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Vegas, Baby
Theodora Taylor
It only took one kiss… Working two jobs to achieve her dream of moving to New York, Vegas showgirl Sunny Johnson needs to save every penny. So when CEO Cole Benton makes a bottom-line decision to close the revue show she dances in, she has no choice but to confront him for her sake and for the futures of all her friends on the chorus line.Cole expects to inherit the reins to his family's chain of luxurious hotels and casinos. That is until his grandmother drops a bomb–get married, or say farewell to his inheritance! And the worst part? His grandmother has already decided on the lucky bride–Sunny.So before his true motives can be revealed, one spontaneous kiss and sizzling-hot chemistry take over as Sunny and Cole fall into each other's arms. But is it now too late to tell Sunny the truth? Could Cole's high-stakes gamble cost him everything, including the woman he is beginning to adore?
It only took one kiss…
Working two jobs to achieve her dream of moving to New York, Vegas showgirl Sunny Johnson needs to save every penny. So when CEO Cole Benton makes a bottom-line decision to close the revue show she dances in, she has no choice but to confront him for her sake and for the futures of all her friends on the chorus line.
Cole expects to inherit the reins to his family’s chain of luxurious hotels and casinos. That is until his grandmother drops a bomb—get married, or say farewell to his inheritance! And the worst part? His grandmother has already decided on the lucky bride—Sunny.
So before his true motives can be revealed, one spontaneous kiss and sizzling-hot chemistry take over as Sunny and Cole fall into each other’s arms. But is it now too late to tell Sunny the truth? Could Cole’s high-stakes gamble cost him everything, including the woman he is beginning to adore?
“We’re supposed to be making our debut as a couple tonight at the Business Man of the Year dinner.”
“And that has what to do with you holding me against this wall?” she asked, looking very uncomfortable, but also still…something else.
“We’re supposed to be in the throes of a new romance, madly in love. Now, I don’t usually do PDA. Not really my thing, but in this case, if I were really capable of falling hard for somebody in a matter of days, I think I’d be okay with it. Don’t you?”
He could distinctly see a bead of sweat on her forehead now. “Are you hot, Sunny? Already? We haven’t even begun the class. Maybe we should turn on the air-conditioning,” he offered, not even trying to hide the fake note in his concerned suggestion.
“No, I’m fine, I—” She broke off, obviously flustered. “I just don’t understand what tonight has to do with right now. What you’re doing right now?”
“We’ve got fifteen minutes. Maybe we should practice.”
Before she could ask “Practice what?” he answered the presumed question, pressing his lips to hers for what was supposed to be a teasing kiss, a little light punishment for giving him a hard time about his car and work schedule.
Except it wasn’t teasing or little or light. In fact, when his lips met hers, he felt something zap through him, and he immediately became consumed, moving his mouth over hers, wanting more. He pressed his whole body into her as he kissed her, suddenly not caring if she knew how badly she affected him. Suddenly wanting her to know just how much he desired her, just how much he wanted in.
THEODORA TAYLOR
lives, reviews and writes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When not reading, reviewing or writing, she enjoys spending time with her wonderful husband and attending dinner parties thrown by others.
Vegas, Baby
Theodora Taylor
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader (#ulink_9ee5cc70-e754-5c78-8f93-73456d613336),
I loved the remake of Ocean’s Eleven and found the main antagonist, Terry Benedict, fascinating. I’m a writer who tends to be more interested in the villains than the heroes while watching movies, so he sent my mind into full spin. I hope you enjoy this tale about an ambitious, uptight businessman who gets thrown for a love loop by a sassy showgirl. Sunny and Cole are a smoking-hot couple, and their story sizzles like the Vegas summer.
My very best,
Theodora
To my lovely one-click readers.
I hope you love this story.
