Casino King: A Dark Mafia Romance (Carfano Crime Family Book 1)

by Rebecca Gannon

  Alec guides me towards Carfano’s, an Italian restaurant, and I look up at him, surprised.

  “You have a restaurant?”

  “Yes. Only the best ingredients made the authentic way. Everything from scratch.”

  “Oh, that sounds amazing.”

  “Good.” He nods, opening the door for me.

  “Hello, Mr. Carfano,” the hostess greets with a smile as her eyes practically eat him alive. “You’re usual table?”

  “Yes. Thank you, Mia.”

  I know I shouldn’t be jealous, but I can’t help the flash of white-hot jealousy that races through me at him being on a first name basis with her.

  She’s very attractive, with shoulder length wavy chestnut hair and blue eyes that remind me of the sky on a cloudy day.

  Walking us through the restaurant, little Miss Mia sways her hips in her tight pencil skirt, just inviting Alec to look. But when my eyes dart up to his face, I see he’s looking around the dining room rather than her round ass on display, and I can’t help but smile to myself.

  “Your server will be right with you,” she tells us.

  “Thank you.” I throw her a sweet smile, and the one she’s wearing turns forced as she gives Alec one last long look before going back to her hostess stand.

  Alec holds my chair out for me and my smile widens. So, he has a little gentleman in him after all.

  A server comes over and hands us each a menu, his hands shaking slightly. Alec orders a bottle of wine, and when the server comes back to open it, I see him take a deep breath before proceeding, forcing himself to relax. Is everyone afraid of Alec?

  “She’ll have the chicken parmigiana with angel hair, and I’ll have the penne vodka with chicken,” Alec orders after the wine is poured, and just the sound of his voice makes the guy flinch.

  “I think he’s afraid of you,” I say with a nervous laugh when he walks away.

  “I ordered you a menu favorite, I hope that’s okay.”

  “It is. Thank you.” Truth be told, chicken parm is my favorite.

  Alec hands me my wine glass and raises his to clink against mine. With a single sip, I sigh. Oh, that’s good. Smooth and full-bodied. Just like the whiskey I had in his penthouse, I’ve never had expensive wine, and I can taste the difference. It’s delicious.

  “Why is everyone afraid to look you in the eye?”

  “Because they know better.”

  All the thoughts I’ve had of who he is spin around in my head, and as my eyes sweep the room, I see everyone purposefully avoiding our table. He owns The Aces, but he said his family has many businesses…which includes this restaurant.

  Who are the Carfanos?

  Taking a long sip of wine, I divert my eyes from him, suddenly wondering why I’m here. Why am I with a man who everyone is so clearly scared of?

  “Don’t do that, Tessa.”

  “Do what?” I adjust the silverware on the tablecloth.

  “Avoiding looking at me like everyone else.” Meeting his gaze, my heart does a little stutter beat. “Are you afraid of me?”

  “No,” I tell him honestly. When I look in his eyes, I don’t see someone I should be afraid of. I see a man who is looking for something to grasp onto before he realizes the entire world is on one side of the glass with just him on the other. “Should I be?”

  “Probably. If you knew all the things I’ve done, then you would be.”

  He’s challenging me. He’s seeing if I’ll buckle under the weight of whatever he’s done. But I want to know everything. I want to know and not be afraid. I want to be what no one else is to him.

  Squaring my shoulders, I keep my eyes on him. “Try me.”

  Alec flashes me a blinding grin that makes my core clench and my breath catch. It’s more predatory than a show of happiness, and holy sweet lord, this man is going to kill me with how unrealistically sexy he is.

  “You’re brave, mia bella rosa. No one’s ever challenged me before.”

  “There’s a first time for everything. And besides,” I say, tossing my hair over my shoulder and leaning forward to place my chin on my knuckles, “I think you need someone to challenge you.”

