The last game had won him a midsize radio station in Anaheim, California.
It would be a superb addition to his already sizeable news and social media portfolio. Or he could shut it down and declare it a loss.
It didn’t matter either way.
What mattered was that he had Giacomo’s financial demise within his grasp. How very fitting that he should be in the perfect place to celebrate once he’d hammered the last nail into the coffin.
His gaze flickered to the stunning woman in red who regarded him with a touch of wariness and a whole lot of undisguised interest.
The silky cognac-coloured hair begged to be messed with, as did that sinful, pouting mouth she insisted on mauling every time he won a hand.
But her body, Dio! Her dress was a little too tight, sure, but even the fact that it made her assets a little too in your face didn’t detract from the fact that she was a magnificent creature.
A magnificent creature he would possess tonight. She would be the cherry on his cake, one he would take the utmost pleasure in savouring before he devoured.
But first...
‘Do you yield?’ he asked silkily, already anticipating the response. In some ways they were so very similar. Which wasn’t surprising considering they were father and son.
Although a father and son who detested the very ground each other walked on put an interesting twist on their relationship.
‘Over my dead body.’ Giacomo snapped his fingers at the dealer and threw his last five-million-dollar platinum chip in the middle of the table.
Beside him, his hostess’s mouth dropped open. The sight of her pink tongue sent a spike of excitement through his groin.
Sì...he would celebrate well tonight. For a while there, he’d begun to suspect that beating Giacomo would be his only source of entertainment in Macau. Which was why he’d sought the old man out instead of leaving him to squirm a little longer. He’d wanted to be done and out of here as soon as possible.
The other deals he’d come to negotiate had taken the necessary leap forward and he’d believed there was nothing left.
But now...
His groin hardened as he watched her mouth slowly press shut and her eyes dart to his with the same anticipated excitement that flowed within him.
He let his interest show, let her see the promise of what was to come.
Heat flared up her delicate neck and flawless skin into a surprisingly innocent face that could’ve graced a priceless painting.
Dio, she was truly entrancing. And yet she was in a place like this, where the likelihood of being hit on, or more, was very real.
He gave a mental shrug. He’d stopped trying to reason why people took the actions they took well before he’d grown out of long socks.
Otherwise he’d have driven himself mad from trying to decipher why the father whose DNA flowed through his veins seemed to hate every single breath he took.
Or why Maria’s betrayal still had the power to burn an acid path in his gut—
No.
That train had long left the station. Giving it thinking room was a waste of time and his time was extremely precious.