All In (Casino Nights #2) (8 page)

“Sounds good. I’m not getting much work done.” She began logging out of her computer.

“Let’s go to Old Time,” Rico said, leaning against the doorframe. He’d been working at least ten hours, and he was still model perfect, clothes showing no wrinkles, and his dark hair was immaculate.

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re driving.” She was beat, and if she took her car she’d feel the need to run the errands she still had on her list.

“Lock up and put on some lipstick. You’re too pale. I’ll check to see if Hadley wants to join us.” The smile on his face softened his words.

“I’ll meet you at the front door.” She finished logging off and locked her notes in her desk drawer.

At the Old Time Café, Rico managed to snag a booth in the back. He sat facing the room, claiming his reason was that he could watch for Hadley. She knew he needed to sit where he could see the entire room; this was one of his rules for survival. Jimmy had the same rule, so she had grown up with men like this. Edgy, intense, and protective of people they considered theirs.

She loved this place, it was small, maybe seating for forty people. One had a choice of a booth or a stool at the counter. The walls needed a new coat of paint, and the menu probably hadn’t changed since the seventies. It sat in a rundown neighborhood and was frequented by construction workers, firefighters and cops. The menu was simple fare, and the coffee was always fresh and hot.

The waitress approached and flipped the page on her order book. “Drinks?”

Rico spoke first, “She’ll have an O.J., and I’ll take a coffee, black. We’ve got another coming.”

The waitress glanced at Rico, and then gave him a second look. He flashed his welcoming smile which caused her to smile in return. “All right honey, I’ll bring your drinks while you wait for your third.”

“I wanted coffee,” Francesca said as the waitress walked away.

Rico wagged a finger. “No more caffeine for you. You look like you need a good day’s sleep, chica.”

She grimaced. “I’ve had a lot to do. I needed to catch things up.”

“Give us some of the work, and it’ll get done. Delegate. You don’t have to do it all yourself.”

She was saved from responding by the arrival of Hadley.

“Hey, hi.” The striking redhead had more than a few men sending her admiring glances as she approached the booth.

The waitress arrived with their drinks, and Hadley made her request.

They settled into the booth, Rico all alone and Hadley beside her.

Rico glanced toward Hadley. “I was telling Francesca we would be more than happy to help her with the work backlog.”

Her friend nodded. “That’s right. In fact, I thought that we were all doing our part, so there shouldn’t be any backlog.” Hadley shot her a questioning glance.

Francesca shrugged. “Jimmy asked for a full report summarizing the cost/benefit ratio regarding the Chinese visitors. Each department has submitted their initial report and the requested addendums.” She fixed her gaze on the condensation on her glass, knowing they’d be all over her ass.

“Francesca!” Hadley barked. “Why did you take all of that on yourself?”

“He wants the data to see if we should continue to pursue select groups from China.” She knew where this was going; she’d already beaten herself up about it.

Hadley leaned her elbows onto the table and moved in closer. “I’ve seen you tell others no before, so I damn well know that you can. I’m saying this as your friend and as your co-worker, you need to tell Jimmy no. He drops things in your lap at the last minute, and you kill yourself to complete the project. He has a concern and he calls, and then you, alone, handle it. The Red Rose has directors and managers of each department who can handle things for Jimmy. If he won’t assign them the work then you have to.”

Francesca shifted in her seat and folded her hands in her lap. “Look, I get what you’re saying. I’ve said it to myself, but he is the owner, he is our boss—”

Hadley waved her hand, interrupting her. “And he adopted you, but I think that you have more than paid him back with love and loyalty. You aren’t letting him down by telling him to delegate or if you delegate. Babe, you’re putting your life on hold and killing yourself trying to please him.” Hadley’s face was red, and her green eyes flashed. “The worst part of the whole deal is that Jimmy doesn’t even realize he’s killing you.”

“That isn’t true, Hads.” She clamped her jaws shut, realizing she’d raised her voice. She took a sip of her juice while she worked to control her frayed emotions. “I tell him no when he’s being outrageous.”

Rico snorted. “I would ask for your definition of what constitutes outrageousness. But I don’t want your anger, sweetie, I want your ear.” The look in his eyes had softened as his expression turned serious.

