AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Zahara had been determined to try and forget, at least for a little while, about the man she’d fallen in love with at first sight. The man who had spurned all her attempts to get to know him and develop a relationship between them—which she knew in her heart they were destined to be in. She just needed some time to regroup and would approach him again when he had calmed down from the fiasco in the barn and their time in the cabin. She felt that the connection between them was scaring him, and he needed some time to come to his senses and realize what she meant to him.
Didn’t they say absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Carter had been through so much and had built up a hard wall around him, but being the determined woman she was, Zahara was going to chip away at that wall until it came crumbling down. The man had revealed himself through the love and care he had taken with her when they made love for the first time in the cabin. That day, he showed her that he was worth fighting for. She felt one with him, even though it was her first time, and she knew in her heart that there would never be anyone else for her. But after, when they got dressed, Carter had shut down on her again and had made sure to push her away with the hurtful things he said to her to get her to go home and back to school. She had tried reaching out since, but her texts were left on unread, or he simply didn’t respond.
The hurt of his avoidance was painful, and her studies had helped to occupy her mind.
Until she took the test.
Zahara stared at the two still very dark red lines on the pregnancy test she took two weeks ago. She’d not been surprised to find out that she was pregnant. She had been feeling off the last month, and she finally realized she’d not gotten her period in over two months. After the incident at her sister’s ranch and what happened at the cabin with Carter—and the way he had been so cold to her afterwards—she focused only on her studies when school started in the fall. She had been so preoccupied that she didn’t notice that she hadn’t needed to pick up pads in a while.
When she finally reached out again, telling him it was an emergency and she needed to talk to him. This time she was able to breathe a sigh of relief when she’d finally gotten through to him, Carter had responded through his secretary, who had called to tell Zahara to come to his office in Vegas for them to speak.
A gambit of emotions had overwhelmed her. Joy, fear, concern, and love. She and Carter had created a new being. They had not planned it, and she’d not expected to be a mother this soon. Zahara had wanted to get her degree and start her cosmetics business before having a family, but fate had other ideas for her and Carter. He was now going to be a father, and this was even more confirmation that what she felt with Carter that night had been real. It reaffirmed that they were meant to be together, but the man was being stubborn and creating obstacles to prevent them from being together. One of his excuses was that he felt she was young and impulsive, while he was an older man who preferred more mature and sophisticated women.
That had stung a bit because she was an adult and mature enough to know what she wanted—and whom. But now he could not avoid her any longer, and a part of her dreaded what was to come because she didn’t know how he was going to react to the news that he was going to be a father. If he continued to be stubborn and didn’t want the child, she would raise it on her own. At least she would always have a piece of him with her.
A female robotic voice broke through her thoughts. “Zahara has arrived at her destination.”
She took a deep breath and looked up at the impressive Vegas hotel and casino. It was owned and run by the Brooks family, Carter being the head of the business. When Carter graduated from university, his father, Carter Sr., had passed over the reins to him after working alongside his son for a few years.
Seeing that his son was better at running the family empire, Carter Sr. had stepped down to retire and spend his time on his hobbies and his wife. They were a very private family, and not much was known about the rest of them, except the one interview in which Carter mentioned he had siblings. But Zahara knew more about them now after that time in Colorado when she had met Carter and his half-brother Leaf. She also knew he had two fraternal twin brothers, Michael and Ben.
The hotel was impressive and busy, with taxis and Ubers arriving and people getting out or leaving. The building was a massive red, gold, and black hotel with glass in the shape of an upside-down V running down the front of it, forming an arch for guests to pass through on their way to the lobby.
Zahara glanced down at the pregnancy test in her hand and put it inside of her purse before exiting the Uber. She stretched a little, as she had gotten an Uber from the airport as soon as she landed. She didn’t bring anything with her except for the clothes she was wearing and her purse.
“Ma’am, welcome to the V,” she heard a pleasant male voice say. She turned to see an older gentleman wearing a black uniform with red and gold accents smiling down at her welcomingly. His smile turned to confusion for a second when his glance shifted, taking in that she didn’t have any luggage with her.
She smiled back up at him. “Short stay; I have a meeting with Carter Brooks.” The older gentleman nodded.
“Make your way to reception, and they will call his secretary to come and get you,” the man said before he went to the next person exiting a parked car.
Zahara pushed up her glasses and straightened her shoulders before she walked towards the glass doors of the hotel. She was wearing her yellow and orange floral empire-waist dress, a thick jean jacket, and orange-colored flat shoes. Nevada was dry and a bit cold for September.
The wind picked up the curls she had painstakingly done this morning before catching her flight out of New York, where she attended Columbia University. She had looked at her reflection in the airport bathroom mirror to make sure her makeup was still holding up. For some reason, her eyeliner and mascara tended to smudge or run. Her sister Selena said it was because she needed to add setting spray to help it stay in place and last longer. Zahara was beginning to learn about this in her cosmetic science studies, but her makeup would still not behave. Staring into the mirror, she had taken in her brown skin, dark eyebrows, round cheeks, and slightly pointed chin. Altogether, Zahara thought her face was pretty, especially her hazel eyes—her best feature—in her elfin face. She also thought she had the cutest plump lips, and she knew that Carter loved them because he would suck on them before deepening the kiss between them.
Just thinking about that was making her wet, and she gave a low groan.
“Ma’am, are you alright?” She jumped and turned to see the same hotel employee now regarding her with concern. She gave him a sheepish smile.
“I am alright! Just thinking of something I should not be thinking about right now.” Zahara shrugged.
His eyebrows rose in surprise, and he shook his head. Zahara left him to continue his job before she could do anything else to embarrass herself.
Once she had passed through the arch in the upside-down V, she paused just inside the hotel doors. Zahara sucked in a breath. Outside had been impressive, but the interior décor was exquisite, with gold, red, and black accents running through everything, including the marble floor and carpet.
Her head moved from one side to the other as she took in the ambience of the hotel, listening to the sounds of the machines going off in the casino. The area was alive with conversations and the hustle and bustle of the staff moving about as they took care of the patronage.
“Welcome to the V! Would you like a glass of champagne?” she heard someone say near her.
“No thank you.” The woman nodded and went to the next person entering the hotel behind her.
Zahara moved across the marble floor towards the busiest part of the hotel, the check-in desk. She waited her turn until she reached the front of the line and stood in front of the reception staff, who wore slightly different tailored outfits in matching colors.
A young blond man smiled at her. “Welcome to the V. May I have your driver’s license and credit card?”
