He shook his head. “This isn’t about me, Lib. It’s about you.”
“No, it’s about both of us, right? It’s our road trip.” Libby was surprised to discover she meant it. She was willing to give in to Noah’s wishes—without resentment—if being with Gram wasn’t what he wanted.
A smile spread across his face. “You know I love Gram, and it’s a riot to watch her and Nana Ruby together. They’re like the Geritol Odd Couple. It’ll be fun.”
“Are you sure?” He sounded convincing, which should have been enough. Noah McMillan never did anything he didn’t want to do. But she wanted to be certain.
The wind gusted and blew her hair into her face again, and Noah reached up and brushed it aside. The touch of his fingertips on her cheek shot lust straight to her core, but something else warmed inside her, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it. She stuffed it down along with her rising libido.
“I’m very sure. How about we see if they even want to hang out with us. For all we know, Megan and Knickers concocted this whole thing for us to be their chaperones, and they’ll try to ditch us.”
She laughed and couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around his neck. “You’re brilliant.”
He held her close. “Just tell my brother that.”
“Surely he knows by now.”
But he didn’t answer, and when she looked up at him, he just flashed her a smile. “We have two silver foxes waiting for us at Caesar’s Palace, ready to have a good time. We can’t leave them hanging for too long, can we?”
“I love you,” she said jovially as she climbed into the car. “You’re amazing.”
Noah stood beside the open door for a couple of seconds as if frozen in place, then teased, “That’s me. Amazing. I wish more people would recognize that.” He shut her door and moved around to get into the driver’s seat.
She was excited to see Gram, not to mention the no-nonsense Nana Ruby, but the sun had set and her early funk had worn her out emotionally. She closed her eyes and let the lull of the car soothe her jagged nerves. It hardly surprised her that her thoughts immediately went to Noah.
Libby was glad he’d told her about his father—it explained so much about him. A part of her longed to make a confession of her own, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him about her childhood. She couldn’t place her finger on the reason for that hesitation, which upset and confused her. She had no doubt Noah would be just as understanding of her situation as she had been of his. But she couldn’t let it out of the lock-box of memories. It was something she hadn’t even shared with Megan and Blair, and she’d known them since kindergarten.
She was still lost in thought when Noah touched her shoulder.
“Libby, we’re here.”
She blinked in surprise. “Where?”
“Caesar’s Palace.”
“What? How’d we get here so fast?”
“You fell asleep.”
“But I wanted to see Vegas!”
He laughed. “Trust me, you can see as much of it as you want. But not in this car. While you slept, I made arrangements to drop it off here at the hotel. Which means we have to get all of our things out.”
That wouldn’t be too hard considering everything she had with her was either on her person, in Noah’s suitcase, or stuffed in a clear trash bag. “You know we’re going to have to carry a wedding dress stuffed in a trash bag through the hotel?” she asked, reaching for the door handle.
“Hey, it’s Vegas. I doubt anyone will even notice this time.”
He had a point. She got out of the car and waited while Noah talked to the rental car attendant. When she reached into the trunk for the bag with the wedding dress, Noah—still talking to the agent—moved toward her and handed her a gray garment bag with the name of a tux rental place in bold letters.
He really had brought a tux. Why had she questioned him before? Noah and Libby bullshitted the rest of the world, but they were always real with each other.
He grabbed his carry-on bag and the trash bag and flashed her a smile. “Let’s go.”
She followed him down several long halls until they entered a large marble-clad foyer with a giant statue in the middle. Noah checked his phone, then handed it to Libby. “Josh texted me Gram’s number. Why don’t you call her and tell her we’re here? Maybe we can meet up with them somewhere. If nothing else, you can get your ID.”
She took the phone and wandered closer to the statue, staring up at the painted ceiling. It surprised her that Noah had picked this place with its grand extravagance. He seemed more like a Bellagio guy. Gram answered on the first ring.
“So you ran off with my Libby, did you?” she asked with a chuckle.
Her chest warmed at the sound of Gram’s voice. “Gram, it’s me. The runnee herself. Libby.”
“Libby, my girl. Did you run off to Vegas to get married, too?”
“Too? Who’s getting married in Vegas?”
“Me, of course. I caught your bouquet.” Then the older woman grumbled. “Ruby, stop getting your panties in a wad. If I want to get married, I’ll damn well do it.”
Good Lord. Even Gram—a seventy-something-year-old woman—was having better luck in the love department than she was. Noah hadn’t mentioned this part of Gram’s plan. “I didn’t even know you were seeing someone.”