Seduction: Book 3 (Strong Young Women Series) (12 page)

The good thing about slot machines, they allowed people to talk and have fun. They found adjacent machines to play and mostly talked and didn’t pay much attention to what was happening on the slots. Some were wins, and other were losses but overall, it was great fun. Sadly none of them won much, but then they didn’t mind since they had only lost a hundred dollars each on the slots.

Once they moved on to the r
oulette table then things started getting more interesting. There were lots of clappings, high fives and hugs going around the table. The odds on roulette were crazy interesting as long as you won. Ana gambled by constantly betting on the numbers  0 and 00, and constantly won. She laughed at Evelyn who each time she didn’t bet on either number, the little ball landed on 0 or 00.

“Let’s move on to the cards,” Kelly suggested.

“I can’t play cards,” Evelyn warned them. “If we can get a dollar minimum table, then maybe I can learn.”

Ana snorted. “This hotel doesn’t have dollar minimums. I think they start at ten or twenty,” she told her. “But either way, we play with the big boys when we come to Las Vegas.
”

“Seriously?” she asked. At Ana’s nod, her jaw dropped. “Okay now you are kidding me.”

“She’s dead seriously. Last night she played against the guys and won,” Kelly told her. “And they are all still bitter about it.”

“Now I know you’re pulling my leg. Gabe and Nate are great players, and I’ve never seen them lose. But if you say you are that good, I’d seriously pay to see that.”

Ana grabbed hold of Evelyn arm. “Come on then,” she said and also took hold of Kelly’s arm. “Your job, Evelyn will be to look pretty and distract the other big players, while Kelly and I win. The winnings of course will be shared among the three of us.”

Evelyn grinned with mischief. “Lead the way sister. I think I’m in love with you.”

They giggled at Evelyn’s silliness as they made their way to the enclosed area where the high rollers played. There was a mini concierge desk leading to the rooms with the various games going on. Ana being a frequent visitor, was led inside with no questions asked. The staff had strict instructions to always treat Ana with the greatest of respect and provide her with whatever she needed. Her guests went with her and soon they were inside a large room with various games to choose from.

“Which table would you like to join, Ms. Summers?” Vinice, the high roller usher asked her.

“I’m not sure Vinice. Today, it seems well packed.” She turned to her two friends. “Blackjack or Poker?” Ana asked.

“Whatever the guys are playing,” Evelyn opted. “But please tell me again that we can win this?”

“Girl power, Evelyn. Yes we can.” Ana smiled as she looked around the tables. “And they are at the blackjack table.”

“Blackjack, it is,” Kelly said squeezing Ana’s hand. “I love
blackjack.”

Vinice smiled, “Good choice,” she told them, then led them to the table they had pointed where the four brothers were playing. “What can I get you to drink,” she asked after they had settled on chairs that were in between the guys. It was a particlarly large table with three other gentlemen playing.

Ana received chips worth a hundred grand. She smiled when the men gaped as she took her chips from the little tray holding her chips, courtesy of Massimo. She shared it with Kelly and they waited for the current game to end. Their drinks were brought by a waitress and they sat sipping in silence while watching the other players.

As that round ended, Ana and Kelly nodded in agreement to the dealer when he asked if they wanted to be dealt the next round.

“I hope you aren’t lost little girls,” Manuel said to them. “This is for the big boys, and I’d hate for you to get hurt.”

“That’s a lot of money you have there,” Rafe agreed eyeing their pile of chips. “Could buy you lots of shoes if you
left now.”

“Nate? Any words of wisdom?” Ana asked.

The dealer started passing out cards.

“As long as you have a ride home, I don’t care. Taking that money from the two of you will be a piece of cake. Something that I need
in order to make this a memorable trip.” He smirked at them. “Besides, today I am going to prove that you cheated last night.”

“Ever heard of David and Goliath, Nate?” Evelyn asked.

Gabe guffawed. “Evelyn, this is real life. We have seven Goliath’s at this table, and we are all going to share some of that money you are both guarding with your lives.”

Ana smiled as the other three men laughed together with the brothers. She wasn’t a pro, but she knew her way around most of the games. And she intended on winning way more than they won. Hopefully Kelly would too.

So when the game began, she ignored them all and concerntarted on studying her opponents and the cards that were played. As per her strategy, she lost the first few hands and they quickly gained more confidence, pointing out that it wasn’t looking so good from the get go. After that Ana started winning more than losing. Her pile of chips increased in size slowly, as the other pile of chips either remained the same or dropped in size.

