Читать книгу Tempt Me In Vegas - Maureen Child - Страница 11

Three

Terri didn’t stay in the beautiful room for long. Sure, if she’d been on vacation, she would have indulged herself in the luxury of it all for hours. But then again, if she was on vacation, she wouldn’t have a room like this. The place she could afford would be a motel somewhere off the Strip probably sandwiched between a liquor store and a pawn shop.

But today, instead, she was staying at the top of a palace.

Her mother had made her promise to take pictures of the hotel so Terri had already documented most of the suite. Now she took some pictures in the grand bathroom.

“Wow. Just...wow,” she murmured as she moved her phone around to catch the whole thing. From the seafoam-colored tiles to the shower that took up one end of the room with multiple nozzles and a bench—she supposed it was there for when you got exhausted just walking back and forth to the shampoo alcove.

The pale green marble counter was stocked with shampoos and lotions and towels so fluffy and huge they almost qualified as blankets. She still could hardly believe this was happening to her.

“I’ve never even seen a tub that big,” she muttered, taking a picture of the deep soaker tub almost as big as a pool and complete with jets. She couldn’t wait to try it out.

“Later,” she promised herself and gave a quick look at the mirror, checking her reflection.

Her heart was beating a little fast; her eyes looked wider than normal with a sheen of excitement in them she hadn’t seen in a long time. Was it for this place, what was happening in her life?

Or was it, she wondered, because of Cooper Hayes himself?

As if in answer, her heartbeat sped up even faster and her breath caught in her throat.

It was more than just the way he looked, which was off-the-charts gorgeous—but there was an aura of power about him that fascinated her. He was steely and strong and the way he bit words off made her long to hear more of that deep voice. Not to mention the fact that when he touched her, she felt a kind of heat she’d never experienced before.

Not a good thing right now, she reminded herself. She needed to get used to this new world. To see if she could make it her own. Getting involved with her new partner wasn’t a smart plan. Then you were tangling up business and need and something was bound to go wrong.

Wow, this was not something she’d expected. Of course, here she was in a plush suite with a lap-pool bathtub and a view of Las Vegas that usually only birds saw. So what about this was expected? Then she remembered the flash of something dangerous in Cooper’s eyes as he looked at her and told herself that this was a man she had no idea how to handle. But she’d love the chance to try handling him.

“Okay, get a grip,” she told the woman in the mirror. “You’re not here for a romance. You’re here because—” She stopped.

Because her old life wasn’t enough. Yes, she’d been happy, but now there was a chance at adventure. At something bigger than she’d ever dreamed. She wanted to make this work, she realized. And once her mind was made up, as her Dad used to say, there was just no stopping Terri Ferguson.

Grabbing her black leather bag, she slung it over her left shoulder and headed for the door. The elevator ride was fast. She was still wearing the dark blue dress she’d arrived in and thought she looked pretty good for taking her first self-guided tour of the casino. When the doors swished open, a wall of noise erupted that shocked Terri even as it drew her in.

Stepping off the elevator, she was instantly pulled into the humming pulse of the crowd. It wasn’t the first time Terri had been to a casino, of course. Wendover, Nevada, was only a two-hour drive from Ogden so she and Jan often made the drive to see a show or spend the weekend at slot machines, trying to win a fortune that would change their lives.

Well, now her life had been changed and so she was looking at this immense adult playground with new eyes, hoping it would give her some kind of insight into her new partner.

The place was beautiful, of course. Like the rest of the hotel, the StarFire theme wended its way through the casino, as well. There were slot machines with flashing images of stars sailing through a night sky, and the illusion ceiling stretched across the entire room. The carpet was a deep, midnight blue with silver threads peppering it so that it looked like a night sky, as well. Mirrors dotted the walls and row after row of beeping, clanging machines with eager tourists perched in front of them stood on the carpet like soldiers. Table games formed a huge circle in the center of the casino, and overhead there was another illusion sky, this one with planets and shooting stars making a dramatic statement.

Terri wandered, wanting to see it all—not just the hotel and casino itself, but the guests—how they were being treated, if they looked happy. Like at her Dad’s restaurant, the best way to tell if a business was in good shape was to judge it from the customer’s point of view. From what she could see, everyone seemed to be having a great time. It was late afternoon, though there were no clocks in the casino to announce that fact.

Music streamed from a lounge bar where the night theme included black-topped tables and pinpoint lights on the walls. Powerful fans ensured there was only a faint hint of cigarette smoke in the air. Cocktail waitresses in impossibly high heels and body-hugging black and silver costumes hurried through the crowd, balancing trays holding full drinks and empties. Somewhere close by, a woman shrieked in excitement and bells and whistles went off at shrill levels that had Terri quickening her steps. She was still smiling as she walked away from the crowds toward what looked like a circle of peace in the madness.

A glassed-in area held sofas, chairs and pots and pots of flowers, blooms bursting in every color imaginable. There were two women inside, each of them working on their phones. Terri walked past, promising herself she’d check it out personally later. She was a little surprised the enclosed area wasn’t more crowded with people looking to take a break from the noise.

For more than an hour, Terri wandered through the hotel and the surrounding grounds. She watched valets laughing with customers and then racing off to get their cars. She saw the bellmen loading carts with luggage. Hotel guests were a steady stream, coming and going. Just beyond the front of the hotel lay the famous Strip, bustling with thousands of tourists.

Her self-guided tour ended when her black heels finally began to make her feet pay. They were beautiful shoes and she loved them, but they had not been designed for hiking. She took a seat at the bar in the main casino and smiled at the bartender.

Glancing at his name tag, she said, “Brandon, I would love a glass of chardonnay.”

“Right away.” He was gorgeous—just like every other employee she’d noticed—and Terri wondered if good looks were a requirement to work here. He had short blond hair, kind green eyes and wore a midnight-black vest shot through with silver thread over a white button-down shirt and black slacks. As he poured, he gave her a wide smile. “Your first stay at StarFire?”

“How could you tell?” she asked. “Am I that obvious?”

He shrugged, set her glass down on the gleaming black bar top and said, “It’s the way you’re looking around. As if you’re afraid you’re going to miss something.”

“In my defense, there’s a lot to see.” Terri took a sip and set the glass back down with a satisfied sigh. “Oh, that’s good, thanks. And yes, it’s my first time here. It’s a beautiful place. Do you like working here?”

It wasn’t just small talk; she really wanted to know how people felt about their jobs. And if she was now part owner, shouldn’t she?

He shrugged, wiped down a nonexistent spot on the bar top. “No real complaints. Good pay, meet nice people—” He winked.

She smiled and had another sip of the great, icy-cold wine. “Really. I’m curious.”

He planted both hands on the edge of the bar, tipped his head to one side and gave it some thought. “On the whole, sure. It’s a great hotel. Classy guests. Being a bartender, you see some really weird stuff, but not so much here. It’s absolutely the best place I’ve worked.”

She was glad to hear it.

“But,” he added, “it’d be nice if they were more flexible with the shifts.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged and gave a quick look around as if to make sure no one could overhear him complaining. “They don’t like us trading shifts if something comes up—like, I had to take my wife to the baby doctor for an ultrasound last week—”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks!” He gave her a wide grin and a thumbs-up. “It’s our first. A girl. Anyway, I work afternoons, but I needed the late shift that day. Couldn’t switch with the night bartender, so I had to lose a day of pay.” He shrugged. “Things like that. It’s not bad, necessarily, but it’d be good if they were more willing to work with us.”