With His Love (For His Pleasure, Book 16) (7 page)

“I’ve never even heard you mention him before the last few days.”

Red turned the TV on and changed the channel to ESPN. “That’s because we lost touch for a few years. But I’ve always considered him a good friend. Do you think I’m lying to you about that?”

“No, I’m just wondering how well you actually know him.”

“Well enough.” Red turned to her. “I feel like maybe you’re just mad that I’m actually having fun…” he stopped talking.

“What were you going to say?” she asked him, moving to stand in front of the TV. She could feel her temperature rising. “Say it. Don’t be afraid to say what you think, Red.”

His jaw tightened. “I was going to say that maybe you just don’t like the fact that I’m having fun for a change.”

She stared at him, unable to even speak. Her ears were ringing a little. “I can’t believe you actually think that about me. And what do you mean, for a change? You never have fun with me and Riley?”

Red sighed. “We’re both just a little annoyed,” he said, walking towards her. He tried to touch her arm, bit she moved back.

“I’m so angry with you right now,” she told him. Her eyes were burning. “Is that what all of this is about?”

“All of what?”

“All this Las Vegas nonsense? You’re not having enough fun? Well, I’m sorry that taking care of our baby isn’t cool and exciting like hanging out with fighters and playboy bunnies. But I love Riley and I miss her so much right now. I wish I’d never come here with you.” Nicole stormed out of the room and went into the master bedroom, slamming the door and standing against it.

When Red tried to open it, she refused to let him in.

“Nicole— ” he pleaded. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to talk to you or see you right now,” she replied. “Please just leave me alone.”

“You told me to finish the sentence—I didn’t want to.”

“I don’t care. I hate that you think something so awful about me. About our life together.”

“You’re misunderstanding me,” he told her. “I love our life, I just got angry for a second and I didn’t choose my words carefully.”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” she said, her cheek pressed to the door. “Leave me alone for a while, will you?”

There was a long pause. “Fine. Have it your way.” His voice sounded resigned and cold, angry.

She heard his footsteps receding and then, a moment later, the door to the hotel suite opened and closed, and she knew he’d left.

***

Over an hour had passed by, and Nicole was starting to feel like maybe she’d overreacted.

Talking with Danielle for a few minutes had helped take the edge off things.

Riley was apparently playing and happy, and Danielle was ecstatic that Kane seemed to love babysitting even more than she did.

Nicole hadn’t bothered complaining about the argument with Red, it had simply been enough to talk to her friend for a few minutes and hear Riley’s little voice. After getting off the phone, she felt a little better.

What Red had said to her about having fun for a change—it hurt. But she also knew that so far this trip, she’d been a wet blanket. She’d missed Riley so much, and been annoyed by Patrick Keating and the attitude he displayed, that she’d been a drag to be around.

So maybe she didn’t want to live in Las Vegas. She could still try and have fun in Las Vegas. After all, they would be flying home tomorrow regardless.

Red texted her not long after that.

I’m sorry. I love you more than anything in this world. Forgive me.

She texted him back:
I’m the one who owes you an apology.

Not long after that, he came back to the room, wearing an apologetic smile and carrying a dozen red roses.

“Where did you get those?” she asked. “They’re beautiful!”

“I walked to the nearest florist and got them myself, brought them back for you.

And it’s about a hundred degrees out there right now.” Red’s shirt was soaked through with sweat, she realized.

He kissed her on the lips as he gave her the flowers. Their scent was fragrant as she took them from him.

His body was hot, practically on fire.

Nicole turned and put the flowers on the tabletop, and then as she went to say something else, Red was pulling her toward him and kissing her again. His lips were greedy for her, and she felt overwhelmed—in the best possible way—by his attentions.

He pushed her up against the wall, and looked at her. “I need you,” he told her.

“I need you too,” she said, and meant it. The need was truly physical. Red satisfied something inside of Nicole that nobody else could ever satisfy, and knowing he felt the same way calmed her. “I don’t want to lose you, Red.”

