His world…
We went to work together.
He continued to his office and I went on the casino floor. Usually my floor walk was a chance to give me something to do, just so I wouldn’t get bored. Sometimes I’d go to my office and paint. I had a few sketch pads and canvases in there for when I felt inspired to do something. Inspiration these days however was sparse.
The floor was busy. People playing games. All the slot machines had a person glued in front, trying their luck, and the roulette tables were equally as full, the croupiers dealing out the cards.
Everyone was lost in the excitement of Vegas, well within the smoke screen. Not seeing beyond it, not even a little bit.
I turned down the path that led to the concierge area I usually stayed at, then I saw him.
Xander.
He was talking to Frankie and while he talked it up with him, a blond woman checked him out. I couldn’t blame her, couldn’t blame the two dark-haired women by the water fountain either. They were pointing at him, obviously talking about him.
He was gorgeous and had the kind of looks that made the women swoon.
I was doing it too and thinking about last night. I wasn’t sure I could look at him again and not think of last night, it was virtually impossible.
At least it had happened.
Frankie stopped talking to him and went in the opposite direction. Then Xander turned and saw me.
Our eyes locked and for a moment I forgot that I was just standing here watching him. I never even thought to act like I wasn’t.
He was several feet away but I didn’t miss the little smile that tugged on his lips.
I tensed when he made his way over to me.
The women watched and kept watching him. When he stopped a breath away from me everything and everyone else faded away. All I saw was him.
“Morning.” He arched his sensual lips bringing out the dimples.
“Good morning,” I answered returning his smile. The morning did feel better for seeing him. My heart warmed and my body buzzed with memories of his touch.
“Are you okay?” He shifted his weight and leaned slightly toward me.
“I’m here.”
“I noticed. Are you sure you should be here? A day off from this place after a night like last night could have been a good break.”
I shook my head. “It’s better to come here.” I was sure too that if I hadn’t come I might not have seen him. Dad would send Armand to stay with me. I was sure of it.
“I don’t know about that. If I were an artist I think I would have used the day to paint.”
I smiled at that. “I don’t have anything to paint today.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be working on something for me? Did you forget?”
I smiled wider. “No…”
His face brightened and it reminded me of happier times. It was just the feeling I got. The sensation. Like last night. Just like last night and suddenly I knew what I’d paint for him.
“I’ll work on it this week.” I nodded.
“I look forward to it Jia.”
We looked at each other and that awkward silence filled the space between us. The breath that separated us opened the haze that shut the world out and I noticed the blond woman still staring at him. He followed my gaze then looked back to me.
“What? Do you know her?”
I chuckled. “No, I’m just jealous.”
“Why? Why would Jia Marchesi be jealous?”
I took advantage of our closeness to run my fingers over his chest, just lightly, just to touch him and remember how he felt against my fingertips.
“She’s not me. She’s not the boss’s daughter. She can do whatever she wants and go wherever she wants. She can look at you because she’s beautiful and she might have a shot with you. And I’m sure if you asked her to, she could go wherever she wanted with you… Not like me. It’s crazy. I shouldn’t be jealous, because you aren’t mine.”
He glanced over his shoulder and an easy grin drew my attention to the dimple in his left cheek.
My nerves scattered when he took my hand, lifted it up to his lips and kissed my knuckles.
“You had me at the part where you said she wasn’t you. You’re right. She’s not you.” He released my hand. “Can’t get you out of my head.”
My lips parted with the surprise that took me. “Do you want to?”
“No. I like having you there.”
My breath hitched, constricting my breathing.
The smile receded from his face, replaced with a seriousness I’d never seen before. He backed away from me and continued to where he’d come from. The admiring eyes followed him. I watched until he went through the automatic doors and I couldn’t see him anymore.
The last thing I wanted to do was fall for a man I knew I couldn’t have. And not with so much going on.
But, just like everything else that was easier said than done.
Chapter Eighteen
Xander
It seemed like every damn day was destined to be harder than the last.
Actually… scratch that, it wasn’t just the days. It had sped up to hours.
It was getting harder to speak to Jia and not want to touch her. How could I not want to touch her after last night?
Just now I’d wanted nothing more than to take her again. Just drag her off to one of the rooms in the hotel and show her she had nothing to be jealous over.
Make her mine the way I had last night.
As it stood I’d left it vague. Completely vague. A repeat of last night wouldn’t be in my best interest. It wasn’t fair and the part of me that still had a conscience told me I needed to back the fuck off out of her life because it would be so much worse if she found out who I was. As well as blow my mission, but damn it I just didn’t want to add to the list of things that would break her.
The last thing she needed was lies.
So in my head, last night was last night and past and couldn’t happen again.
I had to focus on the mission.
I’d gotten here a while ago, ready to talk to Giovanni but he wasn’t here yet. Frankie told me he’d gone to see Jia.
Then minutes before I saw her I got a message from the man himself, asking to see me. It was a lot easier when the people you wanted to speak to requested to see you, it broke the ice.
I got to his office and the door was open. I’d only been in there once before and that was to pick up my pass and access codes. Both stuff I’d be using in the ways I wasn’t authorized for over the next few days. I wanted to check out what was in the vaults down in the Castle.
Giovanni had his glasses on when I went into the office. He took them off and set them down on the table near a stack of papers and straightened up against his chair to look at me.
“Come in and close the door,” he instructed.
I did and moved over to sit down in the leatherback chair in front of him.
“How are you doing?” I asked.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “That’s interesting to hear. No one ever asks me how I am.”
I raised my shoulders into a shrug and smirked. “Well, where I come from that’s the sort of thing you’d ask after a night like last night.”
He nodded. “Of course, and I suppose the answer after a night like last night is that I am not okay.”