“That would be great, thanks. Around two?”
“Perfect,” Sharon said.
“All right,” Cooper spoke up then. “Is there anything else to cover?”
Everyone began to gather their things, but Terri’s voice stopped them in their tracks.
“Actually,” she said and every head in the room turned to look at her. Cooper raised one eyebrow as he waited for what she had to say.
“With all of the research I’ve been doing on European hotels, I noticed that they all offer tea and coffee services in their rooms. This includes a small hot pot along with instant coffee, a variety of tea bags and packages of a few cookies.”
“Yes...” Cooper drew that one word out until it was almost three.
“I know we do that here, too, in the more expensive rooms. Why not carry it through to all the rooms?” Terri looked from one face to the other, waiting for a reaction. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Because,” Eli pointed out, “our guests now order room service coffee. Or go down to the coffee station in the casino where they’ll spend even more money.”
“True,” Terri argued, because she’d already considered that. “But if they had enough in their rooms to make one cup of coffee, they’d still need room service. I checked with hospitality and the coffee most usually ordered is a full pot, which is six cups. No one who wants that much coffee will be dissuaded by the offer of one free one. And, they’ll have coffee to get them through the wait for more.”
Eli’s mouth worked as if he wanted to disagree, but couldn’t find a way to do it.
“And,” Terri pointed out, “a couple of cookies won’t be breakfast, so they’ll still go downstairs to the coffee station. Still stop to throw money into a slot machine. They’ll just be in a better mood when they get there.”
Someone snorted a laugh.
“It’s a good idea,” Cooper said.
“Thanks.” Terri looked directly at him. His gaze locked with hers even as he spoke in general to the room at large.
“Ethan, put someone on this. I know we’ve got a lot of the supplies on site now, so I’d like hospitality to work with housekeeping to take care of this.”
“Today?” Ethan asked, surprised at the sudden decision.
“Why not today?” Terri asked.
“Exactly,” Cooper declared. “Why hesitate on a good idea? I want coffee and tea setups in every room by the end of the week.” Cooper stood up and looked at Ethan. “We’ll need more hot pots, so contact the restaurant supply companies. Go outside Vegas for supplies if you have to. Work with housekeeping to get this taken care of ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.” Ethan shot Terri a look of respect, then stood up. “I’m on it.”
Everyone else stood, too, and one by one, they left the room, until it was just Cooper and Terri alone again. His gaze was locked on hers, but he didn’t speak. Didn’t give away any indication of where his thoughts were.
Didn’t he feel anything after last night? Had he deliberately shut it all down? Why?
Diffused sunlight poured through the tinted windows lining the conference room. Silence stretched between them until she simply couldn’t take it anymore. “You should have woken me when you left.”
He shook his head, but he never broke eye contact. “No point in you being awake, too.”
Sounded reasonable, but Terri thought there was more to it. “Are you sure that’s the reason?”
“What else would it be?” He stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets and kept the ice in his eyes as he looked at her.
What the heck had happened? Where was the heat? Where was the man who’d shown her exactly what her body was capable of? She’d gone her whole life thinking sex was a nice pastime. Now she knew it was so much more when you were with the right man. Was he regretting what they’d shared? And again, why?
Terri walked toward him and he didn’t back up. He didn’t have to. The distance in his eyes was powerful enough.
“I think you were just trying to avoid me.”
He snorted and shook his head. “No.”
“Cooper—” She reached out to touch his arm, and this time, he did pull back.
“Terri,” he ground out, “this isn’t the time. We’ve both got things to do. Last night’s over. This is today.”
“Wow. And you think I’m blunt.” She was hurt, sure, but she was angry, too. She’d thought they’d found a new connection last night. Now it was as if he was setting fire to the bridge linking them. “Why are you so cold? I told you I wasn’t looking for a proposal or a proclamation of undying love...”
“Yet,” he bit off.
“Excuse me?” She choked out a laugh and didn’t know whether she was surprised or insulted.
He sighed. “Terri, if we keep doing this, it’s only going to get more complicated.”
Nodding to herself, she asked, “And complications are bad?”
“They are for us,” he snapped, irritation sparking around him like a firework show run amok. “We’re already trying to figure out this business partner thing and if it’s going to work.”
“I thought it was working,” she said and felt the flush of pleasure she’d experienced at the meeting slowly drain away. “You liked my ideas. Ethan and Sharon both discovered they’d work. We’re moving forward on them...”
He pushed one hand through his hair, then took hold of her upper arms, pulling her in close. Terri tipped her head back to look up at him and didn’t feel any better when she met his gaze.
“You had a couple of good ideas, yeah. And I’m not taking anything away from you. But Terri, running this company is more than that. And I don’t know that you’re ready for it.”
She’d been feeling pretty confident about it all until just now. “Well, we can’t know until I try.”
“Trying might cost us too much.”
“Again. Won’t know until we try.”
“And the complications be damned?”
