Gambling For The Virgin:A Dark Billionaire Romance(3)

I'm already wondering what his voice might sound like. I want to hear him say my name.

Use this desire to get what you want. Be just like him. That's what I tell myself. I have to think this way, and be ruthless.         

     



 

This is the only way to save Tommy from an impossible situation with an improbable plan.

Now that I'm actually doing the deal, standing right beside Giancarlo,  I'm motivated to feel confident. I let myself get caught up in the  moment, and now my thoughts are taking me down a winding road where I  can barely see past the headlights of what's coming next on this messy  road. I'm already hazy-minded with growing lust. But this sense of being  less in control now, urges me to play this game with every drop of  resolve that I have.

I have power, and I'm going to use it. I'm not going to take ‘no' for an answer.

I can do this.

It doesn't feel so bad to be not as in control. There's a thrill in me  now. Somehow I'm taking the biggest gamble I've ever made in my life,  and instead of being sick to my stomach, I'm exhilarated.

But when I'm close enough to smell the fresh, masculine scent of him, I'm downright terrified.

Oh, God, can I actually do this?





3





Gian





The lights and sounds of the Wicked Paradise Casino are the sort of dull  roar that doesn't even penetrate my senses. I shove my fingertips  against the green velvet of the game board. Finger the ridges of a chip.  Clench my fists so hard. Hold my cold glass, my skin drinking in the  condensation. The voices of the people around the table fade away,  everything does.

Then one voice cuts through everything and it's like I'm feeling things for the first time.

"I'm Lucy, and I want to make a deal." A feminine voice cuts through the crowd inside my casino and directly into my ears.

I hear the sound of another person wanting something from me.

Another person propositioning me. I get women all the time who think  they can get money from me, get something shiny from me, all because I  have this reputation. One that I don't do anything to discredit, but  that doesn't serve me shit because I haven't been with a woman in a very  long time. I choose not to be. I have absolutely zero fucking interest  in anything that flits in my direction.

So why does something tug at me in this Lucy's voice? Why does her  request make me interested, when it should do the exact opposite?

The air is thicker with the tension rolling off her, the shake in her voice so minor that a lesser man wouldn't notice.

But I'm no lesser man. I'm as skilled as they come in the arts of  reading people, manipulating people, and getting what I want. My skills  help me hear the conflict permeating her voice. The air seems thick with  it.

Lucy's hate toward me emanates like dark curls of smoke … and I'm not  interested in that. I don't need more people around me who want  something from me and openly despise me.

"If you have just a moment for me," Lucy says in a voice that is firm,  but has the faintest tremble. Why does that bring life to my dead  senses?

I also hear the desperation in her voice and wonder what more there is  to her story. That's the part that interests me, and I don't know why.

The only needs I serve are my own. I learned a long time ago that the  only way to keep myself strong and safe is to ruthlessly look out for  only me. That's served me pretty damn well - I own this casino, the  Wicked Paradise, and near countless other holdings in my empire that I  let my accountant worry about. I spend most of my days in this casino  because it's the perfect coffin for me while I drink through every  rotten day and everything seems to pass me by.

It's been a long time since I cared about anything more than my empire,  which I only treat as my distraction. It satisfies my urge to own  things, control them, and build more power.

So why the hell do I care about some honey-voiced girl who walks up to me and tells me she wants something?

Desperation is everywhere, and normally I pay no attention to it unless  I'm actively seeking to take advantage of it. But now? Now I find myself  wanting to know why she's desperate, and I have this creeping suspicion  that I actually care beyond my own purposes.

Why?

How?

I thought those parts of me died when I decided to care about nothing  but my businesses. The last thing I cared about tried to destroy me. A  wife, a woman, something so far in the past for me that I can't be  bothered to even think about them now. But I can't help but see how I  built everything I have by losing something I never had  …  and now this  girl makes me start to want things that the last woman made me give up  on.

