by Evelyn Glass
She smiled. “I guess that’s the least I can do, considering the beautiful flowers you sent me. How’d you do that, anyway?”
He grinned at her as he sauntered away to this table. “I’m a man of great mystery and talent.”
I bet you are, she said to herself as she followed to give him her knock for luck.
***
“So, how'd you play while I was gone for two days? Miss me?” Shayna asked in the first break.
Beast gave her a lopsided grin. “I played okay. I’m still in it, but the weak players are out. It’s tough going now. I wasn’t sure the organizers were going to make the hundred player cut by today, but a lot of players folded yesterday. Join me for lunch?”
“I would like to, but I have to stay in the room.”
“Okay.” He debated hanging around with her, but decided that he was hungry. Then another idea occurred to him. “How about dinner tonight after the tournament is over? We can celebrate my moving on to the next round and, more importantly, your good fortune.”
She thought about it a moment. “If you make it to the next round, you’re on.”
He smiled. “How can I lose now that you’re here?”
***
The tournament ended early, a tick after eight, as soon as the organizers hit the magic one hundred players mark. Shayna was exhausted, her feet hurt, and she was looking forward to dinner. As the last few hands were being played, the organizers wheeled a large monitor into the room. As the remaining players counted out their chips, their results were displayed on the monitor. Beast was number thirteen out of a hundred with a little over eight-hundred fifty thousand dollars in winnings, though the top player had a bit over an incredible two and a half million.
“For lady luck,” Beast said from behind her, making her start.
She turned and he held out another five hundred dollar chip. “You don’t have to do that,” she said, looking pointedly at the chip.
“You don’t mess with luck. Take it. I want you to.” When she hesitated, he smiled. “Take it. It means nothing, changes nothing. Just dinner.”
She hesitated a moment longer, then took the chip. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But remember, only fifty bucks of that is yours. The rest belongs to lady luck. Don’t cheat her, okay?”
Shayna smiled. “I wouldn’t think of it. I need a few minutes to change.”
“I have a room. You want to change there?”
“You took a room? Why?”
“I wanted to shower and change before dinner, too. It’s just easier this way.”
“Is that the only reason? Where’d you get the clothes?”
Beast smiled. “Has anyone told you you have a suspicious mind? I’m just offering. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
She looked at him a moment and then decided it would be nice to not have to change in the employee locker room. Besides, it will be good to see if he’s conning me. “Thanks. What’s the number?”
He handed her the pass-card. “3425. Let yourself in.”
She arrived at room 3425, suit in hand, but stood in the hall a moment before touching the card to the lock beside the door. Tops had thirty-five floors, the top two floors reserved for suites. The smaller two room suites were on thirty-four, the lavish five room suites on thirty-five.
She stepped into the room and felt a chill. She’d never been in the guest rooms, and the view was stunning, the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the glitter of Las Vegas, then the desert beyond. She laid her suit over the back of a leather chair as she stepped to the windows and gazed out at the lights.
“Some view, huh?” Beast said as he stepped out of the bedroom to her right. He was wearing pants, but no shirt, socks, nor shoes as he continued to scrub his hair. She didn’t know what she’d rather look at, the lights or Beast.
He wasn’t a particularly big man, only about six feet tall, nor was he overly muscled, but she admired his form all the same. Once again, he reminded her of a cat, taunt with controlled power. He was built like an athlete, lean but every muscle clearly defined. While the woman in her admired his body, the doctor immediately noticed the scar. A long diagonal cut from his left shoulder, across his chest, ending somewhere around rib number six or seven on his right side, following almost exactly the path a seatbelt would take. The human thorax was one of the most protected parts of the body, so the cut probably wasn’t life-threatening, but it had to have hurt like a bitch!
“Yes,” she replied softly, tearing her eyes away from him and looking out the window again.
“You want to shower first?”
“First?”
He grinned at her. “Before you change. Unless you’re going to wear your hostess uniform,” he said, his words dripping with mirth.
“Oh! Sure, thanks.” She picked up her suit and carried it with her into the bedroom, glancing behind her to see if he was watching. He wasn’t, his back to her as he looked out the windows, and she didn’t know if she was disappointed or not. Before she turned away, she noticed another scar on his back, a smaller one over his left shoulder blade. Another none life-threating cut, but like the first, it had to have been incredibly painful. What the hell happened to him? she wondered as she turned away and laid the suit on the bed.
Ten minutes later, she peeked out of the bathroom. Beast wasn’t in sight and the bedroom door was still closed. She stepped out and quickly redressed in her suit from the morning before applying a bit of eye shadow and a hint of lip gloss from her bag.
