before levering himself out and flopping onto a nearby lounge chair. For the last four days he’d been tormented by Savannah’s proximity. Night was the worst. Knowing she slept mere steps from his big empty bed had summoned every memory of their time together. To keep himself from acting on his fantasies about her, he’d taken to spending long hours at the club and not returning home until the sky lightened toward dawn.
All of which had simply stoked his hunger, making him unable to keep his hands off her moments earlier. And now he’d agreed to a late dinner under the guise of talking business.
With a growl, Trent got to his feet and headed inside. She would expect him to have answers, and if he couldn’t provide any she might get frustrated enough to head back to LA and take Siggy on by herself. He needed to sort through their options. Just as important, he needed to chat with one of his partners in the club, Nate Tucker.
Trent showered and dressed in gray slacks and a bright blue shirt. His impulses pointed him toward the back of the house, where he might run into Savannah again. Cursing his weakness, Trent headed for his garage.
The gated community where he lived was a twenty-minute drive from the Cobalt. Negotiating the heavy Las Vegas traffic gave him plenty of time to ponder what had led up to that fantastic kiss in the pool. What had possessed him to tell Savannah about Karen? He wasn’t the type to dredge up past romances. And to belabor the fact that he’d dated a woman with children could only hurt Savannah.
Had he hoped to reiterate that he wasn’t a guy who wanted to be tied down with kids? An observer of the conversation might have wondered if Trent was trying to give the impression that he’d at least experimented with being a family guy.
When Trent got to Cobalt, instead of heading to his office at the club, he headed for the hotel’s executive offices. JT Stone, owner of the hotel, was a brilliant businessman and would have solid advice about how to deal with the failing record label. The two men had bonded over similar experiences growing up with difficult fathers and running family businesses. In JT’s case, he’d fought to regain control of the company that had been in the family for years and won. But in the end, he’d sold the family’s overleveraged hotel chain to his cousin in order to own Cobalt free and clear. That JT’s father had ended up in prison for fraud had been icing on the cake.
Trent approached JT’s executive assistant. “Is he around?”
Nina nodded. “He has a meeting in half an hour, but he’s free until then.”
“Thanks.” Trent stepped into the doorway that led to JT’s office and knocked on the frame. “Nina said you have a couple minutes.”
“Sure, come on in.” JT stood and came around his desk to shake Trent’s hand. “What’s up?”
“I have a little business dilemma I’d like to talk to you about.”
JT’s expression lit with interest. He’d dealt with more than his share of business dilemmas in the last two years. Gesturing toward the comfortable sitting area near the large windows that overlooked Cobalt’s extensive grounds, JT grabbed a couple bottles of water and joined Trent.
“What’s going on?”
“You know how things are with me and the family company.”
“Sure.”
“My sister-in-law came to me a few days ago wanting my help. When my brother died, he left his controlling interest in the business to his son. That puts Savannah in a position of overseeing the majority shares.”
“Let me guess—she asked you to step in as CEO.”
“Not exactly. Both of us know there’s no way my father would go for that. But she needs my help sorting out the company’s various problems.”
“Such as?”
“For one thing, they’re not paying their artists all the royalties owed to them.”
“Because they don’t have the money?”
“The company has been doing poorly for years, but things got worse once my brother got sick.” Trent cracked the seal on the bottle of water and drank. “Then there’s the problem of embezzlement. West Coast Records’ general manager has been stealing for quite a few years.”
JT arched an eyebrow. “And you know this how?”
Trent gave a little shrug. “I might have had Logan digging around in their computers.”
JT and Logan were related through marriage. Their wives were two of the three Fontaine sisters, who ran resort and hotel properties on the Strip. Trent had often wondered what it was like for JT to be married to his competition. His wife, Violet, managed two of the three Fontaine properties.
“Did Logan find anything else troubling?”
“I haven’t spoken with him in a couple days, but it’s possible.” Trent rubbed his eyes, noting a mild twinge in his temple as he considered what else might be going wrong. “In the meantime, Savannah is deep in debt thanks to her husband’s reckless spending, and the only asset she has is her major stake in a failing company.”
“She should try to dump the company now before the word gets out.”
“Unfortunately the way the corporation was set up, she has to get approval from the board in order to sell. And since my father controls the board, he’s making things difficult for her.”