3. Knox

Chapter 3

Knox

Mayor Francesco sent a black SUV to pick me up exactly at seven. I was nervous and had no idea what to wear, but I did my best, even though I felt slightly overdressed in a suit.

Eagle Crest Casino sat along the river, just outside of town. The driver pulled up and a young man opened my door, addressing me by name. Everyone was so nice, and it seemed that I was getting the red carpet treatment which was starting to make me suspicious. The guy held the front door of the casino open for me, and I walked into the breathtakingly beautiful foyer.

A stone fountain tinkled in the center of the room, and elegant chandeliers were draped from the ceiling. Live fruit trees sprinkled citrus and spicy smells into the air. Instinctively, I scanned the room for the mayor as I self-consciously adjusted my cufflinks. The doorman appeared by my side again and directed me through an arched passageway to the left.

In the main room of the casino, people milled about, laughing and talking at tables. Waiters wandered through with trays of drinks. The mayor was leaning against a roulette table, looking handsome in a well-fitted suit and a blue tie, staring right at me.

Our eyes locked, and I stopped breathing. Any delusions I'd harbored about not being attracted to the alpha flew out the window. He was fucking gorgeous.

Catching my breath, I forced myself to stand up straight then began to walk toward him. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly upward, almost into a smile as he looked me up and down. I felt a blush rising in my cheeks as I clenched my jaw and willed my body to chill the fuck out.

"Well, well, well." He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "You clean up nicely."

"Um, thank you." I glanced around the room and saw people craning their necks to get a look at me.

"They're just curious. We're a small town and people like to talk, especially about a handsome stranger who's having dinner with the mayor."

Handsome . He called me handsome . I looked around the casino floor, trying to appear unruffled. One by one, the heads turned back to their games.

"Do you play?"

I shook my head and slipped my hands into my pockets. "I never learned any of these games."

"That's too bad. I'll have to find other ways to play with you."

My breath caught in my throat again. Was he flirting with me? Surely his judgment couldn't be that bad, to flirt with a new, younger employee on their first day? I'd gotten the impression he was toying with me, but why, I didn't know yet.

Mayor Francesco started walking so I followed him into the restaurant, where the best table had been reserved for us. "I hope you're hungry. We have fresh lobster flown in every day, and you can't get a better steak in Montana."

"I could go for some meat." I immediately regretted my choice of words. What was this tension between us? It was the opposite of what I wanted.

The mayor hid his face behind his menu in what I could only assume was amusement. "Well, let's get you some meat!"

I could hear the laughter in his voice, and to my surprise, I chuckled too.

He lowered his menu and caught my eyes, still smiling.

"Sorry, I don't know why I said that." I could feel the blush returning to my neck, but I didn't let it bother me. He could already tell I was awkward. Maybe that would play to my advantage as a newbie.

"It's fine. I think it's cute. It, uh, broke the tension." He winked and looked down at his menu again.

At the mayor's urging, I got the surf and turf and settled in to the most delicious meal I could ever remember eating in my life.

Throughout the meal, I was waiting for an opportunity to ask about his businesses, but we kept getting interrupted by people coming to our table. One by one, residents of Gilded Lake stopped by to thank Mayor Francesco for donating to their charity, volunteering at their event, sponsoring a little league team, making repairs to the streets, and helping a family pay their medical bills.

My ears perked up each time a new person came over, but all I heard was glowing praise and gratitude to this man who seemed to be a saint. Which was completely contradictory to all the research and history we had on him related to his drug, gambling, and trafficking businesses.

During a lull between visitors, I caught his eye. "Yeesh, you'd think Father Christmas was sitting across from me."

He looked uncomfortable as he shrugged. "You gotta take care of people, ya know?"

I knew what he meant, but at the same time, I didn't. I'd been on my own for as long as I could remember. The military was sort of like a family, and now the bureau was a place I was trying to make into my family, but the real warmth of people truly caring about each other was like nothing I'd ever personally experienced.

Those people seemed to genuinely love the mayor. That wasn't what I'd been prepped for by my boss. My real boss.

The mayor ordered an expensive bottle of wine with dinner, and it was nice. It coated my throat like velvet, and after a couple glasses, I felt myself getting giggly and heated under my collar.

He was also getting tipsy. For dessert, the waiter brought a sampler platter and several tiny glasses of liqueurs.

"We have our own French pastry chef." The mayor handed me a spoon filled with chocolate mousse.

The luxurious dessert slid down my throat before I reached for a glass of liqueur, but he shooed my hand away.

"Not that one. Here." He lifted a glass of orange liquid and handed it to me instead. "This is a Spanish Moscatel. It goes better with chocolate."

When I took it from his hand, our fingers brushed. To my surprise, he was the one who blushed and looked away first. I sipped the Moscatel, loving how its warmth spread far beyond my chest.

