Bringing her hand up, he placed a tender kiss on her knuckles.What drew him to her?Why did he want to wrap her up in cotton and guard her against all the scum in the world?Even if that scum included himself.
“If you don’t mind, you can drop me off at my residence.Or by the bus route if you don’t want to do that.”
“You arenottaking a bus.”
“The bus is safe,” she argued.
“Did you forget about the man who dragged you into the alley?”
“Like I said, that was a coworker.”
“An ex-coworker.”
“I’m not telling you not to kill him but only do it if you can’t be caught.”
He blinked, shocked this woman managed to surprise him once again.“You’re worried about me, and not the fact that I might murder someone?”
She didn’t say anything at first.Simply lost focus as she disengaged from the world around them.A myriad of thoughts flashed through her big doe-like eyes.“There’s a lot of bad things in this world.A lot of bad people.Maybe you’re one of them.But what I saw happen and what I almost went through tonight, that’s evil.”
For the first time in his life, a woman left him speechless.
“You protected me and that’s what I know.So, maybe sometimes bad has to defeat evil.”
He was used to seeing fear.Used to anger, contempt, suspicion.But the trust he saw on her face sucker-punched him, and he had no idea how to process that.His soldiers were loyal because they feared him and because he paid them well.For some he’d given them a brotherhood to rely on.Maybe they admired him.Maybe others liked the violence.He had earned their respect, and in his business, that was gold.Cora Charles was none of that, and he suddenly realized her faith in him could be an addictive drug.
“Where did you come from?”he mused, then shook his head to clear the thoughts in his head.Of all the things he’d done and all the situations he’d been through, she was the most dangerous person he’d ever seen.
“Like I said, I have my personal doctor coming to check you over.”When she opened her mouth to argue, he placed a finger on her lips.“No arguing.After, I’ll have my driver take you home.Deal?”
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
He shook his head.
“Then, deal.”
Chapter Six
