KING: Las Vegas Bad Boys Read online

  “Landon, you want me, now?” Her voice is low and broken.

  “Unquestionably.” I stand, holding her as she wraps her legs around me tighter, and carry her down the path, her mouth on my neck, licking the skin leading to my ear. She nibbles my earlobe, and my cock grows hard as her tongue slides across my skin.

  I take her to a small wooden shed near the pond, kicking open the door and setting her down on a potting bench.

  Her hands reach for my sweater, pulling it off, and I tug off hers, too. We’re panting for breath; all I want is her hands to touch my cock, to feel the stiffness that’s grown for her.

  She sits before me, her legs spread apart, and I pull down the white lace of her bra, filling my mouth with her perfect tit, sucking at her hard nipple. Wanting to devour her.

  “I want to touch you,” she says.

  “Not yet,” I tell her, shaking my head, in mock seriousness. “I’m going to spank you first, for lying to me.”

  “Are you going to spank me hard?” She pants, her hands reaching into the waistband of my trousers, reaching for the only thing that can get her off like a fountain. I know she wants to get soaked, but not yet.

  I pull her off the counter, and spin her around so her ass is in my face, right where it belongs. I undo her pants buttons, her zipper—and in one fell swoop I pull them and her white thong to her ankles.

  Her forearms rest against the wooden bench, and I kneel down on the tile floor and press my face against her gorgeous ass cheeks. They are the roundest part of her body, and I want to slip my tongue into the space between her legs, where she is already dripping with desire.

  My hand spreads her legs slightly apart and I press against her opening quickly, teasingly, knowing she likes my fingers deep inside her, knowing that is when she really lights up, but knowing first I need to spank her, play with her. I like sex that isn’t wrapped up in a nice little bow, and so far I’ve given her pretty tidy packages.

  I want things to get dirtier now, want to take it to the next level.

  I know she wants it too, because she kicks off her shoes and her pants that are around her ankles. Now, fully naked, her hand reaches to her opening, her fingers rubbing against her throbbing clit. I kiss her neck, massaging her tits from behind as she touches herself.

  But then she pauses, and turns ever so slightly, to whisper in my ear.

  “I know we’re playing, Landon, but you don’t think I’m really bad, do you? For lying? ... You aren’t actually punishing me?”

  “Oh, baby,” I say, spinning her around to face me. “No. We can stop if that’s what you think. I’d never do something that you didn’t want.... And I don’t know what this is, you and me. But fuck, right now I just want to make you come and I want to fill you up with my cock and I want to taste you. It isn’t about being bad or being good. It’s about being us.”

  “Then spank me, Landon,” she says, her eyes gleaming with desire, with longing. “I want my ass to burn and then I want you to come all over it.”

  My eyes close because I’m speechless. Where the fuck did this woman come from?

  My hand smacks against her bare ass, and she moans under me, the tender skin where I spanked her bright red.

  I spank her again, and a third time, my cock hard—but the truth is, I was already hard. Hard from when I watched her touch herself, hard from when I took in the view of her nice round ass.

  And so I kneel down and kiss the spot where the palm of my hand met her flesh, kiss away the redness. Because maybe I’ve liked to fuck this way before ... but in an instant I know it isn’t what I want with Claire. I want something tender.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispers, her voice so soft that I have the insane desire to scoop her up and put her somewhere safe where she will be protected forever.

  “I just want to be in you,” I admit, the words seeming weak, sounding small. But the words are true. I just want to be inside this woman who is better than me and stronger than me and has a life apart from me—a life I’m too much of an ass to have the privilege of understanding. She doesn’t trust me with the details of her life as a mother.

  Of course she doesn’t. I’m a player, a guy living out of a hotel room, conning my parents for a stake in a company. A real man—the kind she deserves—is better than me.

  She sits up on the potting bench, the cold October air drawing us together. I press myself into her ready opening, and she wraps her legs around my waist and draws her arms around my neck. Our foreheads touch. Our noses brush against one another. And, as I come in her, all I can think is that I want to be a better man.

