Page 19 of Casino King

He’s right. But what he doesn’t get is that I can’t be her full-time. I can’t be that Tessa more than just Friday nights. She’s my escape from reality, and I worry that if I play her too often, she won’t be effective anymore, and I never want that Tessa to become mundane or a chore to be.

“I’d like to go now.” I look over to Enzo who I know is trying not to listen to our conversation, but I know has heard everything. “Will you take me down, please?” I ask him kindly.

He looks to Alec and then back to me. “Sure.”

“I’ll just grab my bag.” Standing, I go and get it from the room I was in and then meet Enzo at the front door. I was only gone a minute, but Alec isn’t at the table anymore, and he’s not in the kitchen or living rooms either.

“He had business to attend to,” Enzo tells me, seeing me looking around.

“Okay.” I nod. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 6

Alec

Tessa is going to be the death of me. Punching in the code for the elevator, I ride it down to the basement, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from hitting the fucking the walls.

I’ve never felt so out of control and in need of controlling someone else so much before.

But one of the reasons Tessa is so fucking insanely beautiful is her air of freedom. On stage, she’s wild and free, and I wouldn’t dare tame her. Although when she was sitting in front of me last night, vulnerable and hurt, all I wanted was to hold her. I would do anything to help her and keep her safe – a concept as foreign to me as letting someone out of a gambling debt. Never happens.

I’ve never cared. That’s how I’ve been able to run this city and keep it mine.

Reaching the basement, I walk into our offices to call Leo on my secure line. I would normally do business like this in my penthouse office but I had to leave before I dragged Tessa into my bedroom and never let her leave.

She’s too distracting and I have shit to do that requires my full attention. Also, Tessa fired up and directing it at me… I was close to laying her out on the table and giving her a better use for her passion.

I want to hear her scream.

I want to hear her moan my name as I sink deep inside of her.

Fuck.

Pounding my fist on the table, I punch in Leo’s number. While I was in New York last night, my men broke up another underground gambling ring by the Triads. They’ve been steadily trying to gain a foothold in Atlantic City over the past six months, and this is the third time I’ve had to break up one of their underground games.

I snuff them out every time, and they just come back up like weeds in the darkest corners of my city.

I got the intel Thursday night from one of my private gambling room waitresses. She was asked by a higher-up Triad to come work his underground game, and the fucking bastard didn’t think she’d tell her boss, who then told me.

Loyalty runs deep in my casino. I don’t tolerate anything less.

Sitting back in my chair, I close my eyes briefly while the phone rings, and see Tessa’s hazel eyes staring back at me, begging me to challenge her. Jesus, she’s fucking sexy when she’s riled up. The automatic tightening of my pants is evidence that a woman with fight turns me on more than I thought it would.

I usually need a woman completely under my command, but now the thought of Tessa giving me the same fight and fire in the bedroom as she did this morning has my dick harder than it’s ever been.

“Alec,” Leo answers, his voice clipped. He’s always wound so tight. I don’t even think getting laid would relax him. “What’s this shit with the Triads? I thought we dealt with them.” I can always count on him for getting down to business straight away.

“I have. This is the third fucking time they’ve crept back up thinking they’re going to outsmart me like I don’t have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“Well, clearly they weren’t put off by your other talks with them,” he says harshly, implying I’m not doing my job.

“I did everything but wipe them all out. Is that what you’re suggesting I do, Leo? Because I think we’d have a bigger shit storm on our hands if I did that.”

“Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind once or twice. I’m going to schedule a sit down for us with their leader. They need to be shut the fuck down. They can run their shit underground games from here in the city. But that’s it.”

“Agreed.”

“And with that business done for now, I’m going to need you to tell me why the fuck you think it was a good idea to walk out of the meeting yesterday for some pussy?”

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