Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1)

by Rebecca Gannon

  The fact that he’s questioning my sanity and my judgment pisses me off, and that in itself goes to show that Tessa is a problem I need to deal with.

  She’s making me crazy. She’s making me look weak to my family, and I can’t have that. I can’t be pussy whipped.

  I haven’t even had her pussy yet and I’m already being driven crazy by it. By her.

  ♠♣♥♦

  Vinny leaves my house and I pour myself a drink. The entire time we were talking, my mind still went right back to Tessa.

  She left before I woke up and called Enzo for help. She needs to learn that that’s not ever happening again. If she needs help, she calls me. If she wants to leave, she can fucking tell me herself. If I let her go is my decision.

  Leaning against the glass windows of my living room, I look down at the city below. My city.

  If Tessa knew who I really was, I doubt she would’ve tried this shit with me. I can have her tracked, followed, and found with the snap of my fingers. She can’t hide. There’s no where she can go that I won’t know or be able to find her.

  Downing the rest of the whiskey in my glass, I slam it on the drink cart and take long, sure strides out of my house, needing to tell her that right now.

  Folding myself into my matte black Audi R8, I peel out of the garage with only one destination on my mind.

  Weaving in and out of the cars on Atlantic Ave, I arrive at Lucy’s Diner in a matter of minutes. My car stands out like a diamond in a pile of rocks, and when I step through the door, every pair of eyes land on me.

  I spot Tessa with her back to me at a table. She places the plates she’s holding down in front of the two men sitting there, each’s eyes roaming over her like she’s theirs to leer at.

  My blood pounds loud in my ears when I see how short her uniform skirt is and how much of her long, tanned, smooth legs are on display for every man in the place to fanaticize about having wrapped around their hips.

  Her long hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and when she turns towards me, it fans out around her shoulder like a silken rope I want to wrap around my fist. I’d pull her head back so I could look into her eyes and see the desire she wears so fucking beautifully for me.

  Seeing me standing here, Tessa’s eyes widen, and she almost drops the tray in her hands.

  My eyes roam over the front of her uniform, and all I see is red. Her tits are pushed up and on display with the low cut of the dress and skin-tight fit to her hips, showing off every sexy curve of her body that is mine to explore. Not the little pencil dick pricks in this place who look at her like they’ll be the ones to give her everything she needs.

  Looking back at the men who she just delivered food to, they shrink at my attention, and I take in their faces, memorizing them for when the time comes that I’ll see them again and teach them what happens when they look at Tessa the way they were.

  Tessa places the tray on the counter and wipes her hands down the front of her apron, her chest heaving with a heavy breath that does nothing to calm me.

  My jaw hurts with how tightly I’m keeping it clenched so I don’t say every thought in my head. I’ve spent my entire life learning when to hold my tongue and when not saying anything is more powerful than words ever could be.

  With small, tentative steps, she closes the distance between us. “What’re you doing here?” she whispers.

  I’m trying to control myself, but the longer I stare down at her, the more riled up I get. How could Enzo not tell me this is what she fucking wears to work?

  Grabbing Tessa by the arm, I practically push her out the front door. She doesn’t protest until we make it outside and away from the door and windows where anyone could hear or see us.

  “What’re you doing, Alec?” she pulls her arm free and crosses them over her chest, pushing her tits up even more.

  “What kind of fucking uniform is that? Do you not see how those men were looking at you?”

  “I wear less on stage and you don’t seem to mind that.”

  “That’s not the same,” I growl, taking a step closer while she takes one back.

  “Is that why you’re here? To complain about my uniform?”

  “No,” I say sharply. “I’m here because you snuck out of my house this morning without a word. Without a note. You called Enzo and begged him to come and get you.”

  “So? Why would you care?” I take another step closer and she takes another back, this time her back hitting the cement wall of the building, not giving her any more space from me. “You left me alone last night.”

  “And you think that means I don’t care?” I counter, and she gives me a small nod. “I left you alone because otherwise I was going to rip that little red dress from your body and spend the night fucking you until you couldn’t walk straight.” Her breath catches, and a flush spreads up her neck. “And I knew you would’ve let me even when you shouldn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  Flashing her a smile that’s all teeth, I close the distance between us. “Because you needed someone who was going to be gentle with you when you were upset, and that man isn’t me.”

  Tessa’s pouty lips are separated in that sexy way I love, making me wish they were wrapped around my cock.

  A low groan rumbles from me and I slam my mouth down on hers, needing to taste her. Needing to feed the beast inside of me that rattles at its chains whenever I’m near her.

  Framing her face with my hands, I angle her how I want and take this kiss from her. My tongue sweeps into her mouth – tasing, exploring, claiming.

  She gives into me without hesitation, her moan a straight shot to my dick as I press my hips into her, knowing that I’m the only thing keeping her upright.

  Tessa’s hands grip the lapels of my suit jacket, begging me to stay where I am. But the fact that we’re out in broad daylight and vulnerable trickles into my mind, and I pull away. She gives me a little grunt of protest and I let my hands drift from her face to down her neck. Gripping her ponytail, she arches her back into me.

