Page 21 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

SIXTEEN

NOT IN KANSAS CITY ANYMORE

T he door being guarded by the big bald man told her they were not in Kansas City anymore. Wherever this place was, it was a well-kept secret.

She found it strange when the bodyguard didn’t open the door immediately. It wasn’t until Sal gave him a threatening glance that he gave in.

Well, that wasn’t strange at all , she thought when he finally gave in and moved to the side, opening the door for them. Nothing could have prepared her for what she walked into as a packed casino that was different than the one that sat above it was revealed.

Valerie was really beginning to feel like a broken record at this point. “Sal, where the hell are we?”

“An illegal underground casino.” The way he said it was like it was no big deal.

Taking a look around at all the hot women in the tiny, scantily-clad outfits serving men drinks, or taking their chips from behind the tables, she finally just shrugged like it was, in fact, no big deal after all. “Well, all righty, then.”

Sal looked over at her, suspiciously surprised. “This isn’t a problem for you?”

She raised a brow. “Everyone in here eighteen or older?”

He nodded. “Yep.”

“And do they all get paid well?” she asked, raising the other one.

“Very well.”

“Then I see no issue.” She then went on to something much more important as she pointed to a blonde in a hot-pink lace bra and panties with matching garters. “Now, I don’t have to wear anything like that, do I?”

“Hell no!”

The words flung out of his mouth like an upchuck.

The passion he felt behind those words surprised even him, let alone Valerie.

He couldn’t help it. All he imagined was her in one of the three-piece lingerie sets the girls wore, and it sent him into orbit with the thought of one of the regulars down here getting a look at her ass.

Sal wiped the bead of sweat that coated his brow. Fucking hell, am I sexually frustrated?

Holy fuck, he was. This was only the beginning of having to deal with Valerie, and he was already about to kill himself.

Goddamn, his sister was right. She did have an effect of making you suicidal.

“Are you okay?” Valerie asked, noticing the action.

“I’m fine,” he snapped at her, desperately wishing to put space between them. It didn’t help he was in his favorite place in the world and felt some sudden withdrawals coming on.

“Geez, excuse me for being concerned for your fucking well-being. I thought after last night’s festivities, I could ask things like that.

” Sick of his shitty attitude and treatment all day, she had reached a breaking point.

“By the way, you’re the one who fucked me last night, so I’m not sure why you’re taking it out on me! ”

“Please, your eyes were practically begging me for it,” he reminded her.

“Yeah, right.” Valerie snorted. “The only one begging for it was you, Mr. It’s Hot in He—Ow!”

She rubbed her arm that he bumped to shut her up when a big man in a suit came up to them. His looks were a bit deceiving the closer he got, as there was a bit of youngness to his face that told her he wasn’t as old as he appeared to be … but he sure was hot.

“Well, well, well …” The man approached them with a killer smile. “Now, you know you’re not supposed to be down here, Sal—”

Valerie’s eyes grew wider as she continued listening, hanging on to his every word.

“The last time you fucking snuck down here almost cost me a year’s worth of my salary ’cause Lucca made me pay for not noticing you had gotten down here—”

“Yeah, whatever, Amo.” Sal stopped him. “I’m not down here for that.”

“I see.” Amo’s eyes slid over to her before looking her up and down from head to toe appreciatively. “New recruit?”

No wonder Lucca hates his fuckin’ guts.

Suddenly, Sal perfectly understood Lucca’s hatred for the man in front of him. He thought his best friend was a bit harsh to his younger brother Nero’s friend. It wasn’t like it was Amo’s fault he fell in love with the same girl Lucca had.

But seeing his eyes get an eyeful of Valerie, he already knew his late-night activities tonight would be searching up porn with a featured woman that most resembled Valerie.

I oughta take Valerie’s bat and shove it right up his as—

Rubbing his hands together, Amo was already playing dress up in his mind. “She’ll fit right in down here. We’ve been looking for a girl with a different look.”

Yup, he was going to do it. He was going to shove that bat right up his ass and video tape the whole thing. Sal couldn’t possibly move up any more in the family business, but he bet he somehow could if he did it and gave the tape to Lucca for his viewing pleasure.

“Been a bit boring lately down here, don’t you think, Sal?”