Ana looked over to Kelly’s pile and she wasn’t far behind. Now the only chatter around the table was from Evelyn. The three gentlemen held on to her every word and didn’t seem to be paying that much attention to the cards anymore. The four brothers kept comparing chip heights and were obviously wondering what was happening. Ana smiled a lazy smile as another round ended on a high note.

“Gentlemen,” Massimo said relieving the dealer. “Would you like fresh cards?” he asked with a huge smirking smile.

Ana accepted another drink from the waitress and smiled at Massimo’s wink.

None of them replied as he switched the cards and dealt from the fresh deck.

“Ana, congratulations,” Massimo said to her looking at her ring. “I see the young man proposed. We should celebrate.” He nodded to Vinice who came over and he whispered something in her ear.

A few minutes later, Vinice came back escorting a waitress holding  tray with several champagne flutes. Massimo took the expensive looking bottle and opened, then poured. The waitress took the tray and passed the glasses around.

“I like you Massimo,” Evelyn said with a grin. “You surely know how to treat a girl.”

Ana and Kelly laughed as Massimo looked slightly taken aback. Not much fazed the big guy, so it was refreshing to see him momentarily lose his cool.

As the cheers rang around the table, all nine players including Massimo and Evelyn drank their champagne. The three strangers congratulated Ana and Gabe and went on to introduce themselves. Two of them were from Utah and the third from California. Before the end of the night they were all talking like close friends and finally conceded defeat.

Ana piled her chips up high and made a whole show of counting them, then recounting until Manuel flicked his fingers and toppled her chips. “That’s very mature, Manuel.” She laughed as he looked towards Kelly’s chips and threatened to topple hers too.

Kelly goaded him, pushed his buttons until he had no choice but to react. “Go ahead, little boy.”
She pointed to her chips. “You can play with mama’s expensive chips.” She pointed at them and grinned in his direction. “Those are one hundred and five hundred dollar chips. The next a thousand but that one right there is a five thousand dollar chip. It’s very pretty too,” she added looking at him. “The color would look good on you.”

Laughter er
upted at Kelly’s last statement and Manuel toppled the high rises that Kelly had built with her chips.

“I hate to break this up, but some of us have a meeting with Massimo in a few hours. You can stay, but I’m going to bed,” Ana said getting up. “Massimo? You’ll have my cash ready?”

He took her chips and Kelly pushed hers towards him as well. “I’ll take care of it.”

Gabe took her hand and pulled her into his side. After everyone had said their goodnights to Massimo and their three blackjack friends, they left to go to their villas.
It seemed like she had gone for twenty four hours with no sleep. Ana realized that it was close to that, if she used east coast time.

Despite the fact that she wasn’t feeling tired, Ana needed to sleep. In a few short hours she needed to be up and attending a meeting with Massimo. It wasn’t supposed to be a long meeting, but she still needed to be awake during the duration of the meeting.

Gabe shut their bedroom door and walked towards Ana who was removing her jewelry. He unzipped her dress, sliding the back zipper down, slowly. “You looked beautiful tonight, Ana. A little shorter than I like, but as long as the other men don’t touch,” he said and kissed her neck, “then I don’t care much.”

Ana snorted at his choice of words.

He chuckled. “Slight exaggeration,” he said and chuckled again. “I guess I do care.”

Ana turned around and kissed him. “You shouldn’t care. My heart belongs to you,” she told him.

“Ana,” he said and leaned down to take her lips in a long and steamy kiss. He took a deep breath and looked at her with heat in his eyes then groaned and pulled her to him. Gabe pushed her lips apart and drank her sweet nectar. This woman made him weak and crazy. “Your lips, baby. They make me crazy.” He pulled her head back and she opened her mouth gasping and Gabe took advantage. He didn’t stop drinking her sweet nectar as he quickly removed her clothes.

Ana helped Gabe get rid of his clothes then rained kisses all over his chest. Gabe groaned in delight, then he took her hands and held them behind her back. “Ana,” he s
aid as he took her lips again, drowning her cry as he pinched her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He lowered his head and soothed the aching nipple with his lips and tongue, then he pinched the second nipple and soothed it the same way.

Gabe pulled her nipple into his mouth
as he brought his hand from her breasts to her mound. He cupped it and slipped a solitary finger inside.

“Mmmm, Gabe.”

Gabe slipped a second, then a third finger inside and Ana moaned loudly. He tightened his hold on her hands and pulled slightly and she was forced to lean back. Her breasts pushed further up and further into his mouth. Gabe groaned in apprecation and suckled her hard. She put more pressure on his fingers and three finger fucked her.

