“I just want a dinner. If you want to sleep with me afterward, I won’t say no.”
The bartender put the drinks on the counter.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“You’re single, and I’m sorry. Let’s give it another try.”
“I told you my dad doesn’t like you.”
“Then I’ll get him to like me.”
“Yeah…don’t think that’s possible.”
He grabbed his glass and took a drink. “I think it says a lot about my character that I’m willing to try.”
“It says more about your character that you didn’t show up to meet him in the first place.”
He took another drink, just staring at me.
“What?”
“Get it all out. Tell me off. Whatever you gotta do so we can move on.”
“Move on?” I asked in surprise. “I don’t understand what I’m doing to give you any indication there’s anything to move on to.”
“Right now?” he asked. “Nothing. But I know how you felt about me…and that kind of thing doesn’t just go away.”
“Well, I know how you felt about me…”
“If that were right, why would I be here right now? Trying for the third time?”
“Because you like the chase, just like last time.”
He rested his arm on the bar between us, getting a little closer to me. “I’m not chasing you to sleep with you. I’m chasing you to be with you. I want to make this work, to make it go somewhere, maybe get married and pop out a bunch of beautiful geniuses like you…”
I stared at him for several seconds, his words echoing in my mind multiple times.
“What?”
I shook my head. “How did you know I was bluffing?”
“Because I know you.”
“You didn’t know me in our other matches.”
“But I know when you’re sad…and I can tell that you’re pretty devastated right now. You give yourself away.”
I grabbed my glass and nursed my broken heart with a drink.
“What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He gave a slow nod. “He’ll regret it. Trust me on that.” Blue eyes. Sharp jawline. A smooth charm that was better than the scotch in his hand. He was used to getting what he wanted, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had me.
“I honestly think you’re wasting your time. If you’re looking for something serious, you can make that happen with any woman you find. They’ll be happy to have you, to have your babies and all that shit.”
“You’re right. But like I said, you’re the only woman I want those things with. I was an idiot who learned it the hard way…but I learned. I can’t see me settling down and doing the diaper shit, but I can’t see me being single for the rest of my life when I actually love someone.”
I stared at him, focusing on what he just said.
“Yes. I love you.”
I didn’t know what to say, never expected to hear him say it, especially with such sincerity. “I just got my heart broken by a man I love—”
“We can take it slow. That’s fine with me.”
When Mason had broken my heart, I’d fantasized about him coming back to me at least a dozen times. It was never this aggressive, never this forward. Back then, I would have been weak enough to succumb.
“Let’s get some dinner. I’ll let you buy—since you took all my money.”
“I didn’t take it. You threw it at me—”
“Then you can make it up to me by buying me a steak dinner.”
“Daisy.”
I heard the voice like a speaker system in my head, recognized it because it’d been in my dreams almost every night. But I assumed it was a figment of my imagination…because that’s all it ever was.
But then I turned…and saw him standing there.
Gray t-shirt with sculpted shoulders, shadow on his sharp jawline, anger in his pretty eyes.
Mason turned to him, still in disbelief.
I stared at Atlas, my mind unable to comprehend what I was looking at. It was him, in Atlantic City, just a foot away from me.
His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked into mine, ignoring Mason.
My hand remained on my glass, and my breathing started to spike once I realized this was real.
He continued to stare, the old intensity in his eyes, the way he used to look at me every single time he saw me.
My sadness intensified. I missed him. Missed him more than I’d realized. Missed him enough to make my eyes water.
He moved in.
My hand grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him in at the same time.
His lips landed on mine, a sweet reunion between our mouths, a touch that was so good it made me weak. A catharsis ensued, tears leaving my eyes, my hands digging in his hair, the two of us locked in an embrace like we were somewhere else, not at the bar in a casino.
He came closer, his arm hooking around my waist, tugging me into him, standing where Mason had been a moment ago. He breathed life into me as he kissed me, his hand sliding down to my ass to give it a squeeze. “Baby…”
I pushed the door so hard that it flung open and made a dent in the wall. “Shit…”
Atlas grabbed the zipper at the back of my dress as he guided me into the suite, the door clicking shut behind us a moment later. His chest was to my back, and he grabbed on to my throat as he kissed me, his other hand shoving the dress down to the floor. My panties were pushed off next as he guided me to the bed before he pushed me to my knees at the edge.
He yanked my heels off before he pulled his shirt over his head.
In a rush, I rolled over then ripped his jeans open, popping off the button by mistake.
He kicked everything off, along with his shoes, and then moved between my legs at the edge of the bed.
Just like the first time we were together, he sank inside me with his massive hard-on and watched my expression as I welcomed him. We were skin-on-skin this time, and fuck, it felt so good.
