Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
E ntering the casino was an eye-opener. Having lived in Kansas City, she really didn’t know why she had never gone inside.
When she had graduated high school and left Kansa City, she hadn’t been old enough to gamble.
When she returned after Glory’s accident, money had been too tight to gamble any away.
As she took in the glitz and glamour of the casino, she realized it was different than any other place she had been. Flashing screens from the machines were enticing, regardless of not knowing how to play them. One with a screen with a big frog with a top hat drew her interest.
“Want to play?” Kent asked when she paused by the machine.
“I better not.” She grinned, moving on to another machine that had a genie holding a slipper full of gold coins that looked as if the coins were about to slip out.
“You playing tonight, Kent?”
A feminine voice drew her interest away from the machine. Turning, she saw a woman in a tight-fitting, sleek black dress had stopped to talk to Kent.
“Not tonight, Mandy.”
The waitress glanced from him to her then went back to Kent. “I’m on duty until one, if you change your mind.”
Sage watched the woman walk away in high heels she would have never attempted to wear with an ease she envied.
Looking back to Kent, she raised her eyebrows at him. “A friend of yours?”
“Mandy is one of the casino hosts here.”
“I can see why you prefer to stay here versus getting an apartment.”
Putting an arm around her waist, he guided her through the casino. “I stay here because it makes more sense. I can use it as a tax deduction. Plus, I get housekeeping daily.”
A cocktail waitress passed in front of them, wearing a short skirt and fish net stocking.
“I can see the perks for you,” she said, managing to keep a straight face as they walked down a huge hallway to the elevators.
As they rode up the elevator, she couldn’t help but wonder why he was interested in her when he had so many women available to him. Not only were the women who worked here extremely attractive, the women she had seen playing at the tables they had passed were dressed for a good time.
“Don’t.”
Not understanding, she looked at him. “Don’t what?”
“Think what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“I can read your face. You’d make a terrible poker player.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. What was I thinking?”
“You’re comparing yourself to them.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” she half-admitted.
Kent rolled his eyes at her as the elevator doors opened.
“Mandy is married to the head chef here,” he explained as they walked down a long hallway.
“All the women who work at the casino are locals, and most of them are married and have boyfriends. Those who aren’t, I haven’t been attracted to, not because of their jobs, but I just haven’t met any who attracted my interest to ask. ”
Kent took a key card out of his wallet as he stopped at a door. He slid the key card into the slot then opened it, motioning her to go inside.
The room turned out to be a suite. Her nerves loosened when she saw there wasn’t a bed in sight. They stepped into a small hallway with a restroom next to the door before it opened up to a small kitchenette, with a small table and counter with bar stools on the other side.
Instead of the bed she expected to find, there was an elegant living room with a tan couch and chair, and a huge television on the wall. Her breath caught at the view through the window.
“I would stay here for the view alone,” she exclaimed, moving closer to the window, then hastily took a step back. “I didn’t realize how high we were.”
“Are you afraid of heights?” He placed a hand on her back when she took another step back.
“Only if I get too close. I’m perfectly fine if I don’t look out.”
“In other words,” he teased, “you are.”
“Maybe a little,” she conceded.
“Have a seat before you fall down.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice.
Kent went to the window once she was seated to close the drapes.
“You didn’t have to close them,” she protested. “I like looking at the lights.”
Turning around, he stared at her with an unfathomable expression on his face.
“What?”
“You’re drawn to lights, aren’t you?”
She had to think about it. “I guess so.” She shrugged.
He ran his hand through his hair as his eyes delved to hers, as if trying to make up his mind about something. Then the expression was gone, and his smile returned.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“What are you going to have?” she asked, slipping her shoes off with relief.
“A whiskey.” His curt voice made her frown.
Was he regretting asking her to come to his hotel room?
“Do you have any wine?”
“No,” he answered shortly, taking a glass out of a cabinet.
“What are my choices, then?”
Trying not to have her feelings hurt by the way he was acting, she watched as he opened another cabinet to remove a whiskey bottle.
“Bottled water, Coke, Sprite, bottled tea, pineapple juice.” He named them without looking at her.
“Do you want me to go?” she asked miserably.
