CHAPTER ONE

Cas

I’m strolling through this casino like it’s mine.

And it is. In all but my name on the deed. I’m definitely a kingpin around here.

I don’t need to look far to confirm it, too. I can see the mingling of curiosity and fear in the patrons’ eyes. They’re skittish to misbehave in my presence. At least, not too much to have me flexing my muscles, and tossing their asses out to kiss asphalt on our freshly paved driveway.

They act like good boys and girls when I cross their paths. I’m doing the usual, taking a shortcut through the casino’s gaming floor to the mezzanine and the bridge connecting to the hotel.

The actual security, combing through and ensuring everyone has their hands clean when touching our card decks and gaming machines, pass me on their rounds.

I nod to acknowledge them. I’m not a man of many words. And I don’t waste them when I use them. Not even on friendly faces.

“Mr. Felix.” One of the two guards stops in front of me, forcing me to a halt. “Mr. Rollins was looking to speak with you.”

Isaiah?

I cock my head, the tendons of my neck flexing, my biceps curling as I settle my arms over my chest, my muscled strength testing the bespoke tailoring of my Italian wool three-piece suit. “Anything more to that message?”

The two men share a quick look, before the man who’d spoken initially shakes his head. “Not that I can recall. Only for you to drop by his office.”

I nod, dismissing them. “Go on.”

I’m standing there a bit longer than I’m comfortable, admitting I’m perturbed by Isaiah’s messenger. I check my cell as I stride toward the glass bridge connecting the hotel with the casino on this level. It’s as I expect: no message or missed call from my buddy. What gives then?

I step out onto the mezzanine loft overlooking the hotel foyer. Grasping the staircase guard railing, I peer down at the lobby, scouring for Isaiah. He’s always some place close by, keeping his hand on the pulse of his business. He doesn’t sit up in his ivory tower too much. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty if need be. It’s a work ethic I back wholeheartedly.

Scrolling through my contacts, I press for his name, waiting on the dial tone. He picks up on the second ring. “You coming up?”

Well, that answers my question. He does need to see me. Instead of pressing him for a clue on the topic he has in mind, I say, “Yeah. I’m on my way now.” I figure I might as well ask him face-to-face.

I slide the cancel button and tuck my phone into my pants pocket. I unbutton my suit jacket, feeling more and more like a stuffed sausage the longer I have to stand around in it. Thank God my shift is done. Whoever decided I had to wear suits while crunching numbers for the casino and hotel, and building strategy as its CFO, needed to choke on a silk tie.

I’m shifting from the view below when something catches my eye—or someone, I should say. She’s not easy to miss. It doesn’t help I’ve trained my eye to find her in a room like a Where’s Waldo? game.

Jade Dunn.

Gorgeous Jade and her wealth of dark curly hair. Jade in a shimmery, metallic gold number, the deep v of her halter bodice sitting above her ample chest, one of her legs poking out of a thigh-high slit, teasing all and sundry. My nostrils flare as if I can soak up her signature spiced floral scent from way up here.

As she glides under the opulent crystal chandelier, I get a good view of the top of her pale breasts. My cock stirs in my briefs, the beast ready for another taste after last night…and the night before…and the past two weeks. The only thing keeping me rooted to my lofty perch, holding me back from taking the arching quartz staircase to my right and stalking after her, is my shock to see her.

Jade had no clue I’d be in today for our nightly tête-à-têtes. She believes I’m taking the day off. I was supposed to, until Isaiah’s security head, Nolan, an old friend of ours, called me in on account of peculiarities in our books. A keen junior accountant picked up on it. And from what I confirmed, the accountant and Nolan had been right to send me in.

Something smells rotten. I should be all over it, informing Isaiah about the oddities once I head up to meet him. That had been my intent before I saw Jade, and before I start wondering why she’s here, if not for me.

My jaw clenches when I notice a few eyes wandering down below, trailing Jade’s backside, and I can see why. Like her front, her dress dips low, exposing the small of her back. If the dress had been cut lower, the perfect globes of her ass would be on display. Because I’ve long memorized what her shimmering, slinky dress hides—and I’m far from willing to share her with anyone else.

Male appreciation dogs her out of my sight, the loft sitting above the bay of elevators, obscuring my view. My knuckles are threatening to tear out of my skin; I’m gripping the railing tight enough to snap it in two, turn it to dust in my hands.

Plucking my fingers off the landing rail, I veer for the stairs, praying I’m not too late.

I catch her entering the elevator. Dodging the trio of businessmen that are exiting, their gazes all drawn over their shoulders at Jade, their mouths open, particularly salivating for a piece of her, I give them sharp looks on passing. It’s enough for them to recall themselves with sheepish glances.

As if they stand a chance with my girl. Over my dead body.

Jade’s eyes widened as I join her. I close the door, ignoring the two women raising their hands for me to hold the elevator. Soon as we’re moving up, the elevator gliding smoothly around us, I’m all over her…

Metaphorically speaking. I’m not a dog. I can hold it in long enough to reach the topmost floor where I’ve been calling home for the past six months.

“Cas.” My name slips out of her mouth as a husky revelation. She gives her head a short, sharp shake. “W-Why are you here?”

I don’t like that stutter I hear. My warning alarms should be ringing, like they were when I witnessed the odd calculations in our financial spreadsheets earlier tonight.

With Jade, everything is topsy-turvy. Left is right. Black is white. Up could very well be down. My mind never seemed to function properly around her. She’s the SAT question all college students dread. The riddle of the Sphinx. An optical illusion that still gets me every time.

