Page 27 of All In

11

♦♦♦

Memphis bounced his leg up and down on the barstool in his Phoenix kitchen as he listened to the phone ring. He’d been trying to call Rylee since her security detail told him they were heading home for the day. The tournament was still going on, which meant Rylee hadn’t made it to the final table and the bodyguards made it sound like she was upset.

But she wasn’t answering. Had something happened he didn’t know about? Thoughts that she was second guessing their relationship flitted through his mind and it made him anxious. He’d grown to need Rylee in the short time he’d known her. That unnerved him in some respects, but it didn’t change the fact that he needed her.

He called the head of her security one more time.

“You’re certain she’s safe at the house?” he asked when the man answered.

“Yes, Mr. Foster. She ordered dinner about an hour ago and it just arrived.”

He blew out a breath and glanced at the clock. He could be on a flight and there in under two hours. If she would just answer the phone and talk to him, it would help him decide what to do.

“Can you take her the phone?”

There was silence as the man on the other end went to find Rylee. He heard muffled voices, but it wasn’t Rylee who came back to the phone.

“She says she’s too tired to talk right now, Mr. Foster.”

He let out a low growl and drummed his fingers on the counter top.

“OK. Thank you.”

When he ended the call, he stood and walked to his bedroom, scrolling through his contacts as he went.

“Have the plane ready in half an hour. I’m going to Vegas.”

“Yes, Mr. Foster,” his assistant said.

He didn’t wait for a car to come pick him up. Choosing instead to drive one of his many cars to the private airfield where his jet would be waiting with a pilot.

Something was wrong, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

He slid behind the wheel of a sport scar and dropped the phone into the connector that immediately paired it with the car’s Bluetooth system.

“Jeremy, I’m heading back to Vegas for the night. I’ll be at the office in time for my first interview with the executive team.”

“Everything OK?”

“I’m not sure. She was upset last time I talked to her and now she isn’t taking my calls.”

“OK man. hope everything works out.”

He ended the call and focused on getting to the airfield.

An hour after takeoff, he was landing in Las Vegas where a car was waiting to take him to Rylee. His shoulders were tense as he rode in the back of the black town car, and he tried her cell once again. “Damn it, Rylee,” he muttered as it went to voicemail.

When they approached the villa a half hour later, he’d practiced a speech for if she tried to break up with him. Though the dominant side of him wanted to tie her to the bed and fuck her until she saw reason.

As he climbed the stairs to the front door, he unbuttoned his shirt sleeves and rolled them up.

He’d already ditched his tie and jacket on the plane.

When he stepped inside, he greeted the security guard sitting in the small surveillance room to the side of the foyer and then went in search of Rylee.

The dining room showed evidence of the dinner she’d eaten, and a stack of papers lay on the island in the kitchen. He glanced through them and saw that it was the paperwork Jeremy had sent her. Was there something in there that had upset her?

---