ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS Read online

  Trina looked at him. No he didn’t try that lame line on her. “You meant to?” she said.

  “Yeah, I meant to. But you know how things happen, you get busy, we got this grand opening of the new wing of our hotel coming up, the new clubs in that wing, and time gets away.”

  He had wanted to see her again, he even got in his car and headed for Boyzie’s more than once to see her again, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t drag a sweet thing like her into the madness of his world, into the merciless harshness. But he knew he would have done it without blinking an eye if he would have seen her again. He wouldn’t have been able to walk away from her twice.

  That was why he was a little pissed now, with her here in his office. Because he was seeing her again, seeing that elegant face he was actually dreaming about at night, seeing those big, expressive eyes he could stare into for hours, seeing that body, that damn hot body he wanted to hold right this very moment, and he knew there was no turning back. He was no saint. He wasn’t giving her up again.

  “You look good,” he said, reaching out to touch her on the arm, but she pulled away and stood to her feet.

  “What’s the matter now,” he asked, standing too.

  What’s the matter? Was he for real? “I don’t see the point of hanging around, especially since you’ve made it clear how you feel about my experience.”

  “I’m being honest. What, you want me to lie?”

  “No, but . . .” She then began rubbing her forehead with three of her fingers, her frustration getting the best of her.

  His heart sank. “Look,” he said, placing his big hands on her small, narrow shoulders, “you don’t have the kind of experience you’ve got to have to run a club of mine, you just don’t. Amos short-listed you because of your skin color and gender, I’m just keeping it real. He’s always said we need more color and femininity around the place. I figured he gave us enough of the latter himself, but hey, who am I?” Trina actually smiled. “But I agree with him. This place needs to be more diverse, and I’ve got my people working on it.”

  “But I don’t fit the bill?”

  “Not by a mile, sweetheart.”

  “But that club in Dale wasn’t as small as you think it was.”

  “It’s not the size that matters, but the kind of problems that come up. And Vegas problems versus Dale, Mississippi problems are not the same.”

  “Okay,” she said, extending her hand. “Thank Mr. Logan for the interview.”

  “Not so fast,” Reno said, looking down at her extended hand and then at her. “Where you going? Have dinner with me tonight.”

  Trina stared at Reno. Was he nuts? He’d just crushed her, just told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t big league material, and now he expected her to just forget all of that and have dinner with him? After him not calling, not bothering to come by for a week? She’d never be that desperate. “Thanks, but no,” she said as she moved to leave.

  Reno began to panic. Was this it? “But wait a minute,” he said, grabbing her by the arm. She turned toward him. The pain in her eyes, that pain of rejection, cut him to his core. “You misunderstood me. I wasn’t saying there’s nothing here for you.”

  This interested Trina. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, no way are you going back to work in that strip joint, you kidding me? What you need is experience, so that’s what I’m offering you.”

  Trina was immediately suspicious.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I’m talking managerial experience, all right?”

  Trina smiled. “I knew that was what you meant.”

  “No, you didn’t. You thought I was gonna have you running up a pole in our pussycat lounge, I saw that look.” Trina laughed. “But that’s not what I mean. I can’t hire you as a manager, but I can hire you as an apprentice, to work under Amos, an old sour puss but a pro, so you can learn from the best. Then, after you get some real time experience under your gorgeous belt, we can look at a promotion.”

  Trina loved the idea. “That’s a great idea, Reno,” she said and was so overcome by just how great the idea was, that she hugged him.

  “Now we’re talking,” Reno said with a smile of his own, and embraced her too, the feel of her body against him making him horny already. He pulled her back only slightly, to see her face. “I still want you to have dinner with me tonight.”

  “I have to work tonight.”

  “Work? Work where? At that Boyzie’s? Not on your life. You’re with me now.”

  “I have to give notice, Reno. I’m not gonna just quit.”

  “I can talk to the owner.”

  “No,” Trina said emphatically. “I’ll work out my two weeks, give them a chance to find a replacement.”

  Reno rolled his eyes. “Why do I always fall for the moral ones?”

  Trina smiled, stared into his eyes. “Maybe because you’re moral yourself,” she said.

  This concerned Reno. He wanted to talk with her, explain to her just what kind of man she would really be getting if they decided to go down that relationship road, which, he felt, seemed already decided by fate itself. “I have to be in Jersey tomorrow, but I should be back by Friday. Have dinner with me Friday night then,” he asked her.

  “I’m your employee now,” Trina said. “You don’t date your employees.”

  “Like hell I don’t,” Reno said truthfully. Then he stared into Trina’s eyes, pulled her closer against him. “I’m no saint, Tree,” he said. “I need you to understand that.” He put his hand on the side of her face, stared at her gorgeous, perfectly-sized lips. “But being around you makes me wanna work on it.”

