Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta (3 page)

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I
f he wanted to take her to lunch, it was
only fair that he foot the bill. She didn’t even want to be there in the first
place.

Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. She
wasn’t sure she should be there. Wanting was a whole different question.

The waiter who showed them to a quiet table
for two had a real French accent. A warm, golden light cast a subtle glow over
the room and the furniture was quaintly mismatched. Jordan jumped in front of
the waiter to pull out Loretta’s chair.

She sat down, enjoying the attention. It
seemed like Sean was the only man who’d noticed her existence in the past year
and that was hardly anything to get excited about. Nothing was going to happen
with Jordan, so it was safe to sit back and bask in his attempts to win her
over.

Plus she was about to get a pretty good
meal out of it.

After presenting them the menus, the waiter
asked if they’d like a jug of water and disappeared to fetch it.

“So, Loretta from the bank. What do you
actually do there? When you’re not being robbed.”

“I’m the assistant manager.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Impressive.”

“And what do you do?”

“I’m self-employed. A little of this, a
little of that. Whatever comes up.”

“That sounds dubious.” It just slipped out.
She must have been tipsy.

Fortunately, he took it in good spirits and
laughed. “Not really. Imports and exports mainly. I suppose I act as a fixer
for people – getting rid of what they don’t want and getting them stuff they
do.”

“Very mysterious.” The more he said, the
more suspicious she got. Men with so much charm were rarely on the level.

He picked up his menu and she looked at
hers.

“Shall we split a bottle of wine?”

“Probably not a good idea.” She glanced at
the clock. Not even two. And she was already feeling the effects of the rum and
coke.

“I thought you said you’ve got the rest of
the day off.” He leaned in over the table and lowered his voice to a whisper.
“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

But she wanted to spend a couple of hours
on Edna when she got home. She’d barely be able to hold a screwdriver after
half a bottle of wine. Something told her he wouldn’t want to stop there
either. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

“Like what?”

She decided on the rib-eye with Béarnaise
sauce, put down her menu and folded her arms. He was rather too confrontational
for her liking. “What about you? Where were you going when you knocked me
over?”

“Just running some errands.”

More evasion. The waiter returned to take
their order. Jordan asked for a bottle of Chateau de
Somewhere-she’d-never-heard-of and two glasses, making her bristle. “I think
I’ve made a mistake.” She pushed her chair back, ready to stand. “I should
leave.”

“Wait. What did I do?”

She got to her feet, but paused, watching
him. He seemed genuinely confused.

“You’re used to getting away with this
shit, aren’t you?”

“What shit?”

“The charming, alpha male bowling them off
their feet.”

At least he had the decency to look cowed.

“You’re not interested in me. You just want
your ego stroked.” She’d been stupid to ignore her instincts. Snatching up her
bag, she stepped away from the table.

He jumped up to stand in her path.

“You’re wrong.” He looked down at her, his
bright, blue eyes stopping her cold. Something passed between them – nothing
more than the ghost of a feeling, but it was enough to set her wondering.

“Let’s start again. Have a leisurely lunch
together with a real conversation.” His earlier bluster faded into the
background. What was he really like under all that machismo?

She wavered. It wasn’t every day that she
got the chance to eat in Viande. Especially not with such a handsome companion.

But handsome wasn’t everything.

They both sat back down. The waiter brought
the wine. Jordan tasted it and proclaimed it fit to drink.

“None for me, thanks.” She covered her
glass with her hand and the waiter placed the bottle in the middle of the
table.

Jordan surprised her by changing the
subject. “Actually, I was on my way back from doing some business when I ran
into you.”

“What sort of business?” If he dodged this
question, she definitely would get up and go home.

“Arranging a deal with a wholesaler. He’s
interested in taking one of my new lines of stock.”

“What do you sell?”

“All sorts of stuff – whatever I can make a
profit with.”

The bread and olives arrived and Loretta
picked at a roll while trying not to look too suspicious. He still didn’t want
to tell her what he did. So what exactly did he have to hide? She decided to
give him one last chance. “And what were you selling to the wholesaler?”

“Baby monitors.”

“Baby monitors?”

“Uh-huh. Teddy bear ones.”

She failed to hold back a snort of
laughter.

“What?” He smiled at her and popped an
olive into his mouth.

“That’s the big secret you’ve been dancing
around?”

“It’s not a secret. The mark-up’s amazing
on those things. Even at wholesale prices.”

