His Kingdom (Owning Vegas Book 1)

My head is spinning. This cannot be my life right now. How is this happening? I’m sitting in a health clinic with the man who, just hours ago, was screwing my brains out. This isn’t me. I’m not the girl who has one-night stands or one-day stands or whatever this is. I’m also not the girl who’s considering listening to a complete stranger when he tells me I don’t need the morning-after pill.

“If it makes you feel any better, I pulled out every time,” he says, his voice low enough that only I can hear it.

I can feel my face heat up. “It doesn’t,” I tell him.

“Miss Armstrong.” A man in a white doctor’s coat calls out for me.

I stand and take in a huge breath of air. It’s no big deal. Lots of people do this. I think. I’m not the first, and I’m sure I won’t be the last person to come into this clinic after having irresponsible sex. Great sex, but I don’t think the doctor cares too much about Louie’s performance level.

Louie stands with me. His hand lands on my lower back, and I still. “What are you doing?” I ask him.

“Coming with you,” he says with his brows drawn together. “You’re not going back there with some guy you don’t even know.”

“Oh, like I went up to that penthouse with you?” I ask him. “And it’s not some guy. It’s a doctor.”

“We did this together, which means we’re doing this part together too.” Louie presses on my lower back, urging me to continue walking.

“I really don’t think you need to come in with me. You can make your own separate appointment,” I tell him.

Louie smirks. “I disagree. I think I very much need to come in with you.”

“Is there a problem, Miss Armstrong?” the doctor asks.

“No,” Louie answers before I can, only to hold out a hand to introduce himself. “Sorry, Doc, Louie Giuliani.”

“Mr. Giuliani, welcome. Come on back, sir,” the doctor says, his posture stiff and his face a little pale as he holds the door open for us.

I look from the doctor to Louie. What the hell? I know he claims to own a casino but why does it seem as if he’s more important than that?

Louie doesn’t move his hand the entire way as we enter the doctor’s office. He sits next to me and then picks up my palm. “We’re here for testing. Every STD you can think of.”

Oh my god, kill me now. “Just the standard tests you’d run after someone has unprotected sex with a stranger will be fine. And a script for the morning-after pill,” I clarify.

I feel Louie’s hand tighten around mine with that last part. I ignore him and keep my gaze focused on the doctor, who looks to Louie for… something. What? I have no idea.

“Whatever she wants,” Louie tells him.

“Okay. I’ll need you to change into a gown and hop up on the bed for me, Miss Armstrong,” the doctor says.

“Why?” Louie asks.

“So I can perform an exam.”

“Absolutely fucking not,” Louie growls. “Can’t you just do blood tests?”

“Okay. Sure.” The doctor quickly agrees with a nod, and I interject.

“Wait… What tests will I miss if you don’t do a physical exam?”

The doctor clears his throat and swallows before responding. “It’s not necessary unless you are experiencing unusual discharge or anything else out of the ordinary.”

“She’s not,” Louie says.

“I have a voice,” I tell him.

“And I know your vagina is fucking perfect. There’s nothing wrong with it,” he grunts.

My eyes widen. I think he’s trying to kill me from embarrassment. “Oh my god!” I hiss at him, then turn back to the doctor. “I’m so sorry. Let’s do the blood test and the pill please.”

“What’s wrong?” Louie asks. After the clinic, he ushered me into his car. He then stopped at a drug store, plucked the script from my hands, and went in to get me that little magic pill I wanted.

The thing is, now that I have it, I’m not sure I want to take it anymore. I know I’m not likely to get pregnant from our time together, especially because he’s so sure of the fact that he pulled out. It’s not that, though. I’ve always wanted kids, just not with a stranger.

I mean, what would I tell my child? Sorry you don’t have a dad. I got knocked up when I ran away to Vegas this one time.

“I’m not sure.” I sigh. “This is just… not me.”

“What’s not you?” Louie presses.

“The one-night stand, the morning-after pill, Vegas… All of this isn’t me.” I shake my head. I don’t think I’m explaining myself very well.

“What if it’s not a one-night stand?” he asks me.

“What?”

“What if this thing with us doesn’t stop after today? What if it goes into tomorrow and the next day?”

“I just left my fiancé at the altar. I don’t think I should be jumping into any kind of relationship so soon.”

“You left a cheating bastard who didn’t deserve you, Charlotte, and there is no timeframe for you to start living your life for you. You must have dreams. There has to be something you wanted to do?” Louie says as he pulls out into traffic.

What do I want to do? I thought I knew. I thought I wanted to be married. I thought I was ready for the white-picket fence. It just wasn’t with Owen. I knew that before I caught him in bed with my sister.

“I don’t know what I want,” I admit aloud.

“You wanna know a secret?” Louie asks me.

“What?”

“You don’t need to know. You can take as much time as you need to figure out what you want to do next.”

“I have to go home and face reality eventually.” I can’t afford to stay in Vegas.

“You have your penthouse room at the Royal Flush for as long as you want it,” Louie says, as if reading my mind.

“It was you, wasn’t it? I didn’t win anything, did I?” I knew it was too good to be true.

“You won my attention. It’s debatable whether or not that’s a good thing.” The corner of his lips tip up.

From my experience, this man’s attention has been a very good thing—orgasmic even.noveldrama