Vegas Bites

by Dunbar, Natalie; Glass, Seressia; Jeffries, J. M. ; Banks, L. A.

  She faced him, wanting to see his eyes, see his intent clearly. “You want to marry me for a metaphysical green card.”

  His expression blanked. “If you want to call it that, then yes.”

  Well. She certainly didn’t harbor any fantasies that they’d marry for love, but he didn’t have to make it seem so cold. “Why don’t I just bind you instead?” she asked, trying to sound reasonable even as she said the words. “That’s all it will really take, right? This guy can’t bind you if you’re bound to someone else. I could just say the words or make a wish, and it’d be done.”

  His dark eyes remained steady on her face. “You could, if you knew the spell,” he admitted. “Would you do that, Simone? Bind me so that I’d be powerless except by your will, instead of equal partners in a marriage? Would you enslave me, do to me what was done to your parents?”

  She blinked as sudden, frustrated tears crystallized her vision. She’d had enough horror stories from her parents about slavery to automatically reject the idea. “The human in me wouldn’t, but the wolf will do anything to protect the clan. It’s survival instinct.”

  “It’s the same for me.”

  “Why didn’t you just ask me?” she wondered. “After nearly a year of dinners and conversation, why didn’t you just ask me straight out to marry you?”

  A half-smile crooked his lips. “Because you would have refused me,” he answered, simply. “You wouldn’t have chosen me on my own merits, even knowing I’m a Djinn.”

  “That’s not true!” she exclaimed, stung by his soft accusation. She wanted to think that she’d have said yes to him in any other situation but this. But hadn’t she dismissed the idea of being lovers, simply because he wasn’t Were?

  “Are you sure about that?” he retorted, his anger flaring. “You were considering giving yourself to a rival pack leader to protect your pack, simply because he was a wolf. Do you not think me capable of making the same contribution, even though I am not a Were?”

  After what she’d seen earlier, she knew he was more than capable. He’d helped her fight her enemies, helped her heal. He’d claimed her as a wolf suitor would have, and better. By wolf logic, they were already mated. It was her stupid human side that had to nitpick everything.

  Apparently, she’d been silent too long. He strode toward her, his brows lowering. “Fine, you need convincing? Perhaps this will convince you.”

  At the snap of his fingers, a document appeared on the coffee table. She recognized the contract she’d stuffed into her purse before leaving the hotel. Another snap of his fingers, and a pen appeared in his free hand. Before she could speak, he bent, scrawling his signature across the bottom of the last page. “Here.”

  She didn’t reach for the contract. “I want a ring.”

  “What?”

  “No one’s going to believe I got engaged if I don’t have a ring,” she explained, wrapping her arms around her waist. “I’m already going to be hard-pressed to convince my parents that we had a whirlwind courtship. They probably assumed I’d try to catch a beta’s eye in order to back up my brother, if I didn’t marry for love.”

  He focused on her face, his eyes searching hers. “You’re agreeing to marry me. Even though you already have what you want?”

  “If I marry you, I’m off-market,” she said, amazed at how cold and rational her voice sounded. Her wolf logic had made the decision easy. “You get your Djinn free pass, and my clan gains a powerful ally.”

  His expression drained to nothing. “Are you trying to trick me?”

  “Me, trick the master of deception?” She gave a half-laugh. “That’s rich, coming from you. No, I’m not trying to trick you. I’m just being pragmatic. We each have something the other wants. We can protect each other. It makes sense for us to approach this as a business deal between friends, a business deal with bonuses.”

  “Bonuses.” He made the word sound distasteful.

  “Yeah.” She looked away. “We’re going to be engaged. Once we spread the story of a whirlwind courtship, people will expect us to continue to sleep together.”

  He snorted. “Heaven forbid we should disappoint them.”

  She winced, but didn’t back down. “We were friends before we got physical, we can still be friends now. And lovers.”

  “And husband and wife.”

  “And husband and wife,” she repeated, managing not to stumble over the words. “Just because this isn’t about love doesn’t mean we should ignore the fact that we’re good in bed together. A lot of marriages don’t start this well.”