I clung to his arms as they pinned my knees back, breathed into his face, overwhelmed by the reunion between our bodies. We were two people who met in a bar, unable to keep our hands off each other, but it was much more intense than that, because we loved each other.
He groaned when he was inside me, pausing to take a breath, his eyes drilling into mine.
I grabbed on to his ass and tugged him inside me because it’d been so long since I’d had this, since the last time we’d made love in his bed. There’d been nobody else, and my hand was never used because I was just too depressed.
But now, I was on cloud nine.
We moved together, moaning, grunting, sweating, clutching each other tightly, fucking each other’s brains out because we were so damn in love. I held on to him as I looked him in the eye, seeing the dark gaze that filled my darkest nights. I stayed focused, gazes locked, and said his name a million times. “Atlas…”
We slowed things down deeper into the night, sometime after two but before sunrise.
My head was on the pillow, my ankles locked around his waist, my heels digging into his ass. We moved together, sharing heated kisses, rocking our hips to feel each other, gasping for breath because this reality felt like a dream.
No words were spoken, our bodies doing all the talking, being together in a way that said everything that needed to be said.
I didn’t ask if there’d been anyone else in between—because I knew his answer.
Every time I came, it wasn’t from a physical high, but an emotional resonance from our joined souls. I was just happy, deliriously happy, reunited with the man I wanted for the rest of my life.
He came with a groan, filling me again, his eyes locked on to mine to watch my reaction as I took him.
I could take that load every night for the rest of my life.
He breathed with me for a while longer, his body sinking mine into the mattress, eyes on mine. When he rolled off, he stayed close, his ar
m scooping underneath my back to pull me against him, so we could go back to our favorite position when we snuggled.
My face immediately went to his shoulder, my arm around his waist, and I closed my eyes and felt serenity for the first time in nearly a month.
His lips moved to my forehead and brushed a kiss there, his coarse hair scratching me slightly.
In silence, we lay together, as if no time had passed, as if it’d always been this way.
As if he hadn’t broken my heart.
His deep voice pierced the silence. “I’m sorry.”
I hugged him against me, feeling that strong heartbeat right against my chest. “I love you.”
He breathed a sigh, like he expected my reaction to be different, for us to have a long conversation about what happened, about his sorrow. He pressed another kiss to my forehead. “I love you too.”
I sat down with the pancakes in front of me, and I immediately dumped the syrup on top. “I love casinos. You can have a breakfast buffet at any time of day. No questions asked. No judgments.”
He had pancakes too, along with some hash browns and eggs. He watched me drown my pancakes in syrup, the smitten smile on his face. “You’ve got a point, baby.”
Baby. I’d missed hearing him say that.
Missed it every day we were apart.
I sliced my fork into the food and took bite after bite, starving because we weren’t having our first meal until two in the afternoon.
He ate his food then sipped his coffee, looking at me most of the time.
We ate in comfortable familiarity, like the last three weeks hadn’t been spent in silence.
It was nice. As if nothing had changed.
He didn’t ask about Mason.
I wasn’t even sure what had happened to Mason. Atlas and I started going at it, and…he kinda just disappeared.
Maybe he’d finally given up.
Atlas slid his fork into his pancakes, his eyes on his food. “You still want to move in with me?”
A smile spread across my lips because my place had stopped feeling like home the second he’d asked initially. My heart had been in his penthouse the entire time, hoping that some skank hadn’t set foot in my home while I’d been away. “Yes.”
“Cool.”
“Cool?” I asked in disbelief.
He chuckled. “What do you want me to say? Awesome?”
“Anything is better than cool.”
We ate again, a long stretch of silence between us.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Your dad.”
“I guess that means he talked your ear off about everything…”
He looked down at his food as he continued to eat, quiet and contemplative. “He kinda…got pissed off.”
“At you?” I asked incredulously. “His golden boy? His prodigy—”
“MapQuest. Yes.”
I chuckled, remembering the nickname fondly.
“Yeah, he lost it a little bit.”
“I can’t believe he did that. He seemed fine when I told him what happened.”
“Well, he must have had a change of heart.”
“So, you’re here because my dad threatened you?” It was my senior prom all over again, when my dad basically said he’d cut off the guy’s hands if they moved anywhere other than my hips.
“No. He later apologized.”
“He didn’t…kick your ass or anything?”
He laughed as he looked up from his food. “Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. Told me that I was making the biggest mistake of my life, that you just want to help me…and I took it the wrong way. The truth is, I’ve been really miserable, so…it wasn’t going to last.”
“Yeah…I’ve been miserable too.”
He set down his fork and looked at me for a while, his eyes turning serious, mirroring my pain. “You’re sure about this?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “Atlas—”
“Last chance.”
I just stared at him, as if the question were ridiculous.
“We adopt. That’s it.”
