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HUGO DID KNOW HOW TO have a good time. The next two weeks were filled with events and parties in some of the most exclusive corners of the popular town. As was the rule, they were always back at the house before dark.
Each night, as soon as they got home, Tess would soak in her private hot tub or go straight to bed. Keeping up with Hugo wasn’t easy; he’d been raised in the Vegas lifestyle. She was more used to quiet nights in or working her butt off, cash-in-hand, to make sure she and her mom could survive.
Being occupied was better than doing nothing. She didn’t get time to construct any new garments but did talk about her passion with the billionaire.
Whether Hugo listened or not, he appeared engaged, as a consummate host always should. In their conversations, whenever she could sneak it in, she’d ask about Olympus. Learning more would be useful in the long run.
As for Daire, she’d barely seen him. It could be for the best. They couldn’t be together and weren’t so great at maintaining distance when they were in each other’s orbit. Still, with them no longer sharing a room and him training while she was out with Hugo, their paths didn’t often cross.
Each night Hugo took her out for an early dinner, or they’d eat alone in the atrium at the front of the house, overlooking the water garden. Harry wanted her out of the way, and he’d gotten his wish. The Olympus men were embracing the opportunity to reconnect, which would be for the greater good of everyone.
That day they’d gone out for coffee and had a wander through the Bellagio Conservatory until stopping for lunch. It was only a light bite because apparently Hugo had made big plans for dinner. Not that he’d tell her what they were.
The afternoon was rolling on. Hugo was making calls, conducting business for the first time since his return from South America. That left Tess at a loose end.
What were the options? Work? Read? Swim? Donning a bikini and oversized shirt, the last won out. Until she was halfway down the stairs anyway. What she really wanted to do was catch up with the man she missed.
Figuring the opportunity was too good to pass up, she found herself in the garage next to the Airstream. Not long after she and Hugo had returned earlier, Tess had seen the other Olympus guys traipsing downstairs to their training space in the basement. Still, she didn’t know for sure that Daire was inside the Beast. She held her breath and knocked, only breathing out when she got a “yeah” in response.
Wearing a smile, she reached for the handle. That “yeah” had a lot to answer for.
She opened the door and peeked inside; Daire was sitting in the dinette. Music played quietly in the background, keeping him company while he worked. It took a few seconds for him to glance up from whatever he was frowning at.
“You haven’t learned your lesson,” she said. “Your ‘yeah’ brought me into your trailer before… You never got rid of me, remember?”
“You don’t still live here,” he said, returning to whatever he’d been doing.
“Can I come in?”
“Harry’s been sleeping in the room upstairs. I think he’s in the office with Garrick.”
“I’m not looking for Harry,” she said, ascending the stairs even though he hadn’t actually granted her entry. “I’m looking for you.”
“Is there a problem?”
“No… not exactly.” Approaching, she angled her head to get a better look at the plans laid out on the table. When she realized they were building blueprints, she gasped and leaped forward. “Are these the plans for the new Olympus compound? How long until they build it?”
“It’s built,” he said, folding over the sheets to conceal the contents.
She frowned. “But I thought—”
“It’s a shell. We put it up a few years back. There’s more than one site… After losing Olympus A, it was decided there should be other sites set up in case it happened again.”
Which worked out for the best. The beta site might not have been destroyed, but she doubted any of them would trust it while things were so ambiguous among the key players.
“Hugo said it’s not far from here.” Though he hadn’t been explicit in telling her the structure existed. “Have you been there?”
“More than once,” Daire said, picking up his water glass to drink. “What do you need?”
Tess drew a fingertip along the edge of the table. “That’s a loaded question.”
But when she peeked up at him, expecting mischief, she got nothing other than the professional, detached Ares in return.
Daire put his glass on the table. “What do you need?” he asked again, slower and more deliberate in his question.
“I have a security concern,” she said. Daire just waited for her to elaborate. “You don’t include my room in your security sweep.”
“There’s no need,” he said. “With the security tech positioned outside and my guys monitoring the feed at all times, there’s no need for me to—”
