Page 56 of Hers to Claim

Cisco handed her off to Dante before she could give voice to her plan. “Call me if you need anything.” He dropped a lingering kiss on her lips that had her following him when he withdrew. With a chuckle, he stepped back. “Go. Have fun.”

“I’ll have her back before the sun comes up.” Dante grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Maybe.” He led herthrough the front door and out to the curb where a very sexy convertible waited in the darkening twilight.

She hesitated as soon as she understood that they were taking this car. It was so open and so exposed. Whenever she traveled outside the compound it was in the limo that felt more like a rolling tank.

Rio took her hand and smiled. “Pris spelled it so it will not only stop a bullet, but the wind won’t screw up your hair either.”

Mari reached out with her magic, sensing the familiar resonance of Pricilla’s power. It wrapped the car in a comforting blanket of security that she was convinced would do exactly what Rio had said. She nodded and let him pull her forward.

Once she was settled in the front seat with the belt snugged across her, Rio leaned in to kiss her. “I have it on good authority that if you’re amenable, he plans to fuck you in back seat at the end of the night.”

She laughed as he pulled away and jumped lithely into the back seat.

Dante slid into the driver’s seat. “What’s funny?”

“Rio was trying to relax me by telling me you wanted to get frisky in the backseat later.”

“Oh.” He grinned. “I would have thought that was obvious. Why else have this car?”

She raised an eyebrow as she appraised him. “Where are you planning on initiating that?”

The car rumbled to life. “In the parking garage. Not sure yet if the top will be up or not.”

Mari squirmed in her seat as she thought about what that might be like. The excitement of potentially getting caught. The illicitness of being out in the open. A shiver raised goosebumps all over her.

From the back seat, Rio cackled. “Maybe I’ll offer pointers.”

Dante looked into the mirror and winked back at him. “You can join if you want. Or just watch. Whatever.”

The car purred as it pulled away under Dante’s capable hands. They were conspiring to make her self-combust and they hadn’t even left the driveway yet. She sat back and enjoyed the ride with anticipation tickling through her.

They drove out of the foothills and into the city proper, first through the neighborhoods where people lived and then into the stop-and-go that was the hallmark of the places where tourists outnumbered the locals.

After a while they turned onto the Strip and cruised slowly down. Dante put his arm up between the seats to stroke her shoulder as he drove. She knew he was letting her have the experience of being out among the glitz of the city she so rarely saw from this vantage. The lights and energy of the crowds on the sidewalks made her smile.

When they pulled into the Cosmopolitan, Mari sat up straighter.

Smiling, Dante ran his thumb up the column of her neck. “I’m glad I guessed right.”

“About what?”

“That you wanted classy.” He parked at the valet stand and went to talk to the attendant while Rio jumped out and opened her door.

Rio helped her out of the car and tucked her hand around his bare arm.

“Did you tell him I’d always wanted to come here?”

Rio shook his head. “He just knows you pretty well, I guess.”

When Dante walked up, Rio passed her off to him and took up a position on her other side as they entered the building. They walked through the hotel lobby. The large displays showed artistic sensual photographs that she glanced over as theywalked over the shiny floors at a pace designed to let her enjoy everything.

The casino floor was alive with so many sights and sounds that she didn’t know where to look next. Dante rested one hand on the small of her back, his fingers stroking her skin through the lacing.

She smiled up at him. “Thank you for this.”

“We haven’t even done anything yet.”

“I know, but thanks for thinking of me and understanding me. It just means a lot.”

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