“Yes,” he hisses. “It means I’ll be sharpening my knives.”
“Sounds about right,” I say, taking the slightest pleasure in his discomfort.
“I have to go. Luca just walked in and we have to talk some things over.”
“I have to go, too. Talk soon.”
Hanging up, I lean back in my chair and scrub my hands up and down my face.
Sometimes my family name weighs so heavy on my shoulders that I wonder how my back hasn’t crumbled under the pressure. But then, like right now, I remember what that name represents, and the weight just strengthens rather than destroys me.
My mind wanders back to Tessa and how she doesn’t know what the Carfano name means yet. I could tell in the way she didn’t react when I told her who I was.
She may not know now, but she’ll soon find out what it means to be with a Carfano man.
Chapter 7
Tessa
I was so mad at Alec for telling my bosses at the diner and studio that I couldn’t work for a week. I even tried to call them and tell them I was okay to come in, but they insisted they were fine and I needed to rest and get better. I know they don’t know for what reason, but their concern was evident, and I thought that was so sweet. I hadn’t realized they cared about me like that.
I’m also reluctant to admit that I enjoyed this past week. I went to the beach a few times, my first time this summer, and I made myself my favorite dinners and watched endless movies and shows that have been piling up on my DVR.
It’s sad to admit, but it was the first time I had a week off in…well…ever. I’ve never taken a vacation. I don’t know the last time I requested off, or if I ever even have. I’ve only called out sick a couple of times in the past six years I’ve worked at Lucy’s Diner and the dance studio.
It’s Friday again though, and there’s no way I’m not dancing in the show. The bruises on my face and arm have faded drastically, and it’s nothing my show makeup can’t cover.
Alec has kept his distance this week, which has been making me go a little crazy. I spent the night at his place, he’s all demanding and protective of my safety, and then silence. Nothing. I still have my bodyguard though.
Every night I went to sleep with him on my mind, his dark eyes lulling me under, and every morning I woke up wishing that when I opened them, I was looking out floor-to-ceiling windows that showed me the bright sun, ocean, and the city I’ve grown to call home over almost a decade now.
Grabbing my gym bag, I open my front door to find Enzo leaning against the wall of my apartment.
“Hi, Enzo,” I greet. “How are you?”
“I’m alright. How are you?”
“Good, thank you. I’m sorry you were given the task of following me. That can’t be what you want to be doing.”
“It’s not so bad. You don’t go anywhere that would be awkward for me.”
“And where would that be?” I laugh.
“Male strip show, lady stores, lady doctor–”
“Okay, please stop.” I laugh again, holding up my hand. “And what’s a lady store?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Bras, panties, lingerie. Boss would kill me if I had to see you trying shit on like that.”
“Okay, okay, okay. Enzo, first you’d have to be in the dressing room with me to see that, and that wouldn’t happen. And second, I don’t buy lingerie. You can feel free to report that back to Alec.”
Smiling, he shakes his head. “Ready to go? I’m driving you tonight.”
“Why? Sick of tailing me?”
“It would be easier if I just drove you, yes, but tonight you won’t need your car.”
“Why?”
“Because Alec says so.”
“And I’m supposed to do what he says?”
Enzo steps away from the wall and holds his arm out, directing me to walk down the stairs first, giving me my answer.
Closing and locking my door, we head down, and Enzo opens the back door to a black Range Rover for me. “I’m not allowed up front?” I ask, tossing my bag in the back.
“It’s safer in the back.”
“What’s with you guys and safety?”
“It’s a high priority in our business, and your safety especially matters to Alec.”
“Why?”
“You’re still wondering why?” He tilts his head to the side, studying me.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Yes.”
“Get in. You’re going to be late.”
Realizing he’s right, I climb in the back without another word, and Enzo and I ride to The Aces in a comfortable silence.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say, hopping out when we arrive.
“Wait. I’ll walk you in.”
“Enzo,” I challenge, giving him a look. “I’m fine. I promise. Thank you for the ride, and tell Alec I’ll see him at his table in a little while.”
“I will.” He nods, accepting my request like an order.
“Hey,” I say, turning back after taking a step, curious. “Are you the one who sneaks in to leave me my gifts?”
“Yes.”
“Do you watch my shows?” I like knowing Alec is there for me to dance to, but I think I’d feel weird if Enzo was there too.
“No,” he says quickly.
“Alec?” I taunt, smiling, and he nods yes. “Alright, I’ll see you later, I guess. Thanks for the ride, E.”
“E?”
“Yeah. If you’re going to be my new shadow, then I think I should be able to give you a nickname.”
“Just get inside,” he urges, shaking his head. But I see the little smile he’s trying to hide.
Seeing Alec at his table again makes me dance better than I ever have. Every move I make is for him. I let my emotions rule my body, taking over me like I was someone else entirely. Which I feel like I am.
He doesn’t keep to the shadows tonight. Alec has his chair angled in the castoff stage lighting so I can see, as well as feel, his dark eyes following me across the stage.
