You've met him; he's so....territorial, defensive....another man's child just was more than he could take. So when Mum died, he sent him away. The second worse day of my life."
They ate some of their meal with only the odd culinary compliment. The atmosphere was suddenly morose as they both digested the mess each family had become.
"Dessert?" he asked as he laid his knife and fork on the empty plate in front of him.
She shook her head, "that meal was huge; I'd love a coffee though."
An hour later they left their table and as they made their way to the lift, he spotted a glint in her eye. "What is it?"
Marina grinned, "I was watching people Skywalk earlier...."
He shook his head, "I've just eaten a forty dollar steak, I have no intention of throwing myself off the top of a tower eight hundred feet up."
She shrugged, she'd been watching this all night as the tower rotated the 'walkers' had passed them. People dressed in a safety suit stepped off the building and literally floated down to the ground on safety wires. It looked thrilling, and now she'd thought of it her adrenaline was pumping. "You can meet me at the bottom; I really want to do it. I understand if you're chicken!"
His face paled and he squared up to her, "are you pushing me Miss Beaufort?"
She chuckled, typical man hating the word chicken.
Just half an hour later, she watched as he was strapped into a safety harness and climbed up to the platform to make his skywalk. When he disappeared from view out into the night, it was her turn to be harnessed. Her short dress had fitted under the overalls she'd been given, and she'd had to borrow some lace up shoes. As she was secured into a harness the instructor gave her verbal commands on how to travel safely. She nodded appropriately as he explained the procedure, then it was her turn to step up on to a platform above the restaurant they'd eaten in.
"Step away!" She was finally instructed, and as she overcame her nerves, swallowed the lump in her throat, managed the butterflies in her stomach, she stepped off the building.
Secure between the safety wires she drifted towards the ground, a serene yet exhilarating experience. Things became bigger as she descended and her heart soared as she struggled to find her stomach. It wasn't how she'd imagined, an eternal rollercoaster dip, it was far calmer. Then she slowed and her feet hit the floor and she was stood between two further instructors who unhooked her from the cables.
Marina had never felt so great; it was the best experience she could ever remember, her legs were still floating and her whole body was quivering. Looking towards the edge of the safety landing zone she saw Nathan laughing. Running across to him she threw herself at him. As he caught her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him.
"Good?" he asked.
"Unbelievable!" she hugged him tightly, and without thinking she planted her lips on his. Her heart that was battered from the gravity and adrenaline now surged for another reason, desire. His lips were warm, and firm, and for a second there was resistance. But as soon as his lips responded, he kissed her, covering her mouth with his own she relaxed into him, his hands securing her to him, one around her waist, the other reaching into her hair, drawing her face to his.
She'd never been kissed like this, had her whole being possessed by such a dominating force, yet she was encouraged not intimidated, and each little venture she made was met by a soft moan escaping his lips onto hers. His tongue was pressing at her lips, a sensation she more than enjoyed.
Then suddenly her closed eyes, upturned face were bereft of his touch, and her legs were slithering to the floor, as he separated from her.
"I'm sorry Marina. That was my fault; I should never have done that. All that adrenaline, hey? I'll let you get changed then see you back to the hotel."
===================================================================================================================================
:)
MZ
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