Shifters of Grrr 2 (54 page)

"There was a woman sitting over at the bar not long ago," Jason said. "Quite attractive.
 
Blonde. Very voluptuous.
 
She was wearing a black evening gown. I would like to meet her."

"Well, I would have to track her down," Max replied.
 

"I asked the bartender if he knew who she was, but he didn't."

"Well, I can go look at the security footage and see if I can locate her."

"Please do that," Jason said.

Jason's table was waiting, as was Susan.
 
His head was clear enough now for poker, and he was satisfied that the Pit Boss would do what he could to track down the she-wolf who had become the evening's distraction.

Chapter 4

Max headed back to the surveillance room where security kept an eye on all the goings on at the casino.

The Eye-in-the-Sky was everywhere.
 
Security was watching everyone at the casino at all times.
 

Max had one of the security guards roll back footage from the bar over the past couple of hours.
 
And that's when he saw her.

"Goddamn it," Max said.

The 'voluptuous woman' that Jason Irvine was interested in was his best dealer – Carly.
 

"This isn't good," he said more to himself than to anyone else.

"What's wrong?" asked the security guard.
 
"Isn't this woman an employee? One of the dealers?
 
Did she do something wrong?"

"No.
 
She's got a secret admirer.
 
A high roller.
 
And I don't like it."

Max wanted Carly to go undetected.
 
He expected her to keep an eye on Jason Irvine that night, not the other way around.

Meanwhile, back at the table, Jason kept up his run of good luck. This surprised him.
 
He was generally okay at cards, but now it seemed whereby the she-wolf had been a distraction earlier, his anger at being rebuffed was becoming mental fuel for competitive strategy.
 
He was angry at the woman, and he was frustrated – and he channeled all that sexual frustration into winning at poker.

Susan, like all the other dealers at Diamond's Casino, knew that a 'whale' could win as much as $15 million before wiping out the house for the night.
 
So it was everyone's job to make sure that never happened.

When Jason reached the $10 million mark, Susan discreetly pushed a button hidden underneath the table.

The button notified security that someone was winning big.

Soon, Max appeared out of nowhere.
 
When he arrived at the table and he mentally counted the chips piled up in front of the Alpha, he understood exactly why she had buzzed for his immediate attention.
 
Jason had reached this level before, but then he lost most of it.
 
But as Max stood there and watched Jason play hand after hand, he started to get worried. He had a bad feeling that tonight things might not even out in the casino's favor. The Alpha had a certain air about him this evening that was a bit unusual.

Max's instincts were right. Soon, Jason was up to $12 million.

That's when Max decided to try to throw him off.

"I looked at the footage, and I can see the woman, but the camera never really caught her face.
 
So I couldn't really identify her.
 
But it looks like she left the casino altogether about an hour ago."

A disappointed look crossed Jason's face.
 
He held his cards, not playing them yet.

"Are you sure she's gone?"

"Yes, sir."

Jason said nothing for a moment. Then he laid down his hand.
 
A Royal Flush. With what he had just bet, Jason had now officially bankrupted the house.

Max held his breath.
 
Susan tried not to show her panic.
 
This was not good for her as a dealer at all.

"Where are we at?" Jason asked.

"You're up $20 million," Susan told him.
 
She could barely contain her distaste for him.
 
Jason didn't even notice.

"Not bad," Jason said.
 
He sounded almost monotone.
 
Max could hardly believe that a man who had won $20 million in one sitting could sound so blasé about it.

"I have a late dinner reservation at Carlitos," Jason said. "I'll have my chips held and maybe call it a night."

This could not be allowed. Max's job now was to make sure Jason lost everything he had just won.
 
He could not let Jason stop gambling and, most of all, Max could not let Jason leave the casino.

He realized the only thing he could do now was deliver the woman in the black evening gown.

"Before you go, Mr. Irvine," Max said, "Let me take one last look at the security footage.
 
Maybe we can find this mysterious woman after all."

"You said she left the casino," Jason said, mistrustingly.
 
He got up from his chair.

"Maybe she came back.
 
And, if we find her, maybe you won't have to eat dinner alone tonight?"

Jason paused.
 
He sat back down.
 
He pulled out a cigar from the inside pocket of his jacket.
 
A nearby cocktail waitress immediately leapt forward with a cigar cutter and clipped the end for him. She lit his cigar, and as she did so, she let her fingers graze lightly across his.
 
Jason was not interested, and he pulled away much to her chagrin.

There was only one woman he was interested in this evening.

Jason took a couple of puffs to get the cigar going.
 
He squinted his eyes at Max.

"Go find her then," Jason said.

He didn't have to ask Max twice.

Chapter 5

Max found Carly in the employee parking lot.
 
He chased her out just as she was ready to drive home.

"We have a problem," he told her. "Jason Irvine is up $20 million."

Carly had just unlocked the door of her car and was about to get into the driver's seat.
 
This news stopped her.

"You're kidding me."

"Do I look like I'm kidding here?"

No, Max looked dead serious.

"What are you going to do?"

