Page 54 of Good Girls Beg

"I've never walked away from a challenge," he said. "Especially one as beautiful as you."

He pushed himself up off his desk and walked over to me, taking each step slowly and carefully as though he thought I'd run away if he moved too fast. Raising his hand, he brushed the side of my cheek.

"I'm not beautiful," I said in a whisper.

I should turn and walk out the door now because his touch was threatening to set my body on fire. After what Fade did last night, I wasn't sure if I could trust them, or myself.

I wasn't okay with that. If I couldn't trust myself, it could be a problem. And if I couldn't trust the men I was living with for the next few months?

"I'm not letting you go," he said softly. "You're beautiful and you're mine. I've said before I'm a patient man and I am, but I won't let you walk out of my life. Not now that you're in it."

"Do I have any say in this?" I asked, trying to ignore the way my heart raced.

This wasn't about fucking them or not fucking them. This was about the possibility of catching feelings. I had absolutely no intention of letting that happen. We had a year. After that, I walked away. No looking back. No thinking about them. Nothing.

I’d go back to living my life and they'd go back to living theirs. Fade could find someone else to antagonize. Oak could try to inflict his health and fitness regime on another woman.

Hel could… I don't know. Save some other woman's fathers’ businesses.

"Some," he said simply. "You can choose to accept it now or later."

What sort of choice was that?

"What if I choose not to accept it?” I asked.

He blinked slowly. "You will." He seemed certain. Of course he was. He didn’t become the CEO of a big security company without being confident, but he was almost as cocky as Fade.

"But what if I don't?" I insisted. "You're not going to renege on the contract are you?" If he decided not to give over the rest of the money… My fathers and I would have to work out something, but I didn't want to waste a year of my life for nothing.

Hel drew his hand back and stared at me. "Have I given you any reason to believe I'm not a man of my word?"

I gave the question some serious consideration before I responded.

"No," I said finally. “No, you haven’t, but that doesn't mean you are."

"I never make promises I can't keep," he said. "So I make this promise to you right now. No matter what happens over the next few months, I will fulfill my end of the contract. You will get your money. Understand?"

His voice was deep, gravely. As intense as his eyes. Leaving no room for argument.

Did he speak to his employees that way? If he did, they probably bent over backwards to do whatever he asked them to do. How could anyone say no to him?

I was a little bit turned on. Okay, I was turned on as fuck, but I’d only admit to a little bit. It was safer that way.

Fade had a big ego, but so did Hel. I could see that now. More clearly than before. He absolutely expected to get his way in everything. Did people try to tell him no?

If I had any sense at all, I'd be turned off. I'd turn and walk out that door right now, and never look back.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t turned off, nor did I run. Apparently, I was a masochist deep down. Who knew?

"Yeah, I get it," I said. "You intend to follow through."

"I will follow through," he said. “If I don't, you can sue me. No lawyer in the country could lose with the contract we signed. Not unless you breach it first."

"Which I'm not going to do," I said.

Even if I had to put up with Fade Mitchell and his stupid games, I'd see this thing through to the end. Even if there wasn't a crap ton of money at stake, there was pride. Teddie Ward wasn't a quitter and never had been. For that alone, I'd stay. The desire to get Fade back for what he did? That was an added bonus.

"Of course you're not," Hel said.