  “Later, bella,” I rasp. “We’re too open here. Get in the car.”

  Blinking, her hazel eyes become a little clearer, and she whispers, “No.”

  “No?”

  “I’m working.”

  “You’re not fucking going back to work in there. Not now. Not ever.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t work here anymore, Tessa. Go grab your things. I’ll wait.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t test me on this. There’s no fucking way you’re working here dressed like that, with yourself on display for everyone to see what’s mine.”

  “I’m not on display,” she says softly, her eyes darting away from mine.

  “You are. Those men in there are only thinking about one thing when you’re in front of them. Go get your bag. Now. I’m not feeling very patient.”

  “When are you ever?” she mumbles.

  “Never. It’s best you learn that now.”

  She doesn’t protest again. She just walks back inside the diner and straight through to the kitchen. Emerging less than a minute later, I open the passenger side door for her and she slides right in, the skirt of her dress riding up to show me even more of her thighs.

  I slam the door closed and look over my shoulder to see Enzo leaning against his Range Rover in the parking lot across the street. He lifts his chin, but I don’t respond. He and I need to talk about the arrangement between him and Tessa and decide if I need to assign someone else to her.

  I don’t want either of them getting attached.

  Behind the wheel, I rev the engine, and Tessa lets out a little gasp when I pull out of the lot at a speed she’s not used to.

  “My car,” she says, looking over her shoulder.

  “I’ll have someone drive it to your place.”

  Pulling back into the garage of The Aces, I open her door for her and give her my hand to help her out, and she doesn’t think twice about taking it. Good.

&n
bsp; Chapter 11

  Tessa

  I don’t know what just happened, or why I didn’t fight him harder on it.

  Alec can’t possibly think he can just show up, order me to do something, and then I’ll go along with it without putting up too much of a fight.

  I never saw men leering at me like he suggested, and I never thought my uniform was showing too much. He’s definitely overexaggerating this entire situation.

  It’s like my life suddenly isn’t my own anymore because Alec decided he wanted me, and I need to take some of it back.

  I fought for years to build the life I have for myself. One where I’m surviving. One where I’m breathing. One where I’m able to take care of myself.

  And when someone comes along and tries to tell me any aspect of that life I made for myself is lesser than…

  “Go change,” is all he says when we get inside his place.

  “I don’t have any clothes.”

  He gives me a sharp look that tells me what I already know.

  Sighing, I head down the hall to the guest room and right into his sister’s closet. I feel like I need to meet his sister to tell her how sorry I am her overbearing and demanding brother keeps having me wear her clothes.

  As I’m walking around the closet, an idea strikes me. I’m going to give him exactly what he wants.

  Replacing my uniform with layers of clothes that ends with a winter parka jacket I find on one of the racks, I head out to meet him. And when he sees me, his face shuts down.

  “Are you serious, Tessa?”

  “You wanted me covered up,” I challenge, holding my arms out to the sides.

  “Take it off.”

  Tilting my head to the side, I give him a little smirk that has his seemingly all-knowing eyes narrowing.

  I unzip the jacket slowly while Alec stands so stock still, I wouldn’t think he was here with me if it weren’t for the feel of his eyes following my fingers as I pull the zipper down.

  Letting the jacket fall to the floor, I stand before him in another zip-up jacket, and his eyes follow my fingers again as I pull the zipper down and shrug it off.

  Under that, I have on a black and white snakeskin patterned blouse that has a zipper closure down the entire front of it, and when I start to pull it down, Alec moves in a blur towards me – a panther coming out of hiding to go in for the kill.

  Grabbing the front of the top with one hand, and my ponytail with the other, he yanks my head back so I’m looking up at him.

  His eyes are two pools of an emotion I don’t know. A mix of rage and desire, with the latter trying to fight off the first.

  “What’re you doing?” His voice is holding barely contained restraint, and the rough edges skirt over my skin like a welcome scratch to an itch I’ve had since he first started watching me dance.

  I want to feel what it’s like to have that restraint snap, and to be the one he releases it all on.

  I need him wild. I need him unhinged. I need him so far past being able to control himself that he gives me everything.

  I need everything.

  “I’m giving you what you want. Me covered, but uncovered for you.”

  His hand tightens over mine that’s holding the blouse, and his other pulls my head back even more, the bite of pain making the breath leave my lungs.

  “I told you not to challenge me, bella. I’ll always win.”

  “We’ll see,” I whisper, and he takes my mouth with a sureness I’ve never known, his tongue meeting mine in a fiery dance I never could have choreographed.

  Pulling my ponytail, he rips my lips from his and yanks my head to the side, dragging his mouth up the column of my neck and biting me hard before whispering in my ear, “You’re testing my patience. You’re lucky my response isn’t to kill you like it would be anyone else.” The brush of his lips against my ear has me panting for more of his mouth on me. “I’d rather fuck you into submission. Until you’re so far gone, you’d do anything I tell you to.”

  I can’t stop the moan that leaves me at his words, and I sway into his solid body. My mind is swirling with too many images of what he’s telling me, unable to think straight anymore.

