Deadly Odds (27 page)

The reason he yelled bugged the shit out of him.

Kate. She’d marched out of his office and had gone straight to his boss. Not even a cooling off period. A measly hour to wrap his head around the idea of Mrs. Miller, a woman he’d known and adored for years, being a cheat. Someone who would screw him.

As Kate had obviously just done. How ironic.

“Am I clear?” Bob thundered through the phone.

“Crystal.”

“Good. Call me before the end of the day with an update.”

The line went dead and Ross dropped the handset back in the cradle.

“Marcia!”

No answer. Of course. Which meant she wasn’t at her desk and could be anywhere in the building. This one, he’d handle himself.

He’d track down his redheaded snitch himself.

He’d known, all along, he shouldn’t break the cardinal rule. The one that required him to keep his hands off the sexy consultant. Because this is what happened when a man like him let his dick lead the charge.

Sure, he’d gotten laid. And it had been epic. Off-the-charts epic.

At least until she’d fucked him. Literally and figuratively.

She wanted to play? Perfect. “Let’s do it.” He slammed both palms against the desk. “Son of a bitch.”

He shot from the chair, headed for the door while he adjusted the folded edge of his shirt cuff. Got that sucker straight.

Jacket. He should put it on.

Hell with it. Who cared? The mood he was in, fuck the jacket.

At the elevator bank he jabbed the button for the staff only car. Burning some steam on the stairs was an option, but with the level of rage he had? Not nearly enough stairs for that.

The elevator door slid open to a thankfully empty car. Right now he didn’t have it in him to be Ross-the-schmoozer.

Goddamned witch.

She had him completely twisted. His own fault.

The elevator reached her floor and he stalked toward her suite.

Calm
.

Going at her too hard wouldn’t help. He’d let her know he didn’t appreciate her playing him—personally and professionally—but he’d stay in control. Say what he had to say and leave. End of it.

He knocked on the door. Three solid raps. Waited.

Come on. Come on.

Had she checked the peep? Saw it was him and ignored him? Would she go that far?

“Kate!”

The door flew open. “Relax.”

The sight of her, that long red hair, the green eyes, cut right into him. Damned near hit bone.

She betrayed you, dumbass.

She stepped back from the door, waved him in. He hit the center of the room, a large open area with a view of the foothills—those damned foothills—and spun on her, holding his arms out.

“One disagreement and you screw me? What’s that about?”

So much for control.

She gawked. “How did I screw you?”

“If going to my boss because I didn’t give you what you wanted isn’t screwing me, I don’t know what is.”

He stood, waiting for the explosion.

Nothing.

Not cool, collected Kate. She’d never just let it fly and for once give him a spontaneous reaction.
Should have known
.

She folded her arms, narrowed those fiery green eyes on him and the air in the room got thick. Hot. Even then, as pissed as he was, he wanted her.

“First of all,” she said, “if you ever speak to me that way again, I’ll dismember you. Second, I will say again, I have not spoken to your boss. I did however, speak to
my
boss. Who called me demanding answers or I’d be on the unemployment line. Like you, I tend to respond when my superiors, the ones who pay my salary, ask questions. I also requested that he wait until I had a chance to speak to you again before going to Samuels.”

“Well, guess what, that didn’t happen. You should have known better.”

What the hell was he doing? He should leave now. Walk right the hell out. He came here looking for answers and he’d gotten them. She may not have gone to Samuels, but she’d gone to her psychotic boss. And she knew that self-serving asshole well enough to know he wouldn’t hold back that information. Not if it got him ahead.

“Ross?”

“What?”

“Screw you.”

He leaned in, right next to her ear, got a whiff of her soap and something inside him came apart. A huge chunk simply sheared off. “Sweetheart,” he said, “you’ve already managed that.”

To her credit, she didn’t respond. Just stood there in that ice queen way he’d seen the first day she’d entered his office.

The woman had so many sides. Hot, cold, hot again. Made him insane. Always would. Should have stayed with the plan of not mixing business and pleasure.

Too late now.

He angled around her, headed for the door.

“I guess we’re done here?” she said.

Ha
. As pissed as he was, he needed to get out of there. Before he did or said anything else that would escalate the situation.

He didn’t want to fight with her and staying here, looking at that stunning face? He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t stay calm. And that’s what he needed. To take a minute, get his thoughts—and the damned emotions he shouldn’t have let get involved in the first place—in order. In the span of a few days, his world had unraveled.

Didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He was simply not a man who could mix business and pleasure. And Kate was definitely both.

As much as it killed him, as much as his damned body, even now, craved her, he wouldn’t let his career disintegrate.

One thing at a time.

His goal now would be to save his job.

And forget Kate.

He reached the door, ripped it open. “Yeah, Kate. We’re done.”

Chapter Thirteen

At 4:59—yes, she’d been checking the time every thirty seconds—Kate sat in the executive conference room, her head high, her face completely neutral. Not a frown line to be seen while she waited for Ross and Don to make their appearance.

Marcia—not Ross—had sent her a text alerting her to a newly scheduled meeting to begin at five sharp and Kate assumed it would be regarding her Mrs. Miller theory.

In one minute she’d know. Assuming Ross and Don planned on starting this meeting on time.

The door came open and Don hustled in. He’d ditched his suit jacket and his dress shirt had a few wrinkles down the front where his belly protruded.

If he didn’t have a heart attack soon, she’d be stunned.

“Red, you want to tell me what’s going on?”

He tossed his hands in the air on his way to the serving cart loaded with coffee, an assortment of soft drinks, fruit and various baked goods.