Contents
Cover (#u3dc35de4-1c35-571c-ad59-17d25c5bb926)
Back Cover Text (#u7e649b55-4843-503f-90e3-5105b5657095)
Introduction (#u976b4cf7-6706-50fe-a65b-6aabffc62894)
About the Author (#u3c107903-86d0-5900-8c9c-5d254f127422)
Title Page (#uca0f8a78-3613-5cb5-9bdd-8c7a0982605e)
Dear Reader (#ulink_7e9cf981-380c-5f99-b54d-0662479bec8d)
Dedication (#u2059eeff-be3e-567c-953f-e9140167bbf5)
Chapter 1 (#ulink_33f0a2af-736e-5a1d-bb67-88191e3ecdda)
Chapter 2 (#ulink_10af5646-1176-59d8-82cd-e0c75f5b6ecd)
Chapter 3 (#ulink_70cb8340-ff9b-5d42-9e3b-dc1bdcf6992f)
Chapter 4 (#ulink_f10e9a86-35ee-55d1-9e7e-bf1e333a9594)
Chapter 5 (#ulink_aafd926e-4ef5-5025-b983-2940968879a4)
Chapter 6 (#ulink_0f52ca82-6378-56e9-8016-0e2897aadf26)
Chapter 7 (#ulink_43d0a92f-4274-565a-80a1-dbd64e2fd443)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 1 (#ulink_f09d6202-3991-5ad9-8b91-0c65453c5b31)
“You want me to do what ?”
Cole Benton didn’t shout, but he didn’t have to. His voice carried enough icicles to let the woman sitting in his black guest chair know he was beyond not pleased. It was the same tone he used with employees both on and below the executive floor when they were dangerously close to getting fired.
But his grandmother, Nora Benton, or as she liked to refer to herself, “the best damn showgirl this town has ever seen,” just crossed her long legs. She liked to show them off—to the point that she ordered her Chanel suits with a higher hemline than was normally deemed appropriate for her age set.
“You heard me, luv,” she answered, her Irish accent reinforcing her words with steely determination. “I’m telling you, it’s for your own good.”
“And I’m telling you, you need an MRI if you think I’m going to marry some showgirl...”
“Sunny’s not just some showgirl,” Nora said, patting her mane of wavy hair, which thanks to her twice monthly hair appointments, was still as glossy and vibrant red as it had been when she and his grandfather met. “She’s the granddaughter of Berta Johnson, my best friend in the entire world.”
Cole gave her a skeptical look. “Your best friend whom I’ve never met.”
“Only because she died quite a few years ago, when you were still in business school. If you’d have come to any of my last few Christmas events, you would have seen the show Sunny choreographs for herself and a few of the other Benton Girls every year. Then I would have been able to properly introduce you to Berta’s lovely granddaughter.”
Cole tented his hands on his desk. “Her lovely granddaughter, the showgirl.”
“What’s wrong with showgirls? Your grandda—God rest his soul—always said meeting me was the best thing that ever happened to him.”
A shimmer of affection for the original Coleridge Benton, a stodgy businessman who’d somehow ended up married to an Irish showgirl from The Benton Hotel’s revue show, made a brief pass through Cole. If not for his grandfather, he wouldn’t be where he was today, the Chief Executive Officer of The Benton Group, one of the youngest CEOs of any hotel chain in Vegas history. But irritation at his grandmother soon overtook Cole’s fond memory of his grandfather. Naming her chairman of The Benton Group’s board before his death, so that Cole was forced to take her seriously, despite the fact that she had nothing to do with the company’s day to day operations, was one of the worst business decisions his grandfather had ever made.
“With all due respect to my grandfather, he was the head of one hotel when he met you. One. I oversee a nationwide collection of The Benton Group’s hotel and casino interests.”
Nora’s gave him a withering look. “I see, you think being a billionaire makes you too good for a showgirl then? That’s what you’re trying to tell the best damn showgirl this town has ever seen?”
“No, growing The Benton Group into a force to be reckoned with means I don’t have time to date this girl you’re trying to set me up with or for this inane meeting—which by the way is not remotely urgent. You told my assistant this was important.”
“It is important, luv,” his grandmother insisted. “I’m not getting any younger, and I’m ready for grandchildren. And with that playboy brother of yours flitting about all over Europe...”
“You should just be grateful your other grandson is running the company so well and leave it at that,” he finished for her.
“Well, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands,” Nora said. “All you do is work, work, work.” She let out an exasperated sound, as though his work was a character flaw, as opposed to what kept her in luxury cruises and Botox treatments. “Quite frankly you need to get laid well and regularly, dearie. It would do you a world of good, just like it did your grandda. It’s time for you to have some fun—but only for three months, then you can settle down and give me some grandchildren.”