Ana was helpless with her hands held tight be
hind her back, and helpless to stop the orgasm that hit her so fast she had no idea it had even started. Gabe released her hands and brought them to his shoulders and around his neck. Ana tightened her hold and Gabe lifted her legs then brought Ana hard to sit on his standing cock. He fell onto the bed on his back with her still joined to him, then quickly switched positions and rode her slowly until she cried out in ecstacy. He reared up and groaned his release ejaculating deep into her womb.

∞∞∞

Kelly laughed as Rafe pulled her back to bed. “You’re going to be late,” she told him trying to extricate herself from his hold.

Rafe rolled her underneath him and kissed her neck. “Uuummmm, you taste good.”

“That’s my neck,” she said laughing.

“Your neck tastes real good, but your teats taste divine,” he told her and latched onto a nipple.

Kelly giggled. “Teats? I am not an animal.”

“And they are both mine,” he said with delight, releasing then catching the second one in between his lips.

“Rafe, your meeting….ahhhhhh!” she moaned when he pulled her nipple with his lips and rolled her nub between his thumb and fore finger. The pressure was sudden and unexpected. Like a sneeze catching you unawares. Kelly’s body tightened then went lax as she came down from the quick high.

Rafe lifted himself off her body and covered
her, then walked to the bathroom and took a quick shower. He barely made it on time, meeting both Nate and Ana in the living room. Ana led the way as they left the villa and walked into Massimo’s office. His assistant waved them on and greeted Ana warmly. She was surprised to see a table set for breakfast. They all took the seats Massimo pointed to them and a few minutes later, a waiter brought in a breakfast trolley filled with various dishes.

“I trust Ana, so I don’t have a problem
with the merger. If she trusts you then I trust you,” Massimo said to them after Ana had told him about her plans. “But just so there are no misunderstandings between us, if things don’t work out and the merger collapses, I will go wherever Ana goes. You won’t have to wonder if she is trying to steal clients or anything of that nature. It’s a foregone conclusion.”

Nate answered, “Understood.” He stood and shook Massimo’s hand, then Rafe did the same.

When Ana told Massino, she needed to make an appointment to go to Atlantic City, he offered to talk to Cedrick for her. He waved her concerns away, and told her Cedrick wouldn’t be pulling his business away from her. There was no one he trusted more with his network than her. Ana kissed his cheek in goodbye and promised to pass by the cage later and collects her winnings.

Twelve

Ana saw the SUVs waiting for them as the jet came to a stop. The Dallas heat was as bad as the Nevada heat. She instantly felt it as they stepped off the jet and walked towards the waiting SUVs. Ana slid inside and hoped they didn’t get to her parents home and find them not home. Her mum usually was home and cooking at this time and her dad would be home in another fifteen minutes. She just hoped something hadn’t come up and they had gone out for dinner.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be home,” Gabe whispered in her ear. “I asked your brother’s to help out, but didn’t tell them why we were coming.”

Ana leaned into his side and relaxed. “Thanks. I know we still have a few hours before we get to New York, so I just didn’t want to delay our departure from Dallas waiting for them to get home.

Maggie, Ana’s mother, cried tears of happiness when she saw the ring on Ana’s finger.
Ana cried too, thinking of how her mum had been against her relationship with Gabe in the beginning. They really all had come a long way.

“Are you happy, Ana?”

“Yes, mum,” she told her as they hugged. “I’m really happy. Gabe’s a good man.”

“I know baby girl. He loves you.”

Ana walked out of her mother’s arms into her dad’s. “Be happy,” he said kissing her forehead. “And make me lot’s of grandbaby’s so I can retire.”

Ana shrieked. “Daddy!” she said pulling away.

Jim laughed at her shocked expression. “After marriage obviously.”

Next her brothers took her and hugged her, both congratulating her on her engagement. “Happy for you, sis,” Mark told her grinning.

“Same here,” Matt said grabbing her out of Mark’s arms. “You chose well. He comes from a good family.  That’s one item in his favor.”

“So how did it go in Vegas,” Mark asked. She had told them about her intentions
, of at least paying her biggest and original clients personal visits, then just sending letters to the rest of her clients. Ana had already drafted the letters and both Nate and Rafe had approved them and they were ready to be mailed out as soon as they had signed the contract.

“It went well. Very
well, actually.”

They had dinner in Dallas, then went straight back to the airport directly from the restaurant.
When the check came, Kelly grabbed it and made a show of paying for the meal. Ana snickered as she slowly counted the cash for the meal.

