“Dad will be jealous that you’ve replaced him. Details?”
“Trent’s tall, blond, gorgeous, built, smart, fun and sexy. He has the most amazing teal eyes and—”
“You’re at a loss for words, I see. So what are you two doing for Christmas?”
Paige’s bubble of happiness burst. “I’m staying close to the hotel. There won’t be any conventions over the holiday, but a lot of staffers will be on vacation.”
All true, she told herself, but guilt twisted her stomach because she was one of the employees with a vacation scheduled to begin as soon as the aviation conference ended.
“If I have any free time I’ll—We’ll check out some of the hot spots. What about you guys? Same ol’, same old?”
She never thought she’d see the day when she missed the tried and true, tired McCauley rituals.
“You know how it is.”
“Yes.” A strong wave of homesickness struck her. “Is the tree already decorated?”
“Yes. One of these days we are going to have to throw out those old ornaments and get some new stuff.”
“Don’t you dare. Mom would be heartbroken. Our grandmothers made some of those decorations.” But when Paige had been Sammie’s age she’d felt the same way. She always wanted something new and different. Twenty-one seemed like an aeon ago instead of only seven years.
“So…is there any chance you’re lying and you really intend to spring a surprise visit on us?”
“No. I wish I was.”
Silence seconds passed, and with Sammie, there was never silence. “Spill it, Sammie.”
“There’s one piece of news that I thought I might share. Kelly and Jessie are going to kill me if they find out I told you, but…you need to know. For whenever you decide to come home. And I hope that will be sooner than later.”
Paige braced herself. “Okay, shoot.”
“David’s back.”
The air rushed from Paige’s lungs and a cool sweat beaded her upper lip. “For a visit?”
“To stay. He got laid off from his pretentious investment firm. He’s taken a job at City Bank.”
Paige turned the knowledge over in her head, trying to make sense of her tangled emotions. But the last thing she wanted was her sister’s pity, so she fought to keep her feelings out of her voice. “I’m sorry to hear that. He was excited about Manhattan.”
“If you ask me, the butthead got what he deserved.”
Sammie’s anger seeped into Paige, mixing with a large dose of resentment. She’d let David’s defection run her out of her home state, and his return would keep her away until she found the courage to face the whispers about their broken relationship and the speculation about the cause or until she could return triumphantly—actually living the exciting life everyone believed she had. Because she couldn’t go home and lie. Everyone would see right through her.
“Give him my best next time you see him,” she said in as breezy a tone as she could muster.
“Sis, somebody needs to teach you how to make a guy pay for hurting you. Revenge keeps a body warm. Hey, I’m still in school and I already know how to bring the bastards to their knees.”
Paige forced a smile to her face and hoped it carried over through her voice. “Sammie, look where I am now. I work for a top-notch Vegas hotel. I have the job of my dreams, and I’ve reached step two in my ten-year plan. Life is good. David did me a favor.”
Her breath caught as she realized the truth in her statement. If she’d married David, she would have taken whatever job she could get that would allow her to live with him. His dreams and his career would have always come first, and her goal of working her way around the globe and up the hotel ladder would never have launched. And her plan to have ticked off all the cities on her must-see list by the time she hit forty in twelve years wouldn’t even be part of the equation.
A weight lifted from her shoulders. She was in a good place right now. Sure, come Monday, she had a feeling she was going to need a case of Oreos, a gallon of milk and a shoulder to cry on. But until then, she was exactly where she wanted and needed to be.
Nine
T rent shifted on his feet in the Lagoon’s aquarium-filled lobby Friday evening and checked his watch again. It read two minutes later than it had the last time he’d checked.“In a hurry to go somewhere?”
Donnie. Trent harnessed his irritation and turned. “I have a dinner appointment.”
“With our pretty blonde?”
Trent took umbrage at our, but refused to acknowledge Donnie’s successful hit. “Yes.”
“Paige is a sweet little morsel. But then I’ve always been partial to Southern girls. Your brother is, too, apparently.”
Alarm pricked Trent’s nape. Donnie knew Brent had been with Paige last year, and the bastard was toying with him. “Don’t let me keep you from dinner. The comedian slated for tonight’s entertainment is a good one.”
“I don’t care about the comedian. I have enough jokers as clients already. So you’re keeping your women all in the family, eh? Is Paige into the twin thing?”
Trent’s fists clenched. It took everything he had not to punch the dentures right out of Donnie’s smirking mouth. “That’s none of your business.”
“I could have sworn I saw Brent wearing your name badge last year.”
“You might want to mention your vision problems to your optometrist.”
Donnie looked ready to launch another verbal volley, but then his gaze shot toward the far side of the lobby. He clicked into alert mode. His jackass demeanor switched over to smooth operator mode, putting Trent on guard.
