Tex (Burnout) (7 page)

Abby swung open the door and came face to face with Burton Jr. himself, who was sitting in a chair. Kessler was rummaging through one of his own desk drawers.

“Mr. Burton,” Abby exclaimed, caught off guard that her boss’ boss was not only on the premises, but apparently having an impromptu meeting that she hadn’t been invited to. Abby’s blood boiled. Kessler knew damn well Abby wanted a sit-down with the hotel’s owner and he hadn’t bothered to let her know Burton was coming. The two of them looked like annoyingly useless frat brothers in polo shirts and khakis. Both men used hair care products and cologne in equally alarming amounts.

Burton looked her over and dismissed her by turning away. But Abby was undeterred. She breezed through the opened door and rounded the other empty chair in the room, though she didn’t take a seat.

“Mr. Burton,” she began. “I’m Abby Raines. Your new Assistant Manager.” Burton merely nodded. “Mr. Burton, I have some concerns that we should-”

“Kessler, you concerned?” Burton Jr. drawled to the man who was his own age.

“Nope,” Kessler replied, standing up. “Let’s go.”

Abby moved to block the door. She lifted the stack of reports. “Among other things, Mr. Burton, are you aware that the bookings have fallen well below an acceptable threshold for-”

“Bad economy,” Burton replied, standing up as well.

“Mr. Burton if we don’t-”

“Angie, we’re late,” Kessler announced. “We’ve got a noon tee time.”

Abby flushed scarlet. “These reports-”

Kessler stopped in front of her and narrowed his eyes at her. All hint of his earlier frivolity vanished. “If I have to read reports, then what did I hire
you
for? If there’s a problem, fix it, as long as you stay within budget. You came highly recommended from one of the largest hotel/casinos in Nevada. Are you saying you can’t handle a hotel as small as the Custer?”

Abby’s mouth dropped open. “No. I mean, yes I can. If-”

But Kessler was already waving her away as though she were a troublesome gnat. “Then do that,” he demanded.

Abby felt instantly deflated as she watched both men swagger down the hall and through the doors that led into the hotel’s lobby. She gripped the sheaf of reports that heralded the fact that they were on a sinking ship and stormed back to her own office. She slammed them down on her desk and sank into the chair.

The budget was ridiculous. She couldn’t market or make any decent repairs. They’d switched to substandard linens, towels, and toiletries before Abby had even been hired, which she supposed was necessary when the hotel was losing money at this rate. But why was she trying to bail out the Custer with a teacup when the owner and the manager didn’t seem to care at all? Within a few years Kessler would be out of a job and Burton would lose the only thing of importance that he owned. How could they
not
care?

Abby was so irritated at the two of them she could scream. She could quit the job, but that would look bad on her resume. She could ride it out until the Custer finally closed down, but that would make her look like an incompetent manager. She glared at the reports that were scattered on her desk. At a loss for anything else to do, she opened the bottom drawer and hauled out her purse. She opened the inside zippered pocket and located her Smith and Wesson .38.

****

“God damn it!”

Tex glanced across the garage at Hawk who was nursing a bloody thumb. “Aren’t you done yet?” he said, just to irritate the large Sioux. Hawk glared at him. “I’m just saying, once you are, you gonna take it for a test drive?”

That earned Tex a slight twitch of Hawk’s jaw. “Don’t even,” Hawk snarled.

Easy laughed. “An Indian on an Indian.”

Shooter merely shook his head at both of them. “Tex. Quit being an asshole and head to Pearson’s to pick up those parts for that chopper.”

Tex gave his former lieutenant a half salute and his former squadmate a shit-eating grin. Hawk rolled his eyes, but grinned back.

Mid-town traffic wasn’t heavy, but just enough to be annoying. It was Friday, though, and it would only get worse. He didn’t care, though, since he usually stuck around Burnout until the 5 o’clock traffic thinned out and didn’t head out again until it was time to go to the bar in the evening. His thoughts turned to Vegas.

It hadn’t been a good time to push her too hard for a drink just after she’d sold her father’s Harley, but she seemed to be in a better place now. He’d brought up the idea again and was pleased at her acceptance. Getting her into a more relaxed atmosphere might be the key to opening her up.

His cock stiffened slightly at the idea of Vegas letting her hair down, literally, with him. He’d only ever seen her with her hair pulled up and in baggy, unflattering clothes. Surely the woman understood that she couldn’t dress like that in a bar.

As he swung onto Catron to get back to Burnout, he spotted a silver sedan out of the corner of his eye. Taking a closer look, he confirmed to himself that he recognized the little Toyota parked in front of the shooting range. Without a second thought, he turned sharply into the lot and pulled his Hummer into a space just three spots from the entrance. He reached under the driver’s seat and pulled out a large black holster. He had been planning on waiting until tonight to increase the pressure on his little redhead, but there was no way he would miss any opportunity to spend even just a little time with her.

He swung out of the SUV, closed the door, and locked it with the key fob. He tucked the large semi-automatic under his arm and strode to the doors of the range.

****

Abby looked down the shortened barrel and squeezed off another round. It probably wasn’t healthy to pretend the paper target was her boss but...whatever. Her ear plugs were holding up well and so she didn’t notice anyone was behind her until she turned to the side to get some more ammo. She followed the long shadow across the floor until she saw Tex standing behind her, watching her.

She took out her ear plugs and let them dangle. She pursed her lips at him. “Are you stalking me?” she asked.

“Obviously.”

