Wicked Game Read Online Free

Alicia. What the hell? I’m not choosing anyone, not you or her. I hired you both to work for me, not the other way around.” Somehow, he didn’t think that would diffuse the situation. Not that he understood how there was a situation. “You need to be professional and put aside your—”
    “I need to be professional? I saw how you looked at her. Like she was ice cream and you were just dying to lick her up. I will not work under these conditions. If you won’t get rid of her, then I quit.” Alicia thrust her hip toward the cabinet, her arms set firmly in a defensive stance, her chin rigid, and fire in her eyes.
    What in the hell was going on here? He hadn’t even been in the door thirty minutes, and it was full-scale mutiny. Who was next? The gardener?
    “Listen, I have a day full of meetings tomorrow. I’ve been out of the country for the last month, and I’m tired. You came in on short notice and got the house ready and fixed a great spread. I’m sure you’re tired too. Let’s just think this thing through.”
    “No, Jaime, it’s the frumpy floozy or me. I won’t work for a man who flaunts his whores under my nose. I mean, we’ve been together three years. I just won’t stand for it. That puta is not welcome in my kitchen.”
    “So that’s it, then?” Now he understood; somehow he’d missed the signs. Alicia, always so eager to please him and only him; he should have figured it out sooner. “I’ll have Miss Pendleton send your severance check tomorrow. Please leave your keys, and for what it’s worth, Alicia, I’m sorry it came to this. I’ll give you a reference, of course.”
    “You prick. You are choosing that puta over me.” He narrowly dodged the sugar bowl as it sailed past his head to shatter against the wall.
    “I’m choosing Miss Pendleton over you, yes. And I’m taking that out of your check. Throw something else and I’ll have you arrested.” He clenched his hands, his voice rumbling in his chest as he growled in frustration. Her eyes turned round, fear replaced fury. Often he wondered what he looked like at times like this; the stance had served him well most of his life, on and off the football field. This was the first time he remembered ever using it on a woman, though.
    “I’m sorry, Jaime. I misspoke. I don’t want to lose my job. I like it here.” Her voice turned pleading, but he saw through her to the petty woman beneath the pretty face and charming accent.
    “I’m sorry too, Alicia. I’ll walk you out.” He took her arm and waited for her to pull his keys off her ring before he helped her into her car. Tears streamed prettily down her face before she drove away. There was nothing he could do about it now.
    “Was it something I said?” Cass said from behind the counter, her voice so soft she startled him. He heard the sound of china clinking together, as she cleaned up the broken dish.
    “I guess it was a long time coming. I just didn’t notice.” He turned to the dishes left sitting in the sink and absently started water running. “I don’t suppose you can cook? No? Then I guess I have one more job for you, and we should probably have someone out to change the security code at the gate, maybe the locks. I don’t know if she has a second set of keys lying around.”
    “I’m sorry if I caused this.” She stood then, carrying the dustpan filled with debris and depositing it in the trash bin near the back door.
    “Don’t worry about it. Alicia is … well I seem to attract women like her. Beautiful, vain, possessive.” He scrubbed the dishes and left them drying on the rack. “Anyway, that’s over and we have an appointment downtown in an hour if you want to change or do something with your hair.”
    “Why do I need to change? What’s wrong with my hair?”
    Dear Lord, did the woman not have a single clue? “Nothing, Miss Pendleton, nothing at all.”

Chapter Four
    By “appointment,” Jaime meant they would be reenacting that scene from