“You said there were nearly twenty roller coasters in Vegas. You don’t think I’m going to let you off the hook after one amusement park, do you?”
His half smile was almost irresistible. Almost. But she’d had enough of his brand of humiliation to last a lifetime.
Hadn’t she?
“I guess not.” Whether she was answering his question or hers, she couldn’t be sure. Her stomach definitely felt a little queer. Maybe it was hunger pains instead of desire. “Maybe I can come in for a quick bite.”
She put her car in Park, shoved open the door and accepted a ticket from the valet. When she joined Trent on the sidewalk, he splayed a warm hand against her lower back, and she got a little woozy. She blamed her sudden light-headedness on the fact she hadn’t eaten since lunch. It had nothing to do with Trent’s touch urging her toward the entrance or the fact that he tempted her tonight ten times more than he had when she’d let him coerce her up to his room.
You are the Queen of Denial.
The voice in her head sounded a lot like her older sister Jessie’s. Jessie, the pretty one who went through men faster than she did panty hose. Paige had intended to model herself after her heartbreaker sister when she had that total makeover before moving to Vegas. She’d even used her sister’s hairdresser to add the highlights to her usually dishwater-blond hair.
Trent escorted her through the opulent, nearly deserted lobby and across the sand-colored marble floor between giant coral sculptures, multiple saltwater aquariums and a spattering of Christmas decorations. At this time of night most guests would be in their beds, out seeing a show or in the casino. The wine bar-slash-coffee shop in the lobby had closed. She recognized both the security guard and the night manager behind the registration desk and waved at each.
“What are you in the mood for?” Trent asked.
Her addled brain couldn’t come up with the names of the restaurants she walked past every day at work. “We could always go back to where we met. You said it was your favorite of the hotel bars.”
He gestured for her to lead the way. “After you.”
With each step she took toward the Blue Grotto her heart pounded harder and her mouth became drier. History was not about to repeat itself. Tonight wouldn’t end the way it had last year—in humiliation. She wouldn’t let it.
But maybe, a nagging voice in her head insisted, maybe this crazy, wild chemistry between them hadn’t been there before because it had been too soon after her breakup with David. Maybe she’d still been hurting and healing three months after getting dumped. And maybe this year would be different. It certainly felt different.
But that didn’t explain Trent’s lack of…interest then. Had it been a physical issue on his part or that he didn’t find her desirable?
She was so preoccupied with her thoughts she almost passed the bar and had to turn abruptly. She’d taken a couple of steps toward the cavelike entrance before she realized Trent hadn’t followed.
He’d kept walking a few more steps, staring straight ahead with his attention apparently on the noisy group of suit-clad men leaving the Black Pearl Cigar Bar, then he glanced back, his gaze finding her by the archway. His quickly concealed confusion as he changed direction sent a mortifying chill slushing through her.
Had he also been preoccupied? Or had he forgotten where they’d met the way he’d forgotten everything else about her?
“Do you remember anything about that night, Trent?”
His expression turned guarded. His chest rose and fell on a deliberate breath. “I’m sorry. I was under a lot of pressure at work. I don’t recall much of that conference.”
A rising tide of anger melted her mortification.
Forgotten.
Again.
The way David had forgotten her the moment he’d been offered an exciting Manhattan job.
Trent gripped her upper arms and her traitorous pulse, darn it, skipped like crazy. “Paige, you are a beautiful woman who deserves better. Let me make it up to you,” he said with all the smooth charm of last year.
Normally, she was the type to let small annoyances roll off her back. In a house filled with five girls sharing a bathroom, cosmetics, shoes and clothing and pretty much everything else, she’d had to become extremely tolerant. But on the heels of the fun and simmering awareness she and Trent had shared tonight, discovering he’d forgotten where they’d met was too much to bear.
There were times in a girl’s life when she just had to prove a point. It didn’t necessarily have to be wise or even right, but the situation demanded she take action and teach Trent Hightower he couldn’t get away with using and discarding women the way he had her.
If the majority of men were like her loyal, devoted dad instead of faithless, fickle scum who led women on then dumped them, she’d let this go and walk away. But that wasn’t the case. She’d seen this scenario or a variation of it played out too many times to count via her four sisters. She’d been the shoulder on which Kelly, Jessie, Ashley and Sammie had cried out their broken hearts after each nasty breakup.
Guys were jerks because women let them get away with it, and while she knew she couldn’t save the world from all self-centered men, she could hammer a few lessons home on this one.
Why not go into this with the same agenda as last year? She’d pull a Jessie, have the brief, wild fling she’d wanted then—only this time with the benefit of sexual chemistry. She’d use Trent to see some of Vegas and make truth of the little white lies she’d told her family. Then she’d say goodbye with no regrets.
