Deadly Odds (6 page)

He drew air through his nose, held it a few seconds then slowly blew it out. He needed to get his head back in the game here. “I expect we’ll be rescheduling the twins.”

Marcia scoffed. “I don’t know how I’d survive without this job. Endless entertainment.”

“Job security.” He dropped into his chair, scooped the messages she’d left on his desk and rifled through the first few. Nothing urgent. Finally a break. “What’s happening here?”

“I rescheduled the three o’clock for tomorrow. You’re going to have a long day. Sorry.”

He waved it off. “No sweat.”

“I put all the meetings in the afternoon though so you’ll have the morning to catch up from today.”

How he adored her. “You’re the best.”

“I know. You tell me all the time.”

“As of thirty minutes ago Ms. Daniels was with Don. He said something about the wedding chapel.”

And he yells at me about chasing women.
Ross laughed. And didn’t that feel great after this day?

At least Ross didn’t have any ex-wives who wanted to bury his cold, lifeless body in the desert. Don harassed him 24/7 about his penchant for redheads, but when Ross left a relationship he did it on friendly terms.

“I’m not sure where they are now. Want me to call Don?”

“Please. Tell him I’m back and can take over.”

“
That’ll
excite him. Although, I do think he has a crush on her. You know how he is. He’s got that hidden charm that sneaks up on you. If Kate’s not careful, she very well could wind up wife number four.”

However much charm Don had, Ross didn’t think Kate would fall for it. She didn’t strike him as a woman who’d let a man get over on her. But damn, the idea of that gorgeous woman and Don?

Blech.
He drove his fingers into his eye sockets until pain exploded and the nasty vision of Kate’s long legs wrapped around Don disappeared. “No wife number four. Find them.”

She saluted. “I’m on it. Anything else?”

“No.”

He closed his eyes, focused on getting today’s meetings handled. He needed a meditation class or something. Anything to calm the chaos constantly raging.

“I ordered that clone for you,” Marcia said, “but it’s still on back order.”

Good old Marcia. He opened his eyes, smacked his fingers on the edge of his desk. “Dammit, Marcia. When will he be available?”

She grinned. “Half the women in Vegas are asking the same question. Oh, silly me, I shouldn’t have said that. Totally inappropriate.”

“You’re forgiven,” Ross said. “Do me a favor though. Jason and Burke are coming in next week. Wednesday. Make sure Jason gets a suite on the south end of the building. He’s into views. Burke sleeps in and he’s a light sleeper so get him as far from an elevator as possible.”

She jotted notes on her notepad. “I suppose you’ll have dinner with them Wednesday night?”

“Yeah, but not here.”

He’d learned the hard way—thanks to his mother—that if he didn’t leave the building, he’d obsess over what was happening in the casino and completely piss off his company by being distracted. And who could blame them? His life had turned into Godzilla. A two-headed one.

“I’ll find you someplace. Any suggestions?”

He thought about it. Jase and Burke had been his closest friends since business school. He knew their food preferences as well as his own. “Burke likes the steaks at Hennessy’s. See if they can get me in.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“What problem?” This from Don standing in the doorway.

Marcia swung around and Ross jerked his thumb at her. “Jason and Burke are showing up next week. Marcia thinks she can get us into Hennessy’s.”

“Oh, I’ll do it.”

After eight years of her throwing around Samuels’ name, seventy-five percent of the restaurant managers in Vegas were terrified of Marcia. The other twenty-five percent hadn’t experienced her yet. Poor schmucks had no idea the force that would eventually fly their way. Ross tapped his hands against the arms of his chair, his nervous energy and the sudden bombing of his schedule unnerving him. “What’s up, Don?”

“The leggy redhead is in the lounge.”

“Assuming you mean Ms. Daniels?”

“Kate. She likes Kate.”

“Right.”