“They’re only complications if we allow them to be.” Deliberately, she ignored the ice in his eyes and the rigid tension in his body. Going up on her toes, she slanted her mouth over his and it took less than five seconds for him to kiss her back. To wrap his arms around her, hold her tightly to him and devour her mouth with all the passion they’d shared the night before.
Her heart leaped into a gallop and her blood simmered into a fast boil. Would it always feel like this when he touched her? Kissed her? She really wanted to know the answer. Would they be simply business partners? Or lovers as well? When Terri finally pulled back, breaking the kiss, she looked up into his eyes and smiled. “So I’ll see you later?”
He took a breath and nodded and she saw heat in his eyes again. “Yeah. You will.”
* * *
Dave wasn’t happy.
Everyone in that meeting had come out singing Terri’s praises. How could it have come to this? She was supposed to be a fish out of water here. Supposed to be embarrassing herself and irritating everyone who worked with her. Instead, she was the golden girl. She’d talked the head chef out of quitting when he was furious with a sous-chef. She’d promoted Debra in reservations to assistant manager. And the rest of the employees were deliriously happy at their newly instated right to switch shifts on their own. How was she doing all of this?
And even if she had made some inroads in this one hotel and casino, what the hell did a bank teller from Utah know about running a multibillion-dollar company? Why were they letting her make suggestions on expansion? And how the hell had she come up with a winning idea?
Somehow, she’d managed to pull off what everyone was saying was the next big thing. Luxury hotels for families? Hayes was going to be catering to kids now? And they thought that was good? Plus, what was this crap about a coffee setup in the rooms? Since when was that a great idea? Hell, she’d had Coope
r moving on that one so fast, Dave heard that housekeeping was scrambling to buy up every damn hot pot in Vegas.
She was entrenching herself in the Hayes Corporation.
Digging in deeper with Cooper himself.
Dave’s future was disappearing in front of his eyes.
He had to get rid of her. Fast.
* * *
Terri saw the picture on the internet as soon as she got back to her office. She and Celeste, crossing the little stone bridge outside the Venetian. And the headline read, Ex-lover and current lover of Cooper Hayes. Comparing notes?
“Oh, God.” Terri slumped in her chair. Celeste might be used to having her privacy compromised, but Terri wasn’t. “What’s next? I’m giving birth to alien babies?” She grabbed her phone and called her mother.
“Well, hi, sweetie,” her mom said. “If you’re calling about the picture, yes, I saw it.”
Of course she’d seen it. The Celebrity Watcher missed nothing.
“This is so embarrassing,” Terri muttered and thought about her friends and neighbors in Utah seeing the same headline. Closing her eyes, she imagined Jan’s reaction and could almost hear her friend laughing hysterically.
“Why are you embarrassed?” her mother asked. “You’re a grown woman. You’re allowed to have a lover—as long as he’s not married, involved or pining away for someone else.”
“He’s not.” Well, not the first two, anyway. Terri really couldn’t be sure he didn’t still have some feelings for Celeste. What man wouldn’t? And she was the one who’d walked away from him. But if he still cared, he was hiding it well.
“Then there’s no problem. How’s everything else, honey?”
“Crazy, but better, I think.” Cooper still had doubts, but Terri was on her way to proving herself. To him. To everyone.
When she’d first arrived in Las Vegas, she’d felt overwhelmed and unsure of herself. But she was learning the job, the company. She was making friends and fitting into this new life a lot easier than she’d thought she would when she arrived. But most important, Terri was learning that she wanted this more than she’d expected to. Meeting the employees, making sure their guests were happy, it was all...fun. And isn’t that what work should be?.
“It sounds to me like you’ve made up your mind about this new life,” her mother said a little wistfully. “You like it, don’t you?”
“I do. And before you ask, it’s not just Cooper,” she said, “though I admit, he’s a big part of it all. But I like the challenge, Mom. I love knowing that I can have an idea that will change the way we do things.”
“We. That’s a statement right there.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. Am I crazy to decide to change my whole life after hardly a couple of weeks?”
“Sweetie, you’ve never been crazy. Your aunt Connie, she’s crazy.”
Terri laughed as her mother had meant her to.
“You’re a smart, capable woman, Terri. You know what you want and when you make a decision, it’s the right one for you.”
“Thanks, Mom and oh, I promise to come and collect Daisy soon.”
“Daisy’s fine, don’t worry about that.” She paused, then said, “I just poured myself a glass of wine and got down a bag of chips. Tell me everything.”
While Terri talked, her mind was working. Now that her decision was made, she’d have to go back to Utah and put her house up for sale. If she was going to commit to this life, then she was going all in.
* * *
Over the next week Terri threw herself into her new life. She had meetings with Sharon and Ethan about the new London hotel, which would be in Kensington. They’d found the perfect property—a beautiful old hotel that desperately needed some loving attention. Once it was purchased, they’d start the renovations, and the hope was to have the first Hayes 2 open for business by next summer.
