Page 15 of Glorious Sinner

“Yeah,” he said.

“All of it,” I said again.

His lips curled up on one side. “I want you to have everything you need while you’re here,” he said, those dark eyes not straying from me.

“How long am I staying?” I asked.

He shrugged. “You’re your own woman, Stephanie. That’s entirely up to you. You can stay here as long as you need. I’d really like to ensure your safety before you leave, though.”

I realized I’d just tried to hand him power, control over me. Why the hell had I done that? What was wrong with me that I expected, and worse, was ready to except whatever Tomas said to me? God, when I took a metaphorical backward step, it was giant sized.

“How do you plan on ensuring my safety?” I said, unable to hold his direct stare.

“I have people looking for him now.”

The way Tomas said him, refusing to say Ryan’s name, all fierce, with a whole lot of banked fury, had my breath catching in my throat. I liked it way too much. “And what will you do when you find him?”

He pushed away from the desk and took several steps toward me until he was two feet from me. “That is up to you.”

I jolted. “Me?”

He nodded.

My breathing grew unsteady. “What if I wanted you to break both his legs?” I had no idea why I asked that, but I wanted to know what Tomas was capable of. I’d heard the stories, things that should have had me running from not to him. I didn’t know what that said about me, but those stories didn’t scare me. They made me feel even safer with him.

He grinned, and it was dark and sexy and terrifying. “I’d break his fucking legs and I’d enjoy every one of his screams.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, fighting my instincts to step back.

“I’m not a nice man, Stephanie, or a good man. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, bad things. But I have never, and would never, hurt a woman. Ever.” He took another step closer.

I held my ground, stuck in place.

He lifted his hand slowly, like I was a frightened rabbit, and cupped my cheek. I dragged in another breath at the rough warmth of his skin against mine. “You have nothing to fear from me. I will never hurt you, not in any way.”

I nodded, caught in the depths of his dark eyes. I knew it deep in my bones. I’d always known it. “I feel safe here with you,” I said, giving away more than I had to anyone for longer than I could remember.

His hand slid around to the back of my neck, his fingers sliding into my hair, his thumb gliding over my jaw, making me shiver. “That’s good, Angel. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that.”

He stared down at me in a way that had me swaying slightly toward him. His fingers flexed lightly, then he let me go and stepped back.

I quickly straightened. “I, ah…I have work in a couple of hours. Do you have a key or something I can use to get back in? I’m working a double. I’d hate to wake Arthur again.”

He crossed his arms, his biceps straining his shirt sleeves. “Do you really think you should work?”

“My rent won’t pay itself.” I crossed my arms as well. “If Raul knows what’s up, has the bouncers keep an eye out, and one of the guys walks me to a cab after work, I’ll be fine,” I said, waiting, positive Tomas would put up a fight.

His head tilted to the side, and he studied me. “The cash I found stashed in your drawer at your apartment, it’s the money I gave you, isn’t it?” he said instead.

I nodded, curling my fingers into a fist, letting my nails dig in. “I planned on giving it back to you.”

“Why?” he asked.

I chewed on my lip. I didn’t want to tell him the real reason: that I stopped needing it a long time ago, that I let him think I did so he’d keep coming back. Instead, I said, “Because I owe you, not the other way around.” Which was also the truth.

He continued to stare at me like he was waiting for more. I squirmed under that stare. “So, um…do you have a key?”

“You won’t need one,” he said.