Page 10 of Taking What Was His

He nodded. “Nice job. Stay out here, though. We’ll get the women to come get it. The girls are terrified of men right now.”

“I don’t blame them.”

One of the men caught the women officers’ attention, and two of them came out, grabbed everything, and took it back in. Most of the men in the hallway went back to work, but Roman stayed and listened to Beth.

He perked up when he heard the tone of her voice change. She was asking someone how old one of the girls was. His stomach knotted when one of the others said ten. He gritted his teeth when they went on to tell Beth that her father was the one who sold her and would again when they took her home.

Beth kept calm and made sure they all rested and ate.

He straightened when she came out of the room. He could tell she was upset, but she tried hard to hide it.

She held up a hand. “Can you just give me a minute?” she murmured and headed for the stairwell.

Roman waited a moment, then followed her. He stood in the stairwell and listened. He heard her trying to hold back her sobs and then found her stuck in a small room that looked like a custodial closet.

He walked in and stood, letting his eyes adjust to the dim light of the naked lightbulb in the ceiling.

She quickly wiped her eyes and straightened. “I’m coming back. I just needed a moment.”

He stepped up to her and grasped her shoulder. “You take all the time you need, honey. I’m here to help.”

She tried to take a step back, but the room was tiny, and she instantly bumped into a shelf. “I don’t need help.”

“I know, but I want to.”

They stood and stared at each other.

“She’s ten years old!” she spat out as her tears started again. She wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled in a deep breath. “Goddamn them.”

“I agree. I would like to get every one of them in a room and then blow it up.”

“I’d like to give the victim a chance at them first.”

He grinned. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She gasped and wiped the tears from her eyes. “What?” she huffed out. “Why would you say that?”

“Besides the fact I mean it? And also, to get your mind off the situation for a moment.”

She exhaled and looked down at her feet. “I’m good. We can go back.”

“Not quite yet.” He pulled her into his arms and held her gently against his chest.

She tried to push away from him. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you. I can’t see you sad and not want to comfort you.”

She tried to push off his chest again. “Why? For God’s sake, we don’t even know each other.”

“Hi, my name is Roman. What’s yours?”

She kept her head down but snorted. “Beth.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he murmured against the top of her head. She was tiny. The top of her head hit his collarbone. He’d never had a woman this small before, but he wouldn’t give up a chance with her because of their size difference.

“Um, you, too.”

Damn, she smelled good. It was making his mouth water.