  I want to be good enough for a woman as complicated as Claire.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Claire

  As we walk toward the house–well, the freaking castle–something has changed. The shame I felt for not being honest, for hiding the thing I am most proud of, is still heavy on my heart. But Landon is looking at me differently. He didn’t ask me to leave. And what started as reckless sex in a shed became a moment more intimate than I have ever experienced.

  We dressed quietly, he took my hand, and I swear to God to took my heart.

  But I know this feeling of protectiveness over me is fleeting. Landon is such an alpha man that of course he’s surging with emotion right now. He thinks it’s his job to protect me, that I’m his responsibility.

  But I don’t want to be anyone’s obligation. Landon and I played make-believe last night, and I know it confused the lines of what was real and what was fake.

  Right now he thinks this is real. And even if I want it to be real, too, I’m not a fool. In the moment it might seem sexy to take claim over me. But the reality is a five-year-old girl he has never met. The reality is bed times and sippy cups and no other woman. Ever. I’d be a fool to think he’d give up so much for me.

  Also, I don’t know if the only dirt Geoffrey found was the truth of my daughter. Or if he found more.

  If he found everything.

  “So this is how we’re going to spin it,” Landon says. “We go back in there, and we tell them that of course I knew about your daughter. That you were just upset to be blindsided that way.”

  “You think they will care? I thought your old-school parents want the company to go to someone really traditional? This might compromise them even considering you.”

  “Geoffrey is awful. Even with a kid, we’re a better choice.”

  “Ouch.”

  “What did I say?”

  “Well, even with a kid is a pretty harsh way of putting it,” I tell him. “Like we’re second rate because of her.”

  Landon’s lips turn to a frown. “Why did you hide her?”

  “Because it isn’t anyone’s business.” I pull my hand from him and walk toward the house with crossed arms. Defensive, yes, but I am always defensive when it comes to Sophia.

  “It isn’t about enjoying the time you have each day that doesn’t revolve around diapers?”

  “There are no diapers.” I raise an eyebrow at him, interested to see where this leads.

  “Wait, how old is your kid?”

  “Sophia is five.”

  “No shit?” Landon runs his hands through his hair. “You had her when you were a teenager?”

  “Hate to break it to you, asshat, but I’m not the first woman to have a baby at nineteen.”

  “I know.” Landon shrugs, uncomfortable. “It’s just hard to imagine. You’re so beautiful and smart and–”

  “I think you should stop trying, Landon. You’re in pretty deep.” I shake my head, hating the fact that for a moment I actually thought that maybe, just maybe, Landon isn’t the guy I assumed he is. That maybe he would be my knight in shining armor.

  “I know that all sounds bad ... but, look, I’m trying to picture the Claire I know with the Claire who has a five year old. I can’t believe you’ve kept her a secret.”

  “It’s for exactly this reason. You see me totally different now.”

  “Is that a ba
d thing? To be seen as you are?”

  “As I am or as you see me? I think they are two different things.”

  “I think this can become a game of semantics that I will indubitably lose.”

  “Why, because I’m a mom?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Do you still want to do this? Really?” I ask him, wondering if we should cut our loses, screw the cash prize, and just go home. Me to my daughter, him to his hotel room.

  “Do you?”

  “Can you just man up and say what you want?” I brace myself for his reply.

  “I want you.”

  “Stop it, Landon. I can’t play that game.”

  “Fine,” he says, seeming to swallow the rest of his words. “Let’s do what we came here to do. Show them how in love we are. How responsible I am. Fuck, they’ll think I’ve changed completely, now that a child is involved.”

  “We can try,” I tell him, wanting to try because, even if my heart is all wobbly, falling all over in places it shouldn’t, I do want the money. It’s what I came here to do. Not fall for a guy I have no claim over.

  I came here for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I came here to change my life.

