Page 14 of King of Sinners

I shake my head, trying to wrap my head around all this. “Are we still worried about those men who I watched commit a murder?”

“Yes.”

“So we’re going out shopping?”

He doesn’t look amused. And he’s probably right. One of the major crime bosses of Las Vegas probably has a better handle than little old me on what’s safe and not safe.

I’m sure very few women question him and it’s not in my nature to do so but…I’d really like to live a little longer.

“First of all, we’re going to the boutique when it’s actually closed, so it’s not really public. And second, if we’re getting technical, you are staying here while I figure out if you are or are not in danger.”

My eyes widen. There is a chance that I might get out of this? Memories from last night filter through my thoughts as I remember him telling me something similar. Somehow, that hadn’t quite computed last night. Fear, exhaustion, and whisky had made my mind dull. “You told me two years ago, if there was any more trouble, that would be the end of me…”

Did Mason Kincaid just wince? “You’ve proven you can keep a secret,” he finally answers. “And believe it or not, I’m not actually in the habit of going around killing innocent women.”

I wilt into the chair. Mason Kincaid is going to protect me. Sort of. “And what happens if they do know who I am?”

“We’ll worry about that only if necessary.”

I look out the windows at the Vegas skyline. Nothing in this town is free. In fact, it probably costs more here than anywhere else. “And the price for this protection?”

He doesn’t answer.

Slowly, I turn back to him, his eyes burning into me. Yeah. I know what he wants. And I’m pretty sure I’m game.

The thing is…I know the dangers. But I’m a twenty-two-year-old virgin because most men don’t tempt me.

This one does. I blush, dropping my gaze.

“Half an hour. We’ll talk in the car.”

With a nod, I get up from the table, automatically picking up my plate, but Mason’s hand reaches out to stop me, circling my wrist.

Electric shocks course down my arm at the touch as my chin snaps up, our gazes locking again. “I’ll clean up,” he murmurs, his gaze holding mine.

I give some sort of distracted nod as I finally tear my gaze away, my eyes dropping to where his large hand dwarfs my arm. I’ve always had tiny wrists and ankles, but he makes them look miniature as he flips my arm over, his thumb stroking over my fluttering pulse. Slowly, he raises my wrist to his mouth and then he lays the lightest kiss right on the vein.

Now it’s my breath that’s fluttering, my mouth dry as I lick at my lips.

That’s his cue to pull me closer. “Charlotte.”

“Yes?”

“I know we have history.”

I shake my head. “Not really. Meeting twice two years ago…”

“I don’t go around threatening many women either.”

Mason wasn’t a liar. He was too alpha to need to use tricks. But I was calling bullshit on that one. “Every part of you is threatening.”

He smiles again but this grin isn’t amused, it’s wolfish. “Possibly.”

He is slowly drawing me closer, enough that I have to take a step toward him. His hand slides to my waist as he leans down close to my ear. “For as long as you are under my protection, every need of yours will be met. Understood?”

A girl could get carried away with an offer like that. I nod as he closes the final distance between us, my belly settling against the hard press of his erection.

Yeah. I’m not imagining what conversation we’re having. “All right,” I whisper, my head turned to the side, my eyes closed.

---