“The ladies have this one boys,” Kelly told them. “After all, it really is your money paying for the meal.” Between the two of them, they had almost doubled their
original investment. They had given Massimo back his loan and received the winnings.

It was fun watching the brothers squirm as they had to relay how they had been beate
n at blackjack the night before, or rather early hours of this morning. Mark and Matt had quite the laugh at their expense.

It was midnight when they landed in New York. The cool night air was a welcome relief from the heat of the last couple of days. Security tightened as soon as they stepped off the jet. Ana felt sorry for Kelly who had to go back to work in the morning.

The advantage of owning her own company and working from home was that she made up her own hours. With nothing pressing, she intended on not getting up at the crack of dawn. She still needed to sleep and make up the couple of hours she had slept last night.

She looked back at Kelly and thought that a
t least she had slept the whole way from Dallas to New York, so that would help. And she had also slept in while they had met with Massimo. It wouldn’t do for her to sleep while attending to patients. But then doctors were probably trained to sleep a few hours at times.

There were times when she pulled shifts longer than twelve hours. Ana shook her head and wondered if she could do that and still see a patient. At least her work was mostly in front of a computer. As long as she didn’t write wrong codes, her clients were happy, and she got paid, and thus she was happy too.

Ana and Kelly parted ways with Evelyn with promises of meeting soon and making wedding arrangements. She waved to Evelyn as she was escorted to an SUV by her bodyguard. Manuel waved to them as he too got into another SUV destined for his house in New Jersey. Ana got into the limo waiting for them and motioned for Kelly to sit beside her. They made way for Gabe, Rafe and Nate who quickly took their seats too and then they were on their way.

“We haven’t had time to talk, but I’m so excited about the wedding. Have you and Gabe decided on a date yet?”

Ana shook her head. “No, we haven’t talked much about it either. But I’m not sure whether it’s a good idea with all this still hanging over our heads,” she whispered. “I know Gabe would marry me tomorrow if I gave him that date, but is there really any rush?”

“No, but have you considered that this could take months, sometimes years? Do you really want your life to hang in limbo due to some loser rich trust fund kid?”

“I guess not,” Ana responded with a grimace. “I don’t know what to think now. I haven’t even told Stefano.”

“I talked to my mom. She said to tell you congratulations.”

“Thanks. I hope she and your dad will be able to make it to the wedding.”

“As long as it’s not a quickie, I’m sure they will make plans to attend,” Kelly told her. “Hopefully they don’t have some crazy movie schedule that they will be part of at the time.”

“And so have you told Rafe you love him too?”

“Ana!” she hushed her. “I’m not sure he meant what he said.”

Ana looked at her strangely. “Why not?”

“Well, I know he said it, but… We were arguing at the time, and I doubt he
will say it again.” She sighed, “I don’t know, I’m just so confused.”

“Okay, we’ll talk later,” Ana replied her as the limo came to a stop. “Call me when you get a chance. And if I don’t see you soon, then I’ll see you when Stefano comes in right?”

Kelly, Rafe and Nate were first to be dropped off, then Ana and Gabe were dropped off at the next building. It was ridiculous because they could have walked, but with the time of night, and things not yet settled, Gabe had refused them to just walk the few steps to his building.

“My people will be taking over the Maynard Group on Monday, and I don’t want to take any chances.”

“What are you talking about? Don’t those things take months?”

“Sometimes, but since I was more or less now the majority shareholder and I bought their debt, they didn’t have much wiggle room,” he explained.
“Just a few legal issues to tie up.” Gabe took Ana’s hand as they made their exit of the limo and walked towards the entrance to their building. “I called on their loan and they couldn’t meet the payment, so that gave me an extra leverage.”

“So now you own The Maynard Group of Companies?”

“Pretty much,” he agreed. “Things could really heat up once they know I was behind it all. So you have to be extra vigilant. Security has already been warned, and so I just need you to make sure you don’t take any unnecessary chances. Chances like the one you and Kelly took the other day with that mobster kid.”

“Seriously Gabe? Are we back to that again?”

Gabe accepted their bags and took them to the master bedroom. Ana walked beside him wondering how and if they would ever see eye to eye on Vinny. She undressed and walked into the large shower stall. It was going to be a long night, she thought as she soaped herself.

Gabe knew he had
to apologize and find a way to agree not to disagree with her on the issue of Vinny. As long as she was not dragged into illegal activities, he could try to make peace. He kissed her shoulder as he came to stand behind her. “Baby, I’m sorry. I know he’s your friend, but it’s going to take some time to get used to it.”

