What Happens in Vegas

www.beautifultroublepublishing.com

What Happens in Vegas…

MARTEEKA KARLAND

Copyright © 2011 by Marteeka Karland

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or shared in any form, including but not limited

to: printing, photocopying, faxing, recording, electronic

transmission, or by any information storage or retrieval

system without prior written permission from the authors or

holders of the copyright.

This book is a work of fiction. References may be made to

locations and historical events; however, names, characters,

places and incidents are the products of the author’s

imagination and/or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to

actual persons (living or dead), businesses, events or locales

is either used fictitiously or coincidental. All trademarks,

service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service

marks are the property of their respective owners and are

used herein for identification purposes only.

Published by

Beautiful Trouble Publishing, LLC

PO Box 61

Colfax, NC 27235

www.beautifultroublepublishing.com

Cover Art: Les Byerle
y http://www.les3photo8.com/

Editor: Novellette Whyte

Proofreader: Stephanie Parent

http://authorgurunovellette.blogspot.com/

Formatter: Savannah J. Frierson,

http://sjfbooks.com/editing/

E-book Conversion: Jim & Zetta,

http://www.jimandzetta.com/

ISBN: (e-book) 978-1-61788-121-3; (print) 978-1-61788-122-

0

To Shara. You're a turd, but I love you.

Thanks for pushing me through when I

got stuck. Thanks for sitting with me

while i finished this and never

complaining. Much. Thanks for taking

me to new heights and dropping me on

my head. Thanks to you, I'm normal

again.

NOTE ABOUT EBOOKS

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sharing or giving away eBooks is a

copyright infringement. No part of this

book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means without

written permission of the author or

Beautiful Trouble Publishing.

CAVEAT

This work of erotica contains adult

language and sexually explicit scenes,

which are smoking hot. This book is

intended only for adults, as it is defined

by the laws of the country in which the

purchase is made. Keep this book out of

the hands of under-aged readers.

Chapter One

“I don’t know how you do it, Lilly,” Dr.

Nikki Taylor mused to her best friend. Only a

few months before, Lilly had married Dr.

Connor Jackson, though it was no secret she

lived with both him and his brother, Caleb, also

a physician. “I’m not certain I want even one

man cluttering up my space, let alone two.”

Lilly, her elbow resting on the nurses’

station desk and her chin resting in her hand,

only smiled. “Some things are worth it, my

dear. The sex is
fantastic
.”

Nikki sighed and assumed the same

position Lilly did. “I bet—two lovers to satisfy

your every whim.”

“I know. It’s very handy when a woman’s

in need, so to speak.” Lilly and Nikki both

watched the subjects of their conversation

across the room. Connor was speaking with the

family member of one of his patients while

Caleb kicked at the snack machine, trying to

dislodge a loose candy bar.

Lilly sighed, dramatically. “It’s a dirty job,

but somebody has to do it.” She shook her head

and took on this long-suffering look only a

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MARTEEKA KARLAND

woman with her unique problem could pull

off with a straight face.

Both women giggled quietly.

“Well, since I don’t have my own,” Nikki

continued, “I’ll just borrow yours. That way,

when they annoy me, I can send them home.”

Lilly smiled. “You’re always flirting with

my men. You really need to get laid. Not that I

mind,” she added with a sigh, still looking

speculatively at Connor and Caleb. “Stay away

from my men, hussy. You can look all you want,

but that sweetness is all mine.”

“That’s just wrong.
So
unfair.” Nikki

smiled at Lilly. “You have way more than most

of us mere mortals.”

The two women had been best friends

since Nikki first arrived at the hospital. Despite

the huge differences in job descriptions and

even backgrounds, Nikki absolutely loved Lilly

to death. The woman had a wicked sense of

humor that matched Nikki’s own, and was

smart as a whip. Being one of the few women in

a

male-dominated

profession,

Nikki

appreciated how Lilly handled the male

physicians. She took no shit from anyone, and

Nikki had learned Lilly had the right of it. If

What Happens in Vegas…

13

you set your foot down from the beginning, you

got no lip.

Nikki, however, wasn’t as dominant as

Lilly when it came to men. She tended to

submit rather easily and, sometimes, it

annoyed her. As a result, she had armed herself

with board certifications in both cardiothoracic

surgery and trauma surgery, as well as a PhD in

psychology. Nikki despised turning her patients

over to someone else once the surgery was

done, and her ability to deal with the post-

traumatic stress disorders that often plagued

her patients came in handy. There was no other

physician in the area with more qualifications

than her. She was one of the best in her field

and, most of the time, simply seeing her name

blazoned on her lab coat was enough to subdue

most people.

She waited until Lilly’s men were talking

quietly in one corner of the surgical wing before

she flashed Lilly a wicked look. “I think I’ll go

flirt with your men. Do you mind?”

Lilly laughed. “Woman, if you don’t leave

my men alone, I swear I will buy you a male

escort and tell him you like to be spanked.”

Nikki felt heat suffuse her face, probably

turning the dark skin of her face and neck a

14

MARTEEKA KARLAND

very interesting shade of burgundy. There

was no way Lilly knew that for sure. She’d

never told anyone about that.

She took two steps in their direction

when a hand snaked around her waist and

pulled her back against a hard, masculine body.

Nikki’s heart pounded hard. She could tell by

scent who the man was. Dr. Li Zhu effectively

prevented her from taking another step

forward. Much as it irritated her, it also sent a

thrill racing through her. Not that she’d ever let

him know.

“Just what do you think you’re doing,

Nikki?” His deep, smooth voice was nothing if

not masculine. He had a voice that simply

dripped decadent sex. If he hadn’t been such a

talented physician, he could have made a more

than decent living as phone sex voice talent.

Nikki shivered. This was so where she

didn’t want to be right now. “I don’t see how it’s

any of your business what I’m doing, Li.”

“Mmmmm,” he purred next to her ear,

sending a fresh round of shivers through her as

well as a fresh rush of cream to her panties. “I

see your point.” He let her go, though slowly,

and stepped back leisurely as she whipped

What Happens in Vegas…

15

around to face him. “Perhaps that’s something I

need to remedy.”

Nikki didn’t want to touch that. She had

every intention of staring him down, but when

she met his gaze, the heat and lust she saw

there made her gasp and take a step backwards.

No one had
ever
looked at her with such stark

possessiveness and hunger. In that moment,

she felt as if she and Li were the only two

people in the world. It was almost like she was

falling into him and was helpless to stop

herself.

Not at all comfortable with the urges

welling up inside her, Nikki took another

couple of steps backward, slowly, a feminine

retreat. She’d let him win this round. The

emotions were just too raw for her to make

sense of them at the moment, so she’d back off.

Go

to

home

and

regroup.

Working

relationships were always complicated. It didn’t

matter that Li was just as capable a surgeon as

she was, or that they often worked together on

complicated cases. Fucking a coworker was

never a good idea, no matter what the context.

And at this very moment, she
did
want to fuck

him. Fuck him to Hell and back, no matter how

much she might regret it in the morning.

16

MARTEEKA KARLAND

He continued to stare at her as she

made her way to the elevator. She felt his eyes

on her. Sure enough, when she looked back