She tugged her suit as she looked at herself in the mirror and then opened the bedroom door. Beast was sitting in a chair, a tumbler of something amber in his hand. He was dressed in khaki pants and a black polo that made him look good enough to eat.
“Holy shit! I’m seriously underdressed. I should have told my guys to bring me a suit. Is that what you wear to work every day?”
That explains how he got the clothes. “No. I came here straight from my interview this morning.” She shrugged out of the jacket and laid it across the back of the couch. “Better?”
“I still feel like a hobo, but not as much. Are you ready?”
“If you are.”
Beast sat the tumbler aside and stood, waiting until she arrived at his side. “Will you hold it against me if I tell you that you look stunning?”
She smiled. “I don’t know. Why don’t we find out?”
“You look absolutely stunning,” he said with a smile.
“Why thank you, Conor.”
He chuckled under his breath and opened the door.
***
When they stepped out of the Casino, he pulled her to a stop, holding her elbow as a White Mercedes oozed to a stop in front of them. He opened the door to the big car. “After you.”
She slid in, scooting across the seat to make room. “Nice car,” she said as he sat down beside her. It was kind of nice having a guy trying to impress her.
“Company car. I wanted to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine tonight. We have three of these armored limos, and they weren’t being used, so…”
“Where are we going?” she asked, checking out the interior of the car. She’d never been in the back of a Mercedes before, but if he hadn’t told her the car was armored, there was nothing inside that gave it away as anything other than another big Mercedes.
“Rincón Criollo. You know where that is, Rip?”
“That’s in the Arts District, isn’t it?” the driver asked as he pulled away. He wasn’t dressed like any chauffeur she’d ever seen. Though he was clean cut like Beast, he was wearing a leather jacket like the one she’d seen on Beast Tuesday night.
“That’s the place,” he confirmed then turned his attention to her. “Hope you like Cuban food,” he said more softly.
“I’ve never been there, but I’ve wanted to try it.” She smiled and settled back into the sumptuous leather seat. At first she thought he was trying to impress her, but as she thou
ght about it, she decided she was more impressed that he wasn’t trying to impress her. He was being himself, comfortable with who he was, and that made her comfortable.
Shayna sipped her wine, watching Beast over the rim of her glass. He’d been the perfect gentleman all evening as they’d talked about whatever came up, the conversation flowing easily between them. He’d told her a bit of the history of the Desert Reapers and she has told him about her life as an Air Force brat.
He was seducing her without even trying, his calm confidence like catnip. He was being himself, smiling and laughing, occasionally touching her but never in a way that made her uncomfortable or feel pressured. Once again she marveled at the difference between Beast and Steve, and the difference between perception and reality.
Beast could sense the change in his and Shayna’s relationship. She was relaxing around him, letting her guard down a little at a time. The more he saw into her personality, the more he liked her. She was just as stunning, and just as sexy, but as the evening had progressed he discovered she had a wickedly dry sense of humor and as he’d guessed, she was definitely her own woman, sure of herself and comfortable with who she was. He liked that about her. He’d had his fill of women that wanted to be whatever it was that he wanted them to be.
“You ready to go?” he asked as he looked at the check.
“No, but I guess we should. At least I don’t have to work tomorrow.”
“Yeah. I could use a break myself. Poker was a lot more fun before it became my job.”
She laughed. “I have to admire you. I don’t know that I could bet everything I have, including my house, on cards. That takes nerves of steel.”
He looked at the bill then shrugged as he tossed four twenties on the table. She hadn’t seen the bill, but knew from the menu about what their meal cost. He was leaving something like thirty-five percent for a tip and she nodded to herself in approval. Not excessive, but the service was good and he was tipping accordingly.
“Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. That’s what Dad did when he decided to pull the Reapers out of guns. He didn’t know how he was going to replace that revenue stream, but he knew it was the right thing to do to grow the club. Same for me.”
“And you don’t know what you want to do if you win?”
“No, but I have faith that when the time comes, I’ll know.”
They walked out, Beast looking about until he spotted the car. “Over here,” he said, taking her elbow and steering her toward the car.
Rip was leaning against the car, playing with his phone until he saw them approaching. He began to move toward the rear of the car before Beast waved him off. Rip was just sliding behind the wheel as Beast opened the door and she slid in. He closed it then hurried around the car, getting in on the other side.
“I had a great time tonight. Thank you,” she said, leaning toward him slightly.
He kissed her softly on the lips. “I enjoyed it, too,” he said as he pulled back. “Thank you for going.” He looked at her a moment then smiled. “Now that I’ve kissed you, do you think you can tell me your last name?”
She twittered out a laugh. “Shephard. You?”
“Boyd.”
