Tempt Me in Vegas Read online

  Terri brushed that aside. Why were they talking about this? About things that didn’t matter. “You’re not Connie’s type. She likes them rich and old enough to not last long.”

  He laughed shortly and the sound tore at her. How could he be acting like nothing was wrong?

  “I’m so sorry you had to cut your shower with Celeste short,” she said. “That must have been painful for both of you.”

  He scowled at her. “I know what she told you. Damn it. I wasn’t even there when you stopped by my room. Celeste set the whole thing up to get me back, to chase you off.”

  Terri swayed from the impact of his words. She’d liked Celeste. And somehow the fact that she had lied to Terri was almost worse than the thought that she’d been showering with Cooper. Almost. “Seems there was a lot of that going on. Dave, Celeste, you, all working overtime to get rid of me.”

  “Seems like it worked, too.” Cooper gave Daisy one last stroke, then set her aside and stood up. Shoving both hands into the pockets of his slacks, he said, “Celeste told me you left. That you came here.”

  “It didn’t work,” Terri countered, taking a step farther into the room. “I’m not leaving Las Vegas, Cooper. I only came here to get my dog. Then I’m going back to the StarFire. You can’t force me out. I won’t go.”

  “Good.”

  “Just because you think—What?”

  “I said good.” He walked closer in a few long, determined strides. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “Well, that’s news to me,” she said, because she couldn’t believe him. Not anymore. “You told me just last night that the plan had always been to get rid of me. To buy me out.”

  “Yeah, it was.” He yanked one hand free, rubbed the back of his neck, then pinned her with an ice-blue gaze she couldn’t look away from. “Hell, Jacob sprung you on me. I didn’t even know you existed and suddenly I acquired a partner. One who didn’t know anything about the business. I was pissed. But then, things changed.”

  “Really? Last night you accused me of backstabbing you.”

  “Yeah, see, this is why I had to talk to you. I was wrong.”

  Terri blinked at him and shook her head as if she hadn’t heard him right. “Well, there’s something I never thought I’d hear from you.”

  “If you need me to say it again, I will,” Cooper ground out. “I won’t enjoy it, but I’ll do it.” He came closer and Terri stood her ground, not giving an inch. “Dave told me everything. How he was working against me all these years. How he used you. How even if his plan with you had failed, he was prepared to sell me out once he got what he thought he deserved. And I never saw it in him.

  “But even if he hadn’t confessed, I never should have thought it was you. It’s just not your style, Terri. You’re so damn honest it’s a shock to most people. Apparently, even to me.”

  She heard the pain in his voice and her instinct was to soothe. To offer comfort. But she didn’t. Because he’d hurt her. But that sounded so damn petty, she had to say, “I’m sorry about your friend.”

  “You really are, aren’t you?” Shaking his head, he reached for her but she moved away. His hands fell to his sides. “Even after everything he did. Everything I did. I was a complete ass last night.”

  “No argument here.”

  A wry smile curved his mouth briefly. “I didn’t expect one. But I am so damn sorry. I’ve spent so many years dealing with people who always have an agenda, I forgot what it was like to be around someone who didn’t.”

  “As apologies go, that was pretty good,” she admitted. Her heart hurt, just looking at him. Everything in her wanted to go into his arms and feel him hold her. But she didn’t, because they still had more to say.

  “I’m just getting started,” he said and this time when he reached out to cup her shoulders, she didn’t slide out of his grasp. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me and I don’t want to lose you. I want to start each day looking into your eyes. I want to hold you while we fall asleep together. You’re everything I need, Terri. That’s why I’m here.”

  “I thought you came to talk to me.”

  “Well, yeah, and to ask you to marry me.”

  “Marry you?”

  He grinned. “Yes. I want us to be together. Always. A team. Terri, we’re great together and I want it to be permanent. A commitment. From each of us.”

  Terri didn’t even know how to react.

  “We can build a house because I know you want kids and so do I and maybe a hotel isn’t the best place to raise them—”

  “Kids?” Her heart picked up speed and her breath got short and fast.

  “Yes, a family. ” He pulled her in close enough that she had to tip her head back to look into ice-blue eyes that were suddenly as warm as a summer lake. “You love me,” he said. “Celeste told me.”

  “Celeste had a lot to say,” Terri muttered.

  “And I love you,” Cooper said softly.

  “You do?” she whispered.

  “Of course I do. Why do you think I’m here? Why do you think I bought you that car so you wouldn’t end up broken down on the side of the road in the middle of the desert? I loved you even then. I just didn’t want to.”

  “And now you do.”

  “Now I have no choice,” he muttered. “I want you. I need you. I love you. One night without you and I was going nuts. I kept reaching for you during the night and you weren’t there. Damned if I’ll spend another night like last night.”

