“Yeah, no,” she said, turning her head to look at him. He was grinning as if he’d known that she would never relinquish the power she claimed since New Year’s.
“Do you know many people have openly disagreed with me?” Beckham asked casually.
“And lived?”
He arched an eyebrow, which only made her giggle.
“I’m going to guess not many.”
“Before Visage, when we became more civilized very, very few.”
He’d stumbled over the wordcivilizedas if it didn’t quite fit them. Beckham had been one of the most dangerous vampires. For his cleverness and sheer brutality.
“Well, you’re not going to hurt me,” she sassed him.
That rare unabashed laugh burst out of him. “Watch it, Little One.”
“Or what?” she teased. She flipped over, shooting him a sultry look.
“Or I’ll have to tie you to this bed until you remember who is in charge here,” he said with a dangerous glint in his eye.
Unfortunately, it only turned her on more.
“I think you like that I took charge,” she told him defiantly. “I think you like that I’m as strong as you. I’m not a porcelain doll.”
He dragged his tongue along his teeth. Then he moved so fast she could barely register it before he pressed her backward in the bed. “I am not emasculated by your leadership,” he told her. “But you are still fragile, and I will always protect you with everything that I am.”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with me saving the world, then that kind of turns me on.”
His black eyes danced. “Kind of?”
A knock sounded on the door. Beckham groaned and leaned his head into the crook of her neck.
“What?” he snapped.
“Got a lead, boss,” Katarina’s musical voice rang from the other side of the door.
“Noted.”
They dressed hastily, and he opened the door for Reyna.
“So this inner circle business. We can trust them?” she asked.
“With my life.”
“I didn’t know Gerard and Philippé were that important when you had them acting as my driver and bodyguard.”
“I only sent the best with you. They understood your significance. Plus, it was an easy way to have them close at all times.”
“And Gerard only became your second after Bronwyn?” Reyna asked.
It was Beckham’s turn to freeze. He clenched his fists. “I wouldn’t mention that name in present company.”
Reyna frowned. She had the unfortunate experience of meeting his sister, Bronwyn, who she had known as B, when she had been a prisoner in Visage. His sister had been Beckham’s second-in-command and supposedly she had been killed. Butreally, Harrington had kidnapped her in an effort to get Beckham to work for him.
Beckham continued forward without answering her question. She decided not to press it. He’d only found out that Bronwyn was alive a week ago. The wound had to be too fresh to touch.
Together they marched into the sitting area, where his inner circle sprawled.
