All In (Casino Nights #2) Read online

  All In

  Casino Nights Book 2

  By: Melanie Jayne

  Copyright © 2016 Melanie Jayne

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 0986418439

  ISBN-13: 978-0986418433

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or use of this work in any part is forbidden without the express written permission of the author.

  Let It Ride- May 2016 by Melanie Jayne for Big Dog Publishing

  Publisher’s Note

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Any mistakes are the author’s own.

  For Mike

  I know that you don’t understand my love of books and yet you’ve given me so many. When I decided to try writing, you’ve given me support and space. I appreciate your patience and understanding in all things. I love you.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Please note that this is not a standalone book and readers are encouraged to begin the series with Let It Ride.

  Chapter One

  The Red Rose Casino was hopping at six on a Monday morning. Francesca Luchetti, Director of Casino Operations, stood at the corner of the penny slots area and shook her head at the people coming in and those that had been there all night. “God bless Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps.”

  “What was that?” Rico Ochoa turned his attention onto her. He’d been scanning the gaming floor.

  “It never ceases to amaze me how many people are up at this hour.” She continued observing the floor, making mental notes about cleanliness.

  The staffing level was low overnight, so she and the members of Team 2 were pitching in to help where needed. Rico was in constant contact with Blade, who was monitoring the surveillance camera feeds. Hadley was dealing with a high dollar player’s service request, and Francesca was helping clear drink glasses from the sides of the slot machines.

  “Let’s grab some breakfast before the meeting.” Rico checked his watch. “I’ll message the others to join us.”

  “Sounds good,” she mumbled as she pulled out her mini-tablet and typed her thoughts.

  “This way, I can make sure that you eat something.” He waited until she met his gaze.

  Francesca wrinkled her nose. “But Jimmy always has the best doughnuts at his meetings,” she whined. Her adopted father was the owner of The Red Rose Casino. Jimmy O’Haire was a hands-on boss and expected Francesca and her team to attend his Monday morning meetings along with department directors.

  He gave her a stern look. “You need something more than junk food and caffeine to keep your brain running.”

  She fought the eye roll that she wanted to give him, but of course he was right. Being second in command of this business and the leader of Team 2, a group of hand-picked security/gaming experts, was exhausting. Jimmy relied on her during the hours that he was in his office and even more when he was not. She seemed to be on call all of the time. She had created her team to help relieve some of the workload. They were still working the bugs out of the system. Jimmy had been slow to adjust to using her team, but he was learning.

  “Physical altercation in Section four,” Blade’s calm voice sounded through their ear piece.

  She and Rico sprinted in the direction of the front of the casino floor. Rico was in the lead, his body moving gracefully through the pedestrian traffic.

  “Four security on site. I count six perps, two female.” Blade fed them information so that they knew what they were getting into.

  She hated physical altercations that involved women. It seemed that no matter how much training a male security officer had, a catfight always caused them to react more slowly. They couldn’t figure out where to grab the offender.

  “Yours,” Rico said, his voice was full of excitement. He loved the adrenaline rush.

  “On it.” She’d take on the first female combatant she encountered.

  As she cut around a bank of four slot machines, she saw a brown-haired woman jump on the back of a white male who was over six feet tall. Her fist grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head back almost pulling him over.

  “Give it back,” the woman screeched.

  Francesca moved to the woman and pulled on her other arm, hard, causing her to lose her hold on the guy’s shoulder.

  Fighting the continuous pressure, the brunette lost her balance and let go of the man’s hair as she bounced off the guy’s back. Once her feet hit the carpet, she turned her anger on Francesca.

  Francesca braced for an attack. “I’m the Director of Casino Operations. Stop fighting.” She made sure that her tone was sharp.

  The woman paused for a second.

  That was enough time for Francesca to pull out her cuffs, and she reached out and twisted the woman’s arm behind her back. “Give me your other arm.”

  “He stole Julie’s purse,” the woman spat, but didn’t resist as Francesca pulled her arm behind her back.

  Staring directly into the woman’s eyes, she said, “Right now, I need you to stand here calmly. Don’t move. Don’t talk.”

  Her perp was breathing hard; however, she was cooperating. Her shoulders drooped, and she nodded.

  Francesca turned her attention to the others. Rico had a big guy against a pillar and was cuffing him. He was talking to the man in a low voice, probably urging him to cooperate. He looked fierce, totally in control, and not a hair was out of place.

  Security officers were taking care of the other participants.

  Blade’s calm voice came over the Team 2 radio channel, “Rico, the guy you have lifted the woman in the red shirt’s purse. He and the guy in the blue shirt moved three banks away and pulled the wallet. Then blue shirt dumped the contents into the trash receptacle by game number 3B255.”

  Rico moved his wrist to the space in front of his mouth. “Copy that, what’s the story with the others?”

  “It looks like one of the women saw them with the purse and started yelling and chasing them after the dump.”

