Page 28 of Protecting His Woman
He chuckled.“Don’t go getting your hopes up.”He couldn’t resist as he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in close to kiss her.“But for you, it seems there is a lot I didn’t think I was going to do.”
Letting her go was hard.Kissing her and stopping was getting harder.He was a master of control, and he was never going to push her until she was ready.
“So, this is going to make or break our relationship,” Damion said.
“Okay, what is it?”
“Do you need your basil chopped up into tiny bits, or do you like nice, big pieces?”he asked.
“Big pieces.How did I do?”
“Great answer.”
She laughed.
He added in lots of basil, gave it a stir, tasted it, and then offered her some.“What do you think?”
She tried some of his sauce, and he watched her, not being able to read her face.“That’s great.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, it has actually made my mouth water.That is so good!”She let out a yummy sound.
He put the pasta in, then urged her to the dining table.She didn’t drink wine, so he poured her some chilled water, as well as some for himself, and after ten minutes, the pasta was perfect.He quickly assembled their plates, cleaning off any dribbles of sauce, and placed a plate in front of her, taking a seat at the head of the table, which was to the side of her.He didn’t want her sitting far away from him.
Damion watched her enjoying her meal, and as they ate, they didn’t speak.There was no reason to.
After she finished her meal, they talked about Betsy, how she was doing in school.It was the strangest date he had ever been on.It wasn’t long before he asked if she would like a tour of his home, and he walked her from room to room, stopping at his office before he turned to look upstairs.
“Do you like being ...the one in control?”Vicki asked.“The one all the families turn to, or does it scare you?”
“It doesn’t scare me, and yes, being in charge beats the opposite.”
“What’s the opposite?”
“Do you know who was in charge before me?”he asked, knowing he had told her some, but not all, about the start of him taking control of Old County.
Vicki shook her head.
“Let’s say it was a man who liked non-consenting underage girls,” Damion said.Her mouth dropped open, and he reached out, sliding a finger beneath her chin.“Do you want to see upstairs?”
“Yes.”
He took the lead and knew she followed.
“So, I didn’t like him.I didn’t like what he stood for, and I took care of it.”
“You killed him?”
“That is all you can do.No one else had done it, and I couldn’t stand for him to get away with shit.I know Old County is a fucked-up place, and that is not going to change.Too many people are afraid of it, but they also want it as well.Drugs, guns, bad shit, it all sells.People want to pretend it doesn’t, but it does.”He shrugged.“Old County is known, but a lot of people have turned their backs on us.I refused to.So, I knew the only way to make this work was to do something about it.”
“You were a civilian?”
“Yes,” he said.“I was not part of any family.”
“What about your parents?”
Damion’s nostrils flared.“They were killed.”
