“Later.”
“Thanks, Carson. I mean it.”
ASI stepped back into my bachelor pad, the frigid air-conditioning joined the smell of bacon to slap me in the face. Shit, Marta was up, and I still had to talk with Asher about a few issues with the new hotel. And I really needed some time alone to digest my call with Carson.
Asher had gifted me the house he owned here in Miami. A big-as-fuck mansion, all decorated and shit, but I chose to punish myself in this barren stainless apartment close to the beach. It kept my mind focused and alert, and gave me a vantage point to keep scanning the streets. If I wasn’t staring out the window of my office, I was gazing off the balcony of my condo.
“Morning!” rang out from the kitchen.
I mentally counted back three hours. Five o’clock in the morning out in Vegas, which was a little later than we usually touched base on this project. Natalie didn’t know about the venture yet, which I didn’t think was a good idea, but it was Asher’s choice, not mine.
What the fuck did I know about having a wife and kids?Nothing. So I kept my mouth shut.
“Hey, Mart.” I wound my sweaty arms around her from behind. “Smells good,” I mumbled in her ear as I leaned forward and kissed the lobe.
“Better than you.” She laughed, moving to turn the bacon and crack a few eggs.
“Yeah, I’m going to hit the shower real quick, but I have to call Ash first,” I said, moving toward the master bedroom.
“Okay. I’ll wait to put on your egg whites,” she called after me.
Crap. Marta was so easygoing and accepting, and I was going to break her heart one day soon. More proof my reckless fucking around was going to catch up with me. Hopefully, really soon, now that Carson was involved.
Truth be told, I cared for Marta. If it hadn’t been for my inability to let the past go, we might have been able to have something together. She was a good girl, and I was falling for her.
She was all legs, soft and supple curves, and dark, luscious tits. Deep down, I knew her heart was golden, but she knew when to be tough. None of the VIPs at the club got away with shit when they were in the back with her. She’d put them right in their place with a look and a waggle of her finger.
But my memories wouldn’t allow me to go all-in with the exotic beauty. And she didn’t ask. She knew better.
I hoped.
After my call, I stepped into a steaming shower, leaned my forehead against the cool tile, and closed my eyes as the water beat down my back. Asher had asked me to do the one thing I didn’t want to do.
“I need someone to come and keep an eye on the Tunnel while I take the fam away, Mike. Pete’s looking after Los Angeles and you got Staci out there, and I really need this. That okay with you?” he’d asked toward the end of our call.
I’d said “of course” without hesitation. In a million years, I’d never say no to Asher. He was the only one who had ever given me the acceptance and devotion I’d needed when all I’d been was a down-and-out spoiled teen looking for a place to call home.
But I hadn’t been back in Vegas in a while. I’d been in and out a few times for my dad’s birthday and Asher’s wedding, but those were quick trips.
Asher and Natalie and Carson and Lila were taking all their kids to the Bahamas for a week, which meant I needed to really get down and dirty in Sin City. I wasn’t sure why it bothered me so much. Lynx wasn’t in Vegas, but it was where we’d met and started whatever it was that we had.
Which currently was a big fat nothing.
Running my hand over my short hair, letting the water wash away the sweat and dirt, I allowed my hand to roam. With Marta right there in the kitchen, I should have been ashamed of what I was doing, but I wasn’t. Not with Vegas looming. The city of sin for most, yet the place I discovered the purest, most beautiful soul.
My thoughts drifted to my old condo. Lynx had been determined to keep paying for her schooling and was hooking in order to do that. I didn’t like it, but what else could I do? It wasn’t my place to force her hand. Natalie didn’t know about us, so Lynx had also kept her apartment next door to Nat for appearance’s sake. All these charades cut into her funds.
I should have told her about my trust fund and paid for her schooling, but somehow, I knew that wouldn’t fly. So I took what I could get. And that was Lynx hanging out at my place when she wasn’t selling her body or babysitting. It was a half-baked arrangement, but I couldn’t afford to be picky.
My cock hardened at the memory of Lynx naked in my condo, walking to the bathroom to shower, her long braids swaying against her ass, then getting dressed in silky lingerie—inevitably, for someone else.
My mind floated back to one night when she was leaning against the floor-to-ceiling windows, her hands pressed against the glass and mine tight over hers, locking them in place, and my cock buried deep in her ass.
Squeezing myself hard before skimming up and down my shaft, I remembered that moment with precise clarity. I’d been watching Lynx’s reflection in the glass, her tits bouncing free while her tight light brown nipples pushed up against the window. No one could see in, but we could see out. The twinkling lights of the Strip spread out in front of us, reflecting off our arms and legs, casting a soft glow around the room.
The city I’d grown up in was there for the taking, glowing like a beacon as it waited for me to conquer it. Vegas was my town, and it was on her streets that I’d learned to be a man. With Lynx in my condo, I’d envisioned for the first time building an empire of my own. My dad wouldn’t be the only Wind to put up hotels and amass a fortune. I could do it too.
It wasn’t just the sex that made me confident. Being with Lynx brought out something primal in me. I was king of the jungle, ready to attack my prey and carry the prize back to my mate.
