“I have never taken money from anyone that I didn’t earn and I’m not about to start now.”
He shook his head. “Calm down, Sasha. I was going to tell you that I would arrange for you to have the time away from Dakota Fortune with pay.”
It was her turn to shake her head. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Why not?”
From his baffled expression, she could tell he didn’t have an inkling as to why she felt the need to refuse. “For one thing, it wouldn’t be fair to my coworkers. They work just as hard as I do and they won’t be offered time off with pay.”
A deep scowl creased his forehead. “Why are you being so stubborn about this?”
“Because it doesn’t sit well with me.” Trying a different tack, she asked, “Would you pay one of your employees for work they didn’t do?”
“No.” There wasn’t a bit of hesitation in his answer.
“Then why would you think it was all right to do it for me?”
He surprised her when he smiled and shook his head. “You’re wrong, sweetheart. I wouldn’t be paying you for nothing.”
It was her turn to feel confused. “Would you care to explain?”
“How many hours would you say you’ve put in on my ad campaign and how many strings did you have to pull to make it all happen?” he asked, catching her hand in his to tug her back down beside him.
She shrugged as she settled back against him. “I don’t know. I haven’t kept track.”
“You worked last weekend to come up with a plan and every night I’ve called this past week, you’ve been ironing out the details.” He kissed the top of her head. “And correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember giving you a single dime for any of it.”
She was beginning to understand his reasoning, but that hadn’t been part of their agreement. “I don’t expect you to pay me. You asked me to do a favor for you as a friend. Which I did.”
His frustrated breath stirred the curls at her temple. “All right. I appreciate your efforts and accept that you won’t let me compensate you for your time.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as he pushed her robe aside to trail kisses down the column of her neck and over her shoulder. “But I’m not asking you to be with me for opening week as a favor. As your boss, I’m telling you to be here.”
“You can’t do that.” Desire began to stir within her as his lips continued to move over her skin. But she refused to give in to it. They were having a difference of opinion and she wasn’t going to let him distract her until they got it settled once and for all.
“Sure I can.” He laid her down on the couch cushions, parted her robe and leaned to kiss his way down the slope of her breast. “I’m the boss. Remember?”
“But—”
“I’ll arrange for you to work here opening week, instead of at the Dakota Fortune offices.” He took her puckered nipple into his mouth and drew on it deeply, causing ribbons of warmth to swirl to the very core of her. When he raised his head, he asked, “Now, do you have anymore questions, sweetheart?”
“None,” she answered, shaking her head. “None at all.”
Seven
As Blake and his managers stood in front of Fortune’s Gold for the ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening his newest casino, he scanned the crowd waiting to enter Deadwood’s most elaborate hotel. Asking for Sasha’s help had certainly paid off. There were twice as many people gathered to try out the gaming tables and slot machines than there had been at either of the openings for his other casinos.
Searching to find her in the sea of people, when he spotted her standing over to the side with a distinguished-looking gentlemen, Blake barely managed to contain his shock. She was exchanging polite conversation with his father, the all powerful Nash Fortune.
Why was he here? He’d hadn’t bothered to attend the openings for Belle of Fortune or Lucky Fortune. In fact, his father hadn’t visited Deadwood in the six years that Blake had lived here.
But more surprising than having his father in attendance was the fact that Nash was alone. Where was Patricia? His father and stepmother had been inseparable since Nash’s retirement and the fact that she wasn’t at his side was quite significant.
But Blake didn’t have time to speculate about the absence of his stepmother. He had to deliver a short speech, then participate in the cutting of the wide red ribbon officially opening the doors to Fortune’s Gold for business.
As happened with the grand openings for his other two hotel casinos, Blake’s position as the owner of Fortune Casino Corporation required that he not only preside over the ceremony, but that he be available to greet guests and endure being interviewed by several newspaper and television reporters. Fortunately, it only took a couple of hours for the patrons to settle into their games of choice and the media to move on to whatever else they deemed newsworthy for the day.
Finally free to go in search of Sasha, he found her in the coffee shop seated at a table with his father. Blake’s heart lurched when their eyes met. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful, alluring woman he’d ever met.
“Everything seemed to go quite well,” she said when he walked over to join them.
“I’m fairly pleased with the way things went.” Unconcerned that his father was watching, Blake kissed her sweet lips, then lowered himself into the chair beside her. “But I’m glad it’s over.”
“I always hated having to preside over things like this,” Nash said, nodding.
A waitress appeared, seemingly out of nowhere to place a cup of coffee in front of Blake. When she moved away, he turned his attention to his father and stuck out his hand in a more formal greeting. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Dad.”
His father cleared his throat as they shook hands and if he didn’t know better, Blake would have sworn that Nash looked a little chagrined. “I thought it was time to see what’s claimed my youngest son’s attention for the past several years.”
An uncomfortable silence followed his father’s telling statement. They both knew that Nash had never paid much attention to Blake, nor had he lifted a finger to stop his two oldest sons from pushing Blake out of Dakota Fortune after he’d retired. Then, when Blake had announced he was going to try his hand at the gaming industry, Nash had dismissed it as a waste of time and hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other how his youngest son fared with the venture.
“If you two gentlemen will excuse me, I think I’d like to try my luck at the slot machines,” Sasha said, picking up her purse.
Blake knew she was leaving in order to give them the privacy to work through their differences. But he didn’t hold out much hope of that ever happening. His entire life, he’d tried to measure up to his father’s expectations and all he’d received for his efforts was to be compared with his older brothers, Case and Creed. In his father’s eyes, Blake always came up lacking.
When Sasha rose to her feet to make her exit, both he and his father stood up. “It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Fortune,” she said as she politely shook Nash’s hand.
“It was my pleasure, Sasha.”
“I’ll see you a bit later, Blake.” She placed her hand on his arm and gave him an understanding smile. “After you and your father catch up.”
“I’ll find you,” he promised.
As she walked away, he and his father both watched her leave.
“She’s a very lovely girl and a delight to be around,” Nash said, sitting back down. “She’s highly intelligent, too.”
“Yes,