I was fine with the adoption, but I was disappointed he wouldn’t even try to find the answer to his problem. It wouldn’t just help him, but other people who had the same issue. But I’d just gotten him back and I wasn’t going to gamble my chips again, so I let it go. “Then we adopt.”
With his arm around my waist, we walked to the sectioned-off part of the casino where the second night of the tournament would take place. Winners of other matches would play tonight, going for an even bigger pot. “This is hot. I feel like I’m dating a celebrity.”
“No celebrity. Just a tough bitch.”
He chuckled as he gave my ass a squeeze.
He could grab my ass in public all he wanted. I didn’t care.
We made it to the table, the other opponents already there.
“Good luck, baby.” He hugged me close and kissed me.
“Thanks.” I said goodbye then took my seat.
Once the match began, it was all seriousness. Atlas stood across from me so he could look at me, and sometimes we would share glances as I waited for other players to make their moves. Around and around, we went, and I kept count in my head as we played.
But then I would look up and see my man staring at me.
I didn’t even want to play.
Just wanted to go home and be happy.
Cards were put down. Chips were added to the pot. Around and around, it went.
I must have lost count somewhere because when I put my cards down, the guy across from me beat me. Three pairs. I only had two.
The pot was his.
I took a drink then looked at Atlas.
He still smiled at me, like whether I won or lost, he didn’t care.
He was still proud that I was sitting there.
After the match, we had dinner at the bar because you could get a steak and a scotch anywhere in Atlantic City. We sat side by side, and I talked about the match play-by-play. “I’m usually pretty accurate, but sometimes I lose count…especially when I’m distracted.”
“Didn’t mean to distract you.”
“Who said you did?”
“Come on, look at me.” He leaned toward me, elbows on the table, wearing that arrogant smirk.
I gave him a playful smack on the arm. “I’ve been distracted every day at work, and you’re nowhere in sight.”
That smirk dropped instantly, like a punch to the stomach.
“Your job isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be…”
“Be careful what you wish for, huh? You’re great with patients. So doing paperwork all day, no matter if that means you decide who’s admitted to the clinic, isn’t the most suitable for you, even though I’m sure you’re great at the job.”
“So…how about you take your job back?”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We’ve never had a problem working together—”
“That’s not why.”
“Then why? Because you loved that job.”
He looked down into his glass before he took a drink. “I’m spread too thin. I thought I could wear multiple hats, but…there’s just not enough time in the day. I need to choose, and since Dr. Hamilton intends to have me take over, that’s where my focus should be. Our research has intensified as of late, a lot going on…”
“Are you ever going to stop calling him that?”
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “Besides, I want a marriage and a family someday. Can’t do that if I’m working all the time.”
“Well, I work a lot.”
“We’ll both have to make sacrifices, then.”
I was young, driven, ambitious…but finding the right guy made all those perspectives change. I cared about my work, but that success didn’t mean much when I wasn’t happy, a lesson I’d learned recently.
“You think you might step down?”
I gave a shrug
. “Not sure. Kinda embarrassing to leave a job after just a month…”
“If you don’t enjoy it, you should give it to someone who does.”
“Yeah.”
“And you could take on more patients.”
“Yeah, I miss that. Paperwork is tedious and time-consuming, not challenging. There’s nothing that makes me happier than someone dropping a big-ass folder in front of me, saying, ‘This guy can’t be fixed. Have fun wasting your time.’ And then I fix him.”
His eyes turned serious, as if he were thinking about himself.
I looked away and ate the last of the baked potato on my plate.
“I’m sorry I didn’t understand that before…”
“It’s okay,” I said quietly, miserable every time I thought about our time apart. “You’re not…open to that idea at all?”
A deep breath was drawn.
I immediately looked at him, afraid I’d incited his wrath again.
His eyes were closed, and he gave a shrug. “I…I really don’t want to go through that again. It’s easier to accept the fact that it’s not an option for me than to hope I may get a different answer…and then not.”
I gave a slight nod in understanding.
“Is that okay?” He looked at me.
“Of course.” My hand went to his, and I squeezed it.
Relief moved into his eyes, the awkward conversation finally put to bed. “You wanna get out of here?”
“Depends. You want a lap dance from Shimmer?”
He looked over his shoulder then back at me, quizzical. “Who’s Shimmer?”
“You’re looking at her.” I flipped my hair. “That’s my stripper name.”
He chuckled as he threw the cash on the table. “How much is this going to cost me, Shimmer?”
“Probably a car and a mortgage.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him from the bar. “But trust me, I’m worth it.”
15
Atlas
I lifted the goggles from my eyes to rub at the sleep in the corner. We’d returned from Atlantic City last night, but we ended up at her place, and I wasn’t sure when we actually went to sleep. I was exhausted when I should be rested for the job, but it kinda just happened.
The Girl Who Always Wins (Soulless Book 13) Page 12