Arranged love

EMILEE

“EVERYTHING OKAY?” JACOB asks me once we leave the restaurant.

“Yes,” I answer, staring out the back window at the lights on the Strip.

The kid never said another word to me. He just stared at me from across the table. It made me nervous, so I just kept ordering drinks. After my fifth, Jacob looked over at me, but he never stopped them from coming. As long as I wasn’t making a scene, he was allowing it.

Fucking bullshit!

“I had a nice time tonight.” He goes on.

I finally look over at him but say nothing.

He types away on his phone. “I know it was boring …”

I snort. “Boring would have been nice.”

He stops typing. “Did something happen?”

“No,” I lie. As far as I know, he knows what the kid did and didn’t care. It’s his business partner’s son, for fuck’s sake. He’ll take his side over the whore he hired to sit there and look pretty.

The limo pulls around to the private back entrance of Kingdom and comes to a stop. I grab my clutch off the seat beside me.

“Emilee …”

“Thanks for the dinner,” I say, exiting. I’ve already been paid, and the date is over. No need to make this longer than it has to be.

The limo drives off, and I turn to walk to catch a cab. I had too much to drink tonight to be driving home.

“Miss York?”

I spin around to see Nigel standing at the top of the stairs, holding one of the doors open with one hand and a cell to his ear in the other. He nods a couple of times and whispers something before placing it in his pocket. “Please come in.”

I grab my dress and pull it up to be able to walk up the stairs and into the building.

“Is something wrong?” I ask confused. Did Jacob call and complain about how many cocktails I had?

“No, not at all. Titan would like to speak to you.”

I nod. He pulls out a black key card and scans it for the elevator access. We step inside, and he scans it again, and the door slides closed.

I scan the buttons to see he pressed the one with an R. We stand silently while it makes its way up. I avoid looking at myself in the mirrored walls. It opens, and he gestures me to exit. I do so and see a set of black double doors ahead of me at the end of the single hall. TheRoyal Suite is written across the top of them. “What is this?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he presses in a code on the keypad located on the door and opens it.

It’s a suite. A fucking mansion overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow the city lights to illuminate the open living room. White marble floor with dark gray furniture and a glass coffee table. On my right is a large kitchen with black cabinets that have gold hardware. The countertops match the white marble flooring with stainless steel appliances. “This is beautiful,” I say in awe.

“It will only be a moment.”

I look over to see he has walked toward a set of French doors. He holds them open for me. I make my way over. Walking through them, I turn to face him, but he’s shutting them, leaving me alone in a bedroom. I turn around to look at the room I’m in. It’s large. A bed sitting on a platform dressed in white. More floor-to-ceiling windows open to Sin City. I walk over to a wet bar and pour myself a drink. What’s one more?

Once done, I walk over to the sliding glass door and step outside onto a balcony. The fresh air feels good on my face. A soft breeze has my dress rubbing against my legs.

I take a drink.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

I spin around to see Titan has joined me. He leans back against the now closed glass door with his hands in the front pockets of his slacks. The sleeves to his black button-down are rolled up to his elbows, exposing his tatted, muscular arms.

“Bring all the Queens back to your room?” I ask, taking a sip of my drink.

“Are you drunk?” His eyes drop to the glass, ignoring my question.

I give him a drunken smile and throw it back. As I gulp it down, I’m wondering why in the hell I’m here. And why I can’t get what happened yesterday in his office out of my mind. I should have told Nigel that I couldn’t come up here. This was a mistake. “As much fun as this is, I’m leaving. My job for the night is done.” I place the now empty glass on a side table and walk toward the glass door. As I go to reach for it, he places his hand on my stomach, bringing me to a stop.

“Did he touch you?”

I arch a brow. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

Another man who feels entitled to what I do with my body. “That’s none of your …”

“Did you fuck him?”

My eyes narrow, and I shove his hand off me. Does he ask all the queens this after their jobs? “I’ll fuck whoever I want, whenever I want.”

He wraps his hand around my throat, spins me around, and slams my back into the cold window. I gasp. “Titan …”

“Yes or no, Em?” His hard chest vibrates against mine with his words. His eyes bore down into mine, almost glowing with his rage. His jaw clenches, and he’s breathing heavily.

I’m so turned on. And my body is starting to warm up from the drinks I’ve had. “What if I did?” I lift my chin, pushing him. I allowed the kid to talk down to me tonight, but I won’t let Titan do it. He’s not above me.

He tilts his head to the side and releases my neck. I take a deep breath as he runs his knuckles down over my collarbone. They make their way lower over my chest bone and gently caress my nipple over my dress. It instantly hardens.

“Jealous?” I challenge at his silence. It’s the alcohol. It’s making me more confident than I would normally be around Titan. The Dark Kings are far from jealous of anything, let alone another man over a woman.

“What if I am?” he asks.

I open my mouth to laugh, but his thumb running over my pebbled nipple replaces it with a moan.

“Hmm?” He reaches up and undoes my bun, allowing my hair to fall over my chest. He brushes it back and over my shoulders. “What if I said I have thought of nothing but you all night?”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

I just stare up at him. Half dazed, half in shock.

“What if I told you that the thought of you out with him made me angry?”