Don rolled one hand. “I told her I’d check if you were back. If you got too many bugs up your ass, I’ll move her along and tell her to come back tomorrow. Samuels will be happy and I’ll get something done.”

Moving her along wouldn’t be a bad idea. What the hell did they need a security consultant for? Aside from Samuels wanting to aggravate them? “Our systems are locked, right? I mean, what’s Samuels doing? And don’t tell me he’s shitting elephants. I’ve got that.”

Ross glanced at his dinging computer where the emails continued their bombing. Then there was the stack of paperwork Marcia had left at some point during his absence. He should deal with all of it now. Tell Kate to come back tomorrow. But tomorrow would be worse and there’d be no time then either.

And crazy as it was, he wanted time for this particular woman.

“Relax, Wonder Boy. He’s not questioning your management skills.”

“You don’t think? We’re open three weeks and he’s sending someone to critique us?”

Don shrugged. “You think he’s gonna find something? Because he won’t. Trust me on that.”

He did trust Don. Who he didn’t trust was Samuels. Samuels knew Ross had a thing for redheads and the brilliant, scheming bastard had sent him the mother of all redheads. One so beautiful she could drive a man to his knees.

Or the unemployment line.

Don waggled a finger. “You’re afraid you’ll lose your Wonder Boy status.”

Could happen. “Pfft.”

“You’re attracted to her and you think she’s going to screw you. And not in the way you want.”

“Are you done playing psychologist?”

“Slice this any way you want, but if Samuels sent her here, she’s staying. I’ve worked for this guy thirty years. He’s a maniac, but he knows what he wants. Right now he wants this broad to tell him what he wants to hear. Maybe she will, maybe she won’t. You can’t get worked up. She’s not going anywhere and you’re not gonna get fired over what she tells him. I guarantee that.” He jabbed his finger. “Nobody is pulling any shit in our casino. We’re solid here.”

Don’s phone rang. A Hail Mary sent to save Ross from this conversation.

“Go,” Ross said.

“We good here?”

“Yeah. We’re good. I’ll handle Kate Daniels.”

“I’m sure you will.”

Chapter Four

The casino lounge was busy for three o’clock on a Monday. Not that Ross would complain, but the noise level didn’t exactly make for easy conversation. All around him strategically placed tables allowed for crowds, but also for aesthetics and movement.

The lovely Kate Daniels sat near the far railing overlooking the casino floor, her head slightly tilted and that lush red hair falling over her shoulders as she made notes on a legal pad. She must have sensed the we-need-to-get-laid signals from the three men at the adjacent table because she’d set her briefcase on the vacant chair across from her and had spread papers across every inch of open space on her table. The whole setup screamed “back off.”

Before joining her, Ross checked in with two of the waitresses and the bartender. He wouldn’t mind a vodka rocks, but he still had hours of work ahead of him and settled for a club soda with lime. While waiting on his beverage, he snuck a glance at Kate, still head down and oblivious to his presence. Damn, he liked that.

She reached for her phone, lifting it to her ear and plugging the other with her free hand to block the casino noise.

The bartender slid his drink across the bar. “Here you are, Mr. Cooper.”

“Thanks, Heidi.” He nodded in Kate’s direction. “Whatever Ms. Daniels is having, add it to my tab.”

“Yes, sir.”

Angling around customers, he made his way to Kate, still on her phone. On his approach, he slowed to give her privacy, but she looked up, her mouth easing into a slow, sexy smile that had him calculating how long it had been since he’d taken a woman to bed.

“That sounds good,” she said into her phone. “See you later. Call me if you’ll be late. Don’t leave me sitting there.”

Boyfriend maybe? Right now, with Samuels sending him this redheaded spy, her being in a relationship might be the only thing that kept his horny body at bay. As miserable as it would make him, he didn’t fool with spoken-for women.

She set the phone down, tapped the screen. “Hi. Sorry about that.”

“No problem. Dinner plans?”

“That remains to be seen.”