"He has dinner reservations at Carlitos."

"You can't let him leave the casino!"

"Don't you think I already know that?!"

A moment of silence ensued.
 
Max debated telling Carly that Jason had asked him to review the security footage so that he could track her down because he clearly had the hots for her.
 
And that he had suggested finding her so that Jason could take her out to dinner.

But Max had a better idea than setting them up for a dinner date.

"I want you to get changed into your uniform.
 
I want you to deal for him."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"You have always banned me from being his dealer."

"Tonight is different."

Carly felt her nerves start to flare up.
 
She was a little shaky.
 
How could she stand across the table from Jason Irvine knowing that he had tried to claim her in the canyon earlier that evening?
 
As far as Carly knew, he certainly wouldn't recognize her, but she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to concentrate.
 
The Alpha was a jumbled mix of testosterone and virility and wealth and power.
 
He was so far out her league they may as well live on different planets.

"I need you, Carly," Max said. "He can't win if you're dealing.
 
And I don't have anyone else who is as good as you."

She had no out.

"Fine, I'll do it," she said.

Carly went back into the casino and changed into her uniform.
 
She pinned her hair up into a French twist and fixed her makeup.
 
Her uniform was conservative – not like that of the cocktail waitress'.
 
A white shirt, black pants, and a black jacket with a bow tie.
 
It was a tuxedo modified for a woman's figure, with the jacket tailored to give her a waist and to flare out at the hips.
 
Her friend Sheila had designed this uniform for Diamond's Oasis for all the female dealers.

Carly paid special attention to her lips – one of her best features.
 
She had full, perfectly symmetrical lips.
 
She lined them with a neutral pencil, and then applied a deep red with a lip brush.
 
She pulled out a light, white shimmery eye shadow and – swiping just a tad onto her pinky – dabbed a touch onto the middle of her lower lip.
 
This gave some extra-oomph to her lips.

She examined herself in the mirror and tried to look serious – like she was totally unaffected by Mr. Rich Alpha.
 
Then she adjusted her bra – fixing the 'girls' so that they remained at high attention.

"This will have to do," she said to herself.
 

Then she headed for the Alpha's table.

Jason looked up to see Max leading the way for a new dealer.
 
This didn't surprise Jason much.
 
He knew that his previous dealer would have to be replaced, because she had performed so poorly.
 
The dealer coming his way also was female.
 
She had an ample figure but a serious look on her attractive face.

He glanced at his watch as the dealer took her place at the table.

"I told you I have dinner reservations," Jason told Max.

"But I found the woman you were looking for," Max told him.

Carly looked as startled by this statement, as did Jason.

The woman he was looking for?
 
What was THAT supposed to mean?

 
"I'll leave you two alone," Max said.
 
He made as if he was leaving, but he really just slipped away so he could still lurk behind a large potted plant.

Jason took a long hard look at Carly.
 
Then he could see that she very well indeed looked like the woman in the black evening gown.

And then he smelled her musky scent.

Jasmine.

Carly's gaze met Jason's and she almost couldn't breathe.
 
He stared her down to the point where her knees felt weak and a fire kindled in the pit of her abdomen.

Then the Alpha spoke.

"You didn't come when I howled," he said.

Carly froze.
 
How did he know that she was the she-wolf at Red Rock Canyon?
 

"Um, when you howled?"

"Yes.
 
When I howled.
 
When I told you to wait for me in the canyon."

"I'm sorry, but we've never met before.
 
And, I don't know what you're talking about."

"You weren't at Red Rock Canyon earlier this evening?"

"No – why the hell would I go there?
 
Wild burros running around.
 
Werewolves don't go there.
 
Or, very few do.
 
It must have been someone else."

"It wasn't.
 
I could smell you.
 
Your perfume.
 
I can smell it now.
 
It was you.
 
Most definitely."

He looked stern and angry.

Oh geez – how much trouble am I in?
she desperately wondered.
 
It was a really, really bad thing to turn down an Alpha. Not to mention utterly crazy.
 
It was a bad thing, but it was unclear that it was really a punishable thing. No woman ever needed to be punished because, quite frankly, no she-wolf ever WANTED to turn down an Alpha.
 

Except for her, apparently.

"I – I couldn't wait – I had other stuff to do.
 
I didn't really have time for you to claim me."

"Excuse me?
 
You
didn't have the time?
What the hell could be more important?" Jason demanded, his voice rising slightly.
   

What she-wolf doesn't drop everything for the opportunity to be claimed by an Alpha?
 
he wondered incredulously.

"I don't have time for Alphas," Carly blurted out.
 
It was a total farce, but it was all she could think of to say.

"You don't have
time
for Alphas?
 
Have you ever been with an Alpha?"

"Well, no, but – "

"Do you have any idea what you're missing?" Jason said with an arrogant confidence that belied the fact that his ego was deflating yet even a little more now that this woman clearly didn't take him seriously as an Alpha.
 
"Do you have any idea what I could have done – and would still very much like to do to you – sorry, I mean
for
you?"