Two To Wrangle (Hotel Rodeo #2)(38)

“Ten tonight? Isn’t that rather late?”

“Not in Vegas,” he replied. “Wear a dress.”





Chapter Twelve


Monica exhaled in relief when Ty walked out. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her again. She never could resist when he touched her, kissed her. Waking up with him beside her this morning had been almost too tempting to resist, but it was time to face reality instead of living in a fantasy. She’d spent far too many sleepless nights thinking about Ty Morgan.

Ty’s ideas for a new hotel and entertainment complex were absolutely brilliant and well thought out, but even if he could secure the funding, did he have the business savvy to take on such a massive project? Tom’s words echoed once more in her mind. Ty needs you.

She recalled her answer to Tom, that Ty only needed Ty. Hadn’t he just proven that? He’d rejected all of her suggestions outright. Was it just stupid pride?

She’d go with Ty tonight and see whatever it was he wanted to show her, but in truth there was nothing he could say or do to sway her. Her mind was made up. Although she wished him well, she could never be an unequal partner. If he asked for the money, she’d loan it to him interest free. It’s what Tom would have wanted, but after that, she was done with the hotel.

And done with Tyrone Jefferson Morgan.

She rolled up the drawings, wistfully wondering if she could have stayed on had things been different between them. But they’d proven time and again that it was impossible to keep their relationship on a professional footing, and anything personal was only doomed to fail.

She left his office and returned to her suite, determined to book the next commercial jet back to New York. After arranging her flight, she dragged her suitcase to the bed and began packing up her things, but froze over the pile of Western clothes she’d taken off the night before.

Just last night she’d felt like someone else in those clothes. It had been liberating in a way she couldn’t understand. Just as being with Ty always made her feel different, more easygoing and relaxed. Was it all just playing dress-up, or did she really have a softer side that she’d never explored?

Her entire life she’d known exactly who she was and what she wanted—or at least she’d thought she had. Until Tom had come into her life, her career had always come first and relationships a distant second, but now it seemed everything was shifting like quicksand under her feet.

Who was she really and what did she really want? Was it a real estate mogul with an expensive penthouse apartment in lower Manhattan, or a swaggering cowboy and his rundown hotel on the garishly lit Las Vegas Strip? For the first time, she put all logic aside to search her heart.

The answer wrenched her chest, making it hard to breathe. It was Ty. There had never been any real contest. She’d fallen for the damned smirking cowboy almost the moment she’d laid eyes on him—and the acknowledgment of that fact only made her more miserable.

She didn’t know now whether to laugh or to cry. After indulging in a few minutes of both, Monica placed the boots and clothes in the closet and shut the door, just as she intended to close this chapter. She was shutting her suitcase when her phone rang. She reached to answer, but paused when she recognized Evan’s ring tone. Guilt assailed her at the realization that she hadn’t spoken to him in days. She hadn’t even told him she’d returned to Vegas.

She reluctantly answered. “Hello, Evan.”

“Mon, Baby. Was starting to worry about you. Then your text was so abrupt.”

“My text?” Ty. Her lips compressed. He said he’d read Evan’s text, but hadn’t told her he’d answered it. She wondered what he’d said.

“Yes. I thought you’d call back by now,” Evan said.

“I got sidetracked,” she said. “Some unexpected things came up. I had to come back to Vegas.”

“You’re in Vegas?”

“Yes. I had some decisions to make about the hotel.”

“I thought we’d already made an agreement on that?”

Monica exhaled a long sigh. “I thought so too, but there’s an unexpected complication. Tom left a codicil bequeathing controlling interest to Ty. I only have a twenty-five percent stake, so selling isn’t my decision anymore.”

“Then I’ll buy him out.”

“Ty doesn’t want to sell, Evan. He has plans for the place.”

“So do I,” Evan replied. “The north end of the Las Vegas Strip is prime territory for development.”

“Then you’ll need to deal directly with Ty. I’m out of this.”

“Set up a meeting,” he said, abrupt and autocratic.

“Excuse me?” Monica snapped. “I’m not your personal secretary, Evan.”

“Please, Mon,” he said suddenly apologetic. “I need you to smooth the way for me. I want to make this deal.”

“You’re wasting your time. He’s not going to sell. He’s planning to build an entire rodeo-themed entertainment complex.”

“Then he needs money. Does he have it?”

“Not yet,” she said, suddenly wary. “But he’s working on it.” Had she told Evan too much? Once more she wondered if his renewed interest in her was only a subterfuge to get his hands on the hotel.