Chapter 16
Delilah
The instant Adrian referred to himself as the King of Diamonds, I felt like I snapped out of a trance.
There was no mistaking that the story I had been fed about this local casino was just, frankly, incomplete at best. Adrian had undoubtedly left some sordid details out.
There had likely been some swearing on the phone, some lowballing, some tactics he and his brothers had used to take over the casino.
But he had been very wise to bring me here.
I could not pretend that the staff did not look as cheerful and as minimally stressed as any casino employees I had seen.
They were certainly far less concerned than their brethren on the Strip.
If this had been a casino staff stripped bare of their benefits, reduced to employees with minimal salaries, they did not look the part.
Still. The rooms?
“Show me around the rest of the casino first,” I said.
First. As if that means the rest is to come.
“Of course,” Adrian said. “No need to rush things, right?”
I tried not to read too much into things.
But honestly, my mind was much too frazzled to differentiate heads from tails.
The coffee shop hadn’t made things better; if anything, going there had simply given Adrian the excuse to take me to a place even “worse” than his office or his penthouse.
At least there, I was under no delusions about what he was trying to set me up for.
But here? The proof was incontrovertible. Even a billionaire could only mask flaws and errors so much. For Aces Up to be in the kind of condition it was showed that Adrian had been sincere when he said that he kept it as it was as much as he and his brothers could have.
Everything I saw only reinforced that. The food court was pristine.
The tables were filled with cheerful employees, and the rugs were well kept.
The decor, which felt almost like a chessboard in its black and white design, would never be confused for upscale or elite, but it was done in a tasteful, tactful manner.
The entire tour of the casino itself went by in a blur. I hardly took any notes, had my recorder on only out of habit, and found myself drifting in and out of being present. When we got upstairs…
“Now,” Adrian said, “can I show you to the rooms?”
I nodded. Just good journalism to explore everything, right? Just me doing my job to make sure all was examined, right?
I followed Adrian to the elevators. The doors opened to an empty ride up. I made sure to stand with my back against the wall; suffice to say, I still wasn’t sure how I felt about all of this. No bullshit, Delilah. Don’t rely on bullshit.
The ride up went by silently. Not a word was exchanged. Adrian looked back at me once, eyed me up and down rather obviously, and then looked back to the doors with a smirk. You wanted real? Keep it real.
The doors to the top floor opened. There was only one door in this hallway. Speak honestly as a journalist.
No.
Speak honestly as a human being.
“Is this all just one massive setup to try to fuck me?”
The words came out far harsher, far more brutal than I cared for. But you know what? That wasn’t the question from the reporter of the Las Vegas Times. That was the question of a woman tired of playing games of coy words and sly glances.
Adrian had his hand on the door handle. He paused, looked down at his hand, drew in a breath, and opened the door.
“Don’t fucking ignore me, Adrian,” I said. “You asked for honesty, and you got it.”
He kept walking forward. I fucking hated when people did that; it was one thing to look me in the eye, lie to my face, or answer no comment. It was another to walk or even run away; that was as sure a sign to me as a truth that I had just unraveled that no one wanted to face.
“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth,” I said. “I want you—”
I had barely gotten a foot in when everything happened so fucking fast, my mind was a good five seconds behind.
He pulled me into his arms, pressed me against the wall, and stared me down. I looked into those heavy brown eyes, the eyes that had lost their gentleness and become something of an animal’s. He was no longer human; he was a lustful creature that had found its target.
“Is it?” he said.
He smirked.
And then he leaned in to kiss me.
And I took it.
Embraced it.
Escalated it.
We kissed against that wall, him pressing his hips against mine, tearing his clothes off, with the vigor of pent-up tension from weeks of playing coy, weeks of coming within inches of doing this, weeks of wondering what if, maybe not, perhaps so…
but now fuck yes. Within seconds, he had both of our shirts off.
I still had my bra on, but his hands were working behind my back to take it off.
The only reason he didn’t have them off quicker wasn’t due to lack of skill; the desire to hold me against the wall and take my bra off worked against each other.
No matter. He turned me, had my bra off, and tossed me on the bed.
