He cashes out and tucks the wad of rolled up hundreds in my purse.
“Thank you.” I steal a glance at him from under my lashes as he leads me out. I haven’t said thank you much to him. I’ve been a bitch, really. We got off on the wrong foot and now pushing against him has become a habit.
“Don’t thank me. You won it.”
I touch his arm as we stand at the valet curb waiting for the car. “I mean thank you for everything. For bringing me here. Showing me what’s possible.”
“Don’t go quitting on me to join the world-wide poker circuit.” He winks.
I smile back. “Not quitting. But I totally want to join the circuit.”
Stefano opens the passenger door of the Mercedes as it pulls up to the curb. “I can make that happen.”
My heart flip-flops in my chest. When he comes around to the driver side and gets in, I have to ask, “Stefano?”
He slides his warm brown gaze over to me as he pulls out. “Yeah, baby?”
“What are we doing?”
At first I think he’s not going to understand the question, but then I see a muscle tick in his jaw. He guns the car, zooming into the clogged traffic on the strip, the neon lights casting pink and blue hues across the tinted windows of the luxury vehicle.
“I don’t know.” His voice is tight—so different from his usual smoky notes.
Hearing that admission—because it sounds so much like truth—actually relaxes me. Stefano isn’t playing some game. He doesn’t have an ulterior motive.
He’s as lost to these forces as I am.
To the lust. The attraction. The magnetic pull to stick together, see how this thing turns out.
His hands grip the steering wheel too tight. It’s out of character for the suave, smooth-talking man I first met. He doesn’t speak the rest of the ride back, but when he pulls into the Bellissimo’s private parking area and turns off the car, he turns to look at me.
“I want you, Corey, all the fucking time. I need to be in you on a daily basis, but it’s not just that. I could sit and just watch you for hours. Hell, I just did! I want to know everything that goes on inside that beautiful head. So what is that?”
My breath comes in shallow pants, I can’t seem to close my lips. No one—no one’s ever said anything like that to me before. It’s not sugary, not romantic. It’s raw and plain and honest. My eyes sting for a moment until I recover. Stefano gets out of the car and slams the door. I can’t seem to move until he comes around to open mine and offer his hand. I climb out of the car.
“I don’t know. You try to define this; it’s not going to fit right. I’m not the one who’s gonna give you the white picket fence. I’m the guy who wants to pull your hair and slap your ass and spoil you rotten.”
It’s almost too much to look into Stefano’s face. The intensity there rocks me.
“But you don’t want normal, right?” There’s something fierce and compelling in Stefano’s voice.
I fall into him. I hate my weakness, but being in the circle of his arms makes me strong again. Eases the tremors of uncertainty. He kisses my hair, his hand banding around the back of my neck and holding me.
“I want to take you upstairs and spank your ass red… fuck you until you scream. Then tie you up and do it all over again.”
“Well?” I lift my face to his. We’re nose to nose, so close I’m inhaling his whiskey breath. “What are you waiting for?” I whisper hoarsely.
* * *
Stefano
I’m itchy as hell to get my dick into Corey but my goddamn phone rings and it’s Leo.
“What’s up?” I take Corey’s hand and hustle her toward the elevator. Inside, I push her up against a wall and press my body against hers, leaning in to nuzzle her neck.
“Feds are here. They want to question you and Corey Simonson.”
Fanculo. “Where are they?”
“Nico’s office.”
“We’ll be up in a minute.” I hang up. Corey’s eyes are the size of saucers. “You heard?”
She nods.
“Everything the way it happened. Donahue lost, he left after Smith, we haven’t seen him since. Capiche?”
She arranges her face quickly and nods, already appearing composed.
“You sure?”
“I’ve got it,” she says, staring straight ahead.
I curse under my breath. “I’m sorry you have to do this, Corey.”
A muscle in her cheek jumps. “Yeah, me too.”
The gap between us widens, then, like a goddamn crack in the earth. She’s on one bank, I’m on the other. We’re talking to the feds. People she gets. She relates to. Is related to. And I’m the criminal. She could fuck me over with one word here. I know she won’t. Still, we’re on separate teams. I’m asking her to betray her team. She’ll do it for me, because… I don’t know. I’d like to say she loves me, but I’m not sure that’s true. We have a bond, though, I’m sure of that.