  Landon

  Holding her hand as we walk back in the house isn’t difficult. Mostly because watching Fiona and Geoffrey’s ghastly reaction to the entire scene is priceless. Everyone has their breakfast dishes cleared, and they appear to have been waiting for us to make our return.

  I knew our detour in the shed caused them quite a wait, but they were clearly on pins and needles for the explanation and hadn’t gone anywhere.

  “So, you knew about her daughter?” Fiona sputters to me after we explained.

  Claire lets out a long exhale, and I look at her, realizing she was nervous to walk back in here and face my family. She smiles, her eyes brighter, like she is relieved.

  “Of course I knew,” I tell them. “What do you think? That I wouldn’t know about my fiancée’s daughter?”

  “Last night I didn’t say I was a waitress because I didn’t know what you might think. And I so want your respect,” Claire says. “Not that you would ever judge me–the woman marrying your son—but I get insecure about my line of work.”

  “Which is bollocks,” I say, leaning into my parents for this priceless line. “Because we all know a mother’s job is the hardest occupation there is.”

  Dad doesn’t speak, and I watch him watch Mum, knowing her reaction is going to matter quite a bit.

  “Well,” Mum says, sitting across from us, wiping a tear from her eye. “Now that it’s all cleared up ... can you tell us about your daughter? Our future granddaughter?”

  Claire picks up her cup of now-frigid coffee and takes a sip, swallowing with a grimace. The maid comes around with a new cup and swaps it out.

  “Thank you,” Claire says, and she pauses again, as if not wanting to speak. Which is quite unlike her. She never seems stuck on what to say. She’s always appeared effortless.

  But then again, her appearance was deceiving. She’s been living a life that wasn’t wholly hers.

  “My daughter is Sophia. And I ran out because—no offense, of course, Fiona, Geoffrey, but—I get very protective of her. And you seemed almost ... accusatory of the fact that I have a little girl.”

  At this, Dad’s eyes furrow, his gaze landing on my brother.

  “Why must you insist on stirring the pot until it overflows?” Dad asks him.

  “I’m just trying to look out for your best interests, Father.” Geoffrey shakes his head slightly. “Landon shows up here, unannounced, clearly wanting to prove something to you, prove his worthiness. It concerns me. His intentions have never been honorable before.”

  “I’m not trying to prove anything,” I start, but Claire tugs on my wrist, and I clench my jaw, forcing myself to be quiet.

  “Meanwhile,” Geoffrey says, “I’ve spent the last decade earning your respect, only for you not to take my advice seriously.”

  “Is that what it’s called?” Dad asks.

  “Henry,” Mum says, tugging on his wrist the same way Claire did with mine. Apparently the women in the house are more cool and collected than the men.

  Well, some of the women. Fiona seems to be spreading her claws, ready to pounce.

  “What, Helen?” Dad asks, looking at his wife. “We all know Geoffrey’s ethics, and the way he has compromised the company’s integrity.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Fiona roars. “He is doing everything in his power to sa–”

  “Enough,” Mum declares, cutting Fiona off. “I don’t want to discuss this anymore. We have a lovely day planned. And I don’t want it ruined. Please, children. Can we just talk about something sweet? Something good? The last thing any of us needs is a fight in the family.”

  “Especially when it’s already damn near falling apart,” Geoffrey mutters under his breath, and I don’t understand what he means.

  But I want to.

  “Please, children,” Mum begs. “Just be nice.”

  The only one who seems to care what Mum wants is Claire.

  She smiles, completely ignoring the ruckus at the other end of the table, and says, “Sophia would love it here, on your property. She and I both love the garden displays at the Bellagio every season. We go every quarter to see the new design the gardeners have created. Even though I was crying when I left breakfast, I was able see some of the your gardens, Helen. Do you think you could show us more?”

