His Kingdom (Owning Vegas Book 1)

Obsession. An idea or thought that continually preoccupies a person’s mind. I’ve been obsessed with two things in life: making money and ruling this city. And now, I think I might have found a third obsession that keeps intruding my thoughts. Charlotte.

I spent the night looking up everything I could learn about her. I know where she grew up. I know the school she graduated from and that she was valedictorian. I know she has one sister, Melanie, and was engaged to be married this past weekend to an Owen Aiken, a sheriff in the small southern town she came from.

I know she broke her ankle in the eighth grade during cheer practice. I also know that she was admitted to the hospital a year ago when she miscarried at six weeks. She had chicken pox when she was five and her tonsils removed when she was seven.

I dug as deep as I could. She’s clean as a whistle. Not a single parking ticket attached to her name. Charlotte Armstrong is the all-American girl next door. The type you take home to your mother. The same type I never would have let near my own mother.

As I’ve gotten older, the memories I had of the woman have turned from fun, loving, and playful to the reality of who and what she really was. A hooker. An addict who left her son alone in an alleyway while she went and overdosed on drugs. I mourned her for so long. And then one day I decided I was done. She didn’t love me. If she did, she never would have left.

Although, if I didn’t have the childhood I did, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. So her leaving wasn’t the worst outcome. Being alone isn’t a bad thing. It’s something you get used to and come to savor. If you don’t have anyone you care about, you can’t be hurt.

Which is why I need to cure myself of my latest obsession with Charlotte. I don’t know what it is about the woman that I’m so drawn to. Yes, she’s gorgeous but this is Vegas. The city is full of gorgeous women. Charlotte is just more… innocent. Perhaps that’s the draw. Her innocence.

The only thing a man like me could do for a woman like that is break her. Destroy all the good she embodies. I don’t know how I know she’s good. I just do. In my position, you get real skilled at reading people, and I had Charlotte picked within minutes of sitting down at her table last night.

That’s when I should have gotten up and walked away. Except I couldn’t. Like I said, I’m fucking drawn to the woman, borderline obsessing over her. I know she’s not in the casino. I watched her walk out and forced myself not to follow her.

For the last three hours, I’ve been holed up in my office, trying to get work done without thinking about her. Clearly that’s going about as well as getting blood from a stone. I haven’t looked her up again online, though. I’m not sure there’s much more to find on her anyway.

I need a drink. I can’t keep thinking about a woman I’ve met once. No woman has ever taken up this much of my time before.

The buzzing of my phone snaps my focus away from Charlotte when Sammie’s name flashes across my screen. “Yeah?” I answer.

“Boss. You know the saying don’t shoot the messenger, right?” he asks me.

“What happened?” I stand and grab my keys and wallet off the desk.

“Ah… yeah, maybe you should just come over to the Wild Card and see for yourself. The Four Suits bar,” he says.

“What the fuck is going on, Sammie?” I grunt, already walking out of my office, and slam the door.

“Just get over here.” He cuts the call before I can respond.

There are two people in this world who can get away with hanging up on me: Sammie and Carlo. The same two men I see when I walk into Four Suits ten minutes later. Each nursing a glass of amber liquid while neither appears to be on high alert. Which makes me wonder why the fuck I’m here.

“What’s going on?” I direct my question to Sammie.

“That chick from last night… What was her name again?” he asks with a tilt of his head.

“Charlotte. What about her?” It takes more effort than I’d like to admit to keep my tone neutral. I don’t need these fuckers giving me shit over being hung up on a woman.

“You said she doesn’t mean fuck all to you, right?” Sammie smirks.

“I don’t know her. Why would she mean anything? I’ve known you two assholes for fifteen years, and I’d put a bullet through either of you without blinking. What makes you think a woman I met for five minutes means shit?” I cross my arms over my chest and pin the fuckers with a glare.

“Nice to know you care.” Carlo laughs, and I lift one shoulder in response.

“So, the fact that Charlotte is over there drunk as a skunk, surrounded by a group of guys plying her with more liquor than is good for her, doesn’t bother you at all?” Sammi nods his head to the left.