“You want me to marry a girl I’ve never even met after three months of dating?” Cole asked, both his face and tone incredulous.
“Three months is generous,” Nora informed him. “It only took your grandda three weeks to propose to me!”
Cole stared at his grandmother for a few long, disbelieving seconds before saying, “I have a two o’clock, so I’m calling this ‘urgent meeting’ to an end. Thanks for stopping by, Nora. Let’s never do this again.”
Nora let out a dramatic sigh. “I was afraid you might say that. I swear, the worst decision I ever made was letting your grandda take you under his wing after you got kicked out of boarding school. You’ve got too much of him in you and your brother has too much of me.”
Cole had already turned back to his computer and started typing in notes for his two o’clock with The Benton Group’s L.A. office. He was fully prepared to ignore Nora out of his office.
But then his grandmother said, “...and that’s why I’ll be handing over my shares in the company to your brother. I plan to make my announcement at the end of summer board meeting.”
Cole’s head shot up from the computer screen. His brother, Max, was the “brand ambassador” for The Benton Group. This basically meant he received a steady paycheck, which he spent on partying all over Europe. Which in turn meant his picture was regularly spread across the tabloids. It put The Benton Group in a negative light and the only reason Cole hadn’t cut him off was because he had enough shares in the company to make it difficult if he decided to sell them to an outside interest. However, if Nora gave her shares to Max, then...
“That would give Max controlling interest in The Benton Group. Why would you do that?” he asked his grandmother.
Nora shrugged prettily. “Well, unlike you, luv, he came to my Christmas charity dinner and he gave Sunny and her girls some very nice compliments on their show.”
“I bet,” Cole said with a derisive snort. His brother wasn’t the sort to miss an opportunity to flirt with scantily clad showgirls.
Nora went on, anyway. “He and I had a nice long talk the last time he was in town, and he explained to me that he’d be more than happy to stay on in Vegas and work at The Benton Group—if you weren’t in charge.”
Cole turned all the way around to face his grandmother. “That’s never going to happen. I’m the one who built this company into a nationwide outfit. I’ll be in charge of it until the day I die.”
“Yes, well...” Nora played with the short hemline of her skirt. “I do miss Max, and he’s promised that if I give him my shares, he’ll not only marry Sunny, but give me as many grandchildren as I want.”
Cole found himself once again staring at his grandmother in disbelief. “Do you have any idea of how crazy that sounds, Nora?”
Nora threw a dramatic hand across her forehead. “I do! I know it sounds crazy, luv. And of course, I’d rather Sunny marry you. You’re more the settling down type—unlike Max. But I’m just so desperate for grandchildren!”
Cole would never let a business rival see him blink, and he kept his face blank as he informed Nora, “You have grandchildren. Max and I are your grandchildren.”
“Hardly. Max, came out of the womb, a full blown flirt, and your derelict parents forced me to raise you, and—well, you know how difficult that was. I want a real baby, one who coos and giggles and calls me ‘Gran’—not ‘Nora,’ like I’m one of his employees.”
If Cole had a sense of humor, he might have found his grandmother’s antics funny, but he didn’t, especially when it came to money. “Nora, selling a controlling interest in the company I’ve been spent my entire career growing is not the way to get what you want.”
“Don’t you try to lecture me, Cole Benton. I’m not one of your underlings,” his grandmother responded. “Now you either do as I say and propose to Sunny Johnson by the end of summer, or I’m selling my shares to Max!”
Nora punctuated her threat with a slap of her hand on his desk. But then her face softened. “I know what I’m threatening sounds crazy and a bit harsh, Cole. But this...” She gestured around his highrise office. “All this work and no play. It’s not good for you, luv. It’s made you hard. Too hard. You need something other than this business in your life.”
What Nora didn’t seem to understand was that this business was his life, the only thing that made his heart beat faster, the only thing that had ever given him a true return on his investment.
And he wouldn’t abide anyone—even his own grandmother—threatening to compromise all the work he’d put into it.
“I’ve got to prepare for my two o’clock now. I’ll take your request under advisement.”
