The Tacones have a lot of enemies. Hell, I probably have enemies within the Tacone family. I run my Vegas branch of the business on the up and up, but there’s a long history of violence and crime going back at least three generations to the Chicago underground. And then there are the enemies from the legitimate business world. Anyone might send in a femme fatale to get close to me, learn my secrets and set me up to fall.
And Sondra Simonson is exactly the kind of girl they’d send.
No, that’s bullshit.
She’s not. She’s nothing like a professional. But if my enemies were really smart, if they could somehow intuit what’s taken me by surprise, they’d send Sondra Simonson to take me down.
Because it’s for certain.
I’m not going to be able to stop myself from going after her.
I find Corey working a blackjack table. I see the resemblance. She’s as lovely as Sondra, but totally not my type. Tall, red-haired. Leggy. She looks sophisticated and sharp. Deals fast and clean. Appears to be a good asset to my casino.
She’s focused on her customers and yet her gaze flicks around the room, taking in everything. Including me. Next time she glances up, she skips the room-sweep and looks straight at me. I saunter over to her table.
Nothing shows on her face, but I know she’s aware of who I am. Wonders what I’m doing at her table. My presence must make the customers nervous, because after a few hands, the table clears out.
“Mr. Tacone,” she murmurs without quite meeting my eye. She’s properly deferential. Plays it just right.
I shove my hands in my pockets. I’m not even sure what I want from her. Some more information about Sondra, I suppose.
When I don’t say anything, she offers, “You scared my cousin yesterday.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “You don’t still think you need to worry about her, do you?”
“No.” I scrub a hand across my face. “Scale of one to ten—how traumatized was she?”
Corey has an excellent poker face. Nothing shows—not surprise, not anger. Nothing. “Eight. But the flowers and money helped.” Corey moves in for the kill. “A dealer job would help her even more.”
I shake my head. “Not gonna happen.”
She lowers her gaze to her cards without comment, spreading them out on the table and flipping them over back and forth in a perfect ripple, showing off her tricks. After a long moment, she says, “If you weren’t my boss, I’d tell you to stay away from her.”
I like her pluck.
I pull a fifty-dollar chip from my pocket and drop it on the table for her as a tip. “I can’t.”
Chapter 4
Sondra
Corey and I ride into work together the following week. I love when we work the same shift, but she hates it, because it means she’s working days, and she makes more money at night.
It’s the first chance I’ve had to fill her in on the latest with Tacone, which is nothing.
“So you haven’t seen him since the day he kissed you?”
“Nope. The next day I went in and there was a fifty on the table. I left it. The day after that, he left a hundred-dollar bill with my name on it.”
“You took it, of course.”
I didn’t want to. I was afraid it would mean something. Like if I accept his money, I’ll owe him something later. Except I really can use the money. I need at least two thousand for a deposit and first month’s rent. And another three thousand to buy a car that runs.
“Yeah. And then he left another one a couple days later.” I dig them out of my purse and hand it to her. “Here.”
She shoves my hand away. “What’s that for?”
“To go toward my share of the rent.”
She rolls her eyes. “Save it. Then you can move out sooner.” She gives me a teasing grin.
“You sick of having me?”
“No, I love it, actually. But I think Dean’s tired of sharing the family room. He likes watching movies at night, you know.”
Yeah, I noticed. Dean hasn’t exactly stopped that habit even though the sofa’s my bed. He stays up watching until one in the morning most every night.
“And every time we have sex, I cringe because the walls are paper thin. Can you hear?”
I make a face. “Yeah, sometimes.” They have sex at least once a day, sometimes more. I swear, Dean’s a sex addict. Not that once a day is bad, but I don’t see why he’s looking at me when he gets plenty from Corey.
“I think he wants to have a threesome.”
“Ew. Corey!”
She laughs. “I told him no way. I don’t share. Ever. Not even with my best cousin who’s like a sister.”
Thank God.
What in the hell would I say if she was into it?
But yeah, gross. Apparently my instincts are right about Dean.