  Francesca pictured Blade’s brown fingers sliding over the keyboard and touchscreens.

  “The other men joined in the chase.”

  Francesca nodded her head once then raised her wrist to speak. “Matches the story my girl gave me.”

  “What do you want to do boss?” Rico spoke into the radio, but was looking at her.

  “Let security handle it. If they need additional statements, we can handle them tonight.” She was fine letting security take the lead—less paperwork and time involvement for her team.

  Additional employees had cordoned off the area, and she could see Hadley talking to witnesses. She would write comps to those that were displaced by the event.

  The redhead paused and spoke into her radio, “Hurry and wrap this up, I’m starving.”

  Once Rico and Francesca had handed off their perps to security, they watched the cleaning crew move in and right chairs and clean up the many spills. Hadley joined them.

  “How
do you do it?” Francesca asked, waving her hand up and down in front of Rico. “It’s not fair, she said as she tucked her blouse into the back of her pants. She probably looked a mess. She felt sweaty and wanted to take a long, hot shower.

  “It’s a gift from the Gods.” Rico winked as he ran his hand over his shirt front.

  Blade’s voice was in her ear, “I’ll forward the tape to Jimmy and be down. That gave me an appetite.”

  “Thanks Blade, and good work everybody.” Francesca’s voice sounded in her own ear.

  “Let’s go.” Rico led the way to the only restaurant that served breakfast.

  Sitting at what they considered their table, Blade soon joined them. Their IT Specialist, who could make technology do whatever he wished, slouched in the booth. He was quiet by nature, but when he spoke they all listened to his thoughts. “I printed copies of the agenda for today’s meeting.”

  Francesca fought the urge to groan. She held out her hand for her copy. “Thanks. I guess we can go over it after we eat.”

  The Customer Relations diva was frowning across the table at Francesca. Hadley’s green eyes were slitted, a sure sign of her irritation. “I don’t care what the daytime supervisor says,” she said, flicking her bright red hair over her shoulder, “they need to have a dedicated line for the special guests.”

  “Calm down, Red.” Rico’s voice took on a low rumble. “You know Jimmy will take your recommendation and have a special line set up. There’s no reason for you to be spitting fire.” He flashed a smile in Hadley’s direction.

  “Humph.” Hadley turned her angry eyes onto Francesca. “I just don’t understand why I have to be the one to see the problem. What do they do all day?”

  Francesca put down the menu, which she knew by heart, and focused on Hadley. At this point, her continued annoyance probably had more to do with Rico trying to soothe her than what would be done about her recommendation. “Well, your daytime counterpart probably answers the same questions two hundred times a day. She deals with the day-to-day details. Hads, we deal with the big ones.” She licked her lips before continuing, hoping that she didn’t sound as tired as she felt. “I’ll make sure we get the line set up—and it’s a good idea. Thank you for suggesting it.”

  “Well it’s what you pay me the big bucks for.” Hadley nudged her foot under the table.

  “Honey, you’re so worth it.” Francesca rolled her eyes at her best friend since college.

  They placed their orders, and then her cell vibrated. She checked the screen. “Sorry, guys, this is Jimmy.” She hit the button and answered.

  “Where are you?” Jimmy boomed in her ear.

  “Having breakfast with the team.” She checked her watch. They had plenty of time before they would adjourn to his executive conference room.

  “There’ll be food at the meeting; why are you eating now?”

  Jimmy’s tone always sounded irritated over the phone. After all of these years, she still had to fight the feeling that he wasn’t chastising her. “We’re reviewing our notes, and since all four of us have been here all night, I thought we needed more than pastries.”

  “Well then, that’s good. Jenkins is going to review the etiquette protocol, and then we’ll go over the last minute details.”

  “Sounds good,” she said, trying to infuse some enthusiasm into her voice.

  “If this visit goes well, it could open things up for us,” he said for the thousandth time.

  She rushed to assure him. “Everybody is working really hard to make that happen. I think we’re in a good place.”

  He snorted. “I hope you still feel that way after the meeting, but I know that you’ll make sure everything is perfect.”

  “Everyone on Team 2, plus your directors, managers and supervisors have been working like crazy to make this visit a success.” She tried to add extra emphasis on the plural nouns; there were plenty of people who could help make things run smoothly, not just her.

  “Yeah, but you know what I want, honey. That’s why I need you to be involved in every step. By the way, nice save in Section 3.” Jimmy ended the call.

  Francesca let out a loud breath as she put her phone away and rejoined the group.

  “This tour group is going to kill us,” Hadley said.

  Francesca wasn’t surprised Hadley had divined what was foremost on her father’s mind. “Jimmy wants to impress this group from China. He’s brought in an old friend who worked for the State Department to make sure our etiquette and cultural understanding is excellent.” Francesca sighed as the waitress placed a glass in front of her. She wanted a cup of coffee, not this damn glass of juice.