Luca's black hair fell over his forehead as he kept his head down, and my cock stirred in response.

I longed to slide one leg across the space between us until it touched him. But that was crazy. I needed to get control of myself. I was at work, dammit. "Mmmm, that's amazing." I set the glass down and smiled at him.

The mayor looked up at me and smiled. "Would you like to see the rest of the casino?"

Finally. That was why I was there, after all. I'd read enough files to know there was a lot more to the place than what the average customer saw. "Sure."

We stood up and walked out of the dining room, past the buffet where people were still loading their plates, and back into the main room. I followed the mayor to a table, and he pulled out a chair for me. "Have a seat, omega."

My dick twitched at that, but I kept my tone neutral. "What's this?"

"Blackjack."

I scoffed playfully. "Really, I cannot play this."

He nudged my shoulder with his. "Come on. It's the easiest game there is. It's just math."

"No, really, I'll lose everything and then some." I scanned the casino floor and saw the slot machines. "How about those?"

The mayor laughed and walked me across the room. He had a fluid grace about him when he moved, like a casanova from a 1940s movie. He hesitated when we reached the slots and then pointed to one. "That one."

We made our way to the machine he'd chosen, and I sat down. "Is this one rigged or something?"

"No, I just have a feeling." He waved over a waiter, who handed me a small cup of quarters.

I took them and began feeding the machine. "Nice to be the boss. Free quarters."

The mayor was leaning against the back of my stool, watching the spinning reels. I was acutely aware of the warmth from his body and the smell of his aftershave. I took another quarter from the cup and was about to drop it in the slot when he caught my hand in his. "You have to really want it."

I paused, focused on the way his hand felt on mine. "Who says I don't want it?"

He moved close enough that I could feel his chest against my back. "There's an art to it, Knox. You can't just shove them in there. Do it like this." He guided my hand to the slot and threaded his fingers around mine.

My heart began to pound so loudly I was sure he could hear it. "What now?"

He took a deep breath, then his voice dropped to a whisper. "You smell like soap."

I dropped the quarter and he quickly stepped away. When I didn't win, I stood up and shook out my tense muscles. "We should do something else."

He looked at the floor and nodded.

"Actually, um, I need to use the restroom." I quickly slid past him and walked to the men's room. What the fuck was happening? I splashed cold water on my face and took some deep breaths to calm down. I was a trained soldier. I didn't get rattled like this. Ever.

My dick was throbbing in my pants, so I couldn't leave until I had it under control.

The mayor was likely wondering where I was. Where I was was beginning to think I might have to jerk off in here before I could face him, but then my body began to relax. I just couldn't think about Luca for too long.

I checked myself over in the mirror and then stepped out into the foyer. It wasn't late and people were trickling in and out the front doors. I glanced around for the mayor and spotted him on the far side of the main room, past all the slots. He was talking to two guys in suits, one with a briefcase. They glanced around, then disappeared through a door that closed behind them.

This was my chance to scoop some dirt on him. I went to the back without anyone seeing me and tried the door, but it was locked. The vent system in the ceiling was the only other option. There was a janitor's closet with sturdy shelving I was able to get into and managed to shimmy into the vents, looking for the room they went into.

With only one wrong turn, I found the room Luca was in with the two men and wriggled as close to the vent as I could without being detected.

"You've got to lie low for a while. Things are fuzzy around here." That was the mayor's voice.

"Got it. So are you still good for this or not?" I had no idea what "this" was. Whatever was in the briefcase, maybe? And did "fuzzy" refer to "fuzz," as in cops? Could the mayor possibly know who I was?

Somebody laughed, and it sounded like Claude. "We'll take care of him. Just like Joe."

More laughter erupted from everyone in the room, and then I heard them leave the room.

Joe… Why did that name sound familiar?

I scooted backward in the vent until I reached the janitor closet, then eased myself down onto the floor. My suit was covered in dust, probably my hair, too, so I shook out a cleaning rag and brushed off what I could. When I was as clean as I could get, I slipped out an exit on the side of the building.

It wasn't a far walk back to my apartment. My head was spinning as I walked quickly through the cool Montana air. Did the mayor know who I was? Who were the men he was talking to? And what did they have to "lie low" about? I tried to burn their voices into my memory—their accents, vocabulary, any clues—so I could do some research when I got back.

Other memories were nudging their way into my mind, too.

Luca pressing against me at the slot machine. His hand wrapping around my hand, and his fingers slipping between mine. His breath on my neck when he told me I smelled like soap made my skin prickle again.

Fuck, I needed to nut.

With my heart racing, I began to run. I wasn't gonna fall for the target. The criminal. The head of the fucking Montana mafia. I was here to do a job, and a silly little crush wasn't gonna get in the way of my successful completion of the job. I ran the rest of the way home, lungs throbbing, heart throbbing, and dick painfully throbbing for Luca fucking Francesco.