he didn’t want or need, he reminded himself.
The only reason she was there, in his hotel, was to throw a monkey wrench into the middle of Cooper’s business plans. So it didn’t matter what she looked like, or that his body was tight and uncomfortable just looking at her. All that mattered was that he get her to sign over her half of the business in exchange for the huge buyout he was willing to offer her.
The bellman skidded to a stop when he spotted Cooper. “Mr. Hayes. I was just showing Ms. Ferguson to her suite, sir.”
“So I see.” Cooper took two long steps forward and stopped right in front of her. He was close enough to see the flash of something...interesting in her eyes. To hear the quick intake of breath and to notice how she squared her shoulders as if preparing for battle. Which, whether she knew it or not, he told himself, was the right reaction to this situation.
“You’re Cooper Hayes,” she said and he deliberately refused to notice the low pitch of her voice. Decided to not wonder how that voice would sound as a whisper in the darkness.
“I am,” he said. “I’ve been expecting you.”
Bill stood there, swiveling his head back and forth, watching the two of them as if he was at a tennis match.
“Sorry I’m late?” She smiled with the question and her eyes lit up. Completely irrelevant.
“You’re not late. I just thought you would arrive sooner than you did.”
Cooper noticed the bellman now getting even more interested in the conversation and he had no interest in supplying his employees with entertainment. Fixing his gaze on the younger man, he said, “I’ll take it from here, thanks.”
“Yes, sir.” Bill shot Terri what Cooper thought of as a sympathetic glance, then Bill turned and hurried back to the main lobby.
“Wow, he moved fast.” Terri sent a quick look over her shoulder. “Do you inspire fear in all your employees?”
“Not fear,” he corrected. “Respect.”
“Oh, of course. Wide eyes and a dead run are sure signs of respect.”
He took a breath. Apparently, she’d be harder to intimidate than the people who worked for him. “Are we going to talk about the bellman, or would you like to see your suite?”
Terri grinned. “I can do both.”
“Why am I not surprised?” he muttered. Gripping the suitcase handle with one hand, he placed the other at the small of her back, turning her toward the bank of elevators and one that stood alone, separate from the rest.
“Anyway,” she said, turning her head to take in the expansive casino behind them, “I’d have been here sooner, but there was a lot to do. I had to put in for a leave of absence at my job, get my car checked to make sure it was safe for the drive—”
“You drove?” He interrupted the flow of words because he was pretty sure that was the only chance he’d have to speak at all. “If you had called to let us know you were coming, I’d have sent the jet for you.”
“You have your own jet?” she asked, goggling at him.
“We do.”
“We have a jet. Right. Who doesn’t?” Shaking her head, she took a breath and said, “Anyway, I drove so I could stop off in St. George to see my mom and my aunt. Tell them what had happened and get them to babysit my dog for me because I didn’t know how long I’d be gone and I couldn’t ask my friend to watch her for who knows how many days—”
“You have a dog?” Cooper didn’t know why that hit him, but it did. It was something that hadn’t come up in Dave’s research, either. Cooper’d never had a dog. Or a cat. Or hell, even a hamster. Growing up in a hotel didn’t lend itself to pets. As a kid, that had bothered him. Apparently, it still did.
She grinned. “Yes. Daisy’s a cute mix of about a hundred and fifty different breeds, and she thinks she’s a Great Dane, so she needs a lot of attention and really doesn’t like being left alone. My mom loves her, so Daisy’s happy and—”
“What did your mom say about all of this?” Another interruption and he didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about it. Until she spoke.
“You keep interrupting me. That’s rude, you know, but it’s okay for now.”
“Thanks so much,” he said wryly, but she apparently didn’t catch the sarcasm.
“Mom’s as freaked out by this as I am,” Terri continued. “Neither of us knew anything about my biological parents so we’re kind of shocked to find out my birth father even knew who I was, let alone where I was. Sorry. Rambling. The point is, I had a few things to take care of before I could come to Vegas.”
That bright, brilliant smile had knocked him back for a second but thankfully she hadn’t noticed. He felt off his game and that was something Cooper couldn’t afford. With that firmly in mind, he brushed aside her rambling. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here now.” Nodding, he slid a card into the slot of the stand-alone elevator. “This is a private elevator. It’s the one you’ll use to get to and from your suite. The other elevators stop at the nineteenth floor. This one goes directly to the top five floors and the roof.”
“Okay...” Another deep breath and he refused to notice how her breasts lifted with the action.
Focusing had never been an issue for Cooper. Until today, apparently.
“The waitstaff and housekeeping have their own elevators that will take them to the top floors for business purposes. The general public can’t access the higher floors.”
“Sounds very...secure.”
If she was joking he let her know by his tone that he didn’t find it funny. “As secure as technology can make it. Hayes Corporation offices are on the twentieth floor,” he said, turning his focus from her to the matter at hand. “And on twenty-one, two and three we have suites for special guests, dignitaries, celebrities...anyone whose security issues demand a safe, impregnable, luxury suite.”
“Impregnable. Right. Sounds cozy.” She nodded as the elevator doors whisked open.
“Our guests don’t come here for ‘cozy.’”
“Good thing,” she murmured.
He took that as a direct insult. “A cozy hotel is a B and B. A Hayes hotel offers luxury. Exclusivity.”
She blinked at him. “Wow. That sounds terrible.”
Surprised again, he said, “What about that is terrible?”
“Oh, just everything, but never mind...”
Cooper thought about arguing her ridiculous point but buried his irritation instead. Unknowingly, she was proving that he was right to want to buy her out of this partnership. If she didn’t understand the basics of the hotel industry, then she had no business being a partner. Certainly not his partner.
He took a breath. “The owners’ suites are on the twenty-fourth floor.”