  His eyes darken before me, turning to molten pools of dark promises that I want to swim in all night long. “Bella,” he practically purrs, the word rolling off his tongue like a dark angel’s promise. “I want you to challenge me. I want you to be the blooming rose I see on stage whenever you’re with me. I want you to give me that dark beauty that fights to be free from you but you keep locked away.”

  My chest rises and falls with my short little breaths. He doesn’t know what he’s asking for. I don’t know if I can…

  My fingers play with the cloth napkin in my lap, twisting and knotting it while my mind and heart are at war.

  “You don’t know what you’re asking me for,” I whisper.

  “I know full well what I’m asking for.” His voice drops to an octave that floats over me, blanketing me in a warmth that sends a chill through me. “I want you, Tessa. I want the you no one else gets.”

  “Will I get the you no one else gets?” I counter, needing to know if this is even real. It all feels like a dream I’m going to wake from if someone snaps their fingers.

  Since he first sat at that table to watch me dance, I’ve felt like I’ve been in a dream. Men like him don’t just show up and choose a woman like me to give their entire focus to.

  Leaning towards me, Alec reaches under the table and takes my nervous hands in his larger one. “Yes, bella.” I let his words soak into me, and I want to know everything about him. I want to know his secrets. I want to know him. “Tell me about your family,” he says.

  “I don’t have a family,” I confess, and he strokes my knuckles with his thumb. “My parents died when I was fifteen.”

  “What happened?”

  “They were on their way to my dance showcase when they were t-boned by a tractor trailer who ran a red light. It was pouring out and he couldn’t stop in time. He slid right out into the intersection.” I blink away the stinging in the backs of my eyes and clear my suddenly tight throat. “My brother took care of me then. He never made me feel like a burden, and he worked three jobs to make sure I could keep dancing. But when I was eighteen, he was…” I wipe away a stray tear that escaped, and take a long drink of wine.

  “When I was eighteen,” I start again, “we were walking home when he was…” Swallowing hard, the words won’t form, and I can’t stop the flood of built up emotions bubbling to the surface. I’ve kept James’s memory, and everything that happened that day buried so deep, that I’ve yet to deal with them. I can’t.

  “I’ll be right back,” I say in rush, grabbing my purse and standing. But with no idea where the bathroom is, I just walk straight out of the restaurant and into the crowd of people walking around.

  I get bumped around as I blindly walk in a trance with no idea where I’m going.

  “Tessa,” Alec’s angry voice growls from behind me as his hand grips my upper arm to stop me. “Where the fuck are you going?” Spinning me around to face him, Alec walks me over to the wall and pins me against it, shielding me from everyone around us.

  “I needed air. I needed…” I try and focus on Alec’s face, but it starts to blur with the tears gathering in my eyes. “I don’t know,” I whisper.

  “You can’t just walk away like that.”

  “I…I’m sorry,” is all I can say. He places his hand under my chin and I blink away the tears, taking a deep breath to try and gather myself again. “I don’t talk about James.”

  “Let’s get out of here.” Tucking me against his side, Alec walks us back to his private elevator. If he weren’t there to hold me up, I don’t think I’d be standing right now.

  “Look at me, Tessa,” he demands when the elevator doors close, sealing us in the quiet for the long ride up. “Focus on me.”

  I do as he says, my eyes taking in every inch of his handsome face. I memorize every feature. Th
e strong set of his jaw that’s covered in the light shadow of a beard. His cheekbones that sit just high enough to make them look like they were carved from the clay of God. My eyes move up the length of his straight nose that leads to dark eyebrows that frame his dark eyes that are rimmed in impossibly thick, black lashes that shouldn’t be so masculine on a man, but are. And when I take in his eyes, I’m struck with the immediate feeling of safety.

  This close to him, I see his eyes are actually a deep brown like dark chocolate and not black like I thought. Around his pupils is a thin ring of honey brown like a halo that once was, but has slowly been strangled out, with the dark always winning.

  We breathe together. In and out. Until I finally feel like I have control over myself again.

  “Better?”

  “Yes.” I nod. “Thank you. I’m sorry for–”

  “I don’t want your apology, bella. I want you to be real with me. Always.”

