Antonio "Don" Cortez has been running Vegas for most of his life. After taking over the city, he's left with a lonely life, living through his family and thinking there's nothing more.
Peaches is looking to take Vegas for as much as she can before she skips town. She's counting cards and raking in the money until she catches the eye of the owner of the Golden Peacock casino.
What happens when something ignites inside Don that he's never felt before? What happens when this sassy southern belle finally meets her match?
A virginity auction...obviously!
Warning: Don is immediately lost to Peaches, and insta-love is ablaze. This story includes their over-the-top HEA and a bonus story at the end...the Madame of the Auction finally gets her turn. It's a ridiculous ride, so grip those Kindles tight!
Free on Kindle Unlimited
Chapter 1 *Don*
Looking down at the computer screen, I clench my fists a little tighter. The cool glass of my desk does nothing to ease the burn running through my veins. It takes everything in me not to reach out and touch the screen.
When I hear the door to my office open, I don’t even have to look up to know who it is.
“Sir, she’s on the casino floor,” Dawson, my head of security, informs me. His tone is flat like it always is, never giving anything away. Finally pulling my eyes from the screen, I give him a nod, and he turns to leave. After he closes the door behind him, I finally break, reaching out to touch the screen and run my finger across her face.
Dawson didn’t have to tell me she’s here. I knew she was. In fact, I’ve known where she was for the past three weeks. Since the day she strolled into my casino and walked right past me without a second look, her arm locked around another man's arm. I growl at the reminder.
For the first time in my life, jealousy surged through my body. It coursed in my veins as I followed them through the casino, needing to get closer to her. Listening to the laugh that drowned out the sounds of the rest of the casino. It was infectious and so full of life. Just like she was. She pulled attention to her as she walked, chatting away, completely unaware of me. I couldn’t make out her words until I’d gotten a little closer. Her deep southern accent hit me like a shot of something strong. It burned through my body, all the way down to the pit of my stomach, warming me from the inside out and making my dick come to life.
I knew from that moment I was in trouble. I was completely and utterly fucked. I tried to fight it, a fight I knew I was going to lose, which was something I was not accustomed to. I needed to put myself out of my misery and finally take what I needed. She was going to be a fight because I knew what she was the first night I saw her. The man she had her arm wrapped around had no idea, but I could tell. From the subtle tics of her jaw when he’d whisper in her ear, to the fake smile she gave him that he never seemed to notice. He was her bank roll. She was using him, and for some reason the idea both pissed me off and turned me on. I would enjoy her using me in any way she saw fit.
I grab my suit jacket from the back of my chair and slip it on as I make my way out of my office. My assistant, Jen, stands, grabbing a pile of papers off her desk. Her stick-straight black hair doesn’t move as she goes to follow me to the elevator. I’m sure she wants to go down a list of items she needs to go over with me. I’m being slack at work, and it’s driving her crazy, and for the first time in my life I don’t care. I have an army of employees; they can handle it. It’s what I pay them to do.
I hold my hand out as the elevator arrives, letting her know I’ll be taking it alone.
“Handle it,” is all I say as the elevator doors start to close. I see a scowl form on her brow, but she quickly smooths it away, replacing it with a fake irritated smile. I know she wants to say something, but she won’t. She’s already tried once, and I quickly shut her down. I’m not sure anyone could talk me off this ledge. In fact, I’m going to jump off it right now.
I make my way across the casino and head straight for the blackjack table. When I spot her, I stop a few steps back and watch her while she plays. She’s counting cards as she laughs with the table, everyone charmed by her. Her slow sweet accent seems to pull everyone in.
She keeps coming back here around every three days or so. Maybe she thinks the Golden Peacock is an easy mark, and letting her win hundreds of thousands of dollars. In truth, I’ve been on to her from the very beginning, I just didn’t care. I wanted her coming back, and I didn’t care what it cost me as she stole from my casino. Furthermore, I wanted her to be comfortable and not to feel the need to have to bring in a bank roll to hide behind, because that’s what she’d been doing that first night. I know if I see her on another man’s arm I might lose it. My obsession has grown too much now. I already see her as mine.
She plays the part of a woman who doesn’t really know what she’s doing while a high roller pays for her chips as she starts to rob us. The high roller has no idea what she’s up to. She’s probably charmed him, and he’d eaten up the idea of a night on the town with her. I could understand that, too. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to get close to her. For example, that night, and every night since, I made sure she went home alone. Which, oddly enough, was a room at a casino.
I had her followed that first night, and since then all I can tell is she seems to jump from hotel to hotel. I’d finally gotten her to stay here as I had a casino host offer her a suite. I had no idea how long she planned to stay, but I’d already worked out that little kink after the first week of seeing her. She had this habit of ditching her cellphone every forty-eight hours. I’d tracked one only to have it end up in a trash can. I quickly learned where she had been getting new ones. Always the same store.
I own two casinos, seven nightclubs, and God knows how many fucking restaurants, but this was my first cell store. I bought it, placing one of my own security team members at the counter, and every new phone she got had a little bonus just for me. Like I said, I already knew she was on the casino floor before Dawson walked into my office because I always knew where she was. Always.
The older gentleman on the other side of the table says something to her, making her throw her head back and laugh. Her thick blonde curls bounce with the movement. I’ve lived in Vegas my whole life. Beautiful women are everywhere. You can’t turn around without running into one, even more so when you’re as rich as I am. But now, well into my forties, women don’t seem to hold the same appeal they used to.
She’s different. She doesn’t look like any of them. She has a beauty of her own, and it’s one I’ve never seen before. Her body is lush and full of life just like her. I want to pull her curvy softness to my body and make her give me that big laugh. Feel it run through my body as her warmth molds into me. Everything about her is full. Like you could grab onto any part of her and dig in.
She’s young, too young for me. She’s barely old enough to be in the casino. I’d told myself that was why I should stay away from her. But if she wants to play with the big boys and steal from my casino, she’ll have to deal with me.
It feels like she’s woken me up from a haze I hadn’t realized I’d fallen into. I don’t know what her big plan is, but this time she might have bitten off more than she can chew. She may have been able to ditch other men easily after getting what she wanted from them, but that wouldn’t be the case with me. I’m going to lock myself so deep into her she’ll never escape.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that everyone around me is falling in love. I’d never really thought of having a woman of my own, but now it feels like my whole body needs it. Aches for her.
It’s an ache so deep it’s starting to feel like it has no bottom to it. That all these years I’d spent building this life and working my way to the top would mean nothing if I couldn’t have her.
I stay rooted in my spot as I watch her work. Winning hand after hand after hand.
As if she feels my stare, she turns slightly, her eyes meeting mine. We both just look at one another, neither of us making another move. Her eyes roam over me like she’s sizing me up. I’ve always tried to make sure she never sees me, but time is up. I’m claiming what I want.
She could spend her days counting cards in my casino all she wants. As long as she spends her nights under me as she begs me to take her, begs me to make her mine.
The last thought knocks the air out of my lungs. I want her to be mine. Not just for a night; a night would never be enough. I haven’t even touched her and I know I’ll never get enough. There will be no sating my need for her.
She bites her lip as her eyes meet mine. I bet I was the one thing she didn’t count on.
Alexa Riley is two sassy friends who got together and wrote some dirty books. They are both married moms of two who love football, donuts, and obsessed book heroes.
They specialize in insta-love, over-the-top, sweet, and cheesy love stories that don’t take all year to read. If you want something SAFE, short, and always with a happily ever after, then Alexa Riley is for you!
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