“Conor Boyd. I like it. It’s better than Beast. Beast Boyd sounds like a professional wrestler or something.”
Now it was his turn to chuckle. “Hey, I didn’t pick it, it was given to me.”
“And your father was Animal and your grandfather Grizzly, I remember.”
“Bear. Grizzly is actually the name of the VP of The Scarred.”
“Oh, yeah, Bear. That’s right. Scarred? Who are they?”
“Nobody. Just another club. They took over the gun running from the Reapers.”
“It’s funny that another club has a guy named Grizzly when your grandfather was named Bear. You two related?”
Beast shook his head slowly. “No. Grizzly is my Dad’s age and was a member of the Reapers until Dad started pulling out of guns. Granddad tagged him with that. The club went through some lean times for a while and we lost a few members. Grizzly was one of them. Then The Scarred picked him up. He’ll probably be their next president. Pissed Dad off like you wouldn’t believe when he turned up in a competing club.”
“What about your grandfather?”
“He died before he found out. Cancer. Too many cigarettes for too many years.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not. He was a USDA approved, grade A large, bastard.”
Shayna nodded. She loved her grandparents, but it was obvious Beast didn’t feel the same about his.
“You haven’t told me how your Dad died.”
Beast thought a moment then decided to tell her the truth. “Murdered. Killed by a member of The Scarred.”
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”
“Yeah. That was tough. It nearly led to war between our clubs.” He paused then shook it off. “That’s old news and I don’t want to drag down a wonderful evening over things past.”
She sat quietly, thinking. Beast was more like a businessman than a thug and she had a hard time reconciling the disparity between his world and how he acted. She was still mulling over what he’d told her as the car glided to a stop at Tops.
“Are you coming up to the room?” he asked as he opened the door and slid out.
“Why?”
“Your jacket and uniform are up there. I can send them to you if you prefer.”
She giggled. She’d completely forgotten her clothes, and she did want to go to his room, but not just for the clothes. “I’ll come up and get them.”
They rode the external express elevator to the suite floors in silence, looking out over the city as it fell away beneath them. When the door dinged, Shayna felt her heart speeding up. She wanted him so badly, but she’d never slept with anyone after only one date. Better to get your jacket and uniform and leave, her angel whispered. Screw that! You want to fuck! her demon countered.
He opened the door and she followed him in, leaning against the door after it closed as her angel and demon engaged in a knock-down drag-out in her mind. He noticed that she wasn’t following and was leaning against the door as her eyes bored into him. He smiled and stepped back to the door and placed a hand on either side of her head. He leaned in closer still, his lips only millimeters from hers before he stopped.
She could feel his breath, warm and seductive. She was trapped, his body hemming her in, but instead of frightening her, it excited her. He wanted her, she could feel it pouring off of him in waves, but other than the soft kiss in the car, he’d made no advances. Even now, trapped against the door, he was holding back and not trying to force himself on her. Fuck him, her demon whispered. No! You don’t know him, her angel gasped.
“I need to get my clothes.”
He stepped back, disappointed but refusing to show it. He’d never forced himself on a woman, and he wasn’t starting tonight, especially with Shayna. He’d have her, but it would be when she was ready.
When he stepped back, giving her space and allowing her to escape, her heart fluttered. Fuck him! her demon cried and her angel had no response. “In the morning,” she whispered moving forward and rising to her toes to reach his lips.
He didn’t have time to smile as she leaned forward, melted into his arms, and kissed him thoroughly. He shoved her back against the door, leaning in this time, pressing his body into hers. He wanted her. He wanted her as badly as any woman he’d ever been with. He backed off, breathing hard, getting control of himself and giving her one last chance to change her mind before he took her. Her tugging at his belt was all the assurance he needed.
She moaned as Beast leaned in again, taking her lips as she pulled at his trousers. She opened her mouth and accepted his tongue as she offered her own. The first kiss as he pinned her to the door was electrifying, but his follow up kiss was torrid! As their lips parted, he pulled her blouse over her head and threw it away before roughly caressing her breasts
as his lips and tongue ravished her neck. She groaned softly, opening his pants to reach inside and caress his manhood. She was incandescent with desire, her need consuming her like a flame as they writhed and twisted against each other, Beast dry fucking her as he slowly pumped his hips against her.
He backed off slightly and pulled her skirt down before reaching inside her hose, pressing two fingers into her wetness, her gasp as she squirmed against his hand making his blood run hot and fast.
He took a half-step back before pulling his shirt roughly over his head, then shoved his pants down before pressing into her again. His lips found her neck as he thrust slowly against her stomach and his hand slithered into her hose again. He touched her button, his feather light stroke sending a jolt of energy through her, making her gasp as her nails bit into his back.