  “You want me to? You want me to give you everything your eyes tell me you want but are too afraid to ask for?” Looking down at me, he stares so deeply into my eyes that I start to feel like he’s inside of my head, demanding entrance to every place I’ve created to hide in.

  He has the power to do this to me.

  He has the power to sweep my mind – making my thoughts his, making my desires his, and leaving me with nowhere to go but directly into his path of destruction.

  “Are you going to beg, mia bella rosa?” The phrase rolls from his tongue like a litany. A call to prayer all my own, delivered by a fallen angel.

  “I need to hear you say it.” His words flow through me like water, lulling me under the current until I’m drowning and have no choice but to beg him for air. Beg him to breathe.

  That’s what he’s asking of me.

  He’s asking to be the air I breathe. To not be able to survive my next breath without him.

  And I’m all too willing to give him that. To let him be that. I don’t have the will to fight him on it.

  Alec’s offering to take me down to the dark depths where he lives, and I don’t know a sweeter place to find bliss.

  How could I possibly deny myself the chance to be free?

  I’ve lived in my own darkness for so long, and I don’t want to walk that path alone anymore. I want to give in to the girl I am on stage. Alec can give me her. And maybe he’ll find a way to help me keep her without letting myself get destroyed along the way.

  “I…” I whisper, my voice not my own.

  Alec’s hand slides up my chest to around the side of my neck. His entire hand is large enough to cover half the circumference.

  “I need you,” I rasp. “Give me everything. Free me. Please,” I beg, leaning into him.

  “Ti darò tutto e di più. Ti lascerò sbocciare, mia bella rosa.”

  Slamming his mouth down on mine, I give in to him. I give in to his beautiful words that I can only assume were an agreement, with his lips now sealing the deal.

  Fire races down my spine when his tongue plunges into my mouth. There’s nothing sweet in this kiss.

  It’s all-consuming.

  It’s primal.

  It’s instinctive.

  It’s wild in a way that can never be duplicated.

  Alec groans into me and I feel it travel through my body like an electric current, sparking alive every nerve ending.

  Everywhere he touches me feels like flames licking at my skin.

  His hands travel down my back to grip my ass, pulling me closer to him, letting me feel his hard body against mine.

  He lifts me up swiftly and I wrap my legs around his hips as he stalks down the hall to his room.

  Throwing us both onto the bed, my back hits the soft bedding, and it feels like too harsh a contrast to him.

  He’s the farthest thing from soft, but I welcome every hard plane he has for me to explore before I go completely insane.

  I feel him between my thighs, his hard length pressing against my center a welcome relief. Moaning, he swallows it like it’s his next meal, taking it from me like it’s his to keep. His to consume.

  His hands are all over me. So much so, that I don’t even know how they can be. Sliding the zipper of the blouse down, he tears his lips away to watch as he pulls the top open, exposing my torso to him.

  As if by miracle, I chose to wear my favorite bra today. It’s a nude pushup with black lace overlay and leather trim, with a little leather bow between my breasts.

  Alec takes a moment to let his eyes roam over me, his hand sliding down the middle of my chest. I arch up into his touch, loving the feel of his hands on me. Against my bare skin like this, it feels like making a deal with the devil – the deepest pleasure I’ll ever know in exchange for my soul. And I’m all too
willing to make the deal.

  I’ll sign in blood if I have to.

  If I spend eternity in hell with Alec for it, then at least I’ll know the fire racing through me is real. At least I’ll always have this.

  I haven’t felt anything in what seems like an eternity. The only time I do, is when I’m on stage or when I’m with Alec.

  He makes me feel.

  He makes me want something more from life than just surviving each day.

  “Così fottutamente bella. Anche meglio di quanto avrei potuto immaginare.” His hot tongue tastes my skin, traveling over the mounds of my breasts, following the cups of my bra.

  I’ve never been with a man before.

  I’ve been kissed by boys. I’ve been on dates with boys who only knew how to feel the shape of my body through my clothes as we frantically groped in the back of his car.

  But I’ve never been with a man.

  I’ve never let a man into my body.

  I’ve never let one close enough to feel what I want them to. I keep it all to myself. Every day. My entire life. All I’ve done is live an existence that did just that – exist.

  After my parents, it was just me and James, and he sure as hell wasn’t letting any boys near me. Then after he died, I was just an eighteen-year-old all alone in the world who had to figure out how I was going to survive on my own. I didn’t have time for the drama and all the uncertainties that come with a man. I couldn’t afford to be flighty and jeopardize my focus on getting through each day.

  But now…

  Now I want it all.

  I’ve never been wanted like this. I’ve never been pursued like this. I’ve never so badly wanted someone who I knew would break me. Break me in every possible definition of the word, and then build me up to be the woman I want to be.

  Tearing the cups of my bra down, his hot mouth latches onto my nipple, sucking it deep into his mouth.

  A strangled groan is torn from my lips as my back arches against him, needing to be closer to him.

  Alec slides his hands under me and unclasps my bra, desperately needing to free me of the offensive fabric.