“You couldn’t lose me if you tried—don’t you get that by now?”

His lips were on her lips once more, and his tongue pushed against her tongue.

He pulled her pants down and unzipped his pants. A moment later, she’d climbed onto him, wrapping her bare legs around his torso. She slid onto his shaft, and he fucked her against the wall like that.

They kissed, as he slid in and out, grinding his pelvis against hers.

“I love it when you fuck me hard,” she told him, and it was true. He was fucking her hard. But he was also making love to her at the very same time. His intensity was part of his desire, part of his undying love, and she felt all of his emotion as he slid deeply into her tunnel. He buried himself inside of her.

Her back slammed against the wall. He kissed down her neck, as his strong hands supported her hips, pulling her against him.

She was wet. He was touching her so deeply. She clawed at his sweat soaked shirt, opening it button by button, revealing his muscular chest, his flat stomach. His muscles flexed as he thrust his cock in and out, in and out.

Nicole cried out, grabbed his back and pulled herself into him. Her legs flexed, and her back arched. She threw her head back and moaned. “I’m coming,” she told him.

“I’m coming too,” he told her, and then his thrusts grew more frantic and intense.

A moment later, she felt him coming with her, emptying himself inside her.

They were glued together for a long moment, and then he let her down. They released one another, like some sort of interlocking puzzle pieces that were finally coming unstuck.

“We needed that, didn’t we?” he asked.

“I think we did,” she agreed.

They were both spent, as they walked into the bathroom and Red turned the shower on. Nicole got into it first and then he followed her inside. The steam overtook them both. Nicole washed herself off, and then Red was kissing her again.

“I can’t resist you,” he said.

She kissed him back. “Why should you have to?”

They finished washing off and then climbed into bed together, still damp from the shower. All of the bad feelings from earlier seemed to have dissipated, like steam evaporating from a mirror.

Nicole’s entire body felt relaxed and loose, and she and Red lay together, their legs intertwined, as he stroked her hair with his hand and smiled at her.

“We missed the magic show, I think,” she said, looking at the clock. “Jeb and Patrick will probably be even more upset with me now.”

“Fuck Jeb and Patrick,” he said.

She looked at him. “Why did you just say that?”

“Because. They made you uncomfortable.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head a little. “At least, Jeb hasn’t made me uncomfortable.”

“It’s okay with me if you don’t like Patrick.”

She looked at Red’s face, his olive skin, dark eyes, the small wrinkles at the corners of his mouth. She reached out and softly caressed his cheek. “Patrick is the last thing on my mind right now.”

“I want to spend tonight in bed with you,” Red told her.

“Don’t be silly.”

“It’s not silly. We’ll order expensive room service. We’ll eat and have sex and watch bad TV. We’ll be together. Like a second honeymoon.”

She thought about it. Of course, it sounded nice. But something about it was off.

She didn’t feel comfortable keeping Red from his friends. “I think you should go to that poker game that Patrick set up for you,” she told him.

“But why?”

“Because, I could tell how excited you were to meet those players. It sounded like a dream come true.” She saw from his expression that she’d been right—he did want to go. “Red, I don’t want you to stay in this room with me just to prove some point. I know you love me. It’s fine. You can go play poker with your friends.”

He sat up on his elbow. “Well, come with me then.”

“Come to the poker game? What would I do?”

“Hell, you can play if you want. The buy-in is probably fifty thousand.”

“Fifty thousand dollars?” she nearly shrieked.

Red laughed at her reaction. “Yeah, dollars. They don’t usually calculate buy-ins in pennies.”

“That’s insane. You’d have me spend fifty thousand dollars just to sit and play poker with you? I don’t even understand the game.”

“I want you to come. You can sit with me at the table, if you want. Be my good luck charm.”

She sighed. “I don’t know, Red.”

“Well, think about it at least.”

“I’ll think about it. But right now, I’m thinking I might just go out and grab a bite to eat on the strip and then come back to the room and watch a movie or something.”

