Page 48

“I thought about the same thing,” Vanessa whispered as he stiffened in her hand. “Great minds think alike, I guess.”

“Really?” he murmured, sliding one hand up to cup her breast and pinch the nipple between his fingers.

“Yes. I thought about you fucking me on that table. I also thought about sucking on this fat dick in that elevator.”

“Oh, right, the elevator,” he said, pretending he’d forgotten. He hadn’t. That moment had expanded his mind to all the new possibilities with her. “What would you do if we were on it now?”

Vanessa sank to her knees, pulled down his jeans and boxers, and showed him exactly what she’d been contemplating.

Even after a few days of this, he still marveled at how fucking good it felt being in this sweet mouth again.

He returned the favor, but lapping up her juices wasn’t enough.

They did it quick and dirty up against the counter in the vanity and then declared they’d had enough to last them until later, after casino night was done.

Kissing her, he said, “Let’s get cleaned up and go shopping.”

Santino was still swimming in good-sex hormones as they left the hotel and strolled to find a good place to start their clothing hunt. It didn’t take long before she paused in front of a boutique.

“I passed this place earlier when I left Spa Hell with Ling. She shops here.”

Like other high end shops, it was understated with white walls and gold accents.

There were very few customers. Santino sorted through the limited array of dresses, skirts and pant suits and found something he knew Vanessa would look amazing in.

Not that anything she wore could possibly make her look bad.

It was the kind of dress he’d always wanted to see her in, but she had a modesty streak he’d never managed to overcome, thanks to the original Madam Prim and Proper, Nadine.

“This one.”

Santino found her size and held it up to her on its satin hanger while she stared at it dubiously.

It was a knee-length dress made of slinky dark plum fabric.

It was halter style and dipped low in front to a V that would hit below her breastbone and show off some cleavage.

A tasty dress for his tasty woman, one he knew he’d probably spend the evening wanting to rip off.

“Nope. It’s too…” She hesitated, then apparently found the right word when she finished with “flashy.” But he could tell she admired it as her gaze ran down its short length.

“What’s flashy? It ain’t got a single rhinestone on it,” he said, waving his over it and she laughed.

“I like it. We’re getting it. And these too.

” He crossed over to a table arrayed with bra and panty sets.

He held up a pair of lacy black panties that would barely cover her thick ass but didn’t bother with the bra since it would show under the dress.

Is this what it felt like being a kid in a candy store?

He gestured across the room at a pair of strappy silver heels, tall enough to scream “come fuck me” but not so tall that she’d be able to use them to take someone’s eye out. “And those shoes. Mingya , you’re gonna look so hot, tesoro. ”

With a scowl, Vanessa accepted the dress and selected a pair of panties and heels in her size without comment.

“I’ll go try the dress and the shoes. Miss,” she asked the shop owner who was hovering nearby pretending she wasn’t watching them, “where are the changing rooms, please?”

When she returned from the dressing room wearing the gown, she had a look of part pleasure, part panic on her face. “This is too low cut.”

It was low-cut, yes, but there was no such thing as too much of her. The only problem with the cut was he might get too distracted from game play staring at the delectable breasts he still couldn’t get his fill of sucking.

“It’s not. If it fits, you’re wearin’ it. My rules, remember?”

“I think it’s too much titty,” she insisted.

Vanessa plucked at the top with nervous fingers while he circled her, taking in the contrast of the gorgeous shade of purple against the beautiful deep walnut skin of her back, and the rise of her ass under the slight cling of the fabric.

When he stopped in front of her, he dipped his head for a kiss while the shop owner and the saleswoman smiled at them, either touched by the sweet gesture or happy they were about to make a sale.

“Not too much titty for me, but you know who’s absolutely gonna hate how good you look?” he asked nonchalantly, and a spark of wicked amusement lit behind her eyes.

She turned to the saleswoman and handed her the dress, underwear, and shoes. She skipped over to a display rack and picked up a small silvery bag with a wrist strap, and added it to the pile.

Vanessa waved her hand over it and said, “We are taking all of this.”

Santino finished the transaction and escorted Vanessa out of the boutique. As they walked down the street, he got another call from Virgil.

“Okay, cool, sure, a date is fine. Bring her. See you there.” Santino ended the call. “I need to call the restaurant and ask for a bigger table.”

Vanessa turned her attention away from a group of colorfully dressed girls and looked at him.

“What’s up? Who else is coming besides Bobby and Zoe?”

He exhaled. It had been gnawing at him all through the shopping trip that he’d been keeping the Malone news from her.

He’d been waiting for the right moment, but one had never come.

But now, the motherfucker was bringing a date with him.

Maybe that meant he’d already decided to cut the bullshit and move on to someone new.

Or at least, he hoped that’s what it meant.

Biting the bullet, Santino said, “Virgil’s bringing a friend. Someone from the Bronx he wants us to hang out with, and the friend’s date. Malone, obviously. I said yeah.”

Suddenly, she stopped, not seeming to notice or care that a trio of men who’d been behind them almost tumbled into her.

“Why did you tell him it was okay?”

Now her eyes were wide with concern. A worry line had etched itself in between her brows. He tried smoothing it away with his fingertip, but it only deepened.

“I didn’t want to put Virgil in the middle of things. And now that Malone’s bringing a date, that means he’s moving the fuck on. He probably wants you to see he doesn’t care anymore, so let him.”

All at once, there was a change in the air, the slightest shift from warm and comfortable to tense. Above them, the sky had gone from electric blue to tinged with gold as the afternoon wound down. Yellow gold, like the sky of his sweet dream turning to fire.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go to the casino here tonight.

We can go to the reserve. We could have a nice dinner and plan the next leg of our fabulous Canadian journey without Scott or a new girlfriend out of nowhere or Zoe, or anybody ready to act out.

Fuck all those weirdos, right?” she asked, attempting a hopeful smile.

“Look, I’m not running from him, tesoro . Regardless of what his intentions are by coming out tonight, I’ve got to let him know he needs to stop fucking around here and now because I’m not tolerating any of his shit back home. It ends tonight, one way or another.”

So saying, he grabbed her hand, and with determination in every step, marched back to the hotel to get ready for the night ahead.