I looked up at him, amazed at how every time more clothing came off, he was just that much more handsome, that much more muscular. His toned chest, chiseled shoulders, and ripped abs were just one cherry on top of the other, one extra layer of strength to control me with.
“Yes,” he said, standing at the foot of the bed, unbuckling his pants. “I will fuck you, Delilah. I have wanted to fuck you from the moment I saw you. I have waited long enough for you.”
He came on top of me and started kissing my neck, sending my hips upward. I will fuck you, Delilah.
Are you sure—is this what you want—shut up, enjoy the moment—your ethics.
He grabbed my breasts as he moved his lips down my neck and to my chest. I had maybe seconds before I could never turn back. Fuck, I had no interest in doing that! None!
… but to what end, though? Never mind the professional part. What the fuck was this building toward? A quickie? Something real?
Adrian moved past my breasts and down my stomach. Both my pants and my underwear still lay between him and what he sought, but they were far less resistance than the walls we had put up before—for quite understandable reasons. As soon as they went off…
Adrian kissed the center of my hips, between my belly button and my clit. I writhed with a mixture of anticipation and uncertainty. The easiest thing to do would have been to let it go, to just let it transpire.
But the smart thing…
I didn’t get to think further when suddenly, Adrian sat up.
He pulled me to him and kissed me on the lips.
This was all so incredible; no one had ever kissed me like this, ever teased me like this!
As if to drive the point further, as one arm cupped my neck and held my face against his, the other slid down my pants.
I was unbelievably wet; my mind might have still been torn, but there was little denying what my body wanted.
He found my clit. He wasted no time rubbing. Pressure and heat rose all through my body; I returned the favor, moving my hand down his pants until I found his cock. Fuck, it felt so stiff, so thick in my hand. All I had to do… all I had to do…
What do you want, Delilah?
Decide before it’s too late.
I groaned as he continued rubbing me, gradually moving me down the path of climax. It would not come instantly, and yet…
The point of no return began approaching. As soon as I came…
I lurched back. I caught my breath. Adrian, kneeling on the bed, looked at me dumbfounded, as if he couldn’t believe what was transpiring. I couldn’t, either.
“What?” he said. “Come.”
I swallowed a breath. I had to get a hold of myself. I had to know what I was getting into. To be a power play, and not just a true passion…
“Adrian,” I said, nervous—not because I was afraid of what to say, but afraid I would fall for his power. “What am I to you?”
Adrian’s steely gaze never changed. That stare was stronger than any diamond forged in the world, never mind in Las Vegas. No man had ever looked at me like that; it was a look I had to turn my eyes from, lest I fall under its spell.
“No bullshit,” I said as I looked down at the bed.
“You’re mine.”
“No,” I said. Well, yes, I wanted to be his. But I wanted to be his; I didn’t want to be his for just this mid-morning, never to see each other again. “I mean… Adrian.”
No bullshit.
“You’re handsome as hell. We’re clearly past questions of whether I prioritize my personal interests over my professional ones.”
Are you? Or are you just captive to the moment? Tread very carefully, Delilah.
“But if you are just trying to fuck me to show off to your brothers, to say ‘I won’ in this game of power, then I have absolutely no interest in this,” I said. “I… got swept up in a game with you. It’s a fun game. But drop the game for a moment. You want the real truth?”
I swallowed. This went beyond honest. This went to painful.
“I would never have done this a decade ago. But I’m in my thirties now. I always said I wanted a family, and yet my actions never aligned with that. It’s clear you and I have something here. But I want to make sure we agree on what ‘something’ is. Do you understand?”
Adrian growled something incomprehensible, and I wasn’t even sure it was an actual word. He sounded more like a tiger having to speak to its prey than he did a man having a conversation with a woman. It was both incredibly erotic and dangerously risky.
“I honestly do not care if you manipulated me here or not; it was clear that this was something we always desired,” I said. “But again. What is the ‘something?’ We’re playing with fire here if we are on different pages.”
I swallowed again. I was shaking I was so nervous. I had not expected this to be the outcome, that was for damn sure. But just as I always made sure what I published was legal, I had to make sure what I was getting into was exactly what I truly wanted—not just what my body wanted.
“What do you want, Adrian?”