Mumbling as she grabbed the coffeepot, Maddy chanted to herself.
I will not do anything dumb.
I will not do anything dumb.
I will not do anything dumb.
Then he looked up and smiled at her, and she felt herself blush.
• • •
Alex sat back, watching intently as Maddy approached his table with a smile on her face. He suspected she was going for friendly, but the look she had achieved was closer to hysteria topped with a forced smile.
He didn’t mind making her nervous—a little bit. It was a heady feeling for a Dominant, knowing that he had an effect on the woman in his sights. However, he’d also been told by a past lover—or several—that he was scarily intense at times.
He didn’t want to scare the little doe, so he made a concerted effort to appear relaxed. Not an easy feat when every muscle in his body tensed up the moment she and her delectable little body got near him.
“Coffee, Mr. Fraser?” Alex nodded without speaking, trying to repress the images of her naked and bound under him. His cock swelled as he caught a whiff of that amazing floral scent that seemed stamped into her very skin.
Clearing his throat, he shifted his napkin on his lap, suddenly appreciating the stiffness of the cheap paper. In any other situation, he wouldn’t have been the least bit shy about letting a woman know the effect she had on him.
This woman, though—if Maddy knew that he’d gotten hard just watching her denim-clad hips walking across the diner to him, he was pretty sure that she’d freak out and run.
It was that attitude exactly, combined with the faded blue jeans that molded to her thighs and ass, the simple white T-shirt through which he could see the barest hint of her lace bra, the skin he wanted to touch, open entirely to his stare on a face that was free of makeup . . .
Maddy Stone seemed to lack pretense, and Alex found it incredibly refreshing. Even though her insistence on playing a game of blackjack when it clearly terrified her was still a puzzle, he didn’t think she was the game-playing type.
He thought of Lydia, of so many of the women who had come after, and shuddered inwardly. Never again.
“Ouch! Fu—mmm.”
Alex looked up sharply as Maddy started to cuss, swallowing the expletive before she shouted it out in front of the entire diner. He had been vastly pleased to catch her sneaking a look at his face as she refilled his coffee, but the result was that she hadn’t watched what she was doing, and now coffee had overflowed from his cup onto her hand. She hissed as it burned, scalding the skin, her free hand barely catching the pot before she upended the entire thing in his lap.
He was momentarily sidetracked when she sucked the burned fingers between her full, rosy lips, trying to soothe the skin. When he realized that she’d hurt herself, his expression darkened, and he had to hold himself back, wanting to pull her into his lap, to soothe the burn with his own tongue.
Since he was pretty sure it would scare the hell out of her, he refrained, though he couldn’t vanquish his frown.
Nothing should mar that beautiful skin of hers. Nothing.
“I’m sorry.” Maddy cringed, probably realizing that she’d shouted a profanity halfway across the diner.
Alex furrowed his brow at her. “You need to be more careful. You can look at me anytime, babe, so pay attention when you’re doing something where you could hurt yourself.”
Though irritation flashed over her features, Maddy opened her mouth, probably to reiterate her apologies, he thought. Unable to resist touching her any longer, he shook his head and held out his hand. “Let me see.”
Warily, Maddy let him take her injured hand in his own. Interesting. Alex felt an electric jolt travel up his arm as his fingers closed over the soft, fragrant skin.
Alex owned a lot of things. One of them was a wine bar with a dark side—a BDSM club. Though he preferred private scenes to public, he’d go when the urge struck him and as such had had the opportunity to touch plenty of eager submissives.
Some, though attractive, had left him cold. Some had turned him on.
None had made him feel this kind of slow, wicked burn.
“It’s a shame to injure skin like this.” Slowly he lifted her fingers to his lips and brushed one soft, soft kiss over the top of them. He placed the hand that he’d touched back on the smooth surface of the table gently. “That cream does look beautiful with a touch of pink, though.”
Her mouth fell open completely, her eyes wide as marbles to match. Alex felt a frisson of pleasure slip into his veins at his ability to affect her.
“Are . . . are you in town on business?” Ignoring the burn on her hand, though it had to be painful, Maddy pulled a bar cloth from her apron and mopped at the spill in front of Alex as if she needed something to do. As she lifted the coffeepot to refill his cup, she looked over her shoulder and winced.
Alex followed her glance and caught the eye of a man from behind the counter. The man was tall, on the rangy side, with messily spiked red hair and stubble.
He also seemed pissed off. Alex glared right back, none too impressed.
The guy had better not be pissed with Maddy about spilling the coffee, or anything else, for that matter. Sure, he didn’t know the woman well, but the way she appealed to the Dominant inside of him . . . well, he knew that he’d go to great lengths to make sure she became his. When it came to Maddy, he was starting to feel just obsessed enough to pick a fight over another man looking at her the wrong way.
Maddy turned her attention back to Alex’s cup, making sure that she stopped pouring well below its white porcelain rim. His attention pulled immediately back to her, Alex waited until she was done to answer her question.
When her eyes met his own, Alex could almost hear the air between them sizzle. He flexed his fingers, craving the touch of her skin, soft and warm.
