Chances (Mystic Nights #1) (9 page)

Aliya turned her face away. Yes, he had been drinking. She could smell it on his breath. Something strong. Whiskey, probably. She pressed even further back against her car trying to think of a way out of this situation delicately. But the man was not taking the hint. She was seriously thinking a knee to the groin might be the only thing that would sink in, and to hell with her studio, when he suddenly backed up.

Peter saw she was beginning to panic. This woman was incredibly sexy, and even in her fear he felt the pull of attraction. Dammit. If only he’d seen her first. Those damn Sassacus’. They always foiled his plans and intentions. She would have been a good lay, and a sure bet because she wanted that space on the reservation. But now that she was seeing Jonathan, it might be tougher to accomplish than he initially thought. Still, she might put out for his vote. He could play that card later. The ache in his cock persisted, and she leaned away even further. She was practically splayed across her vehicle. So tempting. But he resisted his primal urges for now.

“I can’t. I’m meeting a friend for dinner,” she murmured shakily. Her words came out in little puffs of vapor. The air was quite cold tonight. But he didn’t feel it, not with this beauty so close causing the fire of desire to run in his veins.

“Really?” He questioned feigning doubt. He leaned in closer, and took a whiff of her hair. It smelled like fresh raspberries and cream. “You are a very beautiful woman, Aliya. I could make things really easy for you.”

She raised her knee a fraction of an inch and then pulled back. She’d been about to knee the man in the groin. He was taking this way too far, and just as she hoisted her knee forward with all her might, she felt the cold night air suddenly separating them as Peter took several awkward steps back. Her eyes went wide when she saw Jonathan’s hand with a fist full of his coat sleeve. The smile plastered on his handsome face was fake. She saw the anger there. “That would be great, Peter. She really wants to open this studio for Lantern Hill. Your vote would be greatly appreciated by both of us.” His words dripped with sarcasm. If the man wasn’t a council member, he would have smashed his face in. Had he touched Aliya he would have. Luck. It arrived just in the nick of time.

Peter was dazed. Jonathan had yanked him away from Aliya, but his words did not belie the anger he saw in the younger man’s eyes. He would play the man’s game. For now.

“Oh yes. Of course. I’m sure you both would appreciate it. I’ll be sure to examine her proposal well. From all angles.” He added giving the two a parting nod as he backed up to his car. “Have fun tonight. See you at the next board meeting, Jonathan.” And without giving them a second glance, he got into his car, quickly slipped the key into the ignition, and revved up the powerful engine on his mustang before heading out of the parking lot with tires spinning.

“Jonathan, I’m sorry,” she started to explain breathlessly.

He saw her panic and wanted to assure her that he’d seen enough to know Aliya had been backing away from the man’s untoward advances. “No need to explain. I saw enough to know he was trying to press his luck where it wasn’t wanted.” When he saw her smile of relief pass over her face, he pressed a quick chaste kiss to her cheek as Peter drove by the two of them. As Jonathan steered her out from in between the cars, he added, “The man is known for being quite the lecher. Can you try not to be alone with him?”

She looked up at the man by her side. Aliya saw nothing but concern in Jonathan’s eyes and it warmed her immediately. She nodded her assent, grateful he didn’t think anything else was going on. She didn’t know what she would have thought had she come across him in a similar situation.

As they approached the restaurant, Jonathan was fuming inside. The man was a pig. And he would have words for him next time he saw him. Make it absolutely clear that Aliya was off limits. The only thing that kept him from smashing the man’s face was that he didn’t want to turn his and Aliya’s first date into a memory neither one of them would like to remember. He had held his restraint well. He didn’t care a wink that the man was on the council, and the board. So instead of letting the man permeate his thoughts, he focused his attention on the beautiful woman beside him.

Jonathan took her arm, placed it in the crook of his, and kissed her once more on the cheek to assure her they were okay. “Come on my love,” he whispered seductively. “Let’s go eat because I can’t wait to get you alone.”

Aliya leaned into him taking comfort in his strength. She could definitely get used to this. Smiling up at him, she was determined to enjoy herself, and make tonight a night neither one of them would forget. Neither one of them noticed Peter Sebastian had stopped his car at the stop sign and was watching them walk in. Together.

*

The appetizers were
served. Steaming oysters. And the wine a delicious pinot. By the time dinner was served Aliya was truly enjoying herself. Jonathan was full of stories about his boyhood and the pranks he and his brother, Joseph, had pulled and their mother getting them out of all kinds of scrapes. Aliya found herself really admiring the woman who had raised four children on her own. Barely out of her teenaged years, Tawny had found herself pregnant not once but twice during college which she continued to complete with her law degree. Then right after college, when she just opened up her own law practice, fighting for the rights of her people, she found herself pregnant with the twins, Eve and Dawn.

To her surprise, Jonathan made no mention of his father, or his sibling’s father or fathers, whoever they might be. He’d only said his mother was fiercely independent, loved all of her children, and chose to raise them alone. She was truly a one woman show. She dedicated her life to the reserve, and with her parents help in raising the children while they were younger, she’d been instrumental in getting first the federal government to recognize their tribe as a first people. Then she had come home to raise her sons and push the state into giving them the same recognition the federal government had given the western tribes long ago. The battle with the state had been a long and arduous one, but luckily she was able to stay home to do that. It meant she was home with her children while she fought with the state to recognize Lantern Hill’s rights to reservation status and first people. As soon as her sons entered college, Tawny found a new battle to champion. The casino. Her daughters had still been young teenagers while she brokered the deal that had gotten the loan from Malaysia to build the Mystic Nights Casino & Spa. And her sons had come home to help her run it.

