Give It All by Cara McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

blond hair in a ponytail.
    Casey, as was his wont of late, was tracking Abilene with his eyes, and hitting on her in his ham-fisted fashion whenever she passed by.
    Abilene deflected the attention with a weary charm, excusing herself for a bathroom break. She took a lot of those, and Raina could guess why. The girl also winced whenever she got too close to the olives in the garnish bin, and had once dry-heaved at the smell of Kahlua. All these intimate tells were lost on a dolt like Casey, but Raina was going to need to have a little chat with her employee, to the tune of
So . . . when exactly are you due?
It was hard to guess. Abilene was a naturally round sort of girl. She could probably keep that secret right up to the third trimester.
    “Goddamn,” Casey said, thwarted. “Someday she’s gotta say yes.”
    Vince shot Raina a look, expression dry. Oh-ho. So he knew what she did? Made sense—he was the one who’d advised Abilene to get work at Benji’s to begin with. Raina grimaced to say,
Train wreck waiting to happen.
Vince raised his bottle in agreement.
    “She’s not interested,” Raina told Casey. It was a lie, though. Body language said Abilene was as crushed out on Casey as he was on her, but of course the girl had enough problems without hitching her wagon to a flighty con man.
    “I’m gettin’ really mixed signals from that woman,” he said, and sipped his bourbon.
    “Girl,” Raina corrected. “You’ve got ten years on her, easy.” Abilene’s Texas license said she was twenty-four, but Raina knew a fake when she saw one. Abilene’s alleged birthday had also come and gone a couple of weeks back, and when Raina had asked her if she was doing something special that night, Abilene’s expression hadn’t suggested it’d been anything other than a Wednesday. Raina suspected that pregnancy was merely the largest of her employee’s secrets.
    Casey’s blue eyes suddenly grew wide, and he turned to Vince. “Maybe she’s a virgin or something. Maybe that’s why she’s acting all hard to get.”
    Raina bit her tongue.
    Vince smirked. “Oh, I doubt she’s a virgin.”
    Casey froze, then glared. “Wait, what? You fucked her? When?”
    Raina laughed, and Kim covered her face, surely to stifle her laughter, not her horror.
    Vince glared at his brother. “Of course I didn’t.”
    “Are you sure? You seem pretty certain. Plus, you’ve fucked most of the girls in—”
    “Shut. Up.”
    Kim looked about ready to hyperventilate, clutching her middle.
    “Just trust me,” Vince said to his brother. “The girl’s not as innocent as she looks.”
    “How do you know?”
    “None of your goddamn business. Ask her yourself.”
    Casey asked Raina instead. “You’re with her a lot—she ever go home with anybody?”
    Raina shook her head. “I think you’re onto something. Definitely sounds like a case of persistent virginity.”
    Casey looked intimidated, but intrigued. His eyes narrowed with curiosity when Abilene reappeared.
    “We better make a move,” Vince said, draining his bottle. “We’re on Mom-watching duty.” His and Casey’s mother was mentally ill, and they split the caregiving duties with their neighbor, Nita. Vince settled the tab and headed for the bathroom while Kim got serious about finishing her beer.
    Abilene collected the empty and asked Casey, “You sticking around for another?”
    “Yeah, sure.” He leaned on the bar while she poured him a fresh bourbon on the rocks. “You ever gonna say yes when I ask you out?”
    Her smile was both flirtatious and cagey. “I’ve got a lot going on just now.”
    “One date—that’s all I’m asking.”
    “Take no for an answer, Case,” Raina said.
    “But she hasn’t told me no yet,” he said, gaze on Abilene. “Trust me, I’ve been paying attention.”
    “Maybe someday,” Abilene allowed, taking the five he handed her.
    You know, someday,
Raina mused, smiling.
Like maybe two years from now, when the girl’s done