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Ouch.At least he’d been honest.
“But then I fucked you, and I changed my mind.”
I blinked. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Why?”
He curled a chunk of my hair around his fist. “I protect what’s mine. I don’t betray or disrespect it.”
“And if I hadn’t agreed to an arrangement so quickly?”
“I would have pushed until you did, but I wouldn’t have tried wrenching information out of you in the meantime.” Using his grip on my hair, he tugged me closer and grazed my lower lip with his teeth. “I’d decided you’d be mine. Fortunately, you did agree to the arrangement.”
I licked at my smarting lip. “You didn’t suspect it might have been that I would try pumping you for anything my family could use against you?”
“Sure I did. But it became clear very fast that you had no such intention. It didn’t surprise me. From what I’d gathered, you had a piss-poor relationship with your father.”
“I don’t think he has a healthy relationship with anyone—not even my brother.” I paused. “If one or both of them are behind what went down tonight, I want nothing to do with them ever again.”
He softly snorted. “Like I’d let them near you if I thought they were a danger to you.”
I almost shook my head in wonder. If I’d ever sensed that he had such a deep protective streak, I wouldn’t have expected to find it trained on me like this. It was both comforting and heady. “So what happens now regarding the Cory situation?”
“It’s already been done. I called Julian, as you know. He swore he’d find out who sent Cory after you. Like I said before, I’m not sure I believe that your brother had nothing to do with it. But I let him think that I was open to the idea.”
“Why?”
“So he and Jorge won’t expect me to come for them. I like to surprise my prey.” Letting my hair slip from his hand, he skimmed his nose along the underside of my jaw. “I also madeit clear that whoever was responsible would pay, just as Cory paid.”
“Do I want to know what you did to Cory?”
“No.” Danton lifted his head and took my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Trust that I’ll deal with the situation. And don’t go see your family until we can be positive they’re innocent in this. You can’t give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“I won’t.” They’d done nothing to make me feel that I could.
“Duke will stay on you. He’s pissed at himself for not reaching you sooner tonight, but that was my fault. I’d asked him to keep a distance so you wouldn’t notice him.” Danton released my chin. “That won’t be necessary anymore so, from now on, there won’t be a distance.”
I hitched up a brow. “There won’t?”
“No. You’ll get used to it.” He gave me a pointed look. “I warned you that it would be better for you if we stuck to a simple arrangement. You wanted more. Well, you got what you wanted.”
I did? Every cell in my body immediately brightened.
“But you’ve got to accept two things, Cat. One, you now have to deal with the gilded cage I told you about. That isn’t going to be easy for you.”
Maybe not, but I wasn’t stupid; I knew our world was dangerous. I knew his protective measures wouldn’t be toxic efforts to oppress and control me. That would make all the difference.
“Two, I might not do shit like sell drugs or dabble in human trafficking, but I am no saint. I won’t change, Cat. I need you to take me as I am.”
I understood what he was saying. He wasn’t going to turn his back on all he’d built, even if a lot of what he’d built was illegal. I might not condone that, but I could deal with it because—as he’d pointed out—he didn’t dabble in the shit that was a huge no-no for me.
Plus, it wasn’t simple to walk away from a world like that. None of your old ‘acquaintances’ would trust that you’d keep your mouth shut about all you knew. It placed you in danger, and I didn’t want that for him.
Besides, I’d gone into this thing with Danton with my eyes wide open—to who he was, to what he did. There’d be no sense, use, or fairness in whining about any of it now. “Haven’t I always taken you as you are?”
His face softened. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you have. Now come here.” He snagged my nape, pulled me closer, and slanted his mouth over mine.