At Amo’s comment, Valerie took a better look at the girls walking around in their underwear. Remembering one, then another, then another …

It was practically Sal’s graveyard of women he had taken back to his house and fucked, and now he was here, adding his latest lay to his collection.

The man didn’t have a fucking girlfriend; he had a slew of women, ripe for the picking, an elevator ride away.

Valerie didn’t know whether to feel ashamed, mad, or honestly a little bit proud that she was among some of the fine women down here.

But, somehow, despite her frustration toward Sal at the moment, there was a small silver lining in all of this.

I’m no longer a home wrecker.

The laughing fit that escaped Valerie’s lips had both men staring at her in concern.

What in the hell is so funny?

“So, you don’t have a girlfriend!” she burst out in what seemed like relief.

“Who? Sal?” Amo asked, laughing himself into his own fit. He understood exactly what was so funny. “Hell no! He can barely let himself get laid.”

Suddenly, Valerie’s laughter subsided.

“You done, Amo?” Sal’s voice came out calmer than he’d thought it would. “Or maybe I can tell Lucca how you—”

“What do you need?” Amo quickly asked in fear.

Gaining control of the situation, he was finally able to get to the point. “She needs a job that doesn’t involve using a computer, and she has to be watched over at all times.” When Amo gave him a confused look, he added, “Flight risk,” for clarity.

That seemed to clear up any of Amo’s confusion as he asked, “Anything in particular?”

“Yeah,” Sal began to make himself very clear, “one where she preferably keeps the clothes she’s currently wearing on .”

“Oh, I can definitely work with that.” Amo gave her another appreciative look and held out his elbow for her to take. “Come on, doll. What’s your name?”

The smile she gave Amo before she wound her hand around the offered arm sent Sal over the edge. Only the first three letters of her name had come out of her mouth before he snatched her ass right back.

“Val—”

“You know what? Never mind,” Sal told Amo before dragging her back out through the Underground.

“What the—Sal!” she snapped and hit at his arm as he pulled her through the Casino Hotel yet again. Out of breath and baseball bat-less, she gave up, letting him take her to another floor.

The room he took her into this time was a darkened space with a million different screens that watched over all the guests in the Casino Hotel, with only one person watching them who hadn’t even bothered to peel his eyes away from the screens.

Oddly enough, she found it calming. It was kinda like watching over a video game with multiple avatars.

She wasn’t in the room long when she was led yet again through another door and into someone’s office.

Who’s the lucky person I’m going to meet now?

Internally, she rolled her eyes, waiting for the made man to show up that she was going to attempt to shadow next.

Rolling in another chair from the screen room, he placed it right by the door he had just shut them into. “Sit here.”

Valerie sank to the chair he had pushed her down on, the feeling awfully similar to being put in timeout as a child.

With nothing to do, she couldn’t help but notice the computer setup of her fucking dreams. Whoever owned it, she definitely wanted to meet now.

Hell, she wanted to have sex with the man on the desk.

So, imagine her surprise when Sal sat down behind it.

“This is your office?”

Sal reached into the front pocket of his suit and put on his glasses before he looked at the multiple screens.

So, he does wear glasses! Blue light glasses.

When he began typing on his keyboard, the sound of it was so satisfying she wanted to run her fingertips across him— er, the keyboard .

“Mmhmm,” he mumbled, already drifting into a different world as he looked at the screens.

“Oh.” Biting her lip, Valerie suddenly stopped slumping and sat up in the computer chair straighter.

She couldn’t believe he never struck her as a computer guy before, as he fit in so well behind it.

At least she felt a little better now after getting her ass beat in Mario Kart.

“I see. And what exactly is your job title?” Her voice had turned sweet as butter, but she was in for yet another surprise.

“Head of security.”

Feeling a bit warm inside, all she could manage to fluster out was, “T-That’s nice.” God, he was just so hot behind a computer screen.

“So …” She managed to pull herself together. “Is that for just the Casino Hotel or the family …?”

“It’s kind of a package deal,” he said, distracted by his work as he continued to type away. Only when she had become silent for too long, as it was unlike her, did he finally look at her to notice she was dying to ask him another question. “You need something?”

In that moment, Valerie knew exactly what she wanted. “Wanna fuck?”