“Bellissimo.”
She cocks her head to the side.
“You, not the casino. And what club are you referring to?”
She shrugs and grabs a pen. Isn’t there a nightclub in this place?
I grin at her. “Yeah, but it’s probably not happening. It’s just a place for drunk guests to hook up, not a rave hall or anything.”
She flips to a new page. Spread the word. DJ Pepper is playing tonight.
I grin, suddenly getting it. She wants to create a scene like she did at the Paramount here, in the Bellissimo. Get some social media play and hype the concerts.
I pull her against me and slam my lips down on hers. It’s a long, thorough kiss. “Excellent idea. I’ll get it posted around the casino.”
Two hours later, the Bellissimo nightclub is way over fire code capacity, bodies spilling out into the casino, jamming up in lines.
Pepper’s playing a killer set—an eclectic mix of punk, electronica, and pop—old mixed with new, all at a driving beat.
Her band members and Izzy are out on the floor, dancing with the crowd. Sondra and Corey are out there, too, which means I’m on strict orders not to take my eyes off them. Nico, especially, is protective and possessive as fuck.
Like at the gig the other night, people are videotaping Pepper, holding their phones up. She has a driving beat going now, but seems to have experience with blending tracks, getting the beats to match up.
She turns down the bass and overlays a sample of the last verse of Radiohead’s Karma Police.
The crowd eats it up, first screaming, then singing along. And then she brings them back up, hitting the pop, smacking them with one of the songs from her latest album. It’s pure genius.
The girl clearly knows music inside and out. Her love for it—for all kinds of songs and styles—shows, even though she’s playing dance music. She also has a gift for performing. For playing to a crowd. By the time she’s finished, the people on the floor are gushing about her, the social media posts are off the charts and ticket sales to her concerts double.
I pull her out of there at two in the morning, because I can tell she’s starting to fade. Corey and Sondra already left, so I’m free to escort Pepper back to my suite. I want to strip her and tie her to my bed and keep her up for the rest of the night, but she looks so damn tired, I just pull back the sheets and tell her to hop in.
Are we sleeping? she writes on her notepad. Her eyes already half-closed.
“You are, songbird. You need all the rest you can get.”
I should go back to my bed.
I cup her nape. “Fuck that, baby. I may have taken mercy on you tonight, but I’m going to have my way with this enticing little body of yours in the morning.” I squeeze her nipple between two knuckles. “And I need you naked and in my bed to do that.”
Her smile stretches from ear to ear as she crawls willingly into my bed.
For a minute, I just stand there and look at her. Absorb the image of her platinum hair spread out on my pillow, her lashes fanned over her cheeks. The satisfaction I get is beyond sexual.
I want to keep her.
I want to wake up next to her. Fall asleep beside her. Listen to her snore.
I want Pepper Heart to be my girl.
Except it’s all impossible.
She’s good and pure. She has a life mapped out for her—a career in high gear. This time at the Bellissimo is a forced break from that life, but she will return to it. And she won’t think twice about leaving behind the man who acted as her jailor.
Chapter 10
Pepper
My parents show up the next morning without warning. I’m still warm from Tony’s bed, my body languorous from the three orgasms he treated me to this morning. The man can do amazing things with his tongue.
But my mom texted to say they were on their way from the airport and they wanted to talk.
“We had to find out what’s going on here, Pepper. You wouldn’t answer our calls,” my mom says when I meet them downstairs, Anton a few feet behind me at a respectful distance.
I write on my notepad, What part of I’m resting my vocal chords do you not get? Yeah, I sound a little pissy, but as abandoned as I may have felt by them in the last few years, I have absolutely no desire for their help, advice or tutelage now.
I’m a grown up. I made a grown up decision. They’re going to have to deal with it.
“Knock it off, Pepper. We need to talk.”
A hot wave of anger rushes through me. First I have Hugh and Tony giving me orders not to use my voice, now I’m being ordered to speak. I’m pretty much sick of other people trying to run my life. I shake my head. Doctor’s orders, I write and underline it three times.