“I’m thinking about buying A Casino in Paradise.” He assumed she’d heard of it—Paradise was a small city. He took a sip of his coffee, smirking a bit when he caught her watching the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.
She looked at him with confusion clear in her eyes. “Why would you want to buy a casino here? You already have one.”
Alex snorted into his coffee, laughing. He couldn’t help it.
The women who constantly surrounded him like piranhas knew, without him ever having told them, which businesses he owned, where his homes were scattered throughout the world—one had even known the amount in his checking account, with scary accuracy.
He swallowed his laughter when he saw that she was asking a serious question. He wanted to crush her lips beneath his own for her sweetness.
“I own a lot of things, Miss Stone.” Alex studied her face, trying to discern whether he should go into more detail or not. Considering how nervous she’d been when she’d found him sitting at one of her tables, he opted for not.
Her face studied him nervously, searching for a clue as to how she should act . . . wanting to please him.
She did please him, immensely, just as she was. He didn’t want her nervous about it.
Well . . . not too nervous.
To lighten the mood, he winked at her. Her face registered surprise, a hint of pleasure, then, as if she’d just remembered something, irritation.
“Why did you let me win that game?”
Taken aback as he so very rarely was, Alex schooled his face into an expressionless mask. “Letting you win a game in a casino would be illegal, Miss Stone. Surely you know that.” How had she known that, against his own sense of morals, he’d considered it, just for her?
He could see that she didn’t believe him, that she was still angry. He wasn’t used to explaining his actions, and it felt strange to try to convince a woman of something.
“I thought about it.” Maddy eyed him narrowly, and Alex very nearly squirmed in his chair under the penetrating gaze. Clearly she wasn’t the type of woman to hold with actions that registered in shades of gray. “But then I dec
ided that I couldn’t rob you of the victory of whatever it was you’d set out to prove that night. You won fair and square, babe, all on your own.”
Maddy blinked, weighing his words. Her anger seemed to evaporate into thin wisps that floated away softly, replaced with pleasure and pride.
She was so damn cute. Just looking at her, he saw why he would have risked setting up the game for a woman who was a stranger.
Maddy opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say something—what, Alex would never know. She was interrupted.
“Here’s your table’s bill, Maddy.” From over her shoulder came the vinyl folder with the slip of white paper sticking out. The person behind her was the pissed-off man from behind the counter.
He placed a protective hand on her shoulder—he was marking his territory. Irritation washed through Alex as Maddy shrugged uncomfortably, trying to dislodge the touch.
The other man’s message was all too clear—run along now.
“Thanks, Joe.” Maddy’s voice was calm, but Alex picked up on the thread of irritation. “I’ve got it.”
From behind her, the man named Joe huffed out a sigh, hesitated, then stomped away, muttering under his breath. Maddy exhaled slowly, then slid the vinyl folder over the table.
She didn’t seem to want him to go any more than he wanted to. She also still wasn’t ready for him to make a move. The woman was nervous, as if she might take flight at any moment.
Though he wasn’t at all accustomed to delaying his gratification, Maddy appealed to him on so many levels that he swallowed his desire down and pushed back his chair.
Not bothering to look at the total, Alex meticulously placed a twenty-dollar bill with five hundred-dollar bills hidden beneath inside the vinyl folder. From the corner of his eye, he saw Maddy shake her head a bit, probably at his lack of concern with money.
Alex ignored it. He had more money than he could spend in his lifetime, and every day he made more. He found that he wanted to lavish it all on this woman, if only she’d let him.
“As I was saying.” Alex handed Maddy the billfold. Though he was tempted to brush his fingers over hers, he needed to cool down in order to leave, rather than heat up.
“Yes. You’re looking at a casino in Paradise.” Maddy tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear, gaze flickering quickly away and then coming back to rest on his.
Alex stood, though the look in her eyes made him want to nibble on her lower lip. Deliberately, he kept his next words light, trying his best not to scare her off.
“I could use a local’s opinion.” He shrugged on his jacket, his favorite, made of well-worn chocolate-brown leather.
He saw Maddy eyeing it, and unbidden, an image of her wearing nothing but the jacket flashed through his mind.
He swallowed his groan.
“I don’t know if I count as a local. I haven’t been here for all that long.” Though he could see on her face that she thought she’d stuck her foot in her mouth, Alex still felt a whisper of exasperation. It figured that the one female who intrigued the hell out of him was the one who would make him work for it.
From the pocket of his coat he withdrew a business card and a pen and proceeded to write his cell number, the pen digging deep into the pristine white paper.
When he handed it to her, Maddy’s fingers brushed tentatively over his. He felt the light sensation like a full, heated kiss, making the air around them sizzle.
He looked into her eyes as he handed her the card, enjoying the flicker reflected in the blue depths.
“In case you change your mind.” Alex cocked his head, studying her, then reached out and brushed his fingers through that loose lock of hair that kept escaping her ponytail.
“Damn.” His voice was a whisper, and he felt perplexed.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt unsure around a woman. It was a strange sensation, and one that he wasn’t entirely certain that he liked. His brow furrowing over the notion, he nodded, breaking the spell of the moment.