“I’m not sure. And don’t even think about the croissant. Those things are loaded with fat.”

Again he waved his hand, shooing her away. “I’ll have some fruit with it. It’ll cancel out the fat.”

In spite of her foul mood, Kate laughed. “In your dreams, friend. Where’s Ross?”

“I heard him on the phone in his office. Marcia is trying to get his ass moving. What’s this meeting?”

“You haven’t talked to him?”

“Sure. Talked to him plenty. I still don’t know what this goddamn meeting is about. I also know you caught that crazy Mrs. Miller possibly hanging around a cheat.”

“Possibly. Which is why I thought it prudent to keep an eye on her. An idea Mr. Cooper found objectionable.”

He let out a low whistle. “
Mr.
Cooper
? You lovebirds had a fight.”

Don set his plate on the table directly across from her along with his napkin and silverware and dropped his ample body into the chair. “I can’t take this shit. Things are nuts enough around here without this soap opera drama.”

The conference room door came open again and Ross entered, his gaze going straight to Don. “I heard that.”

Don shrugged while Kate tracked Ross’s movements. He took the seat at the end of the table. The one where he wouldn’t have to face her.

So this is how it would be?

“Marcia got food,” Don said. “Love that girl. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s good.”

Ross flipped his portfolio open, gave his pen a loud click.

She spun her chair to face him and tapped the table.
Come on fella, look at me.

Look at her he did and nothing about it resembled the man she’d rolled around a bed with.

How had they gotten to this place so quickly?

“Kate,” he said, his stare measuring a solid ten on the hardness scale. “I was told by Samuels that you had a plan. Tell us what it is and we’ll execute it.”

And wasn’t
that
the thing she’d wanted? For him to go along with her.

Unfortunately, they’d gotten there in a rotten way.

“Hokay then.” Don finished his snack, wiped his hands and mouth and sat back. “Let’s get this over with. I got work to do. Jesus, I could slap you two.”

At that moment, Kate should have launched into defensive maneuvers, somehow convincing Don it was simply a misunderstanding. A simple difference of opinion they’d work out.

Really though, she didn’t have it in her.

“I actually agree with you.” She spun her chair back to the table, flipped a page on her notepad where she’d made notes. “Mrs. Miller. Based on what I saw on the video, she’s been present three of the four times Reegs played at tables that were short. In my experience, it warrants keeping an eye on her.”

Don jotted a note. “I’ll put someone on her. The second she steps into the casino, we’re with her. What else?”

“The dealer we suspect of doing the false shuffle. What happened with him?”

“Nothing yet,” Don said. “I called him. He’s either ducking me or in a coma. He’s due on shift tomorrow morning.”

Kate raised her gaze to the ceiling and begged for patience. “That’s actually good. If you question him, he might panic. If nothing else, it’ll tip him off. I think we wait for Mrs. Miller to show up and then move the suspected dealer to her table. See if he does another false shuffle.”

From his spot at the end of the table, Ross leveled her with a hot look. “Now you want to do a sting op? If we suspect them of cheating, we call the Gaming Commission. State law. I’ve already given them a heads up. We could turn this thing over to them right now.”

Don held up a hand. “We can do that too. I like this idea. We’ll get ’em both at once. What’s your problem?”

“Aside from her son being one of our whales?”

“Fuck the whale. We could lose our ass on this woman.”

Ross shook his head, tossed his pen onto his notepad. “I don’t agree with this.”

Of course he didn’t. Had she had a personal relationship with the woman, a fondness for her that spanned years, Kate wouldn’t like it either. “I’m sorry. And I understand. Truly, I didn’t mean for this to get contentious.”

Ross slid his gaze to Don, then back to Kate, his face taut, his cheeks hollowed like carved wood. So darned stubborn.

He met her gaze again. “I’m taking myself out of the equation. You two handle this. Does that work?”

Don shrugged. “Sure.”

Ross slapped his portfolio closed, hopped from his chair, his shoulders once again back, that perfect physique hustling from the room.

Shaking her head, Kate glanced over at Don and held her hands out. “How do I fix this? Dev went to Samuels about Mrs. Miller. I specifically asked him not to and he agreed. I can’t control what my boss does.”

“He’s a schmuck.”

Kate snorted. “He is indeed. But now Ross won’t listen to reason.”

“Eh. He’s stubborn. And, if I know this kid at all, he’s pissed at himself. He got emotional about business. He’s not equipped for that. Give him a day to cool off. When he does, he’ll get his head back on straight. And if we find this crazy old woman robbing us, he’ll have no choice.”

“He thinks I manipulated him.”

Don leaned forward, gripped her wrist. His hand was warm, comforting in place of the deep freeze Ross had put her in.

“Sweetheart, all due respect, you two doing whatever you’ve been doing? Bad decision. You both knew it.”

Yes. They did.

“But now you’re here and we gotta work through it. All of us. Ross’ll be all right. Give him a day. It’ll be better tomorrow.”

* * *

Before heading into his office, Ross stopped at Marcia’s desk. She held a clipboard in front of him and he signed pages as she summed up each request. God help him, he could be signing his life away.

Years of working together had formed a finely tuned machine. By now she knew how much he’d allow a staff member to comp, which whales were entitled to what and when he shouldn’t be bothered with tedious details. He always had the final say, but she excelled at giving him the summation.

In short, he trusted her. Something that didn’t come easily. At least until he met Kate. He’d trusted her way too soon and here they were in Major Mistake Land.