“Shut up,” I say in a low voice.

She goes still. Her eyes are on me, and they are sweltering, her lids dipping low. Come to think of it, I should probably cover her eyes, too. I should put her to bed and tuck her in tightly. All by herself. Fully clothed. Until she’s ready to behave again.

Sounds of the casino ring out in my extended hearing.

“You look familiar,” I hear Father say. “Are you an actress?”

A feminine giggle. “Nope.”

“Come on, with a face like that . . .”

Anna gently peels my hand from her mouth. She kisses my palm, and it’s so simple and sensual that I’m suddenly fighting for normal breath.

“I’ll buy you a drink,” Father says smoothly.

Anna kisses her way up my middle finger. I step back, but she’s still holding my hand, and she runs her tongue across my fingertip.

“Ah, damn it,” I whisper, yanking my hand away. She’s killing me. She’s going to kill us.

“Please . . .” She pulls her hair tie out, releasing her blond hair about her shoulders, those eyes still melting into me, begging me. It is nearly too much.

My ears fill with laughter from Father and the woman downstairs. I have no idea if he’s listening. He seems fully focused on his prey, but I don’t trust him. He clearly warned me against Anna.

“I will tie you up again if you don’t behave,” I warn Anna.

Her eyes narrow wickedly. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Anna Whitt just got sassy with me. And that is my breaking point.

The beast is alive, warnings be damned.

I grab her waist and turn her, pressing her back into the entertainment center so that I have leverage to press hard against her. The entire thing clatters madly. Her arms and hands are everywhere, clinging, digging, pulling. I kiss her hard, wanting to own all of her—every alcohol-laced breath of air that escapes her mouth—I want it all. We grope as we move to the couch.

Multiple footsteps are moving quickly down the hall.

I am on top of her, between her legs, realizing I should have ripped those shorts off before getting her this far. But I can’t stop moving; her body feels so good against mine, her kisses and moans a delicacy.

“Sounds like the daughter of Belial is drunk again,” comes Blake’s voice down the hall.

“Shocker,” snaps Ginger.

“We’re about to have company,” I say, devouring the soft skin at her neck. I push my hand up her shirt, feeling her silky skin, and let my thumb rub under her bra. She gasps and undulates beneath me.

Banging echoes through the room. “Oi!” Ginger shouts. “Open the damn door.”

“I’m busy.” I nip Anna’s bottom lip. The other Neph can lay off.

“The more the merrier,” Blake says.

I look at Anna and she shakes her head. Her eyes are still heavily lidded. “Just ignore them.” She grabs the bottom of my shirt and pulls it up, forcing me up, and she kisses a path across my pecs. Oh, yes.

I smash her into the couch with another blazing kiss.

“Don’t let that skank take advantage of you when you’re bored, son of Pharzuph.”

Anna tries to push her way up, shouting, “Who you callin’ a skank, you—”

Oh, hell. I quickly cover her mouth and she struggles to get free. I wish they’d just bloody go away. Just one more time together before this godforsaken night begins. I can make it seem like an act of sheer lust. . . .

“Open up.” Kopano’s voice is like a solid thing that rolls into the room and stares at us. I reel back and jump to my feet. Anna is still lying there, as if waiting for me to come back and take care of her. I turn away and press my forehead against the entertainment center.

I cannot answer the door just yet. I give the others a guttural whisper. “Hold on a moment.”

Once I calm down, I walk to the door and let them in. Their faces are disappointed and angry. One look at my eyes and Marna softens. Kope just nods and brushes past. Blake bumps my shoulder and I move aside.

I feel like an ass. This is too big, too important to mess around about. I trudge into the sitting area, where Anna has curled into a lounging position, and Ginger signs, Are you mad? Or stupid?

We have to use caution, Marna signs.

You could have gotten carried away and said something dumb, Blake adds.

I’m sorry, I sign.

“We’re here to chaperone your guard duty and help out,” Marna says out loud. I suppose it’s time to play this game.

“Let’s get it started,” Blake says.

“I have to watch the wino,” I deadpan.

“She can sit there and watch us,” Blake says. “We won’t let her go nowhere, ain’t that right, Kope?”

“That’s right,” Kope says with complete seriousness.

Blake bounces on the balls of his feet, getting into his role. “Pre-party, then summit, then we’re back in business.”

“Fuckin’ right,” Gin says. She glares at Anna.

When I look over, Anna is holding an empty beer bottle. Bloody hell—she drank the rest of the one on the table! Damn it! She should be starting to sober up now!

“Someone put on some music!” Marna cheers.

“Ezzactly!” Anna says. “I been trying to say that.”

I seem to recall Anna having a much higher tolerance a year and a half ago when she’d worked on New Year’s Eve, but then again, that’s when her father had been training her up.

I pace my way up to the bedroom level overlooking the seating area, while the twins, Anna, and Blake begin to dance. Watching Anna dance isn’t helping my frame of mind. Now that she’s no longer falling down, she’s carefree, lithe, and sexy.

I watch her like a hawk, so when she makes her way back over to the minibar, I’m ready. The others might not care if she has another, but I do. I march down there and take the bottle of chardonnay from her hand as she’s tipping it back. A bit spills down her chin and she swallows.

“Hey! Give that—”

I press a hand over her mouth and look at her sternly. Her eyes blaze up at me. She is pushing all my buttons.

I turn her over to Marna because I don’t know what to do with half-drunk sexy girls other than shag them, and Anna keeps touching me, making me want to do just that.

I hate watching everyone pretend they’re living it up in Vegas while what we’re really doing is sitting around waiting for this thing to happen, the moment that will define us. It’s maddening.

I temporarily lose Father, then find him again at the high-stakes table with that same woman. Nothing seems out of the ordinary.

The twins take Anna into the bathroom to clean her up, and then I hear her getting sick. Kope and I look at each other. He shakes his head. I know. I shouldn’t go in there. I can’t show concern.

When she starts to cry, my heart shatters and I ignore Kope’s outstretched hand to stop me. I push past Blake and burst into the bathroom. The twins silently try to stop me as well, but I know what I’m doing. I’ll be quiet. I have to comfort her.

Anna is on her knees under the running water, sitting back on her heels in the shower stall, soaking wet in her underwear. Her hands are on the tiles. She looks up at me with the saddest, reddest eyes. I quickly unbutton my dress shirt and throw it to the sink, followed by my undershirt. Then I open the stall door and crouch behind her, taking her in my arms. She sinks back into me, shaking. We sit there for the next twenty minutes with my arms around her while her bloodstream clears.

When she finally turns to look at me, her eyes are clear, and I nod.

I stand, dry my arms, and leave her to get ready.

I hate this night. It’s hard to imagine that things will look up from here. I can only imagine all the ways they can get worse.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE