Hell on Heels (Hotel Rodeo #1)(13)

She placed her hands on her hips. “Why? Because I’m a woman?”

“That’s not it at all,” he replied mildly. “I got no problem with smart women seeking advancement in the world, but there’s something terribly wrong when a female makes it her mission to castrate every man she meets.” He cocked his head with speculation. “Do you maybe play for the other team, Ms. Brandt?”

Her face flushed and her gray eyes flashed. “No, I don’t play for the other team.”

“Just calling it the way I see it. You may be successful, but you sure as hell aren’t satisfied.”

She exhaled a huff. “That’s just like a man to try to exert sexual dominance when he can’t compete on an intellectual basis. It only proves you feel threatened.”

Ty raised a hand. “Let me make myself perfectly clear on this point, Ms. Brandt. Your success has nothing to do with it. My problem with working for you has everything to do with your hostility, mistrust, and general lack of respect for the way anyone else does things. That’s just for starters. I’m sure I can come up with a lot more reasons without straining my brain any.”

She shrugged. “All right. I tried to strong-arm you and it didn’t work. So now I’m willing to make a deal. Let’s lay the real issue on the table, Ty. I can’t negotiate with you if I don’t know what you really want.”

Ty yanked his hat off, cursing under his breath. “Lady, you can suck my dick.”

Monica jutted out her chin, meeting him stare for stare. “All right, cowboy, sitting or standing?”

“’Scuse me?” He gaped, unable to believe what had just come out of her mouth.

“The blow job,” she repeated without batting an eye. “How do you want it?”

His gaze instinctively riveted to her mouth. It was painted a peachy shade, but it wasn’t a particularly inviting mouth, set in a hard line like it was. Still, he wasn’t all that particular after weeks of abstinence. He stirred to life—until he thought of her teeth. His balls retracted. The woman had a mouthful, and he was damn sure she wouldn’t hesitate to use ’em.

“Tell you what,” Monica continued, cool as ice, “I’ll give you a choice. You can have either the ten grand or the blow job—as long as you stay on for at least sixty days.”

Fuck. It seemed they were destined to continue this pissing contest.

Ty upped the ante. “What if I want both?”

Her expression remained bland, but her eyes flickered. “You want a blow job and a bonus?”

He suppressed a smirk as he watched the wheels turn behind her eyes. She thought she had him by the short ones, but she’d made a tactical error. He’d been in Vegas a long time and sure as shit knew better than her how to play the long game.

“Hell yeah, sweetheart. I was raised to shoot for the moon.”

“Twenty grand,” she blurted. “Take it or leave it.”

So that was her game. She’d counted on him jumping at the money. Now that he had her figured, he was gonna enjoy the hell out of making her squirm.

“What made you think I was holdin’ out for more money?” He returned a slow and taunting smile. “Hell, your last offer seemed more than fair to me—I accept it.”





Chapter Five


Stunned that he’d called her bluff, Monica now found her back to the wall. She studied him intently, scrambling to figure out what made him tick. She almost never underestimated an adversary. In her experience, all men were motivated by one of two things, money or sex. Given his financial state, offering twenty grand had seemed a sure bet.

How could she have so grossly miscalculated him? She needed this cowboy to keep things running until she could line up a buyer. And that could take time.

She swallowed. Hard. “Look, when I offered you . . . I-I never really thought . . .”

“You never thought what?” He smirked. “That I’d take you up on it? I guess you should have considered that possibility before you threw it out there.”

She bit her lip. “Are you saying you’d really pass up all that money just to humiliate me?”

His demeanor softened almost imperceptibly. “I never came with the intention of humiliating you, Ms. Brandt. That was all your doing. You’re the one who resorted to rudeness and threats. I’ve done nothing here but follow your lead.”

“All right. I concede your point.” She dropped her gaze, hoping a meeker approach might appeal to his sense of chivalry. “Look, Ty, I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, but please try to understand how stressful this situation has been for me.”

“Apology accepted,” he said, “but I still ain’t working for you.”

“But it’s not fair of you to just walk out on me like this,” she said, “Not when you know I need your help.”

“I tried to help . . . initially, but my help is not really what you want, is it?

“Tell me what I need to do to make it right, Ty.”

“There’s something you gotta understand here. It was never my intent to leave you high and dry, but you led us down this path. My decision has nothing to do with money and everything to do with your mistrust and suspicions.”

“But I just apologized for that. C’mon, Ty, there’s too much on the line here to let personal animosities get in the way.”