She gasped. “I should get a gun!” She looked down. “Oh, wait.” She gave him a sardonic grin.

He smiled and shook his head. “You’re not bad.” he said, nodding to the target.

She smirked at him. “I was just getting warmed up.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s a fact, Jack,” she replied, teasingly.

As she set her handgun down on the small shelf, he came up beside her and set down of his own. She glanced at the large piece of hardware.

“Is that yours?”

“Yep.”

She giggled. “Wow. Hummer, Harley, Desert Eagle. You know what people would say.”

“That I’m surrounded by things I wish were as big as my dick?”

She let out a surprised laugh as she felt her cheeks pinken. Tex was definitely too confident and too cocky not to have a big- Well, she wasn’t going to think about that. He slapped a clip into the grip and drew the slide back. “Mind if I take a turn?” he asked.

She nodded. Tex took a casual stance at the bar and brought up the gun. He made three shots in relatively quick succession hitting both shoulders and the head. “You’re not bad yourself,” she told him. “But really, what are you doing here?”

“I was picking up some stuff for the garage and I saw your car in the lot. Thought I’d stop in.”

“So you’re playing hooky from work?”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

“Bad.”

He stepped back from the bar. “Your turn,” he said.

She finished loading the slugs and took her time, gazing at the target. She fired the first time, hitting the head, below where Tex had hit it. Then the throat, the chest, and finally the balls. She grinned at him.

Tex gave a low whistle. “Remind me not to piss you off,” he said. She set her gun back on the shelf and reached for the box. His hand came down on hers and she nearly jumped. “Try mine,” he said.

She gave him a smirk. “Oh, no. It’s way too much for me.”

“How do you know unless you give a try?”

“Mark, that gun is huge. My hands wouldn’t even fit around the grip.”

He opened her hand, sliding his thumb across her palm, and then placed the .44 in it. She instinctively tightened her fingers around it. He turned her hand first one way, then the other, inspecting it. His hands were large and warm. “Looks fine to me,” he declared. “Go to the bar.”

She hesitated for a moment then stepped over to it. She gripped it firmly because she knew the kick would be fierce. She raised it and waited a full two beats before squeezing the trigger. It didn’t take much and the gun felt like it exploded in her hands. The shot hit the paper target, but not the black silhouette.

“Okay,” he said. “You know what to expect now. Try again.”

She re-set her feet and took a second shot. It hit just barely on the right shoulder. She felt Tex come up behind her. “Better,” he said. He ran his hands down the length of her bare arms and took hold of her wrists, raising the gun level a third time. She felt his body pressed up against hers and it was hard not to lean back into that solid frame.

“Just relax,” he said quietly into her ear, and she could do anything but. “Breathe normally,” he told her. “Squeeze the trigger. You already know this. Just focus.”

Abby licked her lips nervously, and steadied her aim. Before she could fire, Tex’s hand slid around her throat. She froze. He wasn’t hurting her. In fact his large hand only felt like a delicate brush of skin. Her heart started pounding. She tried to turn to him but he exerted the tiniest amount of pressure, and she stilled. His other hand had felt warm on her arms, but the one on her neck was downright scorching. She fought the urge to hyperventilate.

“What are you doing?” she managed to get out.

“Relax. Breathe, and squeeze. In between heartbeats.”

“Yeah, I know. But what-”

“I’m feeling your pulse,” he told her. “Otherwise how do I know you’re doing it right?”

Abby tried to glance down, but couldn’t. Ultimately she was probably glad she couldn’t because she was dead certain her nipples were visible through her lacy bra. She would die if Tex saw that. What would he do?

Oh, God, she thought. Please don’t touch me here in the shooting range. Oh, God, she thought,
please
touch me here in the shooting range. Knowing that there was another person in the booth next to them made it all seem so fucking wrong. And yet...

“Fire the gun, Abby,” he said firmly, jolting her back to reality.

She aimed, waited, then squeezed. She hit closer to the heart.

“Very good,” he said in a soft voice. He brought his arms around her again and took the gun from her. He released the clip and then stepped away from her. “Don’t forget about Maria’s tonight.” And with that, he walked out.

Abby leaned against the bar to catch her breath. What the hell had just happened? she wondered. And then she wondered if it would happen again.

CHAPTER SIX

Tex held the Eagle and the clip in his hand and nodded to Cappy at the front desk as he opened the front door and headed out into the daylight. He had to get out of there before he bent Abby over and fucked the hell out of her. Her hair smelled deliciously sweet and the rapid beat of the pulse in her throat had given him a raging hard-on. Was she scared or turned on or both? She couldn’t have been as turned on as he was.

Mark. She’d called him Mark and damn if that didn’t do all kinds of things to him as he thought about Abby underneath him, legs spread wide for him by his chains, whispering his name, begging him to take her. He took a deep breath and swung up into the cab of the Hummer. Slow. Slow was the name of the game. He had to take it slow with her. But she was like a ripe little plum sitting on a windowsill and he damn if he didn’t want to devour her one bite at a time.

He stopped at the garage and dropped off the supplies he’d picked up at the store before he’d spotted her car and impulsively driven into the lot of Cappy’s range. After their little interlude, he’d left the garage early and headed home, taking a hot shower and fucking his fist relentlessly as he pictured a curvy, beautiful red head kneeling in front of him. He dried off and dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, black motorcycle boots, and a fitted blue t-shirt. He grabbed his keys and his wallet and drove his Hummer straight to Maria’s.