Page 39 of Jackpot Joker

When we cross the threshold, I do as I promised and place Jasmine gently on her feet. She pads over to the wall and flicks on the lights. “Can I get you some water? You must be exhausted.”

My eyes furrow. It’s not even midnight, and in my line of work, I rarely make it to bed before three in the morning. “The night’s still young. I’m fine.”

“I meant from carrying me. I know that wasn’t easy.” Her voice is soft again, and I miss the usual bite I hear in it.

“I told you it was no problem. Carrying you was easily the best part of my night.”

Jasmine snorts and heads to the refrigerator, pulling two bottles of water out despite my protests. She passes one to me, then takes a drink of her own before speaking. “You don’t have to lie to me. In fact, I appreciate honesty.”

“I was being honest,” I insist. Jasmine rolls her eyes again and crosses back into her living room, where she sits on a very floral sofa. It looks nothing like her, and to be honest, now that I’m looking around the space, the decor she’s chosen isn’t what I would have expected at all.

“I know what I am, Dario.”

“What’s that?”

Jasmine throws her arms out and motions toward her body. “Fat! I’m fat.”

I cross the room, sitting next to her. My hand reaches up and turns her face so she can see that I mean what I’m about to say. “You’re beautiful.”

Her eyes narrow. I’ve been in many scenarios where I was easily at risk of taking my last breath, but with the way her cheeks redden and her breath picks up, I don’t think I’ve ever been as close to death as I currently am. “Both things can be true.”

I hold my hands up in surrender. “You’re right. I mean, about both things being true. And yes, your body is bigger, but I had no problem carrying it. In fact, if you would allow me to hold you longer, I would.”

Jasmine’s speechless, and I sit there with her in the silence. I’ll sit here as long as it takes for her to process that what I’m saying is the truth. After several moments, her voice comes out in a whisper so faint that if the words weren’t so vile, I wouldn’t have heard them. “He called me a cow.”

“The man at Inferno?”

She nods. “Ben. He said I was a cow and he was the cowboy who caught me. He wanted to tie me up with rope, which, I don’t know that I would hate that in any other circumstance, but the way he made me feel…” Her voice sounds so pained as it trails off, and I expect tears to finally fall, but they never do.

She doesn’t complete her thought, though I’m already seething at what she’s already confessed. It’s very clear how he made her feel, and knowing that he broke something in her has me rising to my feet. “I’ll kill him,” I promise.

Jasmine follows my movements and stands with me. She reaches out for my hand, and her skin against mine is the only thing that keeps me from busting through the door. “Don’t.”

I growl. “Don’t ask me to spare the life of a man who treated you like a barnyard animal.”

She winces. “It’s not that. I don’t care what happens to Ben. You can make him lose his membership, right?”

I scoff at her question. I can make him lose much more than that.

Jasmine grips my hand she’s holding. “Don’t leave.”

My tense body goes rigid. “What?”

She looks around the room as though she’s uncertain of what she just asked. “It’s stupid. Never mind. You have to get back to the casino, and I have work to do. There’s always so much work to do. I shouldn’t have gone out tonight. I shouldn’t have wasted your time.”

I jerk her body toward me, and she falls into it with her hand against my chest. “First of all, you are one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, so nothing you say is stupid. Second, I fucking hate the cowboy you met and the things he did and said to you. I hate that you went into that room with him. I hate that he made you feel inferior. But I don’t hate that you came out, because it gave me another opportunity to see you. Tonight, I was able to touch and hold you, and those things will never be a waste of my time.”

Her breath is labored as she looks up at me, processing my words. I want her to repeat her request, but when the words don’t come, I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. “Good night, Jasmine.”

When I reach the door, one word stops me in my tracks.

“Stay.”

I turn to see her standing in the same place, staring after me.

“Please, Dario. Please stay.”

Dario