  Trina smiled. Man did this guy have a way with words! Then he kissed her on those lips he’d been adoring, kissed her with a passion that immediately took them back to that night a week ago. And both knew that there’d be no stopping them now, when it came to the passion they pulled out of each other. They had no stopping sense.

  He lifted her into his arms and carried her through a door off from his office. He closed the door and locked it. To Trina’s surprise it was a bedroom, complete with a king-sized bed, and he had her on it, and was on top of her, still kissing her, before she could even think about looking around any room.

  “I would take you upstairs to my home,” he said as he kissed her, “but I don’t think I could make it.”

  And he couldn’t. He could barely hold out now. That was why he unzipped and pulled it out. Trina was amazed at how thick and primed it already was. But Reno wasn’t surprised. He had to have her in the worse way. He pulled off her panties with one swift swoop and was entering her with a need that bordered on desperation. He remembered her from before, and the intensity he knew being in her would bring, and his control broke. He pounded her, unzipping her dress and lifting it off of her, unlatching her frontal bra and sucking her breasts, as he pounded. He slung his pants and boxers, his suit coat, shirt, tie, all of it, off too, tossing it all aside, as he made love to her.

  It was the gift that kept on giving to Reno, because he knew they both had that staying power, that they both could feel intensity after intensity without premature ejaculation. Longevity, he thought as he pounded her, that was what she gave to him: longevity. And he wanted it something bad.

  Trina loved it, too. She loved the way he got down to business, at how he could foreplay her while he was still deep inside of her, how he could make her feel so cherished while he was deep inside of her. And talk about longevity. She was amazed at his staying power. That was what she perhaps loved most of all about being with Reno. She knew she was in for a ride, not some quick trip.

  But she knew it was a risky ride, too. In every way. No condom, again. She never allowed that. Never! But with Reno she didn’t even bring it up. Her judgment was questionable sometimes. And this, she knew, was one of those times.

  And although she wasn’t having sex with a virtual stranger this time, she’d hardly call Reno a stranger now, she was effectively having sex with
her boss. This man was so powerful, so expert in his lovemaking, that he was bringing out behaviors in her that she knew were reckless and ill-advised on every level.

  But the way he pounded her, the way he felt inside of her, made her feel like an addict. She lifted up on elbows, as he pounded her, as he sucked on her. This couldn’t end well, she sensed, because they weren’t starting it right, but she also felt that she was powerless to do a damn thing about it. Because she wanted it so bad. And he wanted her so bad. And as they came, as she grabbed onto him and he grabbed onto her and the fullness of their release spilled out into a crescendo of pent up passion, pouring in and then out of her, down her thighs and onto the bed, she just knew they were both addicted.

  There was no going back from this kind of high.

  FIVE

  She noticed him Monday night while she was working, but she didn’t think too much of it. Yes, he’d been one of the ones in Reno’s office, but that could have just been a coincidence. Boyzie’s wasn’t your everyday strip joint, but was considered a little more upscale, if there was such a thing, and a better class of people often frequented the place. But by Tuesday night, when she saw him again seated in her station, she knew something was up.

  It was slow, as most Tuesday nights were, and as soon as her break time came, she walked over to the table where he was seated, and sat down herself.

  He smiled. “What do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I remember you from Reno’s office,” Trina said, not beating around the bush.

  The guy’s smile didn’t leave, but it changed. And the more Trina looked at him, the more she realized just how much he looked like a younger, chubbier version of Reno. “You’re his baby brother, aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re Joey.”

  “This wasn’t my idea,” Joey said, holding up his hands. “This is all Reno’s doing.”

  Trina frowned. “What’s all his doing?”

  “My keeping an eye on you at work, make sure no jokers get any ideas. Following you home to make sure you get safely inside your apartment. This got Reno written all over it.”

  Trina wanted to smile at his use of language, but she was too disturbed to smile. “And why does he feel he needs to tail me like this?”

  “He likes you,” Joey said. “Wanna make sure you okay. This is what he does for females he likes.”

  This revelation hurt Trina deeply. “And of course he likes the ladies,” she said, to see how Joey responded.

  Joey smiled. “What you think? We talking Reno here.”

  “I see,” Trina said. “So I’m not the only female you have to keep an eye on for him?”

  Joey didn’t say anything, but his silence said it all to Trina.

  “Okay, well, whatever,” she said as she stood. “Have a good evening. No need to be following me, you are released of your duty. I’m no longer one of the females in his stable, so there’s no longer any need. And you can tell him that personally for me.”

  She walked away with her dignity intact, went into the staff bathroom, checked to see that no-one else was in the stalls, and cried her eyes out.

