Page 37 of Charlotte's Reckoning
When she twisted to scramble off the bed, his arm came around her waist, stopping her. The next thing she knew, she was on her back with himontop ofher. He spread her legs with his knees, pinning her in place.
“You like my big dick,”he asserted in a husky voice, a twinkle of deviltry in his eyes.
Charlotte was in no mood for teasing. “Don’t flatter yourself,”she shot back. “You pay me to like it.”
“That may be, but you get off on it.”He rolled his hips and rubbed the length of his cock along the seam of her pussy. “Don’t lie and say you don’t. I’m not such a rube I can’t tell when a woman finds her pleasure.”
“Is there a point to this?”she asked, neither agreeing nor disputing his claim.
He chuckled. “You’re a brazen wench. I’ll give you the 40 percent, but I’m adding another condition.”
“And what is that, exactly?”
“I want to keep what we have—”
“You want Thursday nights?”
“No—”
“I’m not following.”
“Since we’ll live under the same roof, I want every night.”
“Fenton—”
A low growl of frustration rumbled out of him. “Good god, woman! Can I finish a sentence?”
“Sorry,”she said softly, lightly rubbing his chest to placate the beast. “Go on.”
“If, after a year, you’ve kept up your end of the deal with no headaches for me, and we’re making money, then I’ll make you a partner.”
Eyeing him as suspiciously as he had done her, she asked, “An equal partner?”
“I’ll give you a 30 percent cut of the take. If we do well, you profit. If we fail, you suffer along with me.”
“But you offered 40 a minute ago!”she protested.
His head dropped forward this time, but his growl, one of obvious impatience, was the same. “I’m talkinga percentage ofeverything.”
“The ladies andthe bar?”she stated to be certain what she was agreeing to.
“Everything would includethe ladies andthe bar, wouldn’t it? Although, if you become a partner, there won’t be a minimum. We share the risk. If I don’t eat, neither do you.”
Shebit herlip. It wasn’t all she hoped for, but if she worked hard, in a year, she would own something of value. “One other thing.”
His head came up, and he glared down at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re pushing it, Charlotte.”
She was. And he was passing the point of impatience headlong on his way to annoyed. At least he got her name right.
“This won’t cost you anything. I promise. It’s just… I’ve had the rug pulled out from under me so many times and lost everything. I want the option to buy you out if you decide to move on. And I inherit it all if something happens to you.”
“Like if I get sick?”he asked.
“Like if you get dead,”she bluntly clarified. “You’ve mentioned it’s a rough place in the untamed frontier several times. Anything could happen.”
An instant later, he declared, “If I’m six feet under, why the fuck would I care?”
“Exactly. Do we have a deal?”
