Page 28 of Devil's Den

“Stay?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“How?”

This time, he laughed. “Well, you could stay because you want to, or because your brother is still causing trouble. You could give yourself multiple reasons to stay, or one if you want to leave.”

“What’s the one if I want to leave?” she asked.

“Because you’ve done your time and you don’t need to keep paying for your brother’s sins. It’s time for Ben to take responsibility for his own actions.”

Rome wasn’t expecting her hysterical giggle as she threw her head back and laughed.

“I’m so sorry. I know this is not something to laugh at, and I really, really shouldn’t find this funny, but thinking of Ben taking responsibility just seems so … entertaining.” She pressed her lips together.

Rome stared into her eyes, and he knew this woman was dangerous. He should let her go, put some distance between them, and not have anything to do with her. She had the ability to undo him.

The last three weeks had been the best of his life, and considering he was forty years old, with wealth and power at his fingertips, that was saying something. None of that had given him any real pleasure, compared to what he experienced with Beth.

Part of him didn’t like it, and another did.

She didn’t expect presents from him.

He hadn’t had to give her diamonds or jewelry to see a smile. In fact, while they were watching a movie just last night, he playfully pressed the ice-cream-covered spoon against her nose, and that had sent her into a giggle.

Beth had given him so much, and it fucking terrified him. If he had any sense at all, he’d send her packing, but he couldn’t do it. Ben was still out there, and he knew in his gut the little bastard would find some way to get to her, to use her.

Rome had started to see that her brother hadn’t taken her away for good reasons, but instead for his own selfish ones. Beth worked hard, she wanted a good life, and Ben didn’t like working. He didn’t think he should work hard to get where heneeded to be. He hated men like Ben.

“I want to stay,” Beth said, and she surprised him by kissing his lips. “And I’ll stay for however long you will have me, but…”

“No buts.”

She pouted. “There always has to be abut, I don’t want to do nothing. I like my job and I want to get back to it.”

“Beth, you know who I am and you know what I am capable of. Do not try to fight me on this.”

“I’m not trying to fight you, but I’ve got to earn my keep, and don’t say anything like me having sex with you will earn my keep. In a week, my vacation is up, and I’ve got to go back to work.”

Rome didn’t like this, but he also didn’t know how long this was going to last. He stared at her for several long minutes. “You can return to work, but you have to take one of my men to guard you.”

“Rome, come on, please,” she said. “Let me do my job.”

“And let me handle everything else around you. You want your job, fine, but now that you belong to me, there are going to be people out there who want to hurt you.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Yeah, oh, and it is my job to make sure they don’t get that kind of power.”

Beth frowned and then smiled. “I belong to you?”

This time Rome pursed his own lips. “Stop.”

“I’m just saying, your words, not mine, but does that mean you belong to me?”

Rome didn’t answer her, instead, he pulled her in for a kiss, in the hope of silencing her. He was already falling down this slippery slope, and he didn’t see a way out.

Ben was balancing in dangerous territory, and there would come a point that he was going to have to take thedecision out of Beth’s hands.

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