Page 22 of Alex (Men of Forbidden Temptation #4)

ALEX

I take the yellow poker chip from Elise’s hand and twirl it around my fingers as memories come flooding back in.

I’m sitting across from Adam at the poker table. Everyone else has already lost and gone home for the night.

I’m playing with my lucky chip, twirling it between my fingers like I usually do. It calms my nerves and gives me something to fidget with. I’m arrogant, cocky, and an asshole, but I’ve earned it.

The blonde lounging on the bar is hot as fuck. She winks at me again, sending pleasure straight to my already hard dick.

“How about we raise the stakes?” I give her another grin as I turn my attention back to Adam.

“How so? You already lost your bag of cocaine. What else do you want to lose?”

He smirks as he picks up the bag to inspect the drugs .

“Winner takes all. The money. The drugs. The booze. Even the girl.” I give the sexy little minx a smirk.

Adam glances towards the blonde. “Are you fine with that, Bianca?”

Bianca. It suits her.

She purses her lips, like she has to think about the offer before sitting up and spreading her legs just enough so both Adam and I can see the thin scrap of her red panties.

Her tongue snakes out and licks her lips before she blows us a kiss. “May the best man win me.”

She arches her back, putting her perfect tits on display, like she wants Adam to lose to me. Her hands slide up her stomach to cup her breasts.

I grin wider and give her another wink. “You’ll be mine soon enough, baby. I hope you’re ready for a long night.”

Adam growls from across the table. “Fuck you, you cunt.”

“Ooh, great insult.”

His face turns red, and he flips me off, to which I howl with laughter.

Adam slams his hands on the table. “Enough fucking around. Are we doing this or not?”

“Deal ‘em up.” I lean back and finish off my can of soda, tossing the can toward the trash can in the corner of the room. It hits the rim and falls inside.

Bianca cheers for me, causing my grin to permanently etch itself on my face. Adam glances at her and scowls.

He shuffles the deck of cards and deals them .

My first card is a ten of diamonds. His card is an eight of clubs.

Adam deals out the second card, giving me a queen of spades and giving himself a king of hearts.

Since there’s no more betting, Adam deals out the flop, turn, and river all in one go. I guess he’s eager to get this over and done with and find out who gets Bianca.

I stare at the cards for a second before glancing at his cards. Standing up, I motion for Bianca to come to me.

“Full house. Ladies over tens.” I won the money, drugs, booze, and Bianca.

Adam fumes but doesn’t stand.

“Damn, that’s some bad luck there. Better luck next time, dick.”

Adam stands up so fast his seat skids across the floor before tipping over. The crash echoes in the nearly empty room.

He’s seething. “Your daddy won’t be able to protect you much longer. You’ll get what you deserve. Mark my words.”

Bianca shoots him a sympathetic look before walking into my outstretched arms. I turn my head and press my lips against hers.

Partly because I want to know what she tastes like, and partly because I want to piss Adam off even more than he already is.

Her kiss is stiff and hesitant, but when my hand reaches around and grips the back of her neck, she lets go and gives into the kiss.

I pull back from the kiss just long enough to look at Adam and say, “Take your little baggie of drugs and get out of here.”

His eyes darken with hatred as he shoots daggers my way, but he picks up the bag of drugs and hands it over to the waitress behind the bar, who has been eyeing the drugs all along.

Her face lights up like he just gave her a million dollars. She immediately pours the cocaine out and does a line right on the bar top.

It looks bigger than most lines that my friends do, but I don’t say anything. Not my girl, not my problem.

I pick up the cash, putting it in my pockets before wrapping my arm around Bianca’s waist and walking out the door.

No one bats an eye at the sight of Bianca in my arms. Why would they? They probably know what happens during the high stake poker games.

Hell, there’s probably been worse to happen at one of the games.

At least this time there weren’t any shots fired. Nor were there any fights. It was all pretty civil.

I grin as I feel like I just conquered the world.

Shaking my head, I rub my temples and try to get rid of those memories. They don’t matter anymore. The only woman I want is Elise, and she’s looking at me as if I were the devil himself.

Elise’s disgusted expression confuses me. It’s only when her neighbor raises his eyebrow at me and grins that I realize I must have told Elise the entire story while it was playing out in my head.

I can see the revulsion in her eyes at the high stakes poker game. There were no rules for betting. It was completely free for all. After all, it wasn’t about the money.

It hardly ever is.

I reach out for Elise, but she pulls away so quickly that I stumble. “Please, Elise, let me explain.”

She crosses her arms across her chest and pops out a hip. If this wasn’t serious, I might tease her about how sexy she looks like this. Or throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my car.

I arch my eyebrow and wait for her to give me permission to explain my horrible past behavior.

“I was eighteen-years-old. I was young and dumb. Hell, I was reckless. My mom had just left, and I was acting out. I felt lost and confused and tried to play up my carefree attitude.”