  “I would love to. And, yes, those displays at the Bellagio are just magnificent. Henry and I visited Landon for a few days last year, and we went. On display was a fall garden, complete with scarecrows and mossy trees. It was just gorgeous.”

  “I remember that one,” Claire says. “In fact, Sophia decided to be a scarecrow for Halloween after seeing it.”

  “And who is with Sophia now?” Mum asks.

  “She’s with my mother. We live with her; we’re practical people. And the truth is, my life wouldn’t work without my mom. She’s my saving grace, for sure. I work day shifts, now that Sophia is in kindergarten, so it isn’t too much of a burden on her.”

  I watch her speak, her slender neck graceful, her eyes light and alive as she mentions her daughter. I see the lines of worry across her arched brow and I wonder how I had missed this before, the truth that Claire has a little girl.

  I’m sure that is who she’s always texting, calling about. Pacing the room in worry over. It suddenly clicks, the reason she forgoes better shifts, and as I look at her all I see is sacrifice. All I see is beauty.

  “Shall we go on a walk then?” I ask. Everyone nods in agreement.

  I watch Fiona and Geoffrey scowl as we stand. They exchange whispers and shake their heads.

  But I just take Claire’s hand in mine. And follow.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Claire

  After a walk around the garden and a light lunch, everyone goes their separate ways to rest.

  As I climb the stairs to the bedroom Landon and I share, I smile, liking the luxury of a midday nap. That isn’t something I’m accustomed too. Life in Vegas is go-go-go. Life in the English countryside is on pause.

  Landon is already in the room, sprawled out on the bed, a laptop open before him.

  “Are you working?” I ask.

  He laughs. “Right, because of my prestigious job I must focus on.”

  “Stop putting yourself down.”

  “Okay, Mum.”

  “Not funny,” I say, swatting him with a pillow.

  “Sort of funny? Maybe?”

  “No.” I smirk. “Honestly though, what are you up to?”

  “I’m trying to figure out what Geoffrey meant this morning about the family damn near falling apart. Do you think he meant the business?”

  “I’m sure he meant that since the company isn’t digging for blood diamonds, the whole thing is a complete waste. He seems like a greedy ass. Turning a fancy boutique diamond store into som
ething popping up at strip malls? Kinda tacky, isn’t it?”

  “You’re so cynical, Claire,” Landon says, closing the computer. “But I’m sure you’re right, that Geoffrey’s just fighting with Dad about money. I can’t find anything online about the company being in shambles. Not that I have access to anything confidential.”

  “For now.” I smile mischievously. “Soon enough you’ll have this whole thing. They love us, Landon. Your mom and dad think we’re adorable. They absolutely buy our story, and they hate Geoffrey right now. Whatever he’s been up to, it pisses your dad off. Which is a win for us.”

  “My God, woman, you are ruthless.”

  “I know. It’s just ... now that you know about Sophia, you can see how this money would change my life.”

  “Now I feel like a jackass. I can just give you the money. You don’t need to be here with me to get it.”

  “You have a quarter of a million dollars?”

  “Nearly. I won a hundred grand last week. And I usually play what I have, but I haven’t been back to the tables since. I can give you that.”

  “Is that literally everything you have?” I ask him. For some reason I thought Landon was seriously loaded.

  He sits up, running his hands through his hair, clearly uncomfortable. “You wanna talk money?” he asks, a slight frown on his face.

  “I don’t know. I guess. You just seem so freaking rich.”

  “I get some money quarterly from my parents. I don’t have a house or any debt. I make money at the tables and can buy whatever I need with that. I just don’t need much.”

  “Besides nice suits and a nice car and nice dinners out and nice women to take home.”

  “I don’t think most of the women I bring home are that nice. Sexy? Yes. Willing? Very. But nice? No. I take home women who want the same thing as me. One night to forget that our lives are quite shallow.”

  “Why do you live like that, then? If you know it’s shallow?”

  “I’ve never had this overwhelming need to be something. And frankly, I’ve never had anyone require me to be more than I am.”