  “I’ve never…I mean I don’t…” I trail off, not wanting to admit that I haven’t had anyone in a long time to share my life with. And never on an intimate level like he wants from me.

  I don’t know how to be with a man. I don’t know how to share my thoughts. I don’t know how to express how I feel so easily like other women.

  I’ve never done it before. Any of this.

  I don’t let people in because that means they’ll just leave, or be forced to leave. Taken away.

  I’m also scared of who I’ll become if I give any part of myself to Alec, let alone the deepest parts of me that have never seen the light of day.

  “You’ve never what?” he asks, brushing my hair over my shoulder and running his fingertips down the column of my neck and shoulder.

  “What?” I breathe, my mind only focused on his touch on my bare skin.

  “Tell me everything, mia bella rosa. Tell me what you’ve never done. Tell me everything you want done to you. I can give you it all, Tessa,” he rasps in my ear, his lips brushing my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. “I want to give you everything. I want you to only need me. Rely on me. Think of me. Crave me. Be consumed with me.”

  “Alec,” I moan, leaning into him further, my legs no longer able to hold me up.

  “You feel what you do to me?” he asks, pressing his body against mine so I can feel the hard length of him against my stomach. “Just the thought of you. The sound of your voice. You make me harder than I’ve ever been, and I’m going fucking crazy with needing you.”

  “Alec,” I moan again.

  “But I told you I won’t touch you until you ask. Until you’re ready. Until you beg.”

  I would do that, too. I know I would, or rather will. It’s already a foregone conclusion. I’m already begging him in my head.

  But tonight, I feel too vulnerable. Too raw.

  “I know you will, too,” he continues, planting a kiss below my ear, heat flaring where his lips touch me. A fire ignites in my blood, spreading wildly, and settling in a steady throbbing between my thighs.

  The elevator opens at his penthouse, and Alec wraps his arm around my waist and then lifts me up into his arms, cradling me to his chest as if I weighed nothing at all.

  My eyes roam over his neck, jaw, and face. Every plane and angle is sharp, defined, and sexy. I follow the bob of his Adam’s apple when he swallows, and I have the urge to place my lips there to feel the motion.

  I want to know everything about him, too. I want to give him everything he needs. I want to please him. I want to be good for him.

  Alec’s eyes dart down to mine as he walks me into the spare bedroom and places me on the bed.

  Without another word, he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

  Sitting up, I take my heels off and stretch my feet, staring at the closed door like I have the power to manifest him into coming back.

  When the minutes tick by with only silence as my companion, I stand up and take my dress off before sliding between the cool sheets.

  I know he’s leaving me here alone because I need the time to gather myself again, but I wanted him to stay.

  A few more stray tears slide down my cheeks as I push the memory of my brother back down to the place I’ve kept him in for all these years. I’m not ready. Maybe one day.

  Chapter 10

  Alec

  Fixing my tie in the mirror, I add my ace cards cuff links and don my suit jacket.

  I’ve always felt more comfortable in a suit than anything else. It’s a sign of power. Respect. My grandfather wore one every day, and my father the same. And both men were the most respected and powerful men I’ve ever known.

  When I stayed at my grandfather’s as a child, I would follow him around to see how he did everything because I wanted to be just like him. He taught me how to put on cufflinks. Hell, he taught me what a cufflink even was.

  My nonna would pick his tie out every morning and help him put it on. He told me once that he let her choose his tie every day because then whenever he looked down at it, he would think of her. It was their little moment before they headed off to do whatever the day brought them.

  Looking down at the deep maroon tie I chose today, I have the image of Tessa walking into my closet in nothing more than a satisfied little smile because I spent the whole night fucking her into oblivion, and she chooses this tie for me. Lifting up her toes as graceful as if she were on stage, she places it around my neck and uses it to pull me down for a kiss that makes me want to fuck her all over again.

  “Jesus,” I breathe, my cock straining at my zipper. I need to calm the fuck down with this woman. She’s going to be the death of me if she’s all I can think about. I can’t have her as a distraction.