He didn’t get to see the slight changes I made to my solo last week, and with every bend, twist, and spin of my body, I feel his intensity for me growing. If his desire was a tangible thing to see, it’d be a hazy black cloud surrounding me – filling me, changing me. My heart beats faster, my mind goes foggy, and my blood rushes like a raging river after a huge storm.
My senses are overloaded and all I can see, hear, feel, and think about is Alec. His black smoke of desire and need for me gets thicker and thicker as I dance, as if he thinks he can shield me from everyone else in the audience but him.
With my final leg lift and spin, my skirt fans out, and the crystals that make up the fringe of it glint off the bright lights. I throw Alec a sly smile when I land in a split with a backbend towards him.
The curtain falls, and it takes an extra second for me to get up and walk off stage. I feel like I was just in a trance for the past three and a half minutes, and am only now coming back into my own body and mind.
After the show, I walk back to my dressing area to find a bigger than usual black bouquet of roses with a note.
Enzo will take you up to my place. I’ll be waiting.
-A
Smiling, I bite my lower lip and open the jewelry box, only to have my smile vanish as I take in the necklace. A dark, blood red ruby hangs from a gold chain, matching my earrings perfectly. It’s stunning. Closing the box, I hurry to change and wipe off my makeup.
Alec scares me in the best of ways. I know I shouldn’t accept his gifts. I know I shouldn’t go and meet him again. I know I should stay away from him. But I also know I like the way I feel when I’m around him. I like the way I feel about myself when I’m around him.
He makes me feel seen, beautiful, important, worthy.
I haven’t felt those things about myself in a very long time. The fact that he also screams danger doesn’t even register as a deterrent for me. Because along with that danger comes the promise of life, and I want to feel alive
again.
I want to dance in the summer storm, fully knowing I might get struck by lightning.
I almost welcome it.
“Hey, E.” I smile, finding him waiting for me out in the back hallway.
“Hey, T,” he replies with a small smile.
When we reach the penthouse, Enzo unlocks the door and I step through, my eyes immediately meeting Alec’s, who’s sitting in the chair facing me.
Standing, he buttons his crisp black suit jacket and walks towards me, his eyes holding mine the entire time.
Lord have mercy, he knows how to wear a suit unlike any man I’ve ever seen. As if he walked straight off Milan’s runway and onto the cover of GQ, and then kept walking towards me.
Each step closer stirs the air around me. That force I felt last week at being near him, and have been craving every day since, magnifies to the point of feeling as if I’m physically being pulled into his orbit when he’s right in front of me.
Reaching out, Alec lightly grips my chin between his thumb and forefinger, and I feel the touch straight to my stomach, knotting it up in anticipation and delight.
He turns my head to the side to look over my face. “How are you?” he asks, his low, velvety voice instinctively making my eyes close for a moment and a little sigh to leave my lips.
Everything he does, I react to. I can only imagine how I’ll react when his touch is on more than just my face and his voice is commanding me to do whatever he wants.
Holding back a moan at just the thought of being with him, I sway where I stand, and Alec places his other hand on my hip to steady me. I feel his heat burning me through my thin cotton top, and when my eyes clash with his again, they’re penetrating mine – searching for answers to questions I’m not sure I would even know how to answer.
“I’m taking you out tonight,” he says low, so close to my lips that I can feel his warm breath against mine.
“You are?”
“Yes. Choose anything you’d like from my sister’s closet. Something nice.”
“Okay,” I whisper, the knots in my stomach turning to butterflies.
Stepping back, he releases me, and I take a moment to regain myself before heading off down the hall in a blind haze to the room I stayed in last week.
After a shower, I dry my hair straight and reapply my makeup. I had hoped I wouldn’t be going back to my apartment tonight, so I made sure to bring my makeup and toiletries in anticipation. I bit presumptuous, but I don’t care. I thought about him nonstop this week, and I knew if he was going to be at the show tonight, then maybe I wouldn’t be going home.
I play up my hazel eyes with a nude palette smokey eye and a few extra layers of mascara.
Padding across the room, I walk into the closet and run my hand over the rows and rows of clothes. He said something nice, so I stop in front of the dresses section, one in particular catching my eye straight away.
Smiling, I know it’ll catch Alec’s eye too, so I pull it out and find matching heels and a small purse to go with it.
When I slip it on, I turn in the mirror and smile.
The red cocktail dress fits me like it was made for me. The red satin material is overlain with red lace flowers that seem to grow across my body like vines, inviting the eye to follow the lines.
It hits me mid-thigh so it’s not too short, and the rounded neckline doesn’t show too much cleavage, but the back is what’s the showstopper. Thin straps hold the dress up and then crisscross in three large x’s down the length of my back, tying at the base of my spine.
Reaching back, I tie the satin strings together and then slip my feet into matching red satin heels that tie around my ankles.
I just so happened to have brought my red lipstick with me as a last-minute decision, and when I swipe it across my lips, I can’t help but give myself a sly smile.
If I’m going to be on Alec’s arm, then I need to look like I belong there.
Chapter 8
Alec
Fuck. Me.
Tessa emerges from the hallway and I already regret telling her I was taking her out.
