Page 130 of The Rules
“This only works with both of us,” he added. “But if you bolt? I won’t come after you. I’ll just let him rot.”
He held her in place with nothing but silence, then added, voice low and lethal:
“If you miss a call or show up late, you owe me. And I decide how that debt gets paid.”
The vagueness of the threat sent a chill down her spine.
No limits. No specifics. Just consequence. And the tension of not knowing.
She exhaled shakily, trying to hold the line, even as her pulse thundered in her chest. This wasn’t just control.
This was punishment.
A way to remind her, every damn day, what her choices had cost her.
“And stop looking at me like that,” he said, voice rough—scraping low in his throat, like it cost him something to speak.
Katherine blinked, caught off guard. “Like what?”
His gaze dropped—to her mouth, then lower. Slow. Precise. Devastating.
When their eyes met again, the heat there stole the breath from her lungs.
“Like you’re still thinking about my hands on you. Like you want me to pin you down right here and remind you exactly how well I know you.”
Her pulse kicked. Hard.
“And the worst part?” he added, leaning in just enough to pull the air from the room, “You’re not even hiding it.”
Heat rushed beneath her skin. She opened her mouth—to deflect, to deny, to speak—but nothing came.
Because he was right.
And they both knew it.
“One more thing,” Ben said, his voice cold. “You’re not mine.”
A beat. Tight. Measured.
“But no one else touches you.”
Katherine’s spine went rigid. A chill ran through her despite the heat between them.
Ben’s gaze locked hers, voice turning lethal and low.
“Go ahead. Let someone else touch you. Let them fuck you.”
He smiled—slow, merciless.
“I’ll ruin them.”
It wasn’t bravado.
It was certainty. And she felt it in every nerve ending.
In her chest. Her throat. Between her legs.
Katherine stared at him, breath caught, pulse jagged beneath her skin. Every condition he’d laid out still echoed inside her—no lies, no secrets, no one else. His voice wrapped around her like silk pulled tight at the throat.
