Making You Mine

Chapter 4 - Part 1

"Holy cow, Gracie, is that one of the married ones or the single one?" Joey clicked the button on his keychain, causing his car to chirp and headlights to blink.

Grace walked around the car and opened the door. "He's the single one, but he's kind of a jerk."

"What do you mean?" Joey said, climbing in the driver's seat. "Those bitches weren't lying when they said the Moreno brothers were hot. That is one hot papi, girl. How bad can he be?"

Grace wouldn't admit how breathless she'd been when he first walked in and stared her down, looking amazingly sexy in his suit. "Bad." She frowned as she put her seatbelt on. "He obviously wasn't happy about Alex hiring me. Apparently, he'd made up his mind about me already. He even went as far as to insinuate that I flirted with Alex to get the job."

"No! He said that?"

"Well, not exactly, but he made a stupid comment, 'You do realize Alex is married, right?' That says a lot about his brother if he really thinks the only reason he hired me was because I flirted or something." Gracie crossed her arms in front of her. The more she thought about it, the madder it made her. "You have no idea how hard it was for me to hold back what I really wanted to say. If I didn't need this job so bad ..."

Joey rubbed her knee. "Let's focus on the positive. You got a job at one of the most upscale restaurants in La Jolla of all places. And you said they're gonna give you a shot in the kitchen, right? This is what you've been waiting for."

Grace smiled. Joey always had a way of making her see things in a different light. "You're right. This is my opportunity."

Joey wanted her to come over and hang out with him and Taylor and a few other friends. But Grace knew Rose was home alone with her stepdad. Her mom let her know earlier, that she was going to meet a few friends for dinner and might be home late. Grace knew what that meant—she was on the prowl. Dinner equaled drinks at a bar, looking for potential sucker number five.

To her surprise, not only was her mom home, they had company. Rose gave her a look as soon as she walked in. A man in a suit who looked thirtyish, sat on the sofa, holding a beer. The place had actually been cleaned up. Ruben stood behind the sofa. He was showered and shaved for a change. Her mom rushed over to her. "Oh, here she is now."

Grace smiled, glancing at the man who smiled as he stood then back at her mom. "Grace, this is Mr. Fuentes."

"Call me Frank," he said, reaching his hand out.

Grace shook his hand and smiled. "I'm Grace."

"Mr. Fuentes—" Her mother caught herself and smiled, nodding at Mr. Fuentes. "Uh, Frank is a friend of Ruben's from his days of doing long hauls to Nevada. He owns a casino in Laughlin."

"It's a work in progress," Frank said, smiling. "More of a hotel making the crossover to casino."

"Oh, but you said you got your gambling license, and that's the biggest hurdle, isn't it?" her mother said with an oversized smile.

Frank nodded in agreement. Grace glanced back and forth between them, wondering what, if anything, this had to do with her. "Anyway, Grace, Frank stopped by while he was in town. He might have a job for Ruben in Laughlin."

Grace's heart sunk. "We're moving?"

Her mother did her fake laugh and placed her hand on her chest. "No, no, it's a driving job. You see Frank will need someone to drive fresh seafood to his restaurant in his casino every day." Her mother squeezed her hand at the mention of restaurant. "We're going out to discuss the details, and I thought it'd be nice if you could join us."