“I had the exact same question.” I tilt my head, my ponderous gaze dragging over her. She’s more impressive in the dress when she’s an arm’s length away. The heels are tall and dangerous, her painted nails peeping out of the open toes. The straps of her shoes crisscross up to her ankle. I’d like to undo them with my teeth.

“What are you doing here, Jade?”

“Work,” she says quickly, a bit breathily too.

I step closer, forcing her to take that final sliding motion into the corner of the lift. “You’re not in today. Or tomorrow, for that matter.”

She gulps audibly. It’s cute when she raises her chin and pouts in annoyance, and the first spark of her fiery temper warms her wide dark brown eyes. “You checked my schedule…again.”

“I did.” She knows that though. I frown, wondering what has her shapely black brows pleating closer. I have to assume it’s something I’ve said. “I like to know when you’re here,” I say unabashedly.

A hint of a blush comes over her face, she ducks her head as indication of her embarrassment, and a shy smile lifts her plump lips at the corners. It’s what I’ve lived for since I first laid eyes on her; my first week as a civvie, I’d lucked out twice—with having this job lined up straight out of the service, thanks to Isaiah, and then meeting Jade.

I tuck my finger under her chin, needing her eyes on me. She doesn’t brush my hand away, her stare zigzagging from my eyes to my mouth. Seeing my desire mirroring back at me, I close the space between us.

It’s a soft, coaxing pressure to begin with. I’m still getting my bearings with her. Still leashing all that I have to give for fear she’ll scurry out of my grasp. I won’t force her to stay with me. She has to want this for herself. Want me that way I yearn for her.

She warms into the kiss, entwining her arms around my neck, giving me the signal to deepen our kiss. She moans my name, I think, as I swallow the sound of pleasure, absorb the vibrating need thrumming out of her and into me.

The elevator door swings open, and I sweep her off her feet, into my arms. She squeals when my mouth breaks from hers. We’re both breathing hard by the time I kick my suite door closed behind us.

Fit for a king, the royal suite has been ground zero for our action. I’d like to see Jade in other lighting, if you catch my drift. But I’m not a greedy bastard. I’ll take her wherever she’s happy to have me. And since she hasn’t invited me to her place, I’ll leave it off the table…for now.

Dropping her at the edge of my king-size upholstered sleigh bed, I watch her rapidly rising and falling chest, her smoldering eyes raking over me. I grasp the front of my pants, my hand palming at my erect, dripping cock over the layers. I’m making a mess in my pants, when I want to make a mess inside of her.

“Strip,” I order, following my own command.

I’m fearful to touch her. If I do, I’ll end up ripping through that alluring dress of hers. Better she undress herself. I like a good private strip tease.

I shrug my jacket off; my vest is next. The buttons on my dress shirt are testing me. My buckle is freed and my zipper rasps down. I tug my pants off with the briefs. My smart phone pops out of back pocket, thudding to the floor. Recalling how I left Isaiah hanging, I slide and tap into my contacts list.

He’s hasty on the pick up this time.

“I’ll be running late.” It’s all I give Isaiah before I cancel the call, shut my phone off, and drop it into the top drawer of my nightstand. He’ll understand. We didn’t brave Afghanistan together for nothing.

I take my pricey, one-of-a-kind watch off next, the cool face contrasting the warm case back where the etched dedication had been pressed over my skin. I settle it by my phone in the bedside table, closing the drawer.

Jade is out of her dress by that point. It pools around her feet. She’s bending to get the straps of her shoes.

“Leave them,” I say, imagining how the points of her heels will feel digging into my ass as I fill her, stretch her to accommodate my fat, nine-inch cock.

She reaches for my shaft, her hand fisting around the base, hauling me before her. She’s at the right level to suckle the red-faced crown into her mouth. She swipes her tongue over my slit, sucking up my sticky pre-cum. I’m a leaky faucet for her, reduced to a randy teenager with his big, hairy balls heavy with boiling spunk, ready to paint her insides with my seed, and ruin her for anyone else.

I fist her hair, thrusting gently into her mouth. My meaning becomes clear to her and she hollows her cheeks, taking in more of me. I’m not satisfied until my cockhead bumps the back of her throat.

No gag reflex stops me from grinding deeper, drawing my hips back until her thick lips are cushioning my bulbous head before I plunge back in, take all that she’s sucking out of me. My lower abs tense and my balls draw up. I’m going to blow my load. She slides her tongue up the underside of my shaft, the tip tracing the ridges and veins of my cock.

“Enough,” I growl low, slipping free of her mouth, keeping her from diving back and feasting on me until I come undone and fill her. Grasping my cock, I give it a pump, gesturing for her to get on her back. “Show me what belongs to me.”

Knowing how to please me, she opens her legs, her manicured, slender fingers parting her pale rose lips, her labia framing the red-pink of her glistening, dewy channel. She dips a pretty purple nail inside, her eyes rolling into her head, and her back arching off the bed. “Cas,” she moans my name.

“Add another finger,” I command.

She slips a second digit into her tight little hole, the slurping suction music to my ears.

“Yeah. Get yourself nice and wet for me,” I grunt, my cock jerking with the need to settle between her long, beautiful legs.

Licking my lips, I watch her pant my name like a mantra, wildly incoherent by the time I grab her wrist and force her fingers from playing with her pussy further. “This,” I say, bringing my mouth on level with her mouthwatering cunt, “belongs to me. Isn’t that right, Jade?”

She thrashes her head, her eyes closed, her teeth working her bottom lip.

I nip her fat, little clit and she yelps, opening her eyes. They fly to meet my stare, and I smirk around her nub.

She nods jerkily, a moan slipping free. “It’s yours, Cas. I’m yours.”

It’s all I need to hear. Open fucking sesame.