“Consider it done.” And that quickly, business was taken care of, which only left the personal stuff. “How are you, brother?”
“I’m good.”
“You look like crap. Have you slept recently? Eaten a meal?”
“Who turned you into the veggie police?”
“Fair enough.” Troy lifted his drink in a toast. “Just worried about how you’re doing since you and Jayne split.”
Even the woman’s name made Conrad curse.
The breakup had been a surprise to everyone who knew them and so far neither of them was spilling details. Even the social pages had been strangely quiet on the issue and God knows, if either had been cheating, some telephoto lens would have caught something.
Not that his friend would have ever cheated on Jayne. The two had been crazy in love, but a restless traveler didn’t work well with a white-picket-fence woman. And those middle of the night calls to assist Colonel Salvatore probably hadn’t helped, either.
Conrad rolled his glass between his palms. “Jayne took a job in the States.”
“She’s a nurse, right?” he asked, more for keeping his friend talking than a need to know.
“Home health care. My altruistic, estranged wife is taking care of a dying old guy, even though she has millions in her checking account. Money she won’t touch.” His hands pressed tighter on the cut crystal until something had to give. Soon. “She hates me that much. But hey, by all means, don’t let my catastrophe of a marriage turn you off of relationships. Not all of them end up slicing and dicing your heart.”
He flung his glass into the fireplace, crystal shattering. He reached for the bottle.
“Dude, you really need to lay off the booze. It’s making you maudlin.”
“And mean. Yeah, I know.” He set the bottle down again. “Let’s play cards.”
“Believe I’ll pass tonight. I prefer not to have my ass handed to me.” And truthfully, he was itching to get back to Hillary now that he’d taken care of business. But he couldn’t leave until he was sure his buddy would be okay.
“You’re no fun. And after I did you this great favor.”
“Hey, we could play Alpha Realms IV.”
“So you can hand me my ass? No, thanks.” He thumbed the television back on. “What do you say we catch—”
A sound at the door cut him off short and they both shot to their feet. Hillary stood on the threshold with the leather pouch in her hands and a master access key card in her other hand. “Alpha Realms IV? Really? How old are you two? Ten?”
Conrad set aside the bottle slowly, a calculating gleam in his eyes that had Troy’s instincts blaring. Mine.
“Ah, so this is Hillary Wright in the flesh. Or should I call you Troy’s Achilles’s heel?”
Seven
Hillary stood self-consciously in the open archway leading into what could only be described as the man cave to end all man caves.
She’d finished her bath and her meal only to find she’d discovered her second wind. She’d put on a chic yellow silk dress and gone in search of Troy. The guard outside her door had informed her that the leather pouch was her golden ticket to whatever she needed at the casino. Then her own personal body guard had escorted her here to find Troy and his buddy, the casino owner.
Good God, there was a lot of testosterone in this room. Whereas Troy was unconventionally handsome, edgy even, his buddy was traditional: tall, dark, buffed and broody.
Personally, she preferred edgy.
“I’m Conrad Hughes,” the dark-haired Adonis extended a not-so-steady hand. “Mr. Alpha Realms’s best friend.”
Troy hooked an arm around his shoulders. “And he’s a perpetual liar, so disregard anything he says.”
Like the part about her being his Achilles’s heel?
Conrad simply laughed. “As for being ten, yeah. We’re men. We’re perpetually ten in some aspects.”
In which case, she should probably just go. “I’ll just leave you to it. I’m sorry I bothered you.”
Troy grasped her elbow. “Hold on. I’m done here.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Right, bud?”
Nodding once, Conrad said, “We’re good. Now go, have fun. What’s mine is yours. Nice to meet you, Hillary.”
She was back in the elevator with her guard excused before she could register being ushered out. “I think you and your buddy Conrad both need to sleep it off rather than play video games.”
“I’m not drunk. Not even drinking anymore beyond the one I had in the room and one when I came down here.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “You’re welcome to check my breath.”
She tipped her head to his, their mouths so close. And as she looked deeply in his eyes, she could see he was completely sober. He hadn’t lied. He’d controlled himself. There hadn’t been some “out with the boys” bender. He was here for her, and that was definitely more intoxicating than alcohol.
“I’m not sure I understand you.”
“Hillary, the last thing I would do is show up drunk in our room. You have understandable issues on the subject. If I stumbled in sloshed I would be less likely to score.”
And that fast he eased the tension that had been growing too heavy and fast for her.
Laughing, she strode ahead of him out of the elevator, back at their suite. “Oh my God, did you really just say that?”
She glanced over her shoulder and caught him watching her with unmistakable appreciation.
“I did. And you’re a little turned on.” Walking behind her, he stroked a finger up her spine. “Admit it.”
Hell, yes. She was burning up inside from a simple touch along her back.
“I’m a little exasperated.” She bantered right back without brushing his hand away. Funny, how she was becoming more and more comfortable with his hands on her. Maybe too much so.
“Let’s see what I can do about that.”
She spun around, hand on her hips. “Seriously, are you suffering from some kind of Peter Pan syndrome? You crack jokes at inappropriate times and you still play video games.”
“I develop software, yes.”
Her thoughts screeched to a halt. She was learning fast to pick apart his words since he had a deft way of dodging questions with wordplay. “Not just video games?”
“Did I say that?”
There was something here. “Why do I get the sense you’re toying with me?”