He was raising the bottle up from pouring it in his glass but set it down on the counter with a thump and placed his hands on the counter as he stared at her. “Do you want to go?”
“I do if you want me to.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“Then I don’t want to.”
Ignoring his drink, he strode toward her, bending down to take her hand. Without a word, he led her to the bedroom.
“I thought we could talk before I brought you in here, but I can’t wait.” He groaned, pulling her into his arms.
She stared up at him dazedly. “I don’t want to wait, either.”
Melting into his arms, she raised hers to circle his neck. His lips brushed over her mouth, his tongue coming out to trace her bottom lip.
“When you played the piano, I wanted to fuck you.” He silkily slipped his tongue into her mouth teasingly, only to pull it back out.
“It took everything I could do not to fuck you when I got you in the car. You’re lucky you said yes to coming here, or I would have fucked you in the back seat before I let you get out. ”
His hands went to the back of her dress. “Where’s the zipper?”
She smiled mischievously under his lips. “There isn’t one.”
His hands moved to her ribs to slowly inch her dress upward. “This is my kind of dress.”
“I’ll let you borrow it, if you want?” she teased, raising her arms so Kent could slide the dress over her head.
Kent stepped away to place the dress on a chair set up by the window.
Trembling under his gaze as he walked back to her, she started to lift her hands to cover her rose-colored bra. Instead, she lowered them to her sides.
When he came within reach of her, he clamped a hand around her waist, pulling her back to him. “You’re fucking gorgeous.”
Sage was glad Kent hadn’t turned on the bedroom light. Light spilled into the bedroom from the living room, giving the room a romantic intimacy.
Holding her firmly by the waist, he backed up to the bed to sit down, leaving her standing between his spread thighs. His hand left her waist to loosen his tie, leaving it hanging from his neck before bringing it back to run the tip of a finger over the curve of her breast.
“You could make a fortune being a lingerie model.”
“I doubt that.” Her knees shook when his fingers slid under her bra, finding her nipple.
“Trust me.” His husky voice increased the air of intimacy in the room. “I would pay a fortune to see you walk down a runway.” His hands went behind her back to release her bra, letting it fall to the floor. “I’ll pick out some for you, and you can model them for me.”
“Come here, Sage.”
“I’m here.” She was practically standing in his face; how much closer could she get?
Kent’s hand went to her bottom, pushing her breast to his lips.
“This close,” he murmured, taking a nipple between his lips.
“Oh …”
He meant that close , she thought dazedly.
When he tugged on her nipple, her knees gave up the struggle to support her weight. Quickly, she gripped his shoulder to hold herself steady. She shakenly looked down at him toying with her nipple. When his hands slid under her brief panties to cup her bottom, she frowned.
“Why am I the only one naked?” she asked confusedly.
Kent removed his lips and hands to lean back on the mattress. “Because I want you to have all the control.”
“You do?”
“I do.”
Then why didn’t she feel like she was the one in control?
“Sage, I’m going to ask a question, and I need you to be truthful with me, regardless of how embarrassing the question is. I get you’re very private, but I need the answer to this question.”
“Okay …”
“Have you ever made love?”
She tried to think of a way to get out of answering other than leaving the room, and she didn’t want to.
“Does it matter?” she hedged.
“Not to me. I just want to make losing your virginity an enjoyable experience for you. If not”—arrogantly, he grinned at her—“you’re still going to enjoy yourself.”
Either way, she felt it was a win-win situation.
“I haven’t had sex before,” she admitted, narrowing her eyes on him. “But I think you already guessed that?”
Kent nodded. “You couldn’t have learned to play the piano tonight the way you did if you hadn’t devoted yourself entirely.”
“I did.”
Straightening, Kent rose from the bed, his hand going to her hip to tower over her. “Are you sure?”
“Are you the type of man who disappears after they get what they want?”
His hand tightened on her hip. “I’ll be in your life as long as you want me to be.”
Sage looked at him with her whole heart in her eyes. “What if I never want you to leave?”
A pained expression crossed his face, which shot an arrow through her heart. The expression was gone in a millisecond. If she hadn’t been staring at him, she would have missed it.
“Then it would be a first for me.”
Reaching out, she started to unbutton his dress shirt. “Then tonight is going to be a first for both of us.”