“Okay.” Baby monitors. She’d been imagining
fake Rolexes or dodgy DVDs. It was still possible he wasn’t telling the truth.
She watched him butter a slice of French stick. No. If he was lying, he would
have gone for something more glamorous.

The conversation flowed more smoothly after
that. By the time their steaks were in front of them, she’d found out he was an
only child who’d moved there nearly three years ago with his ex-girlfriend.

Loretta told him how the bank had sponsored
her through her degree and that she was working towards being promoted to
manager. Somehow, they got onto the subject of Edna and she found herself
pouring out all the details of how her dad had helped her buy the old girl and
got her started with the restoration.

“She’s the same model as the first car he
bought when he moved over here from Jamaica.”

“He must have had a damn good job.”

“No. He just worked hard.” He’d soon had to
sell the car once he got married and had Loretta. “I’m trying to get hold of a
front grille at the moment.”

“No luck?”

“Not so far.” It was probably just as well.
She was spending way too much money on parts.

“I might know someone who could help with
that.”

“Really?”

“I’ll make some calls.”

She was about to show him a picture of the
work in progress when someone shouted out his name.

A tall, statuesque blonde stomped her way
through the restaurant and came to stand beside the table.

“Gina, what are you doing?”

Loretta sank down in her chair, wishing she
could teleport.

“Bill told me you were out with some tramp,
but I didn’t believe him.” She glared at Loretta, put her hands on her hips and
fixed Jordan with a look that came within inches of searing the flesh off his
bones. “More fool me.”

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B
ill Marcolini sat in the waiting room
outside Ursino’s office and picked at the dirt under his fingernails. He didn’t
want to be there. No one in his right mind would, under the circumstances.

He rubbed at his aching jaw and
concentrated on his breathing.

That bastard Jordan Bernardino. Who the
hell did he think he was?

Ursino’s secretary looked over and he shot
her a smile. She pushed her glasses up her nose and turned her gaze back to her
computer screen. Anyone would think she didn’t know what her boss did for a
living.

The buzzer on her desk sounded and Vittorio
Ursino’s voice came through low and tinny. “Send him in.”

Bill got up. The secretary opened the door
for him and closed it once he was on the other side.

The office was pretty much the way you’d
imagine it – lots of wood panels, a massive bastard of a desk and a high-spec
computer.

“Bill. Take a seat.” The man himself was
wearing one of his trademark deep indigo suits. They sounded vulgar until you
actually saw him in one – the colour was just a shade away from blue, but the
effect was subtly disconcerting.

Bill sat in one of the two chairs opposite
Ursino’s seat. There was more white in the boss’s beard since the last time
they’d met. No one would make the mistake of calling him old though.

Everyone had heard the story about the guy
who’d made a joke about Ursino’s cane. The poor fool had thought he was among
friends, cracking wise in a bar downtown.

Ursino didn’t have that cane any more. As
sturdy as it had been, he managed to break it teaching that guy a lesson.

No one mentioned the new cane.

“What did you want to tell me?”

He licked his lips and called up the words
he’d rehearsed. “Mr Ursino, I’ve come to warn you about Jordan Bernardino.”

***

J
ordan stood up. “Gina, calm down.” This
was perfect. Right when he’d got Loretta relaxed enough to open up to him.

She picked up a glass of wine and threw it
in his face. People pretended not to stare. He mopped up what he could with a
napkin and reached for her elbow.

“Don’t touch me!”

He grabbed her anyway and steered her away
from the table before she decided to throw anything else. Outside would be
best.

“Are you cheating on me now?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It looked plenty like that to me. First
you ignore my text, then you go to lunch with Miss Snooty.” She flicked a hand
in the direction of the restaurant.

If he didn’t calm her down soon, he was in
danger of getting a kick to the crotch. And her shoes were pointy. “She’s the
bank manager. From the job this morning. I ran out of time to get the safety
deposit boxes open, so I came up with a plan B.” Come to think of it, that
wasn’t a bad idea.

She paused.

He jumped into the silence before she had
the chance to work up another head of steam. “Baby, I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Not when your father could make it so there’s no evidence I ever existed.

Gina Ursino pouted and looked up at him
through her eyelashes. “Why should I believe you?”

A sudden image of Loretta watching them
through the window made him very self-conscious, but this was the part of the
conversation where he was supposed to sweep her into his arms.

