"The h.e.l.l?" I asked, confused "I knew I had seen you somewhere. You were in Proof last year, weren't you? At the Y?"

"Uh, yeah, I was," I said.

"I saw you!" he exclaimed, still pointing at me. "I saw that show! You were really, really good!"

I stared at him in shock. Proof was an awesome show, and it was the biggest role I'd had since college, but it had been a tiny little production at the YMCA. If I recalled correctly, I had been paid in vouchers from the restaurant down the street. "You saw that?" I asked Nate. And more to the point, he remembered me?

"Yeah! It was good. I enjoyed it." The expression on my face must have registered. "What?"

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. "I'm just surprised. You don't strike me as the theater-going type."

"See, you shouldn't judge me until you get to know me," he said, pointing at me again.

Over his head, I caught Ginny staring at us, a huge grin on her face.

"So do you regularly go to local theater?" I asked, still feeling off-balance.

"Sometimes," he said. "I have a friend who loves that kind of stuff. I go with him once in a while. I like it. We've seen some great stuff."

"Wow," I said. "That's pretty cool."

"So what else have you done?" he asked, lying on his side so he was completely facing me now.

"Uh, nothing too big, to be honest. Not since college. I've had a few small roles here and there and I've done a bunch of backstage stuff, but nothing too exciting. It's been tough breaking into the scene, ya know?"

"I bet." He nodded. "But you were seriously really good. I mean, I still remembered you after a whole year. That's got to count for something. I bet it's only a matter of time."

I smiled at him. "Thanks. Actually," I paused, unsure if I should tell him. But he had seemed so genuinely interested in my acting. "Actually, I had a really big audition last week. Do you know Jenner Collins?"

"Pretty boy in the action movies?" he asked.

I wrinkled my nose at him. "I wouldn't quite describe him that way. He's from the area, did you know that? And he puts on a lot of really good shows with local talent."

"Well, I still think he's a pretty boy. But that's cool. So what's the deal with audition?"

"It was for one of Jenner's shows," I explained. "It goes up in a month and a half. And I got a callback."

"That's amazing!" Nate said. "Good for you. When's the callback?"

"It was last week," I admitted. "I think it went really well, but you never know."

"When will you find out?" he asked.

"It could be any day. The timing of this trip was really good for me, actually. Otherwise I'd be sitting at home obsessing."

"Yeah, it's good to have distractions when you're waiting for that kind of thing."

I looked over at his tanned, muscular body and smiled. "Yeah. Distractions can be really good."

Chapter Nine.

"Annie, seriously, I need to get in there!" Ginny shouted from outside the bathroom door.

"One second!" I shouted back. "Stupid, f.u.c.king humidity..."

I attacked my hair with the straightener one last time before I gave up. It was a losing battle.

I exited the bathroom and found Ginny waiting for me. "If you say one word about my hair, I'll kill you, McKensie," I told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Your hair is fine," she said. "You always get so worked up over it. Most girls would kill to have curls like that."

"Frizz," I corrected. "I have frizz. Red frizz. And the heat around here isn't helping at all."

"Well, why are you bothering straightening it then?" she asked. "Why don't you just braid it? It will get it up off your face and it looks so pretty like that."

"We're in Vegas," I whined. "I want to look s.e.xy and chic, not like a freaking librarian."

"s.e.xy and chic, huh?" she said, her face lighting up. "Who might we want to impress tonight, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," I said, scowling.

"Seriously, are you going to see him?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Who knows? I have plans with you guys."

Kiki's dad had included tickets to Cirque de Soleil in our package. I was really excited; it was supposed to be incredible.

"Yeah, but we're in Vegas," Ginny said impatiently. "It's not like you're gonna go up to bed as soon as the show is over."

"We might meet up at the fountain," I admitted. "But only if I feel like it. It wasn't set in stone or anything."

Ginny smirked. "Well, I hope that works out then," she said before she headed into the bathroom to do her own hair.

I decided to take Ginny's advice and just braid my hair. There was no point in fighting it. I sat down at the desk in front of a mirror and went to work on my hair. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I smiled a little goofily. It had been a great day so far. The truth was, I was really excited about the prospect of seeing Nate again. I'd had more fun with him by the pool then I cared to admit. When we had to leave to go the stratosphere tower, I actually felt disappointed. When he offered to meet up at the Bellagio fountains later that night, I was quick to agree.

And while the thrill rides at the top of the tower were crazy fun and terrifying, I'd had had a hard time keeping my mind off my date all day.

Get a hold of yourself, I instructed myself firmly. He's not your boyfriend. It's a little fun to have on vacation, nothing more. Enjoy it, then move on.

That had been my motto with boys for years, and it had always served me well. Unlike Ginny and Jen, I had spent little of our teens years pining for boys who didn't like me back. In our twenties, I'd had few moments of heartbreak. I just worked better that way.

A few minutes later, Ginny was ready. "See, babe," she said, looking me over. "You look great. Totally hot. Nate will love it...if, you know, you happen to see him."

I knew she was teasing me, but I ignored it. "Ready?" I asked her.

"Yup," she replied. "Let's go find the others."

Three hours later I was heading across the busy street toward the Bellagio casino. Even from this distance I could see people gathering for the dancing fountain's next performance. Ginny and I had seen the show from our room a few times, and I had to admit it was pretty cool. I wondered for a moment if Nate would be there. What if he was having too much fun with his friends? What if they had decided to get strippers after all?

