Cade checked his watch. “Reese should be here
soon.”
“Just don’t freak out on her,” Beck said, crossing
his arms.
“I’m not going to freak out on her. I’m going to
fire her.”
“What? No!” Beck gaped at him.
“Hold up,” Marco said, waving his hands. “Why do you
want to fire her?”
“She’s been lying to us!”
Marco and Beck exchanged looks. “Well . . . she’s
been a little deceptive . . . but I don’t know about lying,” Marco said. “Why
don’t you just talk to her and find out what’s going on?”
“She actually came up with some pretty fantastic
stuff,” Beck said. “I don’t think we should fire her. I think we should promote
her.”
“What?” Now Cade stared openmouthed. “What the
actual fuck?”
“I’m serious. Hey, do you want me to talk to her?
Or Marco?”
Cade narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Maybe we should be here, though,” Marco said.
Jesus, what did they think he was going to do? “I
can do it. I hired her. I’ll deal with it.”
“Okay. But let me be clear on this.” Marco leaned
forward, shoving his face right in Cade’s. “Do not fire her.”
Cade’s muscles tensed all over again. He was so
fucking pissed he could spit bullets.
Why? He never got angry like this. He was in
control of his emotions at all times. It was Reese who did this to him. He took
a deep breath. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “I won’t fire her . . .
right now.”
Beck and Marco wore identical looks of frustrated
annoyance. The three of them stood glaring at each other for a long moment in a
tense standoff. “Okay,” Beck said finally.
Beck and Marco left and Cade threw himself down
into his chair.
Jesus. He hadn’t even had to ask Sid how long this
had been going on. It was pretty obvious. He’d known there was something weird
happening, when Sid had suddenly come up with those great ideas, but he’d been
too lazy to put it all together. Lazy. Stupid. Blind. Or maybe in denial that
the cook they’d been on the verge of firing hadn’t really come through after
all.
A soft knock on the open door had him lifting his
head.
Reese.
She stood in the doorway, smiling faintly. She was
dressed for work in another black dress, this one sleeveless with a bunch of
pleats that wrapped around her slender body. It, too, showed off her amazing
legs, and today she wore a pair of pointy-toed shoes with a low but spiky heel.
Her bright hair had been pulled up into a bunch of loops on the back of her
head with wispy pieces hanging out.
“Come in,” he said gruffly, trying to rein in his
anger. He gestured at another chair.
She advanced into the room and perched on the edge
of the chair. Her fingers went to the hem of her dress and rubbed it. Fingers
that were shaking. Just a bit.
“What the everloving fuck have you been playing
around at?” he demanded. Then he closed his eyes. This wasn’t how you talked to
an employee.
On some level, he recognized that his anger was way
out of proportion to the incident.
“What are you talking about?”
He slashed a hand through the air. “No more lies.
You’re busted. Sid confessed everything.”
“Oh.” She said the word on a soft exhalation.
“Damn.”
“Yeah. Damn.”
She met his eyes. “It was my doing. Don’t be angry
at Sid. He’s trying his best.”
Her defense of Sid and acceptance of responsibility
took him aback. For a few seconds. “How the hell . . . what were you thinking .
. . why?” he yelled.
Her eyes flashed and she pressed her lips together.
“I could see how he was struggling. And the food . . . well, you know how I
felt about the food.”
Oh, yeah. He did. Even now she didn’t bother to
hide her distaste.
“Look, it’s not like I was taking cash out of the
register or skimming credit card numbers from the customers, for the love of
Godfrey. We weren’t hurting anything by doing what we did. In fact . . .” She
jutted her chin at him. “Even you have to admit guests liked the food.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what the hell is the point?” she demanded.
She sat forward, her cheeks now flushed peach, eyes sparkling. “You wanted to
make your food better. I was trying to help. It didn’t interfere with my
waitressing, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He frowned. “I never thought that.”
“Then what are you so pissed off about? Oh wait, I
know. Because this wasn’t your idea. Because you weren’t in control.”
His head jerked back.