She trusted him, and if he’d made this time to talk to her, then she knew she should pay attention. She felt the fight leave her body.

Hadley reached to hold her hand. “I love you, and you know that. I’m looking at you, and I can tell you aren’t taking care of yourself.” Hadley’s eyes had lost their angry fire and were full of concern.

“Okay, I admit I’m having problems sleeping. I have a lot on my mind.” She knew she finished weakly.

Hadley glanced across at Rico, and he gave her a nod. She took a sip of her iced tea and angled her body to face Francesca. “You’re starting a relationship with Remy. Something serious, not just two people enjoying hot sex with one another.”

Francesca jerked her head upward, the denial on her lips.

Rico held up one finger asking her to hold on. “Let her talk, Francesca.” He must have sensed she was starting to panic.

She was too tired to fight him, so she gave in and let her shoulders touch the back of the padded booth.

Hadley squared her shoulders. “I don’t want your job to limit your relationship with Mr. Cooper, or stop it before you two have a chance to get things going. He sounds like a good guy. Rico even likes him.”

Francesca shot a look at Rico who gave a one-shoulder shrug.

Hadley let out a “humph” and continued. “I’m worried you’re going to blow a good thing because of your addiction to work and pleasing Jimmy.”

She couldn’t look at Hadley, nor did she want to discuss her long-held fears regarding displeasing the O’Haires. Again, she glanced at Rico.

“What? I think Cooper’s a good guy. He handled things in Chicago, and you seem into him. I mean, you lock your office door when he calls.” Rico flashed a huge smile, like a sibling who’d just told her secret.

“How do you know that I lock my door? Christ, you don’t stand outside and listen, do you?” She glanced back and forth between her friends. She knew there were no cameras in her office, which was one stipulation that she’d felt strongly about when developing Team 2.

“Maybe people have mentioned a time or two that they’ve heard you throw the lock when you’re expecting a call,” Hadley murmured.

“I don’t want to be interrupted, and some people,” she mock-glared at Rico, “feel they can walk into my office anytime they want.” Those calls were her time. She had carved it out, and she didn’t realize until this minute, how much her conversations with Remy meant to her. How precious it was to share her day with him. How had this happened? He was just there, a part of her life, a precious part.

“When are you seeing him again?” Handley pressed.

“I’m not sure. There’s a wedding in Florida in three months, but I don’t know about in between.” Her mind raced. She needed to think about this. When had Remy become so important to her?

The waitress returned to take their orders. Once the woman had left, her friends leaned toward her again.

Hadley watched her closely, probably trying to read her mind. “I’m sure you’ll get together before then.”

Francesca didn’t respond. It was weird that Hadley claimed she didn’t want another relationship, but she sure was invested in this one. She filed this away to ponder when or if she ever had a spare minute. She wanted her best friend to be happy. Hadley wasn’t happy. There were times her friend let her guard down and she could see how vulnerable and forlorn she was. “Remy has a lot going on between now and the wedding. He’s retiring and wrapping up that work, and then he’s going on a hunting trip with his buddies before the wedding.” However, she knew he would make every effort to see her if she mentioned that she wanted to get together.

Rico cleared his throat. “Look, if Cooper makes you happy then that’s great. I’m here to discuss what I don’t like seeing—and that’s you at your desk when I come in and still there when I’m leaving. You’re putting in too many hours, Francesca.” He held up his hand to signal silence when she started to defend herself. “This has been going on for too long. I know you’re good in a tactical situation, when the shit is going down, like when I need you to take down a suspect, I expect you to have my back. However, and I am dead serious about this, you are exhausted to the point where you’re a liability to me.”

She felt like he’d slapped her. Was she really letting him down so badly? “Rico—”

Again, he held up his finger as his eyes flashed. “When you’re exhausted day after day, your body and your brain slow down. I can’t have you out there if you aren’t at your best, and boss, you aren’t.”

His steady glare sucked the air from her lungs. She let out a shuddering breath and nodded as she spoke, “Okay, I hear you.” She looked away because she could feel the burn behind her eyes. She felt humiliated. She never wanted to endanger any of her people. They depended on her to make good decisions in an emergency, be it an evacuation or diving over a table to break up a fistfight.