  After leaving Tessa alone last night, I didn’t sleep. Not one minute. All I could think about was her alone in the room next door, in bed, beautiful, and vulnerable.

  I know I could have had her. I know she wouldn’t have denied me if I went to her. I see it in her eyes every time she looks at me. She can try and fight it for as long as she likes, but I know it won’t be long now before she’s begging me to touch her. To fill her.

  Heading out into the kitchen, I find Vinny, my cousin, at the counter drinking coffee and flipping through some papers.

  “Hey, Vin.”

  Looking up, he gives me a cocky grin. “Who was that fine piece of ass leaving your place this morning? Where did you find her? I could use a woman like her in my life for a little while.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” I demand, my words slicing the air between us like knives.

  “Whoa, Alec, relax. I was just kidding if she’s yours.”

  Turning on my heel, I stalk back down the hall and all but rip the door handle off as I slam it open, seeing the room empty.

  Where the fuck did she go? How did she leave?

  A primal, animalistic growl leaves my throat as I take out my phone. “When did you see her?” I ask Vinny sharply, back in the kitchen.

  “When I was coming off the elevator an hour ago. I held the door for her. Why?”

  “Fuck!” I yell, dialing Enzo. He has to be on her. I can’t let her get away. “Enzo, where are you? Tessa’s gone. Vinny let her leave.” I give him a murderous look and he backs away, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

  “I drove her home,” Enzo tells me, and I almost crush my phone in my hand.

  “Why?” I ask in a chilling, calm tone.

  “She texted me, desperately asking me to come and get her to take her home.”

  “I didn’t say she could leave.”

  “She said she needed to.”

  “And that means you should do so without asking me? Why are you so defensive of her? Do you need to tell me something?” If he tells me he wants her, I really will kill him the next time I see him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re lucky you’re not here or I would fucking strangle you, and Tessa wouldn’t be able to talk me out of it this time.”

  “You’ve ha
d me following her for over a month. I’ve gotten to know her. You’ve entrusted her with me.”

  “Apparently I chose the wrong person for the job if you think I wanted you in any way to get to know her. And I do trust you, Enzo. Don’t fucking test that or think I’ll let you get away with shit.” Hanging up, I throw my phone on the counter and rub my hands up and down my face.

  “What’s going on, Alec?” Vinny asks, leaning back against the counter with that same cocky little smirk he always wears when he’s learning something about someone that he can use against them.

  “Nothing,” I snap, walking over to the bar to pour myself a finger of whiskey that I shoot back in one take.

  “Yeah, because nothing says whiskey at eight thirty in the morning like a woman. I heard you walked out of the meeting last week because of one. That her?”

  Turning back to him slowly, I narrow my eyes. “Where did you hear that? That shouldn’t have left that room.” What? Are my brothers fucking running their mouths about me?

  “I’m second to you here, Alec. I need to know if something in your life is going to affect me too.”

  “Is that so?” I challenge. “And how would my personal business affect you?”

  “See? She’s already changing you. Alec, man, you can’t let a beautiful woman fuck with your head. I’ve been there, and she turned out to be a manipulative, conniving, gold digging bitch who didn’t give a damn about anything but my dick and my bank account.”

  “Tessa’s not like that,” I growl like a fucking animal.

  “That’s what they want you to think at first.” He shrugs.

  “Drop. It. Now. She’s not up for discussion.”

  “Fine.” Vinny holds his hands up in defeat. “Let’s talk about why I’m here. We need to discuss this shit with the Triads.”

  Getting down to business, the subject of Tessa is dropped. For now, at least. I know he’ll come back for answers when I’m calmer.

  When I took over AC from my uncle, who was also Vinny’s dad, I knew I needed Vinny with me. My brothers were staying in New York, and Vin is the cousin who always had my back growing up. He has a good business sense and knows how to get shit done. Always. No matter what I need, or what needs doing, Vinny is my guy.