A few hours later,my skin is crawling with the urge to drive to my apartment building and go straight to Quinn’s apartment. I need to touch her. To see her. To know she’s not with another guy. That she’s only thinking about me, as I am about her. I need to smell her again so I can soak in her sweet strawberry perfume. I just want to memorize every minuscule feature about her from her tiny feet to the freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her nose. I want to count them and then find any others that she may have on her lush body.
Jesus Christ. I was with Nicola for over a year, and I was never attracted to her like I am to Quinn.
With Quinn, all she has to do is tip her head back and look up at me with those innocent brown eyes, and my cock goes hard. The thought of her on her knees, staring at me while she takes my dick into her throat as deeply as she can handle, practically has me pulling it out right here in my office so I don’t come in my own underwear.
Nicola never made me feel that way. Hell, the entire time we were together, it was terrible. I’m starting to realize, there was no real connection with her in the first place. Quinn can just be in the same room as me and I feel more turned on with her than I ever did with Nicola. It’s eye-opening to just how blind I was. How I was played like a fucking idiot.
My phone vibrates against the wooden surface of my desk. As soon as I pick it up and see Cassian’s name, I answer it, needing to know what he can tell me about my little sunshine.
“What do you have for me?”
“Check your private email. I sent the entire file I pulled from your HR department. Other than her working for three of your casinos, there’s not much else in there. Until about nine months ago, she had a roommate on her lease. Jason Furley. He’s five years older than Quinn and works in finance. Based on his social media profiles, the guy is a total prick. Tons of photos of him with different women.”
“Anyway, Quinn now lives on her own, which, from a look into the cameras in her apartment building, I’m assuming you already know since you were there last night.”
The muscles in the back of my neck tighten as I ball my free hand. “You watched her?” I demand, pushing to my feet with so much force that my chair goes rolling backward.
I’m going to murder him. I told him to pull her fucking file, not watch her.
“It was on a camera in the hallway. I only watched the two of you get off the elevator and walk into her apartment. Though from what I could tell, you two looked pretty friendly. So why are you looking into her in secret?”
My chest rises and falls heavily as I try to calm myself by walking around my desk.
She works for us. Atthreeof our casinos. We’re practically Vegas royalty. We run in wealthy social circles. But Quinn isn’tpart of those, so it’s possible she could work for us and have no idea who we are. Especially working in the bars, though all of them are the center casino floor bars.
I open the file Cassian sent me and stare at it. Her two other workplaces, other than Luxe, are Obsidian and The Empire. Places I rarely go since none of them are my assigned casinos.
“Anything else you find out about her? Money problems? Collection agencies after her?” I ask, reaching for one of the bottles of whiskey set out at the built-in bar.
“Not that I saw, but I think you know better than me that collections in Vegas aren’t always something we’d see on a credit report.”
He’s not wrong. Most debts here have nothing to do with utilities and credit cards. But Quinn doesn’t seem like someone with a gambling problem.
“How easy is it to get me the code for her apartment?”
Cassian is quiet for a moment. “Xander, what are you doing? Are you going to hurt this woman?”
I know he means physically. Cassian is a lot like me. He has very few morals. But he doesn’t harm women. I made sure of that when I caught him fucking around in my casino. He’s lucky I’m not quick to kill the people who cross me; otherwise, he would have died before he got a chance to tell me he was actually there to spy on a suspected terrorist. Once Cassian showed me some proof, I offered our men’s services to help him however he needed. And every time I drive out to the desert just north of the city, I smile because that terrorist was in fact planning an attack on Vegas that could have wiped out the entire Strip. Now that fucker is buried in the same desert he wanted to blow up.
“I’m not going to hurt her. Will you help me or not because I don’t have time for a heart-to-heart right now?” I bring the bottle of whiskey to my lips and take a long pull.
He lets out a deep sigh. “Give me a couple of hours.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I close my eyes and try to wish away the impending headache settling in my temples. “Yep,” I snap, ready to be done with this conversation.
His laughter is quiet as the sudden sounds of voices and slot machines come down the phone.
Motherfucking bastard. I’m going to kill him.
“You better not cheat tonight,” I growl, though I don’t really give a shit. Cassian counting cards is the last thought on my mind. Only one person is taking up that space right now.
Cassian cheated, yeah, but he gave me back every dollar he took from the casino and then some. It’s more the principle that I don’t like cheaters. Or liars.
“Don’t worry, man. I’m just going to play some slots and enjoy the free drinks. I’ll make sure to tell them you said to serve me top shelf.” He laughs again and hangs up before I get the chance to tell him to go fuck himself.
I’m never asking him for anything ever again. The guy is a cocky motherfucker, and he’s too damn smart for his own good.
Bottle in hand, I lower myself into one of the brown leather overstuffed chairs and press my fingertips to my eyes.