  “Then I suppose we should make this official.” He reached into his pocket, withdrew a navy velvet box. A box Simone knew hadn’t been there before, since she’d watched him pull the pants out of a dresser drawer.

  He stepped closer to her, opening the box before turning it toward her. Nestled on the dark blue velvet was a princess-cut diamond, perched atop a simple platinum band. Simple and elegant, except for the fact that the flawless stone was easily three carats and gleamed like a searchlight.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, feeling as if she should say something. It looked real, but then a lot of things in Vegas looked real, if you chose not to examine them too closely.

  “I’ll be as real to you as this ring is,” he said, pulling the ring free of the box. “No more tricks between us, no more games. Will you marry me, Simone?”

  She looked up into his solemn face, and gave the only answer she could. “Yes.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. Relief? Joy? She had no clue, and she didn’t want to ask. No more tricks probably also meant no more lies, and she didn’t want the truth of his answer just then.

  “There’s just one thing,” she said as he slipped the ring over the tip of her finger. His hand stopped, his eyes boring into hers. “What thing is that?”

  “Cheat on me, and I’ll rip your throat out.”

  The smile he gave her almost made her forget he wasn’t a wolf. “Glad to hear it. As long as you realize I feel the same way.” He pushed the ring home. The diamond sparkled on her hand like the most brilliant of lies.

  Awkward silence fell. Simone tried not to look at her hand, tried not to think about how heavy it suddenly felt. Was she supposed to hug and kiss him, or shake hands and say thank you? Things were a lot more complicated than they’d been when she’d awakened earlier.

  “There’s no way I can make it back to the hotel tonight,” she said then. “It’s been a long trip of a night, and I can’t face my parents until I’ve had a good night’s sleep.”

  “Of course.” He stepped away from her. “There’s a guest room just down the hall, a bathroom across from it.” He headed for the dining table.

  “Uh, Kadim?”

  He turned, his expression polite and non-committal. She missed the sparks in his eyes. A few hours into being intimately involved with her, and he’d already lost his smile.

  Inexplicably feeling near tears, she tried to lighten the mood. “You don’t really expect me to sleep in the guest bedroom?” “I don’t know what to expect with you, Simone,” he said. “You are the most unpredictable woman I’ve ever met. It’s much safer to never assume anything about you.”

  “Thank you, I think.” She stepped closer to him, pulling down the zipper on her jacket. She wanted to feel his arms around her, feel his warmth surround her again.

  “Stop.” He settled his hands on her shoulders, preventing her from removing the jacket. “There’s no one here for you to keep up appearances for.”

  It would have been too easy for her to be hurt by his words or think that he was refusing her, but she could hear the pounding of his blood, hear his heart rate increase. He still wanted her, and that knowledge gave her courage. “To hell with appearances. I have no intention of giving up those silk sheets of yours. Or anything else of yours, for that matter.”

  There. Desire rekindled the sparks deep in his gaze. He scooped her into his arms, began climbing the stairs. “As my lady comm
ands.”

  Chapter Six

  “So you’re a Djinni, and you want to marry our daughter.”

  Simone sat next to Kadim on the couch in her father’s office, trying not to tense up under her father’s scrutiny. She shifted closer to Kadim, forcing herself to relax into the crook of his shoulder. She couldn’t feel any tension in him, couldn’t scent any unease. How could he be so calm when her brother and parents were sizing him up as a possible hunt?

  Her parents sat beside each other on a plush brocade couch the color of dried blood, Malcolm standing behind them. They’d been silent as she’d told them everything that had happened the previous night, including the fact that Kadim was Djinn. Almost everything, that is. There were some things she wouldn’t share with her relatives, like how many orgasms she’d had in twenty-four hours.

  “I do, sir,” Kadim said, holding her father’s gaze for a heartbeat longer than necessary or prudent. “I want that very much.”

  “Why?” Malcolm said from his place behind their parents. “You’re already making bank on your stage show alone. You can’t inherit Simone’s part of the hotel. If she dies, it goes to the clan.”