“You need to remember that peo
ple don’t always chose their families. Sometime’s they are born into them,” she said. “And there is nothing they can do about it.”

Gabe turned her around.
“Meaning?”

“
Vinny’s family comes from crime, but he’s tried to distance himself away from that life and runs the clean side of the business. Short of disowning all his brothers and sisters, that was the best he could do. Unfortunately for him that stigma of his families origins may never die, but at least he’s trying.”

“Are you sure he’s told you the truth?”

“I don’t know, but sometimes you’ve gotta have faith and take some people at their word. Having been raised here all your life, you’ll probably never understand.”

Gabe laughed. “Are you saying I’m jaded?”

Ana smiled and stepped out of the shower. “If the shoe fits.”

∞∞∞

Ana clapped her hands in excitement as she walked around her new office space, seeing what Manuel had transferred from his designs on paper to the designs she was now looking at. All nice and shiny and new, and done right to her specifications. “This is really nice, Manuel. You should have your own show on HGTV.” She did a 360 and imagined what it would really look like when she had her computers set up and data spitting out of each one.

“I’m glad you like it. And that makes it easier for me to design your home office, now that I know what you like. I’ll have the designs ready for your approval tomorrow,” he told her smiling at her excitement.

“No rush. I can still use my office from the apartment.”

“Big rush, actually,” he said. “Gabe wants you out of that place and close-by. Not only for security reasons, but I think he’s just obsessed with you.”
He smiled and ruffled her hair.

Ana laughed. “I think the word you’re looking for is controlling.”

“That too,” he agreed.

“I guess it’s probably for the best,” Ana agreed. “That way I don’t have to cramp your style when Stefano takes over my room. He did tell you about it right?” she asked.

When she had talked to Stefano the day after their Vegas trip, she had offered him her old room which had worked better than if he had found a one bedroomed apartment. Ana was now glad that she had been having a hard time finding something in the neighborhood she had wanted for him. For various reasons, the one bedroomed apartments where either hard to find, or the ones that had been available didn’t just cut it. Maybe it had been fate.

Ana hadn’t wanted to have Stefano tied to a lease in an apartment that he wouldn’t like. It had been easier to have him share their apartment while they continued looking. With her spending almost every night at Gabe’s penthouse and Kelly with Rafe, it had ma
de sense to have Stefano move in. But now that Gabe had insisted she move in with him, it left two bedrooms empty. And once she moved her office, that would make three bedrooms empty.

Gabe had given her the use of the apartment to the side of the penthouse, and instructed Manuel to design the space for her to use as office space.
In a way it would be nice to be able to do what she was used to. Waking up and getting straight to work in her jammies if need be.

Not that driving to her apartment was a hardship, especially since she was always ferried from one place to the next. But then on the other hand, she might have to dress up more often as she now had to report to work with the Sullivan brothers. She would have to see about finding a middle ground of working from home and going to the office.

Ana and Manuel met Rafe and Nate on their way down to the first floor as they were making their way out. Ana confirmed that she was happy with the work Manuel and his team had done, then she left the three of them talking. She had a client to see, so apologized that she couldn’t stay and chat.

Now that they had signed the agreement, Ana was quickly realizing that this was really happening. The letters were going to be mailed tomorrow and she was going to officially meet the employees at Sullivan & Sullivan, and most importantly meet her one and only team member. It was going to be a challenge working for someone and working with someone. At least she had insisted on keeping more or less the same autonomy she had been used to. This would make it easier for her to work and adjust to the changes until some of her work could be taken over by the other employees.

Ana quickly took care of the maintenance and updates she needed to do for her client. It had been a fast job and now she didn’t know what to do with herself. It was a toss between going to her office which would end up being for an hour to an hour and a half only, then she would need to make her way back to the penthouse in peak hour time; or going to the penthouse, but she didn’t want to be alone there yet. Gabe had told her he would be home a little later than usual.

T
he shit had hit the fan when Boyd Industries had taken over The Maynard Group of Companies. It had only been two days since it had happened, and the news seemed to be escalating instead of tapering down. The silence from little Maynard junior didn’t sit well with Ana. She just hoped he wasn’t cooking more mischief that would let himself be in worse trouble.

Ana thought about the third option of passing by Gabe’s office. A surprise visit would be nice. If he couldn’t see
her, then she would just turn around and go to the penthouse. She told Jimmy her destination as he helped her into the SUV they always drove. Fuzzy was at the wheel and as their seatbelts clicked on, he joined the traffic and made his way to Boyd Industries.