I let out a sigh as her hardened expression softens. I hope she can see how much I’ve changed since the night I met her.

Something clicked inside of me that night and I wanted more of her. When I found her working for my dad, I knew I needed to change to be worthy of her.

“Elise, I’m not that same guy anymore. I try to be a better man with each new day. Sure, I might smoke a little pot every now and then, but that’s harmless. I don’t cheat. I don’t steal. I’m learning how to help run my dad’s business.”

Her neighbor coughs loudly, like he’s trying to ruin this moment for us .

I open my mouth to ask what his problem is, but Elise steps in. “Excuse me, do you need something? Am I blocking your mailbox, or are you just being a nosy, busy body?”

The neighbor frowns. “No. I don’t need anything.”

Elise throws her hands up. “Then go somewhere, please, and stop eavesdropping on our private conversation.”

A smile stretches across my face. Even when she’s annoyed, Elise still uses the word please.

When the neighbor leaves, Elise turns her attention back to me. “What now?”

I furrow my brows, needing her to clarify what her question is referring to.

She rolls her eyes. “You’re laughing at me. What did I do now?”

I try to keep my grin from showing, but I fail. “I’m smiling at you because you tried to act mean and tough with your neighbor, but you still said please. I thought it was cute.”

“Cute, huh?” She stalks closer to me with her lips in a pout.

I want to kiss her until she comes undone in my arms.

My lips crash into hers as her arms wrap around my neck. I pull her closer to me, pressing her body tightly against mine.

We shouldn’t be kissing right now, but damn it, that’s all I can think about.

Her lips part, granting me entrance into her mouth. My tongue duels with her for dominance, but she gives up the fight and lets me take control. My dick bobs in anticipation of greater things to come, but I will it down.

Being here in her apartment’s lobby while her apartment is charred from the fire isn’t the time to get carried away.

I try to pull away, but her hands tangle in the locks at the nape of my neck and pull, eliciting a long groan from me.

“Elise, wait. As much as I’d love to haul your ass to my room and fuck you until you can’t walk, we need to take care of things here first.”

I can’t believe I just stopped things from going further, but I don’t think her landlord would like to see me take Elise here in the lobby.

She nods her head slowly as she takes a few steps back. Her finger trails along her swollen bottom lip.

“I promise we will continue this later.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” she says with a grin.

She reaches inside her purse and pulls out a tiny notebook and a pen. Of course, she would have pen and paper on her at all times.

She writes a short letter on the notepad before ripping out the paper and tossing it into her empty mailbox.

With a twist of the key, the mailbox is locked up tight.

“So,” her gaze darts from mine to the floor to her mailbox to the poker chip that’s still in my hand. “How do you think they found out where I live? And why would they put the poker chip in my mailbox?”

“They have their connections, but the easiest way was probably looking at the club’s security cameras from when we had to show our IDs. And as for why they would put the chip in your mailbox, well, to send me a message.”

“What message, though? That he’s still coming after the merger? He already told us that the night I met him.”

I lower my voice to a whisper so only Elise can hear me. “This is a more tangible message. They burn your apartment down and leave the poker chip as their calling card, so to speak.”

“But why me? I just met them. I had nothing to do with that night, or your past, for that matter.”

I drop my head and stare at the ground. “Because attacking you is the easiest way to get to me. They know I care about you, and they know they can’t exactly attack Dad’s business without serious repercussions.”

She scrunches up her face as her eyes get lost in her thoughts. All of a sudden, her eyes widen. “Oh my God.”

My heart races at the unexpected outburst.

“What? What’s wrong?” I stare at her face, my gaze moving from her eyes to her mouth to her hands to try to decipher what she just thought of.

“What if they were the ones that broke into the office, trashed the place, and then set a fire? Clearly, fire is their preferred method of getting their point across.”

I run my hand through my hair. “That’s a very good possibility. Unfortunately, the security company hasn’t been able to uncover the missing footage.”

She rolls her eyes. “Convenient. I wouldn’t put it past them to pay off the company.”

She does make a valid point. It wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket for Adam and Bianca to shell out twenty thousand dollars or more to pay off the company to delete the footage.

Elise steps closer to me and whispers in my ear, “What can we do about them? Should we tell the police our theory?”

I shake my head. “No, that wouldn’t be a good idea.”

She raises her voice, clearly annoyed with my answer. “Well, we have to do something. We can’t just sit around and wait for them to make their next move. This isn’t chess! This is real life! My life!”

I glance around the lobby, breathing a sigh of relief that it is empty. “I know, Elise. Trust me, I know. I already told you I will handle this, and I mean it. Unfortunately, things are more serious than I thought they were.”

“What are you going to do?”

Her voice is a lot quieter, and for that, I’m grateful. We don’t need any more attention on the two of us .

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “There’s only one thing I can do. I need to tell my dad what’s going on. From the beginning all the way to your apartment fire. He needs to know everything that I’ve been keeping a secret from him.”