  “He doesn’t care about the hotel,” Simone interjected, not liking the way they were ganging up on him. She wondered where Solange was, or Laurel for that matter. Then again, this was core family business. Laurel didn’t think much of her anyway, and Simone didn’t want her best friend witnessing her getting chewed out.

  Simone, Kadim’s voice circled through her mind. It’s all right.

  No it isn’t, she retorted, not even questioning him projecting his thoughts into her mind. It wasn’t the same as being a mind reader, not really. If he knew what she was really thinking, really feeling— well, not only would he know more than she knew herself, he’d probably be on the first express to Djinn-land.

  His fingers reached out, wrapped around hers. It will be all right, Simone. Trust me. His thoughts were as warm as his voice, she realized, and forced herself to relax.

  “She’s right,” Kadim said, his voice like warm honey. “I don’t want a part of the French Quarter, other than to continue my show. I’m more than happy to sign a pre-nuptial agreement to that effect.”

  “So you’d leave my daughter wanting?” her father wondered, the mildness of his tone belying the fierceness of his expression. Malcolm had inherited more than looks from their father. Simone knew her father planned to spend a great deal of his retirement hunting in Alaska. On all fours.

  “Not at all.” Kadim glanced at her, his dark eyes solemn. “Simone knows that she could have anything she wishes for. Within reason, anyway. There are some wishes even I cannot grant.”

  Simone swallowed, trying to breathe around the lump in her throat. The change in his tone sounded sad to her. Why would Kadim be sad, when she’d agreed to everything he’d wanted?

  Her mother shifted on the couch, drawing her attention. “I’d like to ask you a question, Kadim, if I may.”

  Kadim straightened. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “Why would a Djinn want to marry a werewolf? For that matter, out of all the female Weres in the hotel, why choose our daughter?”

  Simone watched a smile brighten Kadim’s face. “You’d do better to ask me how could I not choose her. She wasn’t the first wolf I saw. But I saw no one else once I saw her.”

  His voice dropped as he lifted their entwined hands, captured her gaze. “I remember how you walked across the casino floor, outshining every game, every light. I remember how soft your eyes were when you looked at me, the way you smiled at me even though I was just one person out of hundreds you’d passed. I saw the fire inside you, and I wanted it. I wanted you.”

  “Kadim,” she began, and then stopped, unable to speak past the sudden tightness in her throat. He sounded sincere, so sincere that she wanted to believe him. God, she needed to believe the slow and steady pounding of his heart, his bluntly eloquent words. But the master trickster was just saying these things to convince her parents, not because he meant them, right? Then why couldn’t she smell his lie?

  He squeezed her fingers, lightly, and then looked back to her family. “I meant no disrespect by concealing my true nature from you,” he said, his voice clear. “And once I fell for Simone, I wanted her to want me as a man, not a Djinn. She showed me just that, when she faced down Hudgens and his men in the woods. I will be a good partner for her. I will protect her as she will protect me. The Temple clan will become my family, and I agree to be ruled by the laws of the clan.”

  Malcolm, of course, snorted his disbelief, but Simone knew if she couldn’t scent Kadim’s falsity, neither could they. Her father sat back against the sofa cushions, his expression polite. Then he turned to her mother. “Essie?”

  Esther Temple nodded, her hand resting lightly on her husband’s knee. “Simone, what do you say to Kadim’s words?”

  She rose, keeping his hand tangled in hers. “Kadim doesn’t have to prove his words to me,” she declared, determined to speak nothing but truth. “He defended me against Hudgens. Healed me when I got stuck between. Claimed me in the way of the wolf. He’s done everything one mate would do for the other.”

  She turned slightly, catching his gaze. “He’s the most amazing man I’ve ever known. I couldn’t ask for more in a mate.”

  “Except a wolf,” Malcolm pointed out.

  “He’s better than a wolf,” Simone retorted on a snarl. “And if you’d take the stick out of your ass, you’d realize that.”

