Chapter Eighteen

Delilah

I ached from head to toe, but they were delicious aches, ones that left me beaming. I couldn't help but smile even wider as I stepped out of the elevator with Serafino and onto one of the gaming floors where people milled about.

The whole place buzzed, the atmosphere electric. A shout filled the air after a gambler won the roll of the dice on the roulette wheel.

Serafino glanced at me. "Let's start there."

I nodded, his hand squeezing mine as we approached the gaming table, the crowd parting to let us through. Though I doubted anyone few knew who he was, his dangerous aura was enough for them to get out of his way.

If their stares weren't already drawn toward us, with him in a dark tailored suit and me in a sparkling silver sheaf dress with an irregular hem, then they certainly were when he put down five thousand for the croupier to exchange for chips.

"They're yours," he said, pushing the chips in front of me. "You just have to decide where to place them."

"They are?" I breathed. I glanced at the board and bit my bottom lip. "I want to put a grand on black."

He grinned. "Let's do it then."

I slid some of my stack of orange chips inside the black rectangle on the table even as the croupier threw the ball into the spinning wheel. When the ball popped into number thirty-three black, for a moment I stood there with my mouth open.

"You won," Serafino said with a chuckle.

I turned to him. "I did," I said with a breathless rush before I threw my arms around him and clung on.

His laugh vibrated straight through me, his strong arms encircling me before he said into my ear, "Keep clinging to me like this and I might have to take you someplace private and have my wicked way with you."

If his words weren't warning enough then the bulge against my stomach most certainly was. I pulled back, my face flushing. "You're insatiable," I managed, before I turned away from his smug gaze and watched my chips grow in size.

We tried baccarat next, and though I lost more than I won there was something invigorating having Serafino standing behind me like an impenetrable wall. That he had my back was irrefutable.

A bald man in a pale gray suit approached from out of the crowd, and Serafino smiled before he shook hands with him. Then drawing me close, he said to the man, "Jarrod, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Delilah."

My heart pounded at his words. Girlfriend? Why did I wish for that with every cell in my body?

"Delilah," Serafino continued, "Jarrod is the director of this casino."

I turned to meet the man's pale blue stare, my breath shuddering and the hairs on my arms standing up with a sudden sense of foreboding.

"I didn't know you were with someone," Jarrod said to Serafino before he slid me a sideward glance that seemed full of insinuation.

Serafino's voice sharpened. "Now you do."

"No offense intended," Jarrod said in placating tone, jerking his gaze away from me. "I can see she is special to you."

"She is," Serafino agreed. With a dismissive tone he added, "I'll catch up with you later in the week."

"Of course, you know where to find me."

He didn't look my way again when he pivoted and walked away.

It was only after the director was out of sight that Serafino murmured, "You looked like you saw a ghost." His voice tightened. "Have you and Jarrod already met?"

My laugh was dry. "If you're asking if he's ever been a client of mine, then no, he hasn't." I shook my head and admitted, "There was just something off about him."

He brushed a hand up and down my back. "I'll have someone look into him."

I nodded, the bad vibe soon dissipating as I tried my hand at craps. I won more than I lost, my adrenaline surging as the croupier slid my pile of chips toward me.

"It's getting late," Serafino said next to my ear.

I turned to him with a pout as I looked up into his stare. "But I'm having so much fun."

"I was going to suggest a visit to the nightclub next," he murmured. "You can really let your hair down there."

I giggled, more than a little drunk on winning...on life. "I'd love that."

We collected my winnings, which I happily squirrelled away into my silver clutch bag. I had a spring in my step as Serafino held my hand and led me through automated glass doors and across a carpeted lobby toward the nightclub.

The hefty bouncers who stood guard at the doors immediately recognized Serafino. Ignoring the people lined up at the door, they unlatched the red barrier ropes and let us through with a deferential nod.

Serafino took my clutch bag and handed it to the nearest bouncer. "Watch this for a few hours."

It wasn't a question and the bouncer didn't take it as one. He immediately nodded and put it inside his jacket.

I laughed. It was getting to be a bit of a habit for him to palm off my clutch bag to the nearest trusted person. That my clutch just happened to hold a small fortune inside it didn't seem to faze him. But then, why would it? Anyone who knew him also know no amount of money was worth risking their life.

A bearded DJ in a fluorescent pink shirt kept the place hopping with a seamless mix of electronic dance music, hip-hop and pop, strobe lights flashing to the beat. I shivered with excitement. The atmosphere was electric.

"Let's dance," Serafino said close to my ear before he drew me onto the floor where other clubbers were moving to the frenetic beat.

I laughed as I lifted my arms above my head and rolled my hips, the music pulsing through me. All my problems and cares slipped away as I became as one with the beat, as I danced for the man who was so invested in me.

He stepped closer to me and I spun around and encircled his nape with my arms as my spine pressed close to his front. At his arousal so blatantly pressing against me, I writhed against him, pushing his willpower to the limits.

