stuff personally. The lure of so much free money was quite frequently too much temptation for employees to resist. She did, however, instruct the other general manager on duty to send the poker dealer in question on break.
“I’m sorry about this,” Carter told her. “I thought you’d rather hear the news from me instead of one of your tech guys.”
“That’s nice of you, but it happens.”
Besides, she was more broken up by the fact that her best friend was basically moving light-years away even though he hated San Francisco and the whole Silicon Valley scene. Just two months or so ago after a particularly nasty client meeting, he’d literally spent an entire evening ragging on everything about it, including the relatively blameless and objectively delicious sourdough bread.
Carter responded to a text, which was a thing he did all the time while they were hanging out. His undivided attention didn’t really exist. She assumed it was work-related, but when she glanced over, she saw that a cute blonde girl had literally sent him a nude picture. She looked away quickly since it wasn’t any of her business, but the image was burned in her brain.
Instead of being embarrassed like she was, Carter looked as if getting nudes was just an everyday occurrence for him. And maybe it was. Lord knew her DMs were crammed with dicks both figurative and literal. Of course, unlike Carter had just done, she never responded to said dicks.
“That’s one way to say hello,” she joked.
“Yeah, and a pretty effective one, too.”
She laughed, but the fact that Carter might be dating someone was inspiring something new and terrible in her—pure and simple jealousy. Maybe it was PMS hormones or something, because she’d never cared who Carter dated before. Of course, he’d never been leaving before, either.
Thankfully, a knock sounded and Carter got their food from the delivery guy before she could analyze her wayward emotional state.
While he set out the food, she texted her uncle about Chris Miller’s theft, making sure he knew she had everything under control.
“You got a hot date tonight?” Carter asked, referring to her texting.
She shook her head, setting her phone aside and piling a couple of tacos on her plate. “Nope, tomorrow.”
“So I get woman-about-town Alexa Lawson to myself for an entire night. I can’t remember the last time that happened.”
She snorted. “We hung out just last month.”
“On a Tuesday,” he pointed out. “For coffee.”
“I think we can admit we’ve both been guilty of getting bogged down with work lately,” she acknowledged. “Why don’t we go back to my place and catch up on some movie time? I’ve had to wait for you to finish that documentary series we started and I definitely resent you for it.”
Deep-cut documentaries were one of the first things they’d had in common as kids and had sustained them ever since.
“Sounds perfect,” he agreed.
THEIR DINNER, from their favorite Mexican place, was fantastic as usual, and a comfortable silence fell as they ate, wherein Carter wondered if Alexa was going to say more about his move to San Francisco. She seemed upset, but since she basically never admitted she had emotions it was typical of her to pretend everything was fine.
Their history was littered with complications. The fact that all those years ago he’d created a program for her casinos mainly so he’d always be in her life should have been clue enough for her that he wanted to be more than friends, but she’d been willfully oblivious. After college, he’d even told her straight-out that he loved her, but she hadn’t taken the admission seriously, which had been the wake-up call he’d needed.
She hadn’t been interested in the pudgy nerd he’d been back then so he’d gotten a gym membership and started his company in the crappy studio apartment he’d rented on the Strip, and the rest was history. He’d moved the fuck on and any boyhood fantasies he’d had about Alexa had gone in the trash along with the majority of his oversize hoodies. His reputation with women was legendary, which was saying a shit-ton for a town with the highest population density of fuckboys in the country.
He and Alexa both were two of Vegas’s notorious players, but over the past few months he’d been considering showing his hand. He’d accomplished his goals and now he was ready for something else, a new challenge before things got stale. He didn’t want to be that creepy old guy out on the prowl.
And if there was ever a challenge to be had, it was Alexa Lawson, who was currently living up to his boyhood fantasies in a painted-on black pencil skirt and silky red camisole.
“Let me take care of that other little problem and we’ll get going,” she informed him, rising from the couch and shrugging back into her suit jacket. Her demeanor already signaled that she had returned to business mode, which was equally as sexy as her relaxed mode. As far as his dick was concerned, she actually didn’t have a non-sexy mode.
Carter installed some updates on her assistant’s computer while Alexa dealt with Jason and Chris. Both men were shouting angrily and he suppressed the urge to rush in there and protect her, but she didn’t need him. Before too long the room got quiet and she must have shown them the evidence. His software had uncovered Chris’s friendship with the customer who kept winning and video evidence of them talking and splitting the take. It was a cut-and-dried situation.
He was impressed that Alexa never had to raise her voice, she just got shit done. However, when the cops showed up, he realized just how serious the matter was. Software company CEOs like himself generally didn’t deal with the police even though, ironically, his software literally caught thieves. Watching the men in blue cart Chris and Jason away in handcuffs was awkward to say the least, especially considering the way Chris sneered at him. Everyone knew what his software did, so while Alexa did the firing he was technically the one who put Chris in jail.
When they were gone, Carter returned to her office as she was pouring herself another drink.
“You didn’t tell me about the police,” Carter said, scratching the back of his head.
“They’re thieves,” she said simply, joining him on the sofa. “Thieves go to jail.”
Her phone rang and her uncle’s face appeared on the screen.
She put him on speakerphone, and John Lawson’s perpetually jovial voice crackled through the international phone lines loud and clear as a bell.
“Well, Alexa my love, thank you for taking care of another snake in the grass.”
She grinned at Carter and he returned it. Alexa’s uncle was a big personality but also a man of integrity, which was hard to find in Vegas. Like Alexa, he’d admired him all his life.
“I know you’re going to be upset, dear, but like we talked about, I’m ready to retire. I think we should put the casinos up for sale,” John said, shocking both him and Alexa.
“What?” Alexa burst out, her
