Page 215 of Hell Hath No Fury
“You’ll have your own room and bath. A key to lock the door.” I look up into her beautiful eyes that could haunt my soul if I let them. “I won’t bother you… unless you want me to.”
A glimmer in her eyes makes it so damn hard to keep the predator in me at bay.
“What’s the catch?” she asks after a while.
I cut off another piece of my steak. “There is none.”
“But you must gain something from doing this, right?”
She doesn’t trust me, and I understand that. We barely know each other.
But she’ll become acquainted with me soon enough.
“The opportunity to help someone in need is enough for me,” I reply.
She takes another bite of her food. “So you’re like … pretending to be a Robin Hood or something.” She snorts at her own comment.
But I don’t find it funny. “Yes.”
She looks up and swallows with trouble. “You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
She frowns. “So you’ve got all this money and want to spend it on me?”
“Yes.”
I don’t know how many more yeses she needs from me to understand my goal.
“Wow.” She cuts into her steak and takes another bite.
“Is it that strange for a rich man to want to share his wealth?”
She makes a face. “Well, you’re the first rich man I’ve met who’s attempted it.”
“Then you’ve only met bastards,” I reply.
She puts her fork and knife down and pushes herself away from the table. “So do you do this often? Randomly help people in need?”
“Only when I find those worthy of giving it to,” I respond.
She sure has many questions for a girl plucked from the streets. But I understand. In her precarious position, she must be careful.
It is the exact reason I wanted her off those streets, to begin with.
“So will you accept?” I ask.
She looks up at me for a moment, her cheeks slowly turning red, which she hides behind a veil of hair. “I don’t know, I mean my mom, she—”
“Was the reason you were in that alley. No?” I interrupt before she can start making excuses. “She doesn’t need you. If your fight was that bad, you deserve a safe space to stay. For now.”
She narrows her eyes at me like she can’t believe I’m offering this. Like it’s some kind of trap. She refuses to touch her food, despite enjoying the taste. I guess it’s a bit too much to take in all at once.
I place my card on the table and signal the server. “I’d like to pay.”
“Of course, sir.” The server takes my card and quickly swipes it before bringing it back. “Thank you, sir.”
I put back my wallet while the girl still looks at me like she can’t decide what to do, so I get up and say, “Think about it. Once you’ve decided, I’ll be outside waiting for your answer.”