Interesting. “Come again?”

“Nothing. Sit.”

She reached over, grabbed her briefcase and set it on the floor next to her. Then she gathered up her papers and shoved them into her briefcase while Ross shot a glance at the idiots next to them. The one guy made eye contact and Ross nodded, letting him know, without question, Kate was off-limits.
Nice try, ace
.

He set his glass down, eased into the chair and let his good sense take a nap. “I guess whoever that was cancels on you a lot.”

Her eyebrows arched. “And it’s your business how?”

Ross shrugged.
Good sense definitely lights out now.
“It’s not. Except I like to consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to women.” Kate snorted and he grinned. “Please. Give a guy some credit. As I was
saying
, I’m fairly savvy when it comes to women and I’ve learned one vitally important lesson.”

“I can’t wait to hear this one.”

“I bet you can’t.”

One of the waitresses cruised by, her uniform revealing enough around the chest area that the idiots behind him made a lewd comment. Ross turned, gave the one guy a look that shut his mouth. Before he left he’d tell the waitress to call security if these idiots got handsy.

He brought his attention back to Kate and her hair that fell in thick waves he imagined wrapping his fingers around. The sharp emerald eyes only added to the drama. His body seized. This kind of want, this
hunger
, he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Working too hard.

“The lesson,” he said, “is that I never leave a woman like you sitting alone in a restaurant. Or anywhere for that matter. Women like you shouldn’t wait and you sure as hell shouldn’t sit alone.”

“I just waited for you.”

“Is this a date? If so, we need to start over.” With her not working in his casino.

Kate shifted, glanced over the railing at the casino floor where a shout rose from one of the card tables. “Someone’s a winner.” She came back to him. “Not that I owe you an explanation, but that call was my brother. He’s passing through Vegas on his way home. He’s used to being on a ranch, where his life isn’t ruled by meetings and conference calls. He gets sidetracked easily. Surely a man who works your hours understands that.”

“Absolutely. I’m a guy who sleeps on a pullout sofa in his office when I want more than four hours of sleep. So, yeah, I get that more than you know. I’m also a guy who understands that my loved ones deserve my attention when I’ve set up time with them. Even if I screw it up sometimes, I try to let them know ahead of time.”

Kate smiled. “He’s my brother and that’s life with him. When I’m home at the ranch, it’s not an issue. If I want to spend time with him, I go out and work alongside him.”

The surprises from this woman kept coming.

“You grew up on a ranch?”

“I did. I lived there until I went to college. UCLA.”

“From a ranch to UCLA?”

“Yep.” She squeezed her thumb and index finger together. “Slight change in atmosphere.”

He laughed. “I’ll say. Did you like Los Angles?”

Kate shrugged. “Parts of it. I loved the opportunities. I wanted a career. I like challenging work. I know you understand that. I wanted to serve and needed the pace of L.A. I missed the ranch though. And my cowboy boots. The quiet at night, laying in the grass and staring up at a brilliant sky, that’s heaven.”

Having grown up in Vegas, he couldn’t relate to ranch life. But after the insanity of the last few weeks, he wouldn’t mind trying it. “How’d you wind up in Vegas? And, by the way, there’s a wicked pair of cowboy boots in the promenade shop. You might want to check those out.”

He wasn’t into cowboy boots, but those weren’t typical. Black leather with a snakeskin upper, those babies had a four thousand dollar price tag and were custom made for Fortuna. He could picture her in them. Classy and elegant, but with an edge. She nodded. “I saw them when I was with Don. And, Mr. Cooper, we’re way off topic here.”

“Good. Then my evil plan is working.”

That earned him a smirk. He was, after all, her client. Her work history was pertinent.

“I was a special agent with the FBI for a few years.”

“Really?” Somehow, he couldn’t picture Kate Daniels with her big green eyes and sweet face flashing a badge. Then again, he supposed those particular assets served her well in that line of work.