I take my time to turn and look. And sure enough, Charlotte is sitting in a booth with three men. “Why should it bother me? I don’t know her,” I reply without taking my eyes off them.

“That’s what I thought,” he says. “Want a drink?”

I turn and glare at him. “No, I don’t want a fucking drink,” I grunt.

“Ah, shit. Boss, just remember… public. This bar is very public and you’ve got that murderous look going on right now.” Carlo waves a hand at my face.noveldrama

I shake my head and then I’m pivoting and walking over towards Charlotte before I can think better of it. I stop at her table and clear my throat, gaining the attention of the three guys surrounding her. I glare at the one sitting next to her. Blocking her exit from the booth. Blocking my access to her.

“Move,” I tell him.

“We’re good here,” the fucker says.

“Oh boy, you shouldn’t do that.” I hear Sammie’s voice behind me.

My hand clutches the asshole’s collar and I lift him out of the booth. “I said move,” I tell the guy before shoving him backwards. Then I turn back and hold out my hand towards Charlotte. “I’ve been looking for you,” I lie.

“You have? Why?”

“We had plans to go swimming.” Another lie. But I’ll use whatever I can to get her to leave with me willingly. Though I’m not opposed to picking her up and dragging her out. It’s not as if anyone is going to stop me.

“Swimming? Really? You’re going to come with me this time?” she asks excitedly.

“Sure.”

“Charlotte, do you know this guy?” one of the other fuckers in the booth asks.

“Mhmm, this is Louie. He’s nice. And hot, right? Like how is a man allowed to be that good looking? I think if you strip off that suit, there’s probably a manufacturer’s warning on his skin,” she says.

“A manufacturer’s warning?” Carlo asks.

“Yep, like… Caution! Don’t stare for too long because your brain will turn to mush. Or maybe… Touch at own risk. Because of, you know, how hot he is.” Charlotte’s eyes continue to roam over my body.

“Right.” Carlo laughs.

“Charlotte, let’s go.” I reach down and pick up her hand, and she willingly slides out of the booth.

“Okay, swimming, right?” she asks, looking up at me while stumbling on her feet as she stands.

My arm wraps around her waist, steadying her. “Mhmm.” I nod, having no intention of letting her near a damn pool when she’s this wasted.

Charlotte’s hand lands on my chest. Moving up and down. Patting me at the same time a smile spreads across her face. “You must work out a lot,” she says.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” I turn to leave and find my two friends standing there. Laughing.

“Nothing, huh?” Sammie raises his eyebrows at me.

“Shut the fuck up,” I hiss at him.

“You need a hand?” Carlo asks.

“Yeah, get rid of those assholes.” I dip my chin towards the booth, not letting go of Charlotte as we slowly make our way over to the bank of elevators.

“Are we swimming here?” she questions me. “Oh, I don’t have my bathing suit! And I’m not wearing a bra,” she whispers. Or at least I think she thinks she’s whispering.

My eyes drift down to her chest, where her nipples are poking through the fabric of her shirt. Fuck me, I shouldn’t have looked. Shifting my body, I shield hers from the eyes of any other fucker within peeking distance. Fuck them. They don’t get to see her like this.

I want to go back to the bar and tear the eyes out of the heads of those jerks feeding her drinks. It’s an irrational thought. And I don’t know why I fucking care, but I do.

When the doors to the elevator open, I guide Charlotte inside and press the button for the penthouse.

“Is P for pool?” she asks me.

“Penthouse,” I tell her, and her eyes widen to saucers.

“There’s a pool in the penthouse?”

“There is.” But she’s not going in it.

“How do you just go wherever you want? It’s because you’re hot, right? I’ve heard good-looking people get away with doing whatever they want,” she rambles on.

“You know, if we’re categorizing people as good looking, you’d land at the top of that list, Charlotte,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “Nope, not true. If that were true, my fiancé wouldn’t have cheated on me with my sister,” she says.

“Your ex is a fucking idiot,” I reply, emphasizing the ex part, because I don’t think I’m going to let her leave. At least not until I figure out why I’m so fixated on her, and what that means for me. And us.