She looks so fucking good. A walking wet dream. I’m going to have to kill every man who looks at her because I know exactly what they’ll be thinking when they are.
Just like on stage, she’s an angel dressed like the devil, tempting me to sin. Begging me to sin.
I have enough of those to my name to buy me a one-way ticket to hell when I die, but tarnishing Tessa will be the bullet train to those fiery gates.
The blood red dress against her flawless tan skin is an all too inviting image for me, and her caramel and honey brown hair is a silken curtain that I can’t wait to grip in my fist as I drive into her.
I want those hazel eyes on me while she has those matching blood red lips wrapped around my cock, taking me so deep inside her hot mouth that I hit the back of her throat.
I don’t do anything to hide how hard I am for her, and when her sexy eyes drop to my lap, I see a blush creep into her cheeks that I can’t wait to feel against my own as I whisper in her ear what I want to do to her.
But I told her I wouldn’t touch her until she’s ready. I want her to beg for me to touch her.
This is on her.
I need to know she needs this just as badly.
Standing, I button my jacket and hold my arm out for her. Looping hers through mine, I pull her close and breathe in her flowery scent, planting a kiss right below her ear. She’s wearing the ruby and diamond earrings I got her.
“You’re stunning, bella.” I feel her shiver at my words and I smile against her skin, stepping even closer so she can feel how hard I am, which sends another shiver through her. Good.
Pulling back, I take in her flushed skin and parted lips. She’s a temptation I’ve never resisted before, but I force away every instinct I have to rip this dress off of her and haul her to my bed so I can keep to the plan I made.
“Let’s go before I decide against letting everyone see you like this.”
“And what about me letting everyone see you?” she asks, her voice soft and breathless, making my blood rush with how come-and-fuck-me she sounds.
She wants to keep me away from other women? Well, fuck me, I’ll welcome her possession just as I know she’ll welcome mine.
Not being able to hold back any longer, I give in to the man I’ve only ever known to be. I take what I want, when I want it. My lips crash down on hers and my arms circle her waist as she falls into me, her body mine to hold. Mine to have. And mine to take care of.
Jesus fucking Christ, her whole back is on display. Spreading my hands out, I feel the little strings holding her dress together, and I think about how easy it would be to rip them apart and free her of the dress. I want to see her.
A soft moan escapes her lips and I tighten my arms around her. My tongue slides against the seam of her lips, the taste of her like the sweet purity of a white rose I fully intend on turning as blood red as her lips.
Her surrender to my touch and my kiss without pause or question is the best gift she could ever give me.
My restraint is teetering on the edge of a fine razor blade, sharpened to kill. If I don’t stop now, I’ll keep going until I’ve carved a place for myself permanently in her so she’ll never be able to forget me.
I’m a selfish bastard who wants this woman so badly, I’m willing to use every ounce of power I have, and everything I know about pleasing a woman to keep her as mine.
With one last sweep of my tongue across her lips, I tease her with what’s to come as I run a single finger down the length of her spine, pulling on the little strings so she knows what I want – her out of this dress.
“Time to go, bella.”
Her eyes flutter open, and they’re so fucking glazed over simply from kissing me, that I hesitate before stepping back.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I walk us toward the door, and I slowly start to feel her regain her composure and walk confidently beside me like she kn
ows she belongs there.
Tessa is either going to be my salvation or my full demise. Either way, I know I’m going to love every fucking minute of it.
Chapter 9
Tessa
As the elevator doors close, the air between Alec and I electrifies with the kiss we just shared.
My brain is a pile a mush, my heart has a rapid beat like the wings of a hummingbird, and my core is throbbing like the steady beat of a bass drum needing the song Alec started to hurry to the crescendo and epic finale.
But that will all have to wait.
With his arm around my waist, he rubs his thumb against my hip, burning his touch through this dress and into my skin.
The doors slide open to the casino floor and I’m struck with the ringing of machines, the low lighting, and smokey air filled with both promise and sorrow.
Walking with Alec is something I’ve never experienced before. Where I usually try and blend in in my everyday life, Alec is the complete opposite. He commands the attention of everyone in any room he’s in, and it’s of no exception here.
I know he owns The Aces, but it also seems like something a little more. I see fear in the eyes of grown men while others avoid looking at him entirely, as if they’re hoping he doesn’t see them.
After their eyes skirt over Alec, they land on me, and I feel both the hatred and jealously from the women and the creepy gazes of men as they take me in. All probably wondering what I did to land the attention of a man like Alec.
As if sensing my discomfort, he squeezes my waist, but we keep walking. People move from our path, giving us a wide lane to pass by, and I feel like I’m on the arm on royalty.
Who is Alec Carfano?
We clear the main casino floor and move through to the corridor that circles this half of the building. It’s where the entrances are to various restaurants, intermittent with high-end jewelry and designer stores where those who hit it big can go and spend their winnings before the liquor wears off and they realize what they just wasted their money on.
The other side of the casino has a similar corridor that leads to the theater where my show is, the concert venue, and the conference center.
Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1) Page 6