It was a remarkable story. It had taken three years to build. With her sons by her side, they had opened the casino just four years earlier. And it was well on its way to becoming the success she knew it would be, and currently it rivaled Foxwood’s and the Mohegan Sun.

“I just moved back to Lantern Hill the year after the casino opened,” Aliya murmured around her salmon. It was delicious. This restaurant was a favorite among the locals. All the fare was fresh year round, purchased from local fishermen and farmers.

“Why didn’t you come and apply to work for the casino sooner?” he asked, genuinely interested and wanting to know what she had been doing with her life in the interim. He wished they could have met earlier although they all worked eighteen hour days those first few years. Running the casino then had been a lot more complicated as they were all learning the ropes as they went. They’d had a team of advisors helping to oversee things.

She let out a soft, slow sigh remembering her homecoming. It had been difficult starting over, but it was something she had to do and she wanted to be home to do it. “I was enrolling in U-Con. I had school, and that was in Hartford, so it was a bit of a drive. I was able to find a teaching job at a studio there. So . . .,” she allowed the rest of her sentence to go unfinished.

He smiled broadly, sitting back in his chair, watching her finish the remains of her food. “Well, I’m glad you’re back now.” And he was. This woman fascinated him.

Aliya set her fork down and glanced across the table at the man before her. Getting to know him had opened her eyes, and made her remember what it was like to date, and to be curious about the person you were with. All the little things that made him them man he was helped her to understand him better. And she liked what she saw. A lot. The smile he was giving her was bright and mischievous. She swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. He was truly remarkable. His eyes pierced her and set her blood to roaring with just a glance. Those dark eyes in that chiseled face set off her desire for him so fluidly.

Clearing her throat to help clear her mind of the wayward thoughts that were beginning to take shape, she spoke, “Tell me about your sisters.” Aliya picked up her fork and scooped up a forkful of the delicate wild rice that had just a hint of jasmine.

“Ah,” he laughed. “The twin terrors. Well, Eve finished her business management degree last year, and she now operates the entertainment venues at the club. And Dawn, she has nearly finished her masters in accounting. And both are quite happy to stay here and continue to work at the casino. My Mom is thrilled about it of course.” He picked up his glass of wine and sipped it watching Aliya over the rim of his glass. Her hair shone under the lights of the chandelier. She was stunning. Her features angled and her eyes, much like his, were almond shaped hinting at her heritage.

“I’m sure she is. My parents only had me, but they brought me to New York when all I wanted to do was dance, and do ballet. But New York was tough for me. For all us. I just missed home, and my friends. And ballet was so hard. So much competition. I think they were relieved when I decided to pursue other kinds of dance, and decided to go more the traditional route of show girl, then opening up a studio.” She purposefully left out the part about her engagement, pregnancy, and how that fiasco turned out at 19. That was too deep for a first date.

“So they returned here, when you went to Vegas.”

She just nodded and once more set her fork down. “So, Dawn. Accounting, huh? The rest of you studied business and law?”

“Yes, she took her love of math and numbers to the extremes. Dawn was sick a lot when she was younger, allergies, and often was indoors. But for years we didn’t know what made her sick. Anyhow, she always used to say numbers were the only things that ever made sense to her. So yeah, accounting.”

“That’s cool. Your Mom allowed her to pursue her own interests.”

“My Mom has never pressured any of us. Well, she wanted us to do well with whatever we attempted, but the choices were always ours. She’s great. She is excited for Dawn to be working in the upstairs offices soon. She doesn’t like her working on the floors.”

“What do you mean?”

“Right now, she’s actually a dealer at one of the tables. Good too. She has caught many a card shark, and Mom gets nervous about her working on the floor. Unfortunately, casinos sometimes attract a dangerous element, and because Dawn was so sick when she was younger, she tends to baby her a bit more. We all do at times, I guess. It drives Dawn nuts. But, she will go into the accounting department next year when she finishes up her degree, and then none of us will have to worry about her,” he finished.

“Well, Mystic Nights is definitely a real family affair,” Aliya sighed, melancholy evident in her voice.

“Was it difficult being an only child?” he asked.

“Yes, and no. My parents doted on me, but it would have been nice to have a younger brother or sister. My parents tried after me, but my Mom had some complications during her pregnancy with me and she was never able to carry another child.”

He gave her a sympathetic smile. “Are you close with them?” he asked. He remembered her father. He had been his high school PE teacher. One of the reasons everyone had left the stunning beauty alone in school. The man was a bear, a grizzly, in and out of the gymnasium. That and she always seemed to disappear after the bell rang. Dance classes, he presumed.

“Oh yes. Dad is retired now. But Mom still writes for the local paper,
The Lantern Hill Gazette
.” She smiled at him across the table. He had finished eating awhile ago, and was waiting patiently for her to finish. She pushed her plate away after setting her cutlery on it. A waiter appeared out of nowhere to snatch their dishes away.

“Dessert?” he asked. Jonathan looked to her, and when she shook her head in the negative, his smile got even broader, sexier, if that were possible. It made her shudder in anticipation. The waiter silently slipped the bill onto the table and left giving them a moment. Jonathan slid his credit card inside, and once more the waiter appeared out of thin air to collect it and left to go settle the debt.

“Jonathan, what about your father?” she asked, broaching what had so far not been discussed at all.

His smile faltered briefly. He cleared his throat before he sat back in his seat. The waiter reappeared and dropped the folded leather case the credit card had been placed in and left. “My father, according to my mother, was a wonderful man she met in college. In fact, he fathered all of us. He was in and out of my mother’s life, and she loved him. But other than that, she won’t say. She has only told us that it was a whirlwind romance that lasted two years. She didn’t see him for quite some time, and fate had thrown them together once more. That’s where they reconnected when she was finished school, but his life was elsewhere.” Jonathan’s short speech was delivered quickly.