“I can’t let you spend another night alone here.”

“How about we make a deal. You can go and play for a few hours by yourself and then I’ll stop by a little bit later and see how you’re doing?”

“I don’t have to even go at all. Seriously.”

“I know you don’t. But I want you to. Seriously.”

That seemed to put an end to the discussion, and Nicole could tell that Red was secretly relieved he was still going to be able to play poker that night. Of course, she was a little concerned, knowing that he might be spending fifty thousand dollars or more just to play a silly card game.

But Red was a very wealthy man who’d been doing these sorts of things for years and years before she’d ever met him. What sounded like a lot of money wasn’t really anything to him.

She supposed he thought it was worth the money to meet his poker idols.

In any case, Nicole and Red managed to spend a little more time in bed together, before Red finally roused himself and got dressed for the evening.

He put on one of his more casual suits, with no tie and the top few buttons of his shirt undone. Nicole could tell that he was a little bit nervous for the game from the way he was pacing around the room and checking his appearance in the mirror.

“You look handsome,” she told him, from the bed.

He looked at her. “I need to look like I mean business. The last thing I want is for these guys to see red meat when I sit down at the table.”

“Aren’t they going to see that no matter how you look?”

“Image is always important,” he replied.

“Well, I think you look sharp and prepared for anything.”

“Thanks, babe.” He walked over and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I had a great time with you today.”

“Me too. I love you. Have fun and be smart,” she told him.

“Always.” He straightened his jacket and took a deep breath. “You’ll text me when you’re coming to Patrick’s room to meet us?”

She assured him she would and then he made his way to the door and left.

When the door shut behind him, Nicole felt the silence descend on her. Just one more night to get through and then they would be headed back to Connecticut, and Riley.

***

After taking her time getting up, showering again, putting on a nice outfit and makeup, Nicole went out to the strip and walked around. It was hotter than she’d even expected, and so she quickly dipped into the first decent restaurant she found, which ended up having standard pub fare. She had fish and chips and nursed a beer for the heck of it.

It was strange having so much time alone after always being with Riley and Red.

In some small way, she was able to take a moment and enjoy the peacefulness of just sitting in the restaurant and watching the other people. She didn’t need to make conversation, entertain anyone, change a diaper or quiet a crying child.

When she was done eating, Nicole stayed for a while and watched some of the baseball game on TV. She didn’t necessarily even care who won the game, but it was something to do to kill time.

She didn’t really want to go to the poker game.

Nicole wasn’t sure why, but she just had a weird feeling about being around Patrick and his friends and watching them all gamble.

Altogether, it was a solid few hours before Nicole made her way back to the hotel and then found herself standing in front of Patrick’s hotel room door, knocking.

There was noise and muffled music playing inside, and she could make out the laughter of women.

A moment later, the door swung open, and Patrick Keating stood before her with a wry smile on his face. “I heard you were coming to join us,” he said. “Come on inside, mi casa es su casa.”

“Thanks, Patrick,” she said, as he allowed her to walk past him and into his luxurious hotel room.

This room had a more lived-in feel to it, and Nicole could tell that Patrick was virtually living here, not just staying temporarily. The layout was similar to the penthouse suite, only without a basketball court.

But Patrick’s bar had a real live bartender pouring and mixing drinks—and of course, she was a total knockout, wearing a t-shirt that seemed to be trying and failing to contain her enormous breasts.

And she wasn’t the only gorgeous, scantily clad woman in the place. The hotel room seemed filled with women that were parading around, flaunting their assets to anyone and everyone.

There were men, too, mostly older business types that ogled the women while drinking and talking about money.

Patrick led her past all of this commotion and into a large room that was much more controlled, almost peaceful. In this room was the poker game, and it seemed that Patrick was trying to keep the environment tranquil for his players.

There were seven players at the table, including Red. Each of them had stacks of different colored chips in front of them, and some even had bundles of cash in front of them on the table.