Page 9 of Devil's Den

At first, Beth had to consider if she was daydreaming. Had Rome been in this room? The tingle of her lips told her he had.

What was happening to her?

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Rome never ran from problems. He was always there, dealing with everything. He was strong, powerful, and everyone knew not to fuck with him. He showed no mercy to anyone, and it was how he’d risen to the top.

He got rid of anyone who was weak. In the cutthroat underbelly of the world, the underdog never won. Ruthless killers ruled.

He was the one who ruled the city. No one else.

He’d forced out Mafia, Bratva, MC, and small city crooks. No one did a bad deed in this town without his permission. Everyone had a price to pay to do business here.

There was no way he was going to be brought down by a twenty-three-year-old ex-virgin.

He looked at the security footage of the previous night. Rome didn’t like how he left her, spread across the table, open and vulnerable. Beth looked so … lost. She got up from the table, and for several minutes she just stood there, not really doing anything. Then, she started to clean the mess he’d made. She was meticulous as well.

He’d already gone to check the dining room. She didn’t go snooping around. She found the cleaning closet, grabbed what she needed, got to work, and then cleaned up the dishes before heading upstairs.

Rome had cameras in his bedroom as well.

He watched as she went into the en-suite bathroom and took a long shower. She put on an oversized, ugly looking shirt, and finally climbed into bed. She didn’t go to sleep right away. No, she tossed and turned before climbing out of bed, and then going to clean the closet. He didn’t understand this woman’s need to clean. He paid people to come and clean his stuff. She didn’t need to worry about any of it and yet, there she was, cleaning everything.

He turned off the recording and brought up the present footage. Beth had left the bedroom and was making her way downstairs. She wore a pair of jeans and another oversized sweater, and it looked awful. He didn’t like the clothes she wore. They didn’t suit her body and while she stayed with him, she was going to dress differently.

Before leaving his security room, he made a call to a local fashion boutique that knew what he liked, and arranged for a delivery to him by the end of the day.

With everything else in order, he left the room and made his way toward the kitchen. The kitchen staff had come to a stop as he entered the room, and were looking at Beth as if she was some kind of alien.

“Philippe, the usual,” he said, taking Beth’s hand and leading her into the dining room.

“Did I do something wrong?” Beth asked.

“You entered the kitchen. That is Philippe’s domain, and you don’t go in there unless you are ready to be gutted like a fish.” He turned to see her nose wrinkling.

“That’s gross.”

He found his interaction with Beth interesting.

Moving to the table, he pulled out the chair and waited for her to sit down. He watched her tense up as she sat down. Had he hurt her that bad? He’d never been with a virgin before. Virgins were not on his list of requirements. He preferred a woman who knew what she was doing. He assumed Beth was one of those women.

Ignoring her soreness, he took a seat and stared at her. She kept looking up at him and then glancing away.

“You know, you’re kind of making me nervous,” she said.

He smiled. “Why am I making you nervous?”

“And that is not helping. You don’t smile a lot, do you?”

“And you don’t spend a lot of time with me, do you?” he asked.

“I don’t even know if you answered my question but seeing as I’m nice, I will answer yours, and no, I don’t spend a lot of time with anyone. I have a job to do, and I like to be efficient. Being around people just slows the process down.”

“So, you like your job?”

She thought about it for a few seconds. “Yeah, I do. I like cleaning.”

“Why?”

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