She’d also spent a lot of time working with housekeeping and hospitality on the tea and coffee services. With a selection of herbal and caffeinated teas, not to mention cookies, granola bars and biscuits, the feedback from their guests was overwhelmingly positive. And to soothe Eli’s worries, the coffee station in the lobby and room service were reporting that people were still ordering their coffees and breakfasts.
Every day brought a new challenge that she was happy to meet. Between working with the bartenders to devise a way to shift-change that wouldn’t inconvenience anyone, and helping out at registration when one of the clerks had to go home sick, Terri was busy—and enjoying herself far more than she once had on the teller line at the bank.
And every night, she was with Cooper. Her heart was happy, but her mind kept warning her about possible problems. Cooper was still holding a part of himself back from her, though it did feel as though she was chipping away at his emotional walls bit by bit.
It was important. She had to make him realize that there was more between them than heat. She had to find a way to let him know she was falling in love with him. Not something she’d planned on, but how could she help it? He was sexy and kind and warm and standoffish and altogether a man who would keep her intrigued and attracted forever. She liked the way his mind worked. She liked the flash of respect for her she saw in his eyes.
And she knew it wouldn’t take much for her to finish that beautiful slide into a love so deep and rich that it would kill her if she lost it.
All she had to do was prove to him that she was here to stay. Then he’d be able to drop the shields surrounding his heart and see what she already did. That they made a great team.
So late one afternoon, when Dave came to her with an opportunity, she grabbed it.
* * *
“He’s an elusive investor,” Dave said as he took the elevator with her down to the StarBar for a private meeting. “Honestly, Cooper’s been trying to convince the man to invest in Hayes Corporation for years. If you could pull this off, it would completely convince Cooper that you can do this job.”
Terri gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, Dave. I appreciate your confidence in me.”
“You’ve earned it,” Dave said with a quick grin. “Just convince Simon you’re interested and the rest will take care of itself.”
“I can do that.” And once she did, it would prove to Cooper once and for all that she was serious about being a part of StarFire. That she could be the partner he needed—not just in the business, but in his life. And once he relaxed about all of it, she could tell him that she was falling in love with him. Terri slapped one hand to her belly at the swirl of nerves nestled there. Dave didn’t notice the sudden shock she felt, thank God. Love. Funny how that one word could color everything around you. She saw Dave’s loyalty. Celeste’s friendship. This hotel and the employees who were becoming her friends. She saw the business started by a father she’d never known but who had trusted her with what he’d built.
Mostly, though, she saw Cooper.
The man who had swept her off her feet right from the first. He was icy and warm, cut off and vulnerable. He was all business and then tender. He was, in short, everything she wanted. And maybe, Terri told herself, she’d loved him all along. Or maybe it had awakened in the middle of the night when she woke to find herself in the circle of his arms. But it didn’t really matter when she began to love him. It was enough to know that she did and she always would.
Dave winked. “I know you can do it.”
Terri was going to make sure of it.
* * *
By the time Terri finished her meeting with Simon Baxter of TravelOn and got back up to the offices to tell Cooper all about it, most everyone on the business floor had gone home for the day. The desks were empty and her footsteps echoed in the silence. The quiet in the normally busy room was so absolute, it was a little spooky.
But that unsettled feeling disappeared when she opened Cooper’s door and saw him sitting at his des
k. Through the window behind him, the soft glow of neon shone against the glass. Cooper’s jacket was off, tie loosened and the top collar button of his shirt undone.
The love she’d only just acknowledged filled her heart and spilled over into warmth that slid through her bloodstream. How could she not have recognized what she felt for Cooper before now? Because they hadn’t known each other very long? What did time have to do with anything? Her adoptive parents had fallen in love over a weekend, gotten married three weeks later and had had forty-two years together before her dad died.
And she wanted that with Cooper. Wanted this life she’d just discovered. Wanted him. Wanted the family they could build together. Just looking at him made her heart race. Then he looked up and the smile that flashed briefly across his face when he saw her, left Terri pretty much a goner. Love rose up inside her and opened like a spring tulip. It was lovely and so necessary, she didn’t know how she’d lived this long without it.
Now she would show him that she loved him. That they were great together. That she could be his partner, personally and in business. Even though the office was empty, she closed his door behind her, wanting to ensure their privacy.
“Hi,” he said. “I was just going to head upstairs. Where’ve you been?”
“I was at a meeting,” she said, walking toward him.
Frowning a little, he pulled her down onto his lap. “With who?”
“That’s the surprise,” she said, squirming around on his lap until she could face him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned in and kissed him hard. Excitement was still fluttering inside her. She’d done it. She’d struck a deal with Simon and now all it needed was Cooper’s approval. Terri couldn’t wait to see his face when she told him.
“I was talking with Simon Baxter.”
“What?”
She grinned at the shock in his eyes. And it was about to get even better. “Simon has agreed to invest in Hayes Corporation. I think it’s a really good deal, but of course, none of it will go forward until I get your agreement.”
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