He did what was expected of him and laid a
making-up kiss on her.

Of course, that was the exact moment
Loretta decided to walk out.

He sensed her go past and watched her over
the top of Gina’s hair.

There was nothing he could do about it.
Keeping Gina sweet was the best way of keeping his head attached to his body.

“That’s a pretty good reason.” She pulled
him in for another kiss. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t get the chance. It was a spur of
the moment thing.”

He still wanted Loretta. And Jordan was
used to getting what he wanted. He’d just have to think his way around the
problem.

Especially now the idea of getting back
into that safety deposit room was lodged in his skull.

The kiss came to an end and he lifted Gina
off her feet, spinning her round in a circle. As long as she thought he was
only going after Loretta to get back into the bank, it would buy him some
wiggle room.

He’d have to figure the rest out later.

Jordan set her down and she pulled out her
phone.

“Give me one minute. I told Daddy I’d
call.”

“Gina. Don’t get mad, but I should go after
her.”

She gave him a sharp look, but it soon
softened. “Okay. But don’t take things too far.” She lifted her eyebrows in
warning.

He started off up the street. “I won’t. I
promise.” And if she believed that, she really didn’t know him very well at
all.

***

U
rsino studied Bill intently, taking the
measure of what he’d said. Jordan wasn’t just working for Ursino, he was close
to his daughter. That’s why he would at least listen.

“I heard you got cut out of the job this
morning.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk.

“We had a disagreement. He got squeamish
about the guns.”

“Squeamish?”

“Said we weren’t to fire them under any
circumstances.”

The older man raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“I thought you should know exactly what
happened.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

Bill cleared his throat and was about to
continue when Ursino put up his hand to stop him.

He reached in his pocket and brought out a
phone which he put to his ear. “Carissima.”

Which meant it was either his wife, his
daughter or his mistress.

“Slow down, slow down.”

Bill looked off to the left, doing his best
to appear disinterested.

“And you believe him?”

Was that Gina? Surely she wasn’t buying
whatever yarn Bernardino had spun?

“Okay. Leave it with me.” He put the phone
down in front of him and stared at it for a moment, his lips pressed together
in a thin line. Then he looked up as if he’d only just remembered Bill was
there.

“Continue.”

He explained everything from the fight at
the garage to the woman he’d watched Jordan pick up in the street. He was sure
she worked at the bank. But when he mentioned her to Ursino, he described the
uniform and left the rest to his powers of deduction.

The biggest gamble was leaving out the part
where he’d told Gina. She’d promised not to say anything to her father, but
when she got herself worked up, all bets were off.

“I appreciate you coming to me with this.”
Ursino opened a drawer and brought out a sheaf of bank notes. “Take this for
your expenses. There’s something I want you to do for me.”

“Yes sir.” He took the money and put it in
his pocket. He’d thought getting Ursino to listen would be the hardest part.
Now he wasn’t so sure.

***

G
ina came off the phone with Daddy and
typed out a text message.

Finished with Jordan. On my way over x.

He thought he was so smart. What he’d
forgotten was she’d been dealing with over-confident toughs since she learned
how to walk. It came with the territory when you were Vito Ursino’s daughter.

She strutted down the road and got back
into her jeep. The intuition that something big was about to happen settled on
her shoulders. Turning on the stereo, she shrugged the feeling off.

Of course something big was on the horizon
– she was the one who’d set it in motion.

It was a shame things hadn’t worked out
with Jordan. The signs had been there from the beginning, but she’d wanted to
be wrong this time.

He was good fun, he looked great on her arm
and the sex was up there in the top five. Top three if she was being completely
honest.

But he didn’t love her. He never would.

Men like Jordan couldn’t love anyone. Now
he was starting to pull away before she was ready. Well, she intended to make
good use of him while she still could.

The drive over had flown by. Gina pulled
into an underground car park and killed the engine. The sound of her heels
echoed as she made her way over to the back stairs and typed the code into the
security panel.

Three flights up, she left the stairs and
took the door out to a corridor. Number fifty-two was the fourth door on the
left.

She brought out a key and opened the door.
“Hello?” She walked inside and kicked off her shoes.

“Hey, that was quick.” Bill brought her in
close for a lingering kiss.