The dry air of the desert outside didn’t help him clear his head.
He wanted Madeline Stone.
He would do whatever it took to have her.
CHAPTER THREE
Maddy wouldn’t have told anyone about the five-hundred-and-ten-dollar tip that Alex had left her on a ten-dollar meal, would have just called him and tried to give it back, but Susannah had spied it peeking out of her apron pocket late in the afternoon and had pestered her until Maddy spilled the entire story. Her friend had urged, “He’s interested. He’s so interested. Call him.”
The five hundred-dollar bills now sat in the middle of her coffee table, the visage of Benjamin Franklin staring sternly up at her.
Having never come across the situation before, Maddy had also contemplated telling Joe. But then she’d thought about the pissing contest the two men had gotten into in front of her, and she’d sealed her lips shut, though she felt incredibly strange about it.
Obviously five hundred dollars was less than pennies to Alex. But it didn’t feel right to take it.
Something told her that Alex would be less than thrilled if she tried to give it back.
“Make a date and then go shop for something sexy with that money.”
“Susannah.” Maddy filled her name with as much exasperation as she could muster, which wasn’t much, because she was still stunned.
He was interested. She had to agree.
But why?
She was a little apprehensive wondering what he was expecting with his big “tip.”
“Do men like him even date?” Maddy couldn’t picture Alex Fraser at the movies, eating soggy popcorn, his Italian leather shoes sticking to discarded bubble gum on the floor.
“What, you think the man’s a monk?” Susannah snorted out a laugh, then continued to rummage through Maddy’s closet. She had insisted on helping Maddy decide what to wear on the date that Maddy didn’t even yet have.
From the size of the pile of “no” clothing in Maddy’s lap, she was pretty sure that she’d be attending the so-called date naked.
An image of Alex Fraser naked, his muscled body offered up for her exploration, popped into her mind unbidden. Her mouth suddenly felt cottony, and she reached for the water that was set on her bedside table.
She thought that she might not mind a naked date if it meant that he was naked, too.
“Of course I don’t think he’s celibate.” No, Maddy thought that he probably had a harem . . . or a supermodel for a girlfriend, or maybe even a wife.
No, not a wife. Though she didn’t really know the man at all, something about him—she couldn’t quite put her finger on what—told her that there was no wife waiting at home.
Maybe it was the concern he’d displayed when she’d burned her hand. Maybe it was the way that he looked at her, as if she were the only woman on the face of the planet. Maybe it was the way he’d purchased a hideously expensive bottle of wine for a woman he didn’t know, when plenty of other women in that same room wouldn’t have even needed a bottle of beer before sucking his cock.
The image that brought to mind made her blush. She knew her red cheeks would give her away to Susannah, and she didn’t think she could stand another inquisition. The only way to beat her friend at her game was to play along.
“Fine. I’ll call him.” Susannah squealed with delight and tossed the bright blue blouse she was holding to the floor. With record speed, she threw Maddy her cell phone—Maddy didn’t have a landline—and flopped on the bed alongside her, preparing to lean in close enough to hear Alex’s side of the conversation, Maddy was sure.
“Clean up that mess you made.” Maddy pointed back to her closet. When Susannah pouted, Maddy froze for a second, wondering if she’d gone too far.
It had been a long time since she’d hung out with a girlfriend. She was out of practice. She and Susannah had always gotten along well enough, but they’d never spent any time together outside of work until that afternoon.
“I know your game. Over there.” Maddy pointed again. Calling Alex Fraser was a big enough deal to make her heart race on its own. If Susannah were in her face, hanging on her every word, she would never even hit send.
Maddy went one step further and locked herself in the tiny bathroom down the hall. It was small, the only bathroom in the cramped apartment. Perching on the closed lid of the toilet, she bit her lip, then speedily dialed the number that she now had memorized and hit send.
One ring. Two.
“Fraser.”
Holy shit. He answered. The sexy billionaire answers his own phone. Somehow Maddy hadn’t counted on him actually answering—she’d thought she would get an answering machine or an underling, or something.
“Hello?” His voice was a bark, and the nerves in her stomach intensified.
“Um, yes. Mr. Fraser? This is Maddy—er, Madeline Stone. The . . . uh . . . the waitress? From the diner?” Suddenly she was certain that he would have no idea who she was.
“Miss Stone.” His voice softened and warmed, sliding over the syllables of her name, making them sound as tasty as melted chocolate.
There was a pause, one that she knew he and his charm and people skills could have filled effortlessly. Instead he waited, pressing her to say something else.
“You . . . you mentioned you could use some company? To look at a casino?” Maddy grimaced as she spoke, feeling as though she’d been transported back to junior high school.
“What are you asking, Miss Stone?” He knew exactly what she was asking—she was sure of it—but for some reason he wanted her to say it.
Maddy squirmed.
“Would you still like company while you look at a new casino?” She felt a bit like she was asking for permission.
“If that is what you want.” His voice was still warm, practically oozing sexiness, but his words confused her.
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