Page 51 of Casino King

“That doesn’t matter. He’ll pay. No one gets away with hurting you or those you care about. Never again.” I can see the absolution in his eyes. The determination to exact vengeance for me and my brother.

I don’t know how he’ll find out who did it, but I don’t have the energy to question him right now. Because somehow, I know that if Alec says he’ll find him, then he will.

“I’ll always protect you.” Cupping the side of my neck in the possessive way I love, Alec kisses me softly, slowly deepening it until all that’s on my mind is him.

My hands slide up and around his neck, my nails scratching at the base there. Rumbling his approval, he holds me even tighter, pressing me so close that I have no room to breathe. But I don’t need to. I just need him. He supplies me my oxygen.

I don’t know when it exactly happened, but I need him. Since the moment I first felt him there in the shadows watching me, his complete and utter attention on me, I think I’ve needed him.

“Take me home with you, Alec,” I whisper against his lips when we separate.

With a groan, he kisses me, his thumb stroking the front of my neck as the pads of his fingers dig a little deeper in the back.

I lead the way back across the rocks, careful to not slip and fall between them since my brain is a mess of too many emotions I’m trying to filter through.

Where the inside of his car felt like a hidden sanctuary on the ride here, it now feels as if it’s too small. It’s suffocating. The air is thick with all that’s been said and unsaid between us. All the questions I didn’t want to ask him out on the jetty are now flooding me like a broken dam.

What did he mean his men will find the man responsible? How? Who are his men?

Just like when Enzo said I’m boss’s girl…

He makes it sound like…

I play with the ring on my middle finger as a tingling sensation creeps down my spine. My eyes dart to Alec’s hand on the gearshift and I see the faint lines of scars on his knuckles and fingers.

He’s more than he says he is.

I’ve felt his danger and power from the beginning, but I didn’t want to think too much into why. Why the owner of a hotel and casino would instill fear in everyone around him. Why he talks of an army of men so casually. Why I have a bodyguard. Why the security at The Aces seems to be military grade. If I stopped to wonder, then I might have run in the opposite direction instead of straight into his arms.

I try and discretely take shallow breaths to rid my lungs of the constricted, oppressed feeling they’re in, but he notices. He notices everything about me. His attention is always zeroed in on my every move.

“Relax,” he soothes, his voice dropping to that octave that makes my stomach simultaneously twist and melt.

“I am,” I tell him, but my voice is far from sounding relaxed.

“Don’t lie to me, Tessa. Never lie to me,” he says with an edge.

Biting my lower lip, I turn to face the window so he can’t see my reaction to him.

I’m not scared of him for myself. I know deep down he would never hurt me. Not physically at least. But hearing him threaten the life of a man who’s haunted my nightmares for six years, and who’s had me checking every shadow wherever I go, makes me realize just how deadly Alec is.

He said he took care of the man who attacked me…

That scary guy dragged him down to the basement. The basement…

What’s in the basement?

Swallowing hard, I smooth my hands out on my pants as we pull into the parking garage of The Aces.

Grabbing my dance bag from the trunk, Alec places his hand on my lower back as he guides me towards the elevator. I avoid the eyes of the man standing guard next to it, his presence suddenly holding more meaning than I let myself see before.

Walking me straight to his room when we get inside his penthouse, Alec places my bag in the closet. “Take a hot bath. Relax. Take as much time as you need.” Tilting my chin up so I’ll look at him, he says, “I’ll be in my office making a few calls if you need me.”

“Okay,” I whisper, and he nods, leaving me alone to collect myself. I don’t know how he knows I need to be alone, but I’m grateful.

I soak in a hot bath filled with lavender salts to relax, and when the water turns cool, I reluctantly drain the tub and shower off.

Putting on the extra leggings and t-shirt I had in my dance bag, I head into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. But when I reach for a cup up in the cabinet, I hear Alec’s raised voice floating down from the hall on the other side of the dining room where I know his office is.

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