Stop obsessing, I told myself. It isn't you.

As I hurried across the courtyard toward the fountain, I heard a voice.

"Annie!"

I turned, and there he was, walking toward me. He was dressed in a suit, but had removed his tie and unb.u.t.toned the top few b.u.t.tons of his shirt. I couldn't help the smile that broke out across my face. He looked great.

Before I could even say h.e.l.lo, he had reached for me and pulled me into a big hug. "I was getting worried you might ditch me," he said into my hair.

"Nah," I replied, smiling into his suit jacket. "I'm here."

He looked down at me, the lights from the strip reflecting off his hair. "I'm really, really glad," he said, his deep voice sending a flutter into my belly. He stared down at me for a minute and I again felt color spread to my cheeks. "Come on," he said finally. "I think the show is going to start soon."

We approached the crowd gathered around the fountain as the lights around the lake began to dim. The people fell silent and the music started.

"Hey, I know this music," I said as the operatic piece began. "It's Time to Say Goodbye-that's Sarah Brightman!"

Nate looked down at me with a bemused expression. "She was in Phantom of the Opera," I said sheepishly. "Sorry, theater dork."

He just grinned and put his arm around me.

From our room high above, Ginny and I could tell that the fountains would be cool. But I had no idea how amazing it would be in person like this, once the music got going. The jets were synchronized perfectly with the music, like the water was really dancing.

As the music reached its crescendo and the water pushed ever higher into the sky, I was surprised to find wetness on my cheeks. I looked up and saw that Nate was watching me rather than the show. "Sorry," I whispered, embarra.s.sed. "It's beautiful."

"Don't be sorry," he said, shaking his head. "You're beautiful too."

I felt my stomach lurch in a disturbing way, so I just smiled at him. Now that the show had ended, the crowds around us began to disperse, and the spell seemed to be broken. "Alright," Nate said, as we started to move away from the fountain. "What do you feel like doing tonight? Did you already eat?"

I shook my head. "No, we had a huge lunch but our tickets for Cirque were right around dinner time."

"Then we should eat," he said, taking my hand. "What do you feel like?"

"I'd be up for anything," I said, shrugging.

"Well, that's good," he replied. "Because Vegas happens to be very well-known as one of the culinary capitals of the United States."

"Really?" I asked skeptically. "Isn't Vegas all about buffets and cheap casino comps?"

He gasped in mock horror. "Absolutely not! All of the great chefs have restaurants here. Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Joel Robuchon."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Bobby Flay as in that guy from TV?"

Nate shook his head at me sadly. "Your culinary education is woefully lacking. You must allow me to rectify that for you."

"Oh my G.o.d, you're one of those foodie people, aren't you?" I asked. "Please don't tell me you're gonna take me to some place where the food is so fancy you don't even want to touch it and the portion is so small it would work better for Barbie doll. I'm a real girl, okay? I have an appet.i.te. "

"Please," he said, tugging on my hand. "Just trust me. You're about to have the best meal of your life."

Chapter Ten.

*The first date is such an important part of your mate-finding experience. It is essential that you present yourself as the girl your new guy just can't live without. It's a good idea to eat something small before you leave; you wouldn't want to end up starving and stuffing your face in front of Mr. Right. What a turn-off! It's also a good idea to abstain from drinking. Only one gla.s.s of wine with dinner, if you must. A man looking for a wife isn't going to be interested in a beer-guzzler, ladies!'-The Single Girl's Guide to Finding True Love "I was right, wasn't I?" Nate asked, watching my face closely as I chewed. I wanted to keep him in suspense for a while longer, but I couldn't help the little moan that escaped my lips.

"See!" he said triumphantly. "It's delicious, isn't it? I told you!"

I finished chewing and smiled at him. "Yeah, it was pretty d.a.m.n good."

I was surprised when Nate had hailed a cab and taken us to this little restaurant set back from the craziness of the strip. It seemed a little bit like a dive to me, definitely not as fancy or chic as the places I had been frequenting thus far on my trip. But when Nate insisted we both order starters before I formed an opinion, I agreed. He had begged me to let him order for me, and his enthusiasm about my eating experience charmed me. I had ended up with some steak-wrapped artichoke thing. And to tell you the truth, it was one of the most delicious things I had ever eaten.

"So you want to stay and order?" he asked.

"If the entrees are as good as that starter, then I definitely want to stay."

He handed me the menu and I looked it over.

"What do you think?" he asked, his face lit up like a little kid at a toy store. I had to admit, it was kind of cute.

"It looks kind of eclectic," I said. I was no food expert (that was Jen's department) but even I could recognize a wide gamut of influences on this menu, from Italian to American to French.

"That's the beauty of it!" Nate said. "They're not bound by labels or traditions. They just make really good food."

"Okay, you're gonna need to chill out a little bit," I told him, laughing. "This place has already won me over. No need to oversell."

He laughed too. "Sorry, this is just one of my favorite restaurants."

"I didn't know you've been to Vegas before," I said, surprised he hadn't mentioned it.

"It was one of my dad's favorite vacations," he said quietly. I had a bad feeling about his expression.

"Is he...um, is he still around?" I asked tentatively.

"Naw," Nate said, taking a gulp of his water. "He died a few years ago. Heart attack."

"Nate, I'm really sorry to hear that," I said. I felt terrible. I should have just let the moment go.