“Here’s our girl now,” Donnie taunted.
Trent’s mental gears clanked. Would the devious bastard spill the beans? Trent decided to use a tactic he’d refused to employ in the past. Previously, he’d lived by the rule that what other people did—other than his family, that is—was their own business, but tonight he’d use the weapons in his arsenal. He had to.
“Does your wife know about you and Sapphire Electronics’ product demonstrator? Benita has worked the past three conferences, hasn’t she?”
Donnie stiffened and panic flashed briefly in his eyes, then his lips curled in a wily fox grin. “Well played, Hightower.”
Their gazes held, but Trent refused to back down. If this a**hole hurt Paige, he would pay. Dearly.
“Good evening, gentlemen.”
Donnie broke eye contact first and looked at her. “Well, aren’t you a sight for these tired, Texas eyes? Evening, Miz McCauley.”
“Hello, Donnie.” Paige was as innocent as a lamb being led to slaughter. Either he or Donnie could hurt her and she wouldn’t even see it coming. The protectiveness surging inside him surprised him. But it was his own interests he was protecting and not just hers, he assured himself.
Despite his leverage, Trent didn’t trust his adversary. He stepped between Paige and Donnie. “Donnie needs to get to the banquet hall. Let’s go.”
“I’m sure I can make time for a drink in the bar,” Donnie added.
“We can’t.” Trent grasped Paige’s elbow and hustled her toward the door, only just then noticing the dry cleaning bag on her arm. “You retrieved your clothing from my room.”
“I had the maid let me in. I hope you don’t mind, but with the twice daily housekeeping service in your level of suite, the maid would have folded my dirty underwear and moved them off the bed where I left them. The thought of a stranger handling my dirty panties grossed me out.”
That reminded him she wasn’t wearing any. But a more urgent issue superseded that knowledge. Paige had been in his suite without him. He didn’t like anyone invading his privacy. He’d never given a lover a key to his home or even allowed one to stay overnight in his wing of the mansion he shared with his parents. It was bad enough that he’d let Paige spend the night in his suite, but the idea of her—or anyone other than his personal housekeeper—having free range of his space disturbed him.
He searched his mind for anything he might have left laying out that might clue Paige into Brent’s identity and give the deception away, but he couldn’t come up with anything. “You could have called me.”
“I would have if you hadn’t been leading a seminar when I remembered and had time to go upstairs. I’m sorry if my invading your space makes you uncomfortable. I won’t do it again.”
The incident was over and couldn’t be changed. But he would make sure it didn’t happen again. “Forget it. Let’s go to your place, then we’ll tackle The NASCAR Café and the roller coaster.”
He accompanied her to her car and opened her door for her. She backed up to the high Jeep seat to hop in, once again reminding him that she wasn’t wearing panties—not that the thought had strayed far from his brain all day. His blood took a southerly trajectory. He scanned the parking deck around them. Walls screened two sides of the car. Paige had backed into the space. Her Jeep’s door blocked the view from the front. The structure was well lit, but deserted.
“You need to park closer to a security camera. There are none in this corner,” he said as he stepped between her knees and placed his hands on her bare legs.
She gasped and her rounded eyes searched his. “What are you doing?”
“Do you know how hot it makes me to know I can touch you here? Like this?” He swept his fingertips up the inside of her thighs. The higher he ascended, the warmer her skin became until she almost scorched him.
“Trent,” she scolded in a scandalized whisper.
He found her curls—damp curls—and dipped between her folds. “You’re very wet. Did being bare all day arouse you?”
She bit her lip and swallowed hard. “Maybe.”
He stroked her moisture over her sensitive flesh, circling again and again until her cheeks darkened, her lids descended and her breaths quickened.
She slapped a hand over his. “We can’t do this here.”
They shouldn’t. Public displays had never been his style. Until now. Paige had him breaking all kinds of rules. He didn’t know what in the hell she’d done to him, but he wanted to make her come. Now. “You want to.”
She stared at him through thick eyelashes. “Yes.”
“No one can see, Paige. Let it happen.” He continued his caresses until her muscles bunched and her thighs quivered, then clamped hard on his. She shoved a knuckle to her mouth, but couldn’t completely stifle her whimpers as an orgasm ripped through her, making her bottom lift off the seat.
He was so hard he ached. But he would wait until he got her home and nak*d. He pressed a quick kiss on her lips then carried his fingers to his mouth and tasted her essence on his tongue and smelled her arousal on his skin. Hunger exploded inside him. “Let’s get to your place.”
She sighed with a sleepy, satisfied smile on her face. “I think you’d better drive. My legs are too weak.”