“Well, I’m sorry I went behind your back. I know it
wasn’t honest. I didn’t mean to cause problems. Just don’t . . . I don’t want
Sid to be in trouble about this, because it was my doing.” She jumped to her feet. “I’ll get my
things and leave.”
“No!” He pushed up, too, then laid his hands on the desk,
leaning forward. “No. Sit down.”
She didn’t move for a few seconds, holding his gaze with her
own fierce stare.
Jesus. For some reason, he was turned on. Hot need punched
his lower belly. She
was
stunning with her passion and confidence and honesty. Then she turned and
started to walk away.
No fucking way.
He vaulted over the desk and grabbed her arm, spinning her
around.
She gasped, eyes big. His gaze dropped to her mouth . . .
her full lips shiny and parted . . . fuck, he wanted to taste her and feel
those lips. Tension shimmered around them, the temperature in the office rising
several lustful degrees. Her breasts lifted and fell with her quick
respirations and he tried not to look there but damn, it was hard not to, and
he wanted to pull her closer so he could feel those sweet, soft tits pressed
against him.
“Let me go.” Her voice came out low and husky.
He was losing his goddamn mind. This was a sexual harassment
suit waiting to happen. But for some reason he didn’t fucking care. “You’re not
leaving.”
Their
eyes met again and the air around them crackled.
“Why?”
she demanded. “You’re obviously angry. I lied to you. That’s grounds for
termination.” She glared. “You know you want to fire me.”
He nearly groaned. “You have no idea what I want to do to
you.”
Her eyes widened again. Tension arced between them. His
muscles bunched and jumped, his heart thudding. When her lips parted again, he
knew . . . she did know what he wanted to do to her. And she wanted it, too.
Drawn to her like a magnet, he bent his head. He breathed in
that scent he now knew, spiced vanilla and pear. Heat pulsed through his veins.
He couldn’t screw this up.
“Shit.” He relaxed his grip, but then probably made things
worse by reaching for her other arm. Holding her like that, his grip gentler,
he stared down into her face. “You make me crazy, Reese.”
Her eyelashes fluttered and her pulse flickered at her
throat. Her face now wore a
glowing
flush of color and her eyelids dropped to half mast. “I know.”
He choked on a laugh, and lowered his forehead to touch
hers. “Sometimes I think you try to make me crazy.”
“It’s pretty easy. Control freak.”
“Shit,”
he murmured. “You know what buttons to push.”
“I didn’t do this to make you crazy. I swear.”
He sighed. “I believe you.” He moved back, still holding her
arms, and he gave her a
searching
look. Then he eased her back toward the chair and down into it. “Sit.”
“Yes, sir.”
His lips twitched. “That’s much better.”
4 Stars
Long Shot is the third and final title in the
Last Shot series, and it’s an enemies to lovers romance featuring Cade and
Reese. Although you could read this
title as a standalone, I would recommend reading the previous titles in the
series first.
Cade and two of his former SEAL buddies, own
and manage a tequila bar named conquistadors.
Each of the trio has their own area of expertise and for Cade, that is
being the brains behind the business.
He’s most at home in his office with his spreadsheets and plans for the
business. Cade also has a reputation
with the ladies, can be quite stubborn and doesn’t like to be told what to do,
but in saying that he can also be quite supportive, caring and protective.
Reese is working as a waitress, whilst she
sorts out her life, and attempting to outrun her past. She’s very vocal about the quality of the
food on the menu, or lack thereof. I
found her characters to be very endearing.
She’s a survivor, strong, resilient and outspoken despite being slightly
damaged.
Long Shot is a fast paced, well written
story. The banter this pair share is
fun, flirtatious, and they have a tendency to butt heads so quite often it’s
also argumentative. Both characters are
hardworking, genuine, complex and endearing.
The sexual tension between Cade and Reese just oozes off the page, and
the attraction is undeniable, the heat generated between this pair is quite
combustible.
I quite enjoyed this ending to the Last Shot
series, and there were a few twists and turns, that I didn’t anticipate.
