King of Diamonds (Vegas Underground 1)

I finally rouse myself past my orgasmic languor and push my back off the couch where I’m slumped. “What are you saying?” I frown at him. I can’t figure out if he’s threatening me or trying to help. I can’t figure out what in the hell is going on here.

Nico moves in a flash, gripping under my armpits. Suddenly, I’m horizontal on the couch and he’s looming over me. He slaps my breast again and I squirm beneath him, my hips bucking up to meet his. “I’m saying…” He rubs the back of his hand across his mouth. “I’m saying you should get out of here. I’m way too locked onto you, bambina. This is the last chance I’m gonna give you to run.” His eyes glitter dark and dangerous. “You set foot in this suite again, I’m going to claim you as mine. I’ll chain you to my bed and fuck you every goddamn minute of the day.”

I go still beneath him. My heart pounds against my ribs. I’d be lying if I said his words didn’t thrill me. Oh, I hear the danger beneath them. The threat. But also, so much desire.

I’ve never been wanted this much by any man. I’ve always been the sort of pathetic, under-appreciated girlfriend. The one who catches her guy cheating with multiple women.

Knowing he wants me this much flushes me with heat. With power.

He gives a single nod. “You understand me.” He eases off me and stands. With the gentleness of a parent dressing a small child, he slides my bra back over my breasts and zips my zipper.

He stands over me, as dark and forbidding as he’d been that first day. “I’m letting you go, Sondra Simonson.” It’s a pronouncement—like he’s some kind of god, which, in his world, he is. I can imagine his employees falling to their knees when he speaks. “Run while you still can. Because once I decide you’re mine, I will ruin you. Be sure of it.” He stares at me a moment longer, his throat working, then turns away.

His shoulders slump as he picks up my discarded panties from the floor and hands them to me.

My stomach knots and twists. The energy between us tangles, torques. There’s so much in his words to dissect. He’s letting me off the hook. Giving me an out. Or is he making me an offer? Or an ultimatum?

I can’t figure it out, and I suddenly want to get the hell out of there. I yank on my panties without looking at him and stand up. I head toward the door, and he meets me at my cart and thrusts a neatly wrapped stack of hundred-dollar bills at me. “Take it,” he says.

I jerk back like he slapped me.

“It’s not a payment, it’s a gift. Make a new start somewhere else. Not in my casino.”

I ignore him and push my cart toward the door.

He catches my arm and turns me around. “Sondra. Take it.” His chocolate brown eyes implore.

My nose burns and I shake my head. “I don’t want your money.” My throat is tight, although I have no reason to be upset. He gave me an orgasm and offered me money, which I really could use. Why, then, do I feel like I just got used and dumped?

“Please take it. It’s nothing to me and it would give you options. I just want you to have options, Sondra. I don’t want you to to make choices you’ll regret.”

I arch my brows. “Like what I just did with you?” I snap. “Well, it’s too late for that.”

I don’t know why I’m pissed, but I am. I guess the offer of money does cheapen everything. Or maybe I’m mad he thinks he can make decisions about my life without consulting me. Either way, I’ve had it. I knew my infatuation with Nico Tacone was a mistake, and I need to crush it now before I get hurt even more.

“Sondra.” His voice carries so much quiet command, I stop, my hand on the door handle.

“I’m sorry if I hurt or humiliated you. That wasn’t my intent.”

I don’t know why I’m surprised to hear such emotional maturity out of a mob boss, but I am.

I shrug. “I’ll get over it.” I pull the door open and push my cart through.

“I’m not sorry for the rest of it,” I hear him say just as I shut the door.

Chapter 5

Nico

I’m itchy and ready to put my fist through the wall for the first thirty minutes after she leaves.

I hurt her. It was there, all over her face. I fucking tried to do the right thing, but she didn’t see it that way.

And somehow hurting her is less conscionable than anything else. But the real question is—why was she hurt? Because I offered the money? Did I make her feel like a whore? I tried to be clear it wasn’t because she let me into her panties. Or was it something else? Rejection?