I ignore him. “So the cartel business pays well, I assume?”
“It does.” Emmanuel smirks. “What do you do?”
“I have my own empire too.” I smirk. “A boutique. It’s called Evie’s Vault.”
“Impressive. Do you enjoy it?” Emmanuel asks. He hasn’t looked away from me once. It’s a little unnerving having someone’s undivided attention on you.
“I love it. I’ve always loved clothes,” I tell him.
“Okay. Evie, I want to dance.” I’m pulled to my feet by Charlotte. And I follow her out to the dance floor that no one is actually dancing on. “I don’t think that guy is joking about the cartel,” she whispers.
“I don’t think he is either.” I laugh. It’s just my luck that the one guy I actually could see myself with turns out to be undesirable. Although I couldn’t really be with him for more than one night anyway. Which isn’t the worst idea.
“Stop flirting with him, Evie!” Charlotte shrieks.
“Why? A man like that knows how to fuck, Charlotte.”
“This isn’t a joke. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
My body is pressed tighter against hers as we dance. “So, you’re the only one who gets to jump into bed with a dangerous man? It’s just sex. I’ll be fine.” I don’t acknowledge the feelings he’s bringing to the surface after a single platonic touch.
“Wait… You’re already planning on spending the night with him?” Charlotte’s eyes widen.
“No, I’m planning on spending a hot few hours with the man and then never seeing him again.” I smile when I see my friend’s Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Dangerous walking towards us. “Incoming.”
“Can I cut in?” Louie asks me.
“Be my guest.” I’m quick to escape Charlotte’s stern glare. I mean, really, Emmanuel’s probably talking nonsense. I’ve seen movies. Real criminals don’t just admit their crimes. Or at least I don’t think they would.
I don’t know who, but someone suggested we go somewhere else, so I file in next to Charlotte as we both follow Louie to wherever it is we’re going. The casino is busy, and a lot of people try to stop and talk to him and his friends along the way.
I keep flicking my eyes to Emmanuel, who warms my other side. There’s a lot of men in suits gathered around us, a lot of Hispanic men. Maybe heisa drug lord. He seems too… clean-cut though and he smells even better than he looks.
Louie is stopped by some French woman, and when I hear her offer to meet him in her room later, I see red. I will not sit back and watch my friend get hurt again.
Stepping in front of Charlotte, I smile at the newcomer. “Oh, sweetheart, you clearly ain’t got any of the good sense God gave a rock because you are so barking up the wrong tree right now.”
“Who are you? And why are you here?” the woman asks, waving a hand towards me before her glass of champagne is tipped over on my dress.
I don’t budge. “Bless your heart. You think a spilled drink is going to bother me?”
Before she can answer, an arm wraps around my waist from behind me, pulling me back. Emmanuel hisses something in Spanish and then two men are grabbing hold of the woman. “Miss, it’s time to leave,” one of them says in a thick Hispanic accent.
“Emmanuel, no,” Louie growls out. “She’s the daughter of the French president.”
Emmanuel fires off something else to the two men, again in Spanish, and I’m now wishingI had taken the language in school. He then turns to me and his voice softens. “Are you okay?”
I shake out of his hold and glare back at him over a shoulder. “Sticky, but I’m not opposed to having this champagne licked off me.” I wink before I rush forward to catch up with Charlotte.
We end up in a bar, somehow playing Truth or Dare, when one of Louie’s friends tells me it’s my turn.
“Dare,” I call out, deciding to be careless. I mean, what could these mobsters actually dare me to do anyway?
Sammie, whose name I recently learned, smirks at me while pointing to a man in a suit by the bar. “I dare you to go hit on that guy and get his number.”
I smile. “Please, that’s like taking candy from a baby.”
Did he really think that would be a challenge?