I turn to look at her. I have to see what face, what body the  enchantress's voice belongs to. Thoughts I may have had about ignoring  her are deleted from my mind. She's fucking gorgeous. The most beautiful  legs, luxurious dark hair, and the saddest eyes I've ever seen. Her  hazel eyes want to be happy, but her body is tired. The soul behind her  skin is aching. I go from not giving a fuck about her plight to feeling  an intense ache to touch her. I haven't had a woman in years. I told  myself that after my wife, that was a gamble I'd rather not make again.  Women throw their pussies at me all the time, but I have no interest in  some random fuck.

Now I wonder what the hell long-legged Lucy wants. I can't breathe for a  second when she steps closer to me, and then I catch the scent of her  like winter and cherries. Fuck, I want to taste her.

"My brother owes your casino a lot of money. I'm offering you me in  exchange for you erasing his debts. One night, and you cross out  everything he owes, and I'll be keeping him from coming back." Her  voice-she's trying so hard to be strong. But there's a pain that brings a  waver. She's not asking for enough, and she's afraid I'll say no.

But this woman is offering me the very thing I have to have from her the  instant I laid eyes on her. Lucy doesn't have to know that she turned  my normally rational thoughts to cinders, and all I want is to fuck her.  I mean, after all, she came here to offer me the one thing she thinks I  care about more than anything. She's telling me what matters to her  more than anything.

Of course I'm going to give it to her. She doesn't have to know what an  easy mark I was though  …  I want to play with her. Knowing I'm going to  help her, I want to see her struggle just a little bit more. It'll make  it taste even sweeter when I erase everything that troubles her.

"What makes you think I'll just want to fuck you? I can fuck any woman I  want, and I want my money." I don't know who her brother is, but if he  owes me enough that Lucy is offering me her pussy, I doubt it's a small  amount.

"I'm a virgin," Lucy says with passion in her voice. Clearly a cover for  the insecurity she faces at being a virgin - and because of that, I  know she isn't lying. That and the fear coming off her in waves. Fear  that she's going to get turned down for what I know has to be her last  resort offer.

She's wearing what she probably thinks is the outfit to catch the kind  of man whore she thinks I am. But there's far too much class in her  simple outfit to just be slutty. A pencil skirt that hugs her so tightly  it makes me want to tear it off. But if she's going for slut, it should  be so much shorter. I find it delicious that she doesn't know any  better. Same with that little peek of flesh at the top of her silky  blouse. This is how an attractive woman dresses, but the kind of trashy  outfit you wear to get a man to forgive a huge debt is supposed to be  much more sinful. It sells me even further on her purity. Either she's  the world's best actress, or she's desperate and unsure of what to do.  My money's on what I read, because I haven't read someone wrong since  the last woman I cared about.

So Lucy put on this outfit and drug herself to me, to beg. She's trying  to get my interest, and she's managed to succeed because if I don't get  Lucy out of those clothes and into my bed, I'm going to fucking lose my  mind.

I take a deep breath and feign consideration, lifting my glass to my  mouth and drinking down the rum. It should burn going down. It's one of  many I've had tonight. But maybe it can be my last when I close this  deal. I can't come off like the eager hound I am right now. I'll  maintain my own affected smoothness and accept this deal without letting  her know just how much I'm on her hook already.

Fuck, what in the hell did I do to deserve such a goddamn angel on long porcelain legs?

Of course. Her brother. He clearly has a problem. So it's Lucy's pain for her brother that 'earned' me her offer.

I make plenty of money on pain. It's the driver, the currency, and the blood in the veins of my empire.

Lucy steps closer and I see the tops of her thigh-high stockings peeking  from under her skirt. It's a tight pencil skirt-sexy as hell on her and  the thigh highs are a very nice choice, but it already shows she has  far more taste than any of the countless women who throw themselves at  me all the time.

The sight of her sexy, wrapped legs is when I know she's walked into my  lion's den and I'm going to devour her. Lucy knows she came to be my  prey, but I know she has no idea what's in store for her.