  “Simone.” Kadim’s voice slid over her skin, but it was his laughter in her mind, warm and luxurious as a hot shower, that truly warmed her. Without another word, she sat beside him, curling into his natural heat. She smoothed down the skirt of her bronze silk halter dress, remembering how Kadim had conjured it for her after she’d frantically ransacked his closets looking for something to wear to this all-important meeting. It reminded her of his silk sheets, and the magic they’d made in his bed. The dress had been a deliberate choice on his part, no doubt.

  Feeling a sudden increase in heat, she looked up to find him watching her. You know exactly what I’m thinking about, don’t you?

  I see your hand stroking your skirt, and I’m reminded of other things your hand has stroked. His thoughts simmered in her mind. I was simply hoping you were thinking what I’m thinking.

  Heat suffused her cheeks, and she had to drop her head to hide it. This would work, she thought. With this much sexual energy between them, she could make him forget that he’d decided to marry her out of necessity.

  He stiffened beside her, a heartbeat before her father cleared her throat. “I think I’ve heard—and seen—enough,” Julius Temple said, rising to his feet. “Welcome to the family, son.”

  Kadim rose to his feet, and clasped her father’s outstretched hand. “Thank you, sir. It’s an honor.”

  Malcolm edged his way around the couch. “I want to thank you for taking care of Hudgens,” he said to Kadim. “If I’d known what he’d planned, he wouldn’t have left the building alive. And I like that you have no qualms about protecting and defending my sister. You extend that to the clan, you’ll be a welcome addition.”

  “I can and I will.” They locked hands and eyes, longer than necessary. Then Kadim dropped his eyes, and Simone breathed a sigh of relief. Challenging the alpha-in-waiting wasn’t the way to get on the family’s good side, but Kadim owed Malcolm for those digs.

  “So,” her mother slid forward on the couch, capturing her attention. “I think it will be perfect to announce your upcoming nuptials at the party at the end of the week. Do you want Vera or someone else to design your gown?”

  “Gown?” Simone’s hand fluttered upward, tucked a nonexistent stray lock of hair behind her ear. “As in wedding gown?”

  “Of course, dear,” her mother said. “This will be the event of the year, one of the Temple children finally getting married. We’ll have to do it up right.”

  Simone swallowed, looked to Kadim. S
he knew he wanted the deed done sooner rather than later, but she hadn’t said no to her mother in the last hundred years. It would be a hard habit to break, if her mother didn’t break her first. “We were hoping for a simple ceremony.”

  “Even if it’s just the clan at the ceremony, there won’t be anything simple about it,” Julius said. “I know it’s your day, sweetheart, but it’s an even bigger day for the standing of our clan. We’ll have to invite the who’s who of the Were community, whether that’s to the wedding or only to the reception afterwards.”

  Simone bit her lip. Like every other girl child, she’d dreamed of having an elaborate wedding, complete with a ridiculously expensive and ornamental gown. That was years—decades—ago, though, before the political responsibilities of being the Temple Clan heiress began to weigh on her.

  Kadim put his hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t be opposed to a fairytale wedding, should you want it. Wedding celebrations among my people can last more than a week.”

  Simone almost snorted. Fairytale wedding, indeed. She could see the laughter in her trickster fiancé’s eyes. Though she supposed marrying one of the Djinn was as close to a fairytale as she would get.

  “There’s no harm in doing this up right,” Malcolm said. “The lawyers are going to want to take their time on the pre-nups as it is. Besides, it’s not like you two are waiting for a preacher’s blessing before doing the deed. Your scents are all over each other.”

  Simone jumped to her feet. “Well, at least I’ve got someone’s scent all over me!” “Kids.” Esther rose as well, smiling at Kadim. “Are you sure you want to marry into this?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Then welcome to the family, crazy as it is.”

  Simone watched Kadim’s face as her mother hugged him. He looked happy.

  Her heart gave a little trip. Kadim was going to be her husband. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together, and she had no clue how long that would be. As a born Were she had another two centuries or so before she hit old age. What was the lifespan for a creature of pure magic and fire?