But she’d have to be smart. Suddenly throwing herself at him wouldn’t work. He’d already said their previous encounter wouldn’t be repeated. But she wasn’t stupid. She could tell when a guy wanted her, and Trent definitely wanted her. The attention he’d showered on her tonight had been as thrilling as the roller coasters they’d shared.
She had never needed her sisters’s advice more than she did now. But thanks to her own stupid pride and the stuff she’d made up to protect it, she couldn’t ask for help.
She’d only really had one lover—David—throughout high school and college. Because of that she’d never learned the art or skill of fishing for men. Her sisters knew all about trolling. But she’d figure it out or bluff her way through it. Asking for help never had been her forte anyway. She excelled at giving advice, but taking it…not her thing.
Her mouth dried and her pulse quickened as she gathered her resolve. You can do this.
But she needed a plan—a plan to seduce Trent Hightower. And while she was at it, she decided, she would not only make him remember every second of the night they’d spent together last year, she’d also make him sorry he’d walked away without ever giving her a second thought. He should have agonized at least half as much as she had. It was only fair.
Bad idea, her conscience cautioned.
But what did she have to lose? She’d already faced the worst—naked rejection—and survived.
Four
P aige glanced at her watch. “On second thought, it’s late. I should go.”Trent scrambled to find a way to salvage the situation. Had he given up the game? He’d been so focused on one of his rivals on the opposite side of the mezzanine that he’d missed Paige hanging a right into the shadowy bar.
“What about scheduling our next roller coaster ride?”
“We can do that another time. It’s not like either of us is going anywhere for a few days.”
Relief coursed through him. It would have served him right if she’d told him to go to hell and walked out. But he didn’t feel the least bit triumphant that she’d bought his overworked excuse.
Needing a stiff drink, he scanned the bar’s shadowy interior beyond her, but decided against trying to convince her to stay. He couldn’t afford to drink and let his guard down with Paige. He had a job to do. Find Paige’s weakness and exploit it to obtain the desired result.
His conscience needled him, but he ignored it. The strategy was the same one he would employ with any other business opponent. And in this instance, Paige wasn’t just a woman. She was an adversary who could cost him. Big-time.
A hand descended on his shoulder, bringing his head around. Donnie Richards. The shark. Damn. So much for avoiding the bastard.
“Hightower, good to see you again. Introduce me to your lovely companion.”
Trent gritted his teeth on the go to hell he wanted to snarl as he processed the good news. The jerk didn’t know Paige. That meant he probably hadn’t seen her with Brent.
The perfect opportunity to ditch Paige stood before him. Donnie had always wanted anything Trent possessed. Territory. Employees. Clients. Women. If he paired Paige with this carnivorous loser—
Revulsion severed the thought. Apparently, there were limits to how low Trent was willing to go to lose Paige. No woman deserved Donnie, whom Trent trusted about as much as he would a used car salesman who’d scrubbed the VIN numbers from his merchandise.
“Paige, Donnie. Donnie, Paige.” He deliberately omitted Paige’s title and last name. He wasn’t giving the bottom-feeder any help in tracking her down later.
“I didn’t see you at the vendors’ reception tonight,” Donnie said without taking his eyes from Paige.
He ground his teeth on the reminder of the business opportunities he’d missed. “Paige and I went sightseeing.”
“Too bad. Paige would have brightened the room.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Donnie. I hope you’re finding everything to your satisfaction.”
“It would have been better if Hightower hadn’t stolen the most beautiful woman in the Vegas. May I buy you a drink?”
Paige blushed and dipped her chin. Surely she wasn’t buying that crap? Trent slipped his hand around her waist, staking claim—but only to get Donnie to back off. “If you’ll excuse us, this is a private party.”
Donnie’s predatory and assessing eyes flicked to Trent, then skated over Paige’s curves again as if the toad were gauging his chances of success with her. “Surely you have time for one drink.”
“Actually, I’m about to call it a night,” Paige said.
“Perhaps I’ll see you tomorrow?” Donnie continued to address Paige as if Trent weren’t glowering at him.
Her lips curved. “I’ll be here.”
Trent’s frustration climbed another notch. He couldn’t glue himself to Paige’s side for the entire conference and still do his job for HAMC. The only consolation was that Donnie would be tied up in the same events as Trent.
“We both will,” he added.
Donnie raked Paige with another lingering glance that made Trent clench his fist behind her back, then slunk out like the lowlife he was.
“You weren’t very nice to him,” Paige chastised.
“He’s not someone you want to know.”
“Says who?” She moved out of reach and folded her arms. The defiant posture accentuated her br**sts.
“Me. Don’t trust him, Paige.”