  +++

  Reno was still in New Jersey, meeting with investors interested in bringing the PaLargio to Atlantic City. But Reno wasn’t convinced and the meetings were just bogging down. But by Wednesday night he was so exhausted that he made his way back to his hotel suite, the best in town although it couldn’t hold a candle to his own hotel, and dropped onto his bed. His Atlantic City hosts, a group of well-connected businessmen, had offered him a woman for the night, but he had turned them down. He usually accepted when he was in town and they knew it, he always kept a fresh supply of condoms for the occasion, but not this time. Trina was on his mind.

  He called Joey, the kid brother who idolized him. He wasn’t good for major tasks, his attention span wouldn’t allow it, and sometimes even on small jobs he could be a pain.

  “Hello?” Joey said into the phone. He sounded asleep.

  “Hey, where are you?” Reno asked.

  “I’m home, where you think?”

  “Home? What, Trina didn’t have to work tonight?”

  “How should I know?”

  Reno frowned. “I told you to watch her, to keep an eye out on her for me, Joey, what you mean, how should you know?”

  “I did keep an eye on her Monday night. And I was right back at that rat-ass Boyzie’s Tuesday night too. But she gave me the slip.”

  “You lost her?”

  “She lost me. She told me to get lost. Said she wasn’t interested in being in your harem anymore, or words to that effect.”

  Reno sat up, his heart pounding. “Joey, what are you talking about? What did you tell her?”

  “Didn’t you call her already?”

  “No, I didn’t call her. I’m gonna see her Friday, what I need to call her for?”

  “Because you ain’t gonna see her Friday.”

  Reno’s heart was hammering. “What did you tell her?”

  “I didn’t tell her nothin’, what you take me for? She asked why you had me following her. I told her because you liked her and you like to keep tabs on the females you like.”

  “Geez, you make me sound like a stalker, Joey.”

  “Or words to that effect, all right?”

  “What else did you tell her?”

  “I didn’t tell her nothin’. Then she says, ‘so this what he does, have you following all the women he likes?’ I didn’t answer that particular question.”

  Reno frowned. “Why didn’t you answer it?”

  “It’s none of her business, for one.”

  Reno shook his head. “You made me sound like a stalker with a stockpile of females at my disposal, you idiot!”

  “What did I do?”

  “Next time I see you remind me to kick your ass!”

  “What did I do?”

  “Remind me, Joey!” Reno said with even more venom and slammed down the phone. And then he picked it up again.

  +++

  It was nearly ten at night when Trina was knocking off. She and Jazz walked out together, with Jazz offering to give her a lift.

  “Nall, girl, I can take the bus,” Trina said.

  “You sure? Nathan won’t mind.”

  “Nathan will mind, y’all live in the exact opposite direction than I do. But I got it. I’ll take the bus.”

  “Sure you’re sure?”

  Trina smiled. “I’m sure I’m sure,” she said, walking away from her friend. “You and Nat have a good rest of the evening.” She said this as she headed for the bus stop.

  It was less than a minute later when Trina saw a limo drive past her heading in the direction she just came from. Limos in Vegas were nothing new, but they were kind of rare this far north of the strip. She glanced back as she kept walking, and saw the limo turn around and head back in her direction. She still didn’t think much of it until that same limo drove just past her, and pulled over to the curb. When Reno got out, her heart rammed against her chest.

  He looked gorgeous, in his pullover knit shirt and jeans, his big, athletic body swaggering toward her as a sexy reminder of their passionate times in bed. Only his face looked more angry than passionate.

  “Where you going this time of night?” he wanted to know as he approached her. “What’s your problem walking alone this time of night?”

  “I was headed to the bus stop,” Trina said. “And what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were out of town until Friday.”

  “I thought so too. Until my brother Joey tells me you saying you don’t wanna see me anymore. What’s that about?”

  “It’s not about anything,” she said, walking past him.

  “Wait a minute,” he said, but she kept on walking. “Wait a minute,” he insisted as he hurried up to her. She had, by now, walked past the parked limousine. “I came back early to talk to you. Joey left you the wrong impression, he does stuff like that, don’t ask me why.” Then he grabbed her by the arm, stopping her progression
. “Will you wait a minute?”

  Trina stopped and looked at Reno. Why was she even allowing herself to get involved with a man like him? He was great in bed, but so what? A relationship couldn’t be built on sex and sex alone. There was too much drama around him, she felt it when she walked into his office, and entered what looked like a three-ring circus.

  “Get in the car, we need to talk.”

  Trina was shaking her head before he could even finish. “No thank-you.”

  “Come on, Tree, why you giving me a hard time? I left my business a day early to get back here to talk to you. And what you saying, you ain’t gonna even talk to me?”