Hush

He ran his hand across the marble of the double sinks. “Okay, I can’t put this off any longer. Why? Why the sex angle? You must have known your father would never go for it.”

At last. A conversation Piper was completely prepared for. “It’s a niche that needed filling.”

“Pardon the pun?” he said, his lips turning up at the corners.

“No, I don’t think I can pardon that. I’ve done my homework, Trace. There’s nothing like this in Manhattan. Nothing.”

“Not even in Times Square?”

“I think your insistence in equating sex with sleaze is something you need to discuss with your therapist.”

He laughed. “Right. I’m probably the only person in New York who thinks a hotel designed for sex is tawdry.”

“No, you’re just one of the sadly misinformed. This hotel is about pleasure. Consensual, mutual pleasure.”

“The Kama Sutra in the bedside drawer? The cameras, the sex toys? Come on, Piper, don’t tell me this whole place doesn’t pander to the worst common denominator. You know damn well you’re going to supply the tabloids with years of grist.”

“And that’s bad for business how?”

“It’s not the way Devons do business.”

“Devons make money. I’m going to make tons of it. Just like always, it’s the bottom line that makes my father happy, and you know that as well as I do.”

Trace shook his head. “How can you be this naive? I could almost understand if this was Kyle’s idea. Not that he’d be foolish enough to piss off Nicholas like this, but he’s been known to make some bonehead moves.”

“What?” She leaned back against the door. “A disparaging comment about my brother? I thought the two of you were thick as thieves.”

“Kyle’s a decent kid.”

“Kyle’s a suck-up of the first order. If Dad says jump, all he knows how to do is ask ‘How high.’”

“He understands what’s at stake. He listens to your father. He’s not in the tabloids every other day.”

“Oh, right. Kyle, the apple of Daddy’s eye. You know what he told me? What he’s going to do with his trust-fund money?”

“No. What is he going to do?”

“He’s going to invest in Devon Industries. I mean, please.”

“He’s not dumb.”

“Oh, wait. I forgot that everything’s about money. Always and forever, amen.”

“What are you doing this for, if not your inheritance?”

She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“No?”

“Not a chance.”

He stepped toward her. “Try me.”

She headed out of the bathroom, not willing to play this game another minute. Trace had proved beyond any doubt exactly what mattered to him in life. The buck. And the only way he was going to get those bucks was by being a slavish toady to Nicholas Devon. The hell with who got hurt.

“I’ll skip the suites,” she said, feeling him behind her as she crossed the living room. She was cutting the tour short, but she had to get this over with. “Let’s go down to the workout room, and then I’ll take you to the spa.”

“Fine.”

“I made dinner reservations for nine,” she said, closing the penthouse door behind her.

“Fine,” he said again, sounding as frustrated as she felt. He walked ahead of her and called for the elevator. “I’d like to see the books.”

“What, the one in your nightstand isn’t enough?”

He gave her one of his patented glares. But just for a second. Then he turned away with a shake of his head.

The elevator door opened, and he held it for her. She passed him, careful not to get too close. She didn’t want a repeat of what had happened in the penthouse bedroom.

What she needed here was a plan. Some way to get past all this defensive bullshit. She needed Trace as an ally, not a sparring partner. Unfortunately, she had a terrible tendency to speak before she thought when she was with Trace. Her reaction just came so naturally. Strike before she was struck. It had been like that since she was seventeen.

“You coming?”

He stood by the open elevator door. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts she hadn’t realized they were at the fourth floor already.

She nodded, then headed for the workout room. It was very well equipped. Six treadmills, four elliptical trainers, a complete free weight set, Nautilus machines and more. She’d hired two professional trainers, and was in the process of finding two more. “We made sure the equipment was top-notch, and that the trainers are highly qualified.”

Trace wandered through the space. She wondered what he’d find to be critical about. She’d been to all the top hotels in the city and she knew this was one of the best facilities available. In fact, there was nothing second best at Hush.

“It looks good,” he said.

“Gee, thanks.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what you think I’m here for, but as I told you last night, I’m here to help.”

“Right,” she said. “Do you want to see the spa?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”

Again, they went to the elevator, riding back up to the spa level. It was huge, covering most of the floor, and Piper was incredibly proud of how it had turned out. Everything was designed to ease the most stressed of guests, from the colors on the walls to the very air they breathed. Of course there were the regular Swedish and Shiatsu massages, but there was also aromatherapy, sensual, sports and other massages that offered cleansing of the chakras, balms for the soul.

Naturally, she didn’t broadcast her belief in such things and would have shot herself before she admitted it to Trace, who would have ridiculed her mercilessly. But the truth was, she felt strongly about the body/mind/universe connection. Only, when she was around Trace she become completely disconnected.

“What’s that smell?”

She looked at Trace who was sniffing the air, and she noticed the little furrow right between his eyes. A powerful urge hit to slowly run her tongue over that small patch of skin. She turned, cursing herself.

“Piper?”