Hadley squeezed her hand. “He’s telling you this to help you. If something happened to you, it would devastate us. Hell, it would kill Jimmy. We love you, and without question, we respect you, but you are worn out to the point where you’re scaring us.” Hadley slipped her arm around her shoulders. “I, we, don’t want you to burn out or get sick.”

“You need to cut back, Francesca,” Rico said, his voice firm. “I thought we were on the right path, and you were doing less. You hook up with this guy, and it’s like you have to prove that you can do it all. You don’t, babe. You got us, and I know how good we are. Hell, you hand-picked us.” He nudged her foot under the table. “I care about you, chica.” He then gave her his patented, dazzling smile.

Damn if her stomach didn’t flutter just a little. “If Remy saw you smile at me like that, he’d kick your ass,” she grumbled. After considering what Rico had said, she let out a deep sigh. “I get it, and I hear you both. I won’t be joining you in a security or a tactical operation until you give me your approval.” She glanced at Rico, and then turned to Hadley. “I’ll figure out how to lighten my load.”

“If the folks at The Rose saw you with circles under your eyes and so pale, the Jimmy problem would be taken care of. You’re just really good with concealer,” Hadley said with a wry smile. Then her smile faded. “You are going to have to deal with Jimmy.”

Luckily, the food came, and she didn’t have to comment.

While they ate, the topics of conversation were much lighter. When it was time to go, she hugged Hadley tightly to show her that she appreciated her concern.

In Rico’s car, she gathered her courage to speak about something that had been on her mind. “I met one of Remy’s friends, and he’s a lot like you.”

“Handsome and brilliant?” Rico wiggled his eyebrows.

“Of course,” she said with a quick grin, then drew a deep breath before adding, “...and he’s...sexually fluid. He and Remy have shared women in the past.”

“He tell you that?” Rico ground out. “The friend?”

“No, Remy told me.” She saw Rico’s hand relax on the wheel of the Porsche. “I want to talk about this with you. I need to work through my thoughts, and I hope that you can help me. But you have to promise—no, you have to swear—to never mention this to anyone.”

The traffic light turned red, and Rico swiveled his head to meet her gaze as he pushed up his reflective shades. “Is this contributing to your not sleeping?”

“A little,” she hedged, fidgeting with the cuff of her sleeve.

“You’ve got my word. This is between us only.” He took her hand for a moment and gave it a squeeze. Then he put his sunglasses back in place and faced forward.

Francesca swallowed. Okay, now the more difficult part... “Remy has a lot more sexual experience than I do.” God, her mouth was dry. “I’ve read about stuff so I’m not totally stupid. But he’s into things that I’ve never tried. I sort of freaked out a little.” She felt sweat trickle down her back.

Rico’s mouth pursed. “Maybe you need to pick a starting point and begin there. You’re jumping around in your story.” His voice was calm, no hint of his thoughts. He made a turn that would take them away from the city.

He wasn’t going to let her make this quick. “I’m sorry, if this is a bad time, we can talk later.” She knew she was chickening out, but talking about this was difficult. Her feelings for Remy were hers; she wasn’t sure that she was ready to share them with her friends.

“Frankie, if we don’t have this talk, you might never have the courage to bring it up again. Plus, if it can get that haunted look out of your eyes, I’ll drive all day and night to help you work through this.” He headed toward the desert.

How had she earned such a great friend? Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “I like him a lot, Rico. I might even love him,” she blurted. He didn’t respond, so she continued. “We were in bed Friday, and he wanted to do, uhm, anal play, and I freaked.” She glanced at Rico. Damn those sunglasses—she couldn’t read anything.

“I take it that you didn’t want to do that.” His tone was neutral, and he kept his head faced forward.

“I don’t know. I mean, no, not then, I didn’t. I’ve done it once before, and maybe the guy wasn’t doing it right. I wasn’t prepared. He hurt me, and I just wanted that to end.” She felt like an idiot as she kept on. “I know a lot of people do anal so they must enjoy it. You do stuff back there, right? And like it, I mean?” Now she was babbling. Her face burned with embarrassment.

He chuckled. “Yes, Francesca, I enjoy penetrating men and women anally, but I’m the top—the fucker, never the fuckee.” He continued, his words tinged with pride. “I make sure my partner is ready, and there are ways to assure they enjoy it.”