She kissed him back, linking her arms
behind his head. Bill may not have been as cute as Jordan, but he was a lot
more interested in pleasing her. “Let me see your face.” She tipped his head to
the side. His nose was turning a vivid shade of purple. “I bet that stings.”
Taking care not to hurt him, she kissed the tip.

“I’ve had worse.” He took her by the hand,
drawing her further inside. “Coffee?”

“I’ll make it.” Moving through to the
kitchen, she plucked a couple of mugs from the rack and turned on the kettle.
“What did Daddy say?”

“That we’re going back in to empty the
safety deposit boxes.” He followed her in and gave her a pat on the ass. “That
was you on the phone to him, wasn’t it?”

“Uh-huh. I told him about the safety
deposit boxes. You were right about the woman. He said she was the manager.
Tried to convince me he was only after her to pull another job.”

Bill’s snort of laughter said what he
thought about that.

“He’s out there right now, trying to smooth
things over with her.”

“Do you want me to call him? Mess up his
evening? I haven’t told him about the new plan yet.”

Gina made the drinks and handed one to him.
“Whatever. You might slow him down, but you won’t stop him. I saw the way he
was looking at her.” It was just the way he used to look at her. Another sign
things were as good as over between them.

“I wish you weren’t so upset about that.”

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
“Don’t worry. I’m done with him.” But it still hurt to know he’d already moved
on to the next unlucky bitch.

They moved through to the lounge and sat
down on the couch together.

“So, you’re going to make sure he pumps the
bank manager for information?” She blew on her coffee.

“Yeah. She won’t like that.”

“Don’t be too sure. Charming his way into
that bank won’t be much harder than charming his way into her panties. She
didn’t look like she gets much male attention, if you know what I mean.” In her
experience, men weren’t interested in girls who wore suits to work.

“Okay. He finds a way in. Me and Danny do
the job with him. You call the cops and he gets caught.”

“Along with his new girlfriend.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Gina put her legs up on his lap and drank
some coffee. “Make sure you play it just right.” There were too many ways this
could go wrong. When she ran possible outcomes through in her head, most of the
bad ones were down to Bill dropping the ball.

“I know what I’m doing, Gina.”

“Course you do.” She wasn’t sure how
convincing she sounded, so she sweetened her words with a kiss.

Bill kissed her back hard, putting down his
mug and then doing the same with hers. It was nice to be wanted. His breathing
came fast and heavy.

“He must be some kind of idiot to let you
go.”

Exactly what she’d been thinking.

Which was why she was going to teach him a
valuable lesson.

***

“H
ey, wait.”

Loretta heard him coming, but she kept her
head down and carried on walking.

“Loretta. Wait.” He ran up beside her.

It took all her will-power not to look at
him. He was nothing but trouble. She wasn’t going to do anything to encourage
him.

“Loretta.” He stepped in front of her and
she walked around him. “I know what it looks like, but she’s not my
girlfriend.”

That got her attention. What did he think
he could possibly say to explain the scene in the restaurant? “Go on then.” She
stared him down.

“She’s my ex.”

She rolled her eyes and walked past him.
Was that the best he could come up with?

“Don’t you want to know why she can’t get
over me?”

Loretta laughed out loud in the middle of
the street. “Seriously? Is that why you were kissing her?”

“She kissed me. I don’t want to blow my own
trumpet, but apparently I’m unforgettable.”

She laughed till her belly ached and tears
threatened. “Please, stop.” It wasn’t that funny, but she couldn’t control
herself.

“At least I can make you laugh.” He came
around to stand in front of her again.

Her laughter trailed off, leaving her
breathless and embarrassed. “Forget it.”

“I’m not interested in her.”

“But you had your arms around her.”

“I was trying to get her off me.”

She wasn’t convinced. “It’s none of my
business. It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. I’m sorry. We didn’t even get to
finish our meal.”

“Shit.” She turned to look back the way
they’d come.

“What is it?”

“I don’t suppose you went back in to pay
the bill before you came after me?”

“No.”

“Then we’d better go.” She started to walk.
“I think I just did a runner.” She picked up speed and so did he.

Now it was his turn to laugh. “You walked
out without paying?”

“My brain wasn’t working. I just wanted to
get out of there before your girlfriend hit me.”

“Ex-girlfriend.”

She raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t quite
managed to persuade her that was the whole truth. “Anyway, you were supposed to
be paying for lunch.”

“Do you think they get many bank managers
in there who run off without paying?”

“Assistant manager.”