“Is this your first time at the StarFire?” he asked.
Terri grinned. “How could you tell?”
He winked at her. “You keep looking up at the ceiling.”
“Guilty.” She took a sip of the champagne. “It’s beautiful.”
“It really is.” He glanced at her driver’s license, tapped a few keys on his keyboard then stopped, turned and stared at her as if she had three heads. “Terri Ferguson?”
“That’s right.” She frowned a little and tried to get a glimpse of the computer screen. “You’ve got my reservation, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said with the crispness of an audible salute. Gone was the easy, flirtatious smile. Brent was suddenly all business. “We’ve been expecting you, ma’am.”
When did she become ma’am? “Expecting me?” She’d hoped to fly in under the radar but apparently that wasn’t going to happen.
“Your suite is prepared and ready for you, Ms. Ferguson.”
“I didn’t reserve a suite,” she said.
He grinned, printed off two key cards and slid them into a folder with the word StarFire emblazoned across it. He returned her ID, handed her the keys, then looked up and waved to someone behind her. “Like I said, Mr. Hayes—and we—have been expecting you.”
“He has?” Well, of course he has, Terri. Hadn’t the lawyer told her as much?
“Your name was tagged in the system so we’d recognize your arrival right away.” Brent smiled again. “Your suite’s been ready for days. Bill here will take your bags—”
A bellman in his twenties appeared out of nowhere beside her.
“Oh, I’ve only got the one bag, and it has wheels. I can—”
“It’s my job, Ms. Ferguson,” Bill said. “I’ll show you to your suite.”
Of course they’d reserved a suite. Terri had never stayed in a hotel like this one—let alone in a suite. This was so far out of her everyday ballpark, she couldn’t even see the stadium from here. But she was part owner now of this amazing hotel, so she’d better get used to it. Right, and that didn’t feel weird at all.
“Okay.” She swallowed the last of her champagne and slid the glass across the counter to Brent. “Could you take care of this please?”
“My pleasure, Ms. Ferguson. And welcome to StarFire.”
Welcome. She followed Bill across the polished lake of a floor toward a bank of elevators. Terri didn’t feel welcome. She felt...on edge. She was about to meet her new partner. About to start a life that she had zero experience with. In a place she didn’t know with people who were strangers. Sure. Great. Nerves? No, who would have nerves?
Everything had changed so quickly, she’d hardly had time to take a breath, and now she was in Las Vegas taking the first step into a world she didn’t belong in.
Now the question was, could she make a place for herself here? Would Cooper Hayes try to stand in her way? And if he did, was she willing to fight for a new life? Instantly, she thought of all the things she could do with the inheritance her father had left her. She could buy a house, send her mom and aunt on a trip around the world if they wanted it.
The possibilities were endless. All she had to do was prove she could fit in. Be a part of this world. This business.
In her head, she heard her friend Jan saying, “Go for it, Terri. Enjoy it. Life just got way interesting.”
Besides, Terri told herself, it was too late to back out now.
That last thought had barely raced through her mind when she saw him.
It was as if the crowds melted away. The ambient noise was nothing more than a buzz in her ears. Her heart pounded, her mouth went dry and her gaze locked on what was probably the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life.
Every cell inside her stood up and started cheering. Honestly, even from a distance, he had the kind of magnetism that could turn a woman’s knees to jelly. He stood alone, tall and invincible as people hurried past him, instinctively giving him a wide berth. He wore a black suit with a shirt so white it was nearly blinding against the dark red tie. His black hair was expertly shaggy and his eyes were a pale, clear blue so startling, she couldn’t look away.
He was watching her, too, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking by the expression on his face. Not surprising, she supposed. A billionaire businessman—especially one who owned casinos—like Cooper Hayes—was probably born with a poker face.
Cooper Hayes. Her new partner.
And a man who could feed her fantasies forever.
Two
Dave Carey watched the security footage from his office. He’d gotten a text alert the moment Terri Ferguson’s name had been entered into the hotel computers. She was here and now he had to find a way to get her gone.
He watched her now on the screen, a cold fist in the pit of his stomach. From his computer he could tap into any camera in the hotel. As executive assistant to Cooper Hayes, Dave pretty much had the run of the place. And it paid to always be on top of whatever was happening in the casino.
“She’s hotter than I expected,” he muttered, studying the footage of Terri Ferguson as she spoke to Cooper. “That’s not good.”
Cooper might think of himself as having a great poker face, but Dave had known the man since college. He could tell in a blink that Cooper was intrigued by his new partner. And that wasn’t good for Dave.
Hell, none of this was.
He tossed a pen onto his desk, leaned back in his black leather chair and kept his gaze locked on the tall blonde who had ruined his plans. Why couldn’t she have been short and ugly with an overbite and a dragging limp or something? No, she had to look like a damn goddess. Who would have guessed that women in a wilderness like Utah could look that good? He watched her smile at Cooper and more important, watched Cooper give her that hungry-lion-looking-at-a-gazelle expression.
“Damn it.” After years of putting in the time, helping Cooper build the Hayes Corporation into a global power, Dave had been on the cusp of finally getting what he deserved. Cooper had promised Dave that soon his loyalty would finally be rewarded.
And now some country-bumpkin blonde with great legs and a spectacular rack put it all in jeopardy.
Standing, Dave walked away from the image of Cooper staring at Terri Ferguson as if he were trying to keep from taking a bite of her. Moving across his office, Dave didn’t notice the high-end furniture, the thick carpets strewn across hardwood floors. He didn’t even see the wide windows giving him an awesome view of Vegas and the desert and mountains beyond. Instead, his mind was dredging up a meeting with Cooper nearly two years ago.
“Jacob’s not getting any younger, you know. And when he dies, the company comes to me. Once I’m fully in charge,” Cooper had said, lifting a glass of scotch in a toast, “I’ll see to it that you get a major chunk of Hayes Corp.”
Pleased, Dave had instantly wanted to know exactly how much they were talking about. But he came at the question subtly. “I appreciate it, Coop,” he said, “but what are you really saying?”
“I’m saying that you’ve had nearly as big a hand as I have, turning the company into what it is today,” Cooper said and Dave silently agreed. He was the one, after all, who ran around setting up meetings, taking care of minor issues before they became big ones and in general doing whatever Cooper didn’t