She blinks rapidly. “Because you won’t let me leave?”
I was right. She’s smart.
The corners of my mouth twitch.
“Housekeeping is the only place I could get a job on short notice. I’d rather work as a dealer. Think you can hook me up?” Now she’s getting sassy.
Funny, I don’t have the urge to take her down a peg the way I usually do with employees. Unless, of course, it involves her naked and at my mercy.
Oh yeah. I already set that up.
But the suggestion of her working as a dealer irritates the fuck out of me. I don’t know if it’s because she’d be ruined by Las Vegas in a month, or because I really want to keep her in my room. Cleaning my floors. Naked.
“No.”
She flinches because I say the word too hard. I’m definitely having a difficult time modulating my behavior. But she just shrugs. “Well, this is temporary, anyway. Just until I earn enough to get a new car and find a teaching job.”
Okay, even not trusting my instincts, I think she’s who she says she is. Which means I have no good reason to keep her prisoner here. I step back and take another long perusal of her now that I know more about her. Seriously. I want to keep her.
But considering the things I just did to her, she’ll probably quit the second she leaves my suite. I point to her crumpled dress and bra on the floor. “Get dressed.”
Before I do or say anything else to traumatize the girl, I leave the bathroom, shutting the door behind myself.
Chapter 2
Sondra
Well. That was interesting. My knees wobble when I stand. What will he do now? Am I free to go? I pull on my clothes with shaking hands and zip my dress all the way up, even though he’s already seen my breasts.
The wet panties are in the trash bin, so I go commando.
I decide the best course of action is to hold my head high and march right out of there. Because there’s no way in hell I’m sticking around to finish cleaning his suite after what just went down. I grab the doorknob and take a breath. Here goes nothing.
He stands in the hallway in front of my cart, talking on his cell phone. Blocking my exit.
Damn.
I catch my breath again at how scary-sexy he looks—the delicious way he fills the expensive suit, his thick, dark hair that curled up at the edges, the penetrating dark eyes.
He ends the call and drops his phone in his suit pocket. “Your story checked out, at least for now. I’ll be digging further.” His dark eyes glitter but the menace I sensed there before has vanished.
I straighten my back, which draws his gaze down to my tits. “You won’t find anything.”
The corners of his mouth curve faintly. He watches me like a lion watches prey. Hungry. Sure of himself. He shakes his head, almost ruefully. “Girl who looks like you…shouldn’t be cleaning rooms,” he mutters.
I march past him, giving him a wide berth. “Yeah, you said that earlier.”
The guy just totally violated me. Stripped me naked and watched me pee on his floor. I need to get the hell out of here and never come back. Forget working for the mafia. I have a life worth living…somewhere else. Somewhere far from Vegas.
I push the cart, even though I never finished cleaning his bathroom. Just get the hell out, Sondra.
“Hold up,” he barks. “Leave the cart. Tony will take you home.”
A tap sounds at the door and a huge guy with a wire in his ear walks in. Judging by the bulge at his sides, he packs as much heat as Tacone.
Fuckity fuck fuck.
I step back, shaking my head. Oh hell, no. I’m not getting in a car with this guy so he can shoot me in the head and drop me off a pier. Okay, there are no piers in Las Vegas. The Hoover Dam, then. I’m not that stupid.
“Relax.” Tacone must’ve seen the blood drain from my face. “You’ll get home safely. You have my word. Hold up just a minute.” He walks out of the living room and into his office.
“I-I’ll just take a bus,” I call out after him and head toward the door, hoping to skirt past Tony. “That’s what I usually do.”
Tony doesn’t budge from his position in front of the door.
“You’re not taking the fucking bus.” Tacone sounds so scary I stop in my tracks. He returns holding an envelope, which he hands to Tony and murmurs something I didn’t hear. “Go with Tony.” It’s a command, not an option. Tony’s stood there stony-faced the whole time. Now, he lifts his chin at me.
I walk to the door, trembling like a leaf. Tony opens it, ushers me through and shuts it again. I dart a glance up at the beefy man beside me. Tony drops a huge paw on my nape. “You’re okay.”