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“Okay. But I can’t let you go out alone, Jessie. Not knowing that. You have to understand that.”
“It’s a free country. Follow me, if you like. Just don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. If you do, I will scream my head off until the law shows up.” She hated how mean her tone sounded, but Dallas’s betrayal wounded her so much that she couldn’t help but lash out at him.
She walked out the door of the Hotel Cactus onto Main Street. As Dallas had promised her, he followed.
Sneaky Pete’s Casino was just to the right of Norma’s Cafe. There weren’t any vehicles moving on the streets of Wilde at the moment, so she crossed the street, heading straight for the distraction she needed.
Walking into the casino, Jessie realized it wasn’t like any of the casinos in Atlantic City she’d visited. Sneaky Pete’s had only ten slot machines on the back wall, one crap table near the bar, one blackjack table, and one poker table. Nothing else. Well, her game was blackjack. When she got to the table, she recognized the man sitting there playing. He worked at the front desk of the Hotel Cactus, and she’d seen him there a few times.
He looked up. “Hello, Ms. Greene.”
“Hi.” She wracked her brain for his name.
“I’m Kyle.”
“Sorry. I forgot.”
“No problem. Blackjack player?”
“I’ve played a few times. Nothing serious though.” She looked over her shoulder and saw Dallas glaring. Good. “Mind if I join you.”
“I’d love it. But I have to warn you that this dealer is not very lucky for me. I’m down half my stash already, and I’ve only been here an hour.”
“I’ll take my chances.” Jessie sat down to the left of Kyle and threw three twenties on the table.
The cowboy smiled at her. “Maybe a cutie like you will turn my luck around tonight.”
Kyle was handsome and charming, but she was done with cowboys, especially ones from this town. “Don’t bet on it.”
The dealer pushed some chips in front of her.
Before he could deal, two women sat on the other side of her. One was Austin Wilde’s personal assistant, Selby. The other woman worked at the cafe.
They took the chairs next to her, with the waitress taking the one closest to Jessie. “Hello, Ms. Greene. How’s the investigation going?”
“I’m still working on it. Your name’s Samantha, right?”
The young woman smiled broadly. “Yes it is, Ms. Greene.”
“Please, call me Jessica.” She’d never been really good with women, but right now she wanted a female buddy more than she’d ever wanted one before.
“I can do that. But I thought your name was Jessie?”
“No. Why would you think that?” The Wilde brothers called her that. She’d even begun to think of herself as a Jessie. Now, it was time to return to her old persona. Taking back her real name and letting the nickname die would be a perfect step to accomplishing just that.
“I heard Jackson call you by that one day at the diner.”
The dealer, a nice-looking middle-aged man, frowned. “Samantha, you’re not twenty-one.”
Samantha produced a license. “This says I am. Besides, I’ve played here before. There’s no Nevada Gaming Control agents in town. What’s the harm?”
He glanced at Jessie then back at Samantha. “Doesn’t matter, kid. You can’t play.”
The girl laughed and turned to Jessie. “He’s worried that you’ll rat him out if he lets me play because you work for a federal agency. You don’t care, do you?”
“Not really. That’s not my jurisdiction. Besides, I’m off duty tonight.”
“Thank you.” Samantha batted her eyes, daring the man to refuse her.