  “I missed you, too,” she said. “But after last night, I thought it was over.”

  “It’s never going to be over for us, Terri,” he said, his gaze moving over her features like a gentle touch. “We’re supposed to be together. I get that now. And we’ll build the damn house wherever you want it—”

  “No.”

  “No? What do you mean no?” His brow furrowed, he stared at her through narrowed eyes.

  “I mean, we’ll live at the hotel. My suite is huge, so I’m sure yours is big enough for a family...”

  “Six thousand square feet,” he told her. “Five bedrooms, six bathrooms.”

  “Oh, my God.” She laughed up at him. “Yeah, that’s big enough. And we have the roof garden—we can make the Plexiglas higher...”

  “If that’s what you want, sure.”

  “And Jan’s going to be living in my suite so—”

  His eyebrows went high on his forehead. “You mean your friend who hates me?”

  Terri grinned. “I hired her as my executive assistant.”

  He grinned back at her. “Of course you did. And you’ll probably have better luck with your best friend than I had with mine.”

  “I’m sorry about Dave.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “Me, too. Well, if we’re going to be neighbors, I’ll buy Jan a car so she’ll like me.”

  “No, you won’t—”

  “I like red, too,” Jan called from the kitchen.

  “Perfect.” Terri laughed and leaned her forehead against his chest.

  “See?” Cooper grinned and he looked so wildly happy that Terri’s heart fluttered. “She likes me already. So does your mom. And your aunt. And you love me, Terri. Tell me you love me.”

  She looked up at him. “I love you. And yes, I’ll marry you.”

  “Damn straight.” He kissed her hard and fast, then let her go long enough to dig into his pocket for a small, black velvet jewelry box. He flipped the lid open and Terri gasped. “It’s a star sapphire. Like the StarFire. And the diamonds around it are just for show.”

  Shaken, she held her left hand out and he slid the ring onto her finger. The stone was huge, with a blast of color at the heart of it, looking just like a star. The setting was gorgeous and it fit as if made for her. “It’s a beautiful show.”

  “Are you sure you want to live at the
hotel?” he asked. “What about your fear of heights?”

  Sighing, she said, “As it turns out, the only thing I’m afraid of is losing you.”

  His thumbs smoothed over her cheeks. “Never gonna happen. You and I are a hell of a team, Terri. And that’s how it’s going to stay.”

  “I do love you so much, Cooper.”

  “I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”

  “Can we come out now?” Carol Ferguson called. “We’d love to see the ring!”

  “In a minute,” Cooper shouted, then whispered to only Terri. “First things first.”

  He kissed her and Terri gave herself up to him. To the man she would build dreams with.

  And together, they’d watch those dreams come true.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Hot Christmas Kisses by Joss Wood.

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  Hot Christmas Kisses

  by Joss Wood

  Prologue

  Christmas, the year before

  In a rural part of Devon, three thousand miles from her home in Boston, Massachusetts, DJ Winston smoothed her hands over the maroon-and-silver dress and turned to face her computer screen.

  Her two best friends, twins Darby and Jules Brogan, lounged on Jules’s couch in her office back in Massachusetts, coffee cups on the table in front of them. As was their custom, they’d shortly be closing their business for the Christmas break, ending the year by treating their staff to lunch.

  “Send everybody my love and tell them I hope they have a lovely minivacation.”

  DJ ignored Darby rolling her eyes at DJ’s inability to wish anyone a merry Christmas. She tried, she really did, but the words always got stuck in her throat. Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Ho, ho, ho...nope, she couldn’t do it. She could talk interest rates and contract terms, equity and cash flow, but she stuttered and stammered her way through December. The festive—hah!—season made her feel like she was eight again, alone, frightened and wondering why neither of her parents loved her.

  DJ knew the twins would like to discuss her antipathy toward Christmas, but it was, like so many other subjects, off-limits.

  DJ adored the twins, but she believed in keeping some distance between her and the people she loved. Distance was her safety net, her belay rope, her life vest. Distance was how she’d always protected herself. And since it had worked for her as a child and as a teen, what was the point of changing her strategy now?

  Darby cocked her head to one side. “That dress looks fantastic with your dark hair and eyes, DJ.”

  Jules nodded her agreement. “Vibrant colors suit you. But with your height and build, anything looks good on you, you know that.”

  She didn’t, though.

  While the twins saw her as attractive, she still saw herself as the gangly, dark-haired teenager who embarrassed her blond, blue-eyed mother. DJ was smart enough, Fenella reluctantly admitted, but she was too tall, too lanky, with not enough charm. So Fenella said when she was in a good mood.

  DJ tried not to remember the words Fenella let fly when she was angry.

  “What shoes are you wearing?” Darby asked.