I didn't hear his growl but I felt it shuddering through his body, his big hands encircling my waist and bringing me even closer so that we were almost melded together.

Then his breath brushed my ear and he said thickly, "You're going to be the death of me."

I looked up at him as I tilted my head back against his chest, my eyes then clashing with his as the strobe lights flashed through the crowd of dancers. "We bring each other to life."

It would have been next to impossible for him to hear me above the music, but his eyes darkened as though in understanding, his hands gripping me tightly. Then he spun me around so that I faced him, his head swooping low and his mouth devouring mine in a kiss that was as frenzied as the beat swirling around us.

I might as well have been in my own world, the dancers jostling around us becoming non-existent while my heart throbbed for the man who'd captured my attention and had yet to let it go.

No one could compare to him, no one would came close to having his charisma, his dangerous aura, his skill in the bedroom—or anywhere else.

It was as if he'd been crafted especially for me. Or perhaps the reverse was true. It didn't matter. All that mattered was how much I wanted him and he wanted me.

He peeled his mouth away from mine, his dark eyes glittering before he said close to my ear, "Let's take this to the bedroom."

I jerked out a nod. I wanted, desperately, to submit to him. I wanted him to fill me completely, where the pain of his entry was overcome by a pleasure that was so damn incredible I all but blacked out from this world and stepped into another.

He kept his arm around my waist as we headed toward the exit. The bouncer looked surprised by our early departure before a knowing look settled over his face. Then his expression became carefully neutral—no one disrespected Serafino's woman—as he handed my clutch bag back.

We made it to the elevator. Once the doors slid closed, he pressed me against the wall with his fingers digging into my upswept hair as he claimed my mouth once again. I was so invested in his kiss I didn't notice him unclipping my hair until it tumbled down my back.

He drew his head back, his eyes dark. "My gorgeous firebird," he said reverently.

My shiver came from somewhere deep inside. My feelings were too powerful, too intense. I was walking a tightrope with this man and doing everything I could not to fall for him.

Then the doors pinged and opened, and he picked me up and carried me into his suite of rooms, kissing me again.

My temperature rose as we shared breaths. Then he put me back onto my feet before we undressed each other, my hands fumbling with a desperate need to touch his naked skin.

Briing. Briing.

He jerked his head back. "What the fuck?" he growled.

"Don't answer it," I breathed.

He shook his head. "I have to. It's my brother's ringtone. My don."

My whole body trembled with unfulfilled needs, but I stepped back from him as he withdrew his cell and answered the call. "Ethan. What is it?"

I couldn't hear the conversation but I sensed Serafino's shock at whatever his brother aka boss said to him. His whole body had tensed, his eyebrows drawing low and his mouth thinning.

Serafino nodded. "The pilot is waiting? Good. I'll board in five minutes."

He disconnected the call, his face hard and his voice flat as he looked my way. "I have to go. My family is in danger, my nephew apparently targeted in a planned revenge attack."

I gaped. His enemy using a child as payback was chilling, sickening. "I'll pack my things."

"No." His voice could have been a crack of a whip, decisive and unyielding. "I want you to stay here where you'll be safe."

I nodded mutely, then followed him into the bedroom where he tucked some firearms into an overnight bag along with some random clothes. I cleared my throat, my stomach tight. "Tell me you'll be safe," I said softly.

"Tell me you care," he volleyed back at me.

How did I tell him I cared too much, and that I didn't want to lose him? Despite what Serafino had told Jarrod, I wasn't his girlfriend, I was nothing more than his whore.

He snorted at my silence. "I'll be back before you know it, sweetheart."

My heart lurched. I much preferred him calling me firebird . It made me feel special, deserving of him.

He zipped up his bag, then grabbed a cellphone from out of a drawer and closed the short distance between us. He handed the cell to me. "This has my number in it. We can text or call each other whenever we need to."

I blinked, accepting it from him with something between relief and trepidation. I never gave clients my work phone number, it was almost exclusively reserved for Sinead. That he felt it was necessary to contact me and vice versa set off little alarms inside me.

His stare darkened as his face turned serious, his tone somber. "Stay in this suite of rooms. Do not go outside. Not for anything or anyone."

I felt the blood drain from my face, my entire body shutting down. I didn't stay indoors, especially alone. My mind always ran rampant, my twisted memories sneaking up on me as panic set in.

He stared down at me, a frown furrowing his brow as he added, "If you need anything, ring me, or use the in-room phone and call reception for Jarrod."

"Jarrod?" I repeated faintly.

Serafino nodded. "He's one of the few I trust."

"I don't," I reminded, my voice scratchy.

"Then stay here. I won't be gone long."

My pulse surged. How long was not long?

He bent and kissed me, his mouth hard and his emotions tinged with angst. Then he pulled away and strode past me without looking back.

I pressed a hand to my mouth, then dropped it to my stomach as foreboding swept over me once again. Nothing about this whole scenario felt right.

Nothing at all.