I reached out to shake his hand and smiled when Becket tugged it away after about a millisecond. “Nice to see you, Drew. I’m Lia Carrington.”
“Ahh, now I know why you looked so familiar. You’re the Cornelia Carrington. The queen bee of the poker circuit everyone’s been talking about the past few years.”
“Like Knox didn’t already tell you exactly who she was,” Becket muttered. “You just introduced yourself like that because you were trying to give me a hard time.”
Drew shrugged. “What are friends for?”
Becket pointed at his uniform and swept his hand towards the table where he’d been dealing. “I’m working, which makes me your employee right now.”
Drew pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Fine, then I’ll be friendly while acting like your boss. Go on. Get out of here and spend some time somewhere else with your woman before all my customers end up playing at your casino instead of mine. Your brother would never let me hear the end of it.”
“Thanks, man.” Becket patted Drew on the back before grasping my hand and leading me towards a door labeled “Employees Only.”
I slowed my steps and tugged on Becket’s hand. “I’m not supposed to go back there with you.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine, sweetheart. We’ll be in and out before you know it. I just need to go to my locker and grab my cell phone,” he assured me.
I pointed up at the black dome on the ceiling above the door. “It doesn’t matter how quick we are; security is going to notice me walking in there with you right away.”
He dropped his hand to my ass and glared up at the camera. “I have no doubt that Knox, the head of Lennox security, already knows you’re standing here with me.”
“Are you sure?”
Becket waved his employee identification card in front of the security panel on the wall next to the door. When the light flashed green, he reassured me, “There’s no need for you to be worried. Knox would’ve deactivated my card if he wasn’t okay with you coming back with me for a minute, and I’m sure he knows Drew would’ve stopped us if he wasn’t cool with it too.”
“If I get dragged into his office to be questioned, you’re the one I’m going to blame,” I muttered as I followed behind him.
“Nobody’s dragging you anywhere,” he promised. “Knox knows better than to lay a hand on what’s mine.”
Whoa. I knew that what was happening between us was only a short-term fling. I certainly wasn’t going to forget that just because he made a comment about us not being temporary while he was fucking me. Everyone knows guys say things they don’t mean in the heat of the moment. But, I really liked the sound of Becket calling me his. He was even hotter when he was being all possessive over me.
When the door shut behind us, I felt the need to correct something Becket had said earlier. “I wasn’t upset with you earlier because you were acting like a jealous caveman.”
He tilted his head to the side, and a lock of dark hair fell on his forehead. I lifted a hand and swept it back up, sighing when he pressed his head into my palm. “Then what was bothering you, sweetheart?”
“You kept scaring away all of the players who knew what they were doing,” I grumbled. “It messed with my game and kept me from winning big, even when I was on a hot streak.”
“I’m sorry for fucking with your mojo, Lia. That wasn’t my intention, but I can see why it would bother you since gambling isn’t just a game to you. Between owning a casino and my love for dealing, I understand better than most people that it’s business for you.”
I swallowed down a lump in my throat at the rush of emotion I felt at his words. He got me, better than anyone else in my life. “Thank you for understanding. It means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” He brushed his lips over mine. “Now tell me; how can I make it up to you?”
I smiled up at him. “You already did with your perfect apology.”
His dark eyes took on a wicked gleam. “What if I want to show you how sorry I am with actions instead of words?”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing Drew cut your shift short. Now you have plenty of time to figure it out.” And I couldn’t wait to see what he came up with.
Chapter 6
Becket
“Becket, I can pay for this myself,” Lia argued when I snatched the dress she’d just tried on out of her hands. It was pink and a little frilly while still being sexy as fuck. I laughed and held it high over my head so she couldn’t reach it, even on her tip toes. She glared at me, making me smile wider, before dipping my head to claim her lips in a lingering kiss.