  “My Jimmy Choos, the ones you made me buy last week.” DJ nodded to the sexy silver shoes on the bed.

  “So...” Darby drawled. “When is Matt arriving?”

  DJ released an irritated sigh. “He’s not.”

  “He stood you up? Nice Christmas present.” Jules was sarcasm personified.

  DJ sighed. Darby and Jules didn’t understand that her and Matt Edwards’s ad hoc arrangement worked for them, as it had for the past six years. Depending on their schedules, she and Matt met for a night or a weekend. That was when DJ stepped out of her life, pushing aside numbers and profit margins, cash-flow issues and cost projections. When she was with Matt, she allowed herself the freedom to be another version of herself—fun-loving, exuberant and sensuous.

  Neither she nor Matt had any expectations, and DJ was very conscious of the fact that, despite making this unusual situation last for many years, their arrangement was a temporary thing.

  They had no ties to each other, nothing to bind them except for the expectation of good sex, a few laughs and a relaxing time spent in undemanding company. She didn’t need more. A partner, boyfriend or permanent lover wasn’t something she wanted for herself; after being abandoned by her father and rejected by Fenella, DJ wasn’t prepared to hand over her battered heart to another human to kick around. She was keeping possession of that fragile organ.

  Spontaneous weekends spent with Matt worked well for her, but yesterday he’d blown her off, saying that he, despite it being Christmas, needed to stay in the Netherlands, to consult with a client who was in a world of hurt. Because Matt was a fantastically successful human-rights lawyer, hurt could mean his client was a political refugee ducking prison time, or a tribe of aboriginal people who’d been kicked off their ancestral land and were facing the imminent loss of their culture and way of life.

  The fact that his on-and-off lover needed to escape Christmas and was horny as hell didn’t nudge the needle of his what-international-laws-did-this-violate? scale.

  DJ had considered missing her friend’s wedding but that meant doing Christmas in Boston. Ugh. Attending this Christmas Eve wedding was the lesser of two evils.

  Her friends on the screen were still waiting for her response. Right, they’d been discussing Matt’s nonarrival. “We have an understanding that work always comes first. He’s tied up doing something terribly important.”

  What he wasn’t doing was her.

  DJ pulled a face, glanced at the corner clock on her laptop screen and sighed. “I’d better slap on some makeup or else I’m going to be late for the church service.”

  Darby frowned and waved at DJ’s dress. “Take that off first. You do not want to get makeup on that dress.”

  Good point. Friends since kindergarten, she was superbly comfortable disrobing in front of them. Allowing them to see her messed-up inner world was what she found difficult. DJ gently pulled the dress over her head and laid it on the bed.

  Jules whistled. “Push-up bra, tiny thong, heels. Edwards has no idea what he’s missing out on.”

  “I agree.”

  That voice.

  DJ whipped her head up and looked toward the doorway. Her heart, stupid thing, did cartwheels in her chest.

  Matt, a shoulder pressed to the door
frame, looked as effortlessly sexy as he always did. A tall blond with deep green eyes and a surfer’s tan, he had the face and body to advertise sun, sea and sex. He didn’t look like what he was: a brilliant international lawyer with a steel-trap mind.

  The moisture in DJ’s mouth disappeared and it took all her willpower not to run to him and start removing his clothes. She desperately wanted to slide the cream linen jacket down his arms and rip apart his navy button-down shirt. The leather belt would be next, and she’d soon have the buttons of his designer jeans undone. In her hand he’d be hot and hard...

  It had always been this way. Matt just had to look at her with those incredibly green eyes and she went from cool and collected to crazy in ten seconds flat. She didn’t love him—hell, she barely knew him—but, damn, she craved his mouth, his hands on all her long neglected and secret places.

  Okay, try to hold it together. For God’s sake, be cool.

  “I thought you couldn’t make it,” DJ said, wincing at the happy note in her voice. Yeah, opposite of cool, Winston.

  She glanced at her dress lying on the bed, considered slipping it on and then shrugged. Why bother? Matt had seen everything she had, more than once.

  Matt stepped into the room, walking with a grace not many big men possessed. “My client was delayed.”

  Matt crossed the room to her and his hand lifted to cradle her face, his thumb brushing across her lower lip. He looked down, and she felt the heat of his gaze on the tiny triangle low on her hips and her equally frivolous bra. She was, in turn, both entranced and brutally turned on by the passion flaring in his eyes. Being wanted by this sexy man always shot a ray of enhanced sunshine through her veins.

  “Nice outfit, Dylan-Jane,” Matt said when their eyes locked again, his voice extra growly.

  He was the only person, apart from her mother, who’d ever called her by her full name, and on Matt’s lips it was a caress rather than a curse.

  “Hi.”

  The single-syllable greeting was all her tangled tongue could manage.