  “And this isn’t just any group of tourists—they are high ranking businessmen,” Blade added. “They’re known to be high-dollar gamers.”

  Hadley checked out her manicure. “I wish they would go on and get here. I think we’re ready, and for the next thirty-six hours, we will just keep tweaking things.” Francesca nodded. “Plus there will be more meetings, emergency meetings.” She hoped she could get some sleep before Jimmy’s next call for her help in dealing with some matter.

  “We’ll need to grab sleep when we can, and hopefully, the visit will go smoothly.” Rico rested his arms on the table. Nobody said a word: they all knew what the next week would hold.

  Francesca enjoyed the moment of quiet. She’d been working sixteen-hour days for the last week and was trying to rest whenever she could.

  Remington Cooper’s face flashed into her head. His smile had given her goose bumps the first time she’d seen him. She’d thought he was hot—over six feet tall, with short blonde hair and eyes as blue as the sky on a bright winter’s day. His body was thick and muscular, and he knew how to use it. They’d attended a conference in Chicago, and …

  She wasn’t sure what to call it. From the start, Remy had made it very clear he didn’t think of that weekend as a hook-up. The sex had been off the charts, and he was a really great guy. She didn’t want to label it as anything more. He worked in Indiana, and she was across the continent in Las Vegas. She didn’t believe in long-distance relationships. However, she was looking forward to her upcoming trip to see her cousins who lived south of Indianapolis— and Remy. Especially Remy.

  At the Chicago conference, she’d run into a man who’d believed Jimmy O’Haire, and by extension, her, had screwed him in a business deal. He had caused a disturbance during Remy’s panel, and then vandalized Francesca’s hotel room. Although they had just gotten together, Remy had stood by Francesca’s side throughout the ordeal. They’d bonded over it. He was naturally protective, and yet allowed her to be in charge. Well, there had been some negotiation because he was an alpha male, but she’d liked that he’d listened to her.

  “I think he’s directing that comment to you specifically,” Hadley’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

  “What? I’m sorry, I was thinking about something else.” She blinked her eyes several times to help her focus.

  “I think she was thinking about a certain someone,” Blade teased.

  Her team members had become her close friends over the course of the last eighteen months. She could feel her cheeks warm with a blush.

  Hadley was eyeing her critically. They’d met when Francesca moved to Indiana for grad school and had become instant friends. “I’m being totally honest here. You came back from Chicago with a glow. I’m happy for you. But I worry that you’re working so much, and you won’t be able to connect with him. A guy like that isn’t going to wait around for you to find a good time to see him.”

  Francesca felt her throat tighten. She was working too many hours. As it was, she barely had time to sleep. How could she keep up a relationship? Her ex-husband had thrown in the towel after just eight months. He’d felt ignored because she was too involved with The Red Rose.

  “Babe, something’s got to give.” Hadley’s voice was full of concern. “You’re not getting enough sleep, and as much as I respect him, Jimmy will continue to wor
k you so hard you’ll end up in the hospital nearly dead from exhaustion.”

  Francesca felt her body’s exhaustion—mental, physical and emotional. “I know. I’m trying, but keeping the business running smoothly falls onto my shoulders. Jimmy has high expectations.”

  Hadley’s gaze locked with hers. “Then you’re going to have to start saying ‘no’ or let us do that for you.” Francesca tried to speak, but Hadley held up her finger to silence her words. “You like this man from Indiana. Don’t let this job push him out of your life before you know what could be. We have great jobs, but I think you want something more. You deserve a chance. Francesca, don’t fuck this up.”

  ***

  Remington Cooper stifled the urge to look to the heavens for assistance. The big boss had summoned him into his office. So Remy had dropped everything, and was now masking his impatience while their leader got to the point.

  Bennett Zike was very successful. He had many political allies and his name was synonymous with the Indiana Commission for Gaming and Betting. He’d survived three governors and didn’t seem to have any plans to retire.

  Remy straightened in the chair positioned across from the executive’s desk. “I appreciate your praise sir, but after a considerable amount of thought, I have no interest in staying on.” He had notified his immediate boss and Bennett six weeks earlier that he would be leaving their employ.

  Bennett waved a hand in the air. “Yes, Remington, I read your letter. I called you in to ask if there is anything that we could do to change your mind.” The man continued to stare at Remy.

  Not the least uncomfortable with a tactic that would have made a lesser man squirm, Remy maintained eye contact. “No sir, I fully intend to leave.”

  Bennett leaned forward in his chair. “I was afraid you’d say that, so I’m going to be straight with you. We have a situation, something in your skill set, and I need you to work swiftly and below the radar. I know that you have hundreds of connections that will talk to you either officially or not. I need to know what really happened. We can’t afford the publicity of a lawsuit stating that two of our on-site supervisors have been trading sex for looking the other way regarding infractions. That would kill me politically and cause an upheaval within the ranks.”