“Can we do it again?”
“As many as you want, mo chroí,” he said, his Irish brogue thicker than usual. “We never close.”
I lost count of how many hands I played, growing ever more aware of Kaelen’s knot nudging at me. He refused to let me out of his lap, getting me a virgin Shirley Temple after I finished the daiquiri.
It didn’t take much to get me tipsy, and I felt it after that drink. I wanted to keep my wits about me. As much as was possible with Kaelen’s dizzying touches driving me to the brink of madness. My core burned with need, my thighs sticky with slick by the time wemade it to the roulette wheel.
Apparently, I had won more than I lost, because Kaelen kept mentioning how he was going to reward me when we got home. Even if it was nothing more than beginner’s luck.
“You are doing so well, Willow,” he murmured, his chest against mine, caging me in against the roulette table. “My omega deserves to reap in the spoils of her victory.”
“If you don’t say yes to him, honey, I will.” A drunk redhead winked beside me.
An unfamiliar emotion curled behind my sternum, boiling over until I let out a threatening snarl, my omega at the forefront. I spun on the woman, batting away Kaelen’s tattooed forearm like it was a bothersome gnat.
“Don’t,” I whispered in a voice I didn’t recognize. “He ismyalpha. Do not dare think about what’smine.”
A struggled sound choked her as she sputtered on her wine, spilling some onto her Chanel dress that washed her out. Her muddy eyes got too wide for her face before she threw her hands up, slowly backing away. The faint scent of lemon tinged the air, making her smell like a burned tart.
“Apologies. I was only joking.”
“Leave,” I hissed, vaguely aware of Kaelen’s hand on my hip.
He waved the woman off without a word, jutting his chin in Torin’s direction.
Torin stepped between us, escorting the woman out of the casino. The people nearby were oddly quiet, everyone watching the scene unfold. My chest heaved with labored breaths, my body shaking with a surge of jealousy.
It feltgood.
Good to want something so much. To crave him and claim him.
Those dark emerald eyes focused on me, and only me. Kaelen urged me closer, his warm palms ghosting over my ribs before landing on my hips.
“What a good girl, making sure everyone knew I was your alpha,” he soothed. “Let me take you home, mo chroí. Let me take care of you like you deserve.”
Italmostsounded like he was begging, pleading with me as I hadwith him a few nights ago.
My fingers dug into the lapels of his suit jacket, yanking him close enough to taste the remnants of whisky and something sweet on his breath. His tongue swept over the points of his teeth as he disarmed the last of my defenses.
“Alpha,” I said, not caring who heard us. “I need you.”
Fourteen
WILLOW
The street lights muddled into a blur as we sped through the city. I barely registered the moment Kaelen pushed the door open, my mind a haze being pulled further under by the thickening cloud of our pheromones.
Without waiting for him, I surged forward, jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. A hand slid under my ass, holding me as he carried me through the grounds. I hid my flushed face in his collar at the nod from the two men guarding the front door as he walked us inside.
“Needy omega,” he said, his teeth grazing my earlobe. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you everything.”
“You,” I moaned, scratching his expensive suit jacket, wanting it out of my way.
“Oh, you have me. All of me, mo chroí.”
Something in my belly tightened at his declaration. To the world, I appeared as a sophisticated, spoiled rich girl who moonedover my senator father with pretty doe eyes. Only because that was what my dad wanted people to think.
In reality, I didn’t have much to call my own. All by his design.
