“Why?” He didn’t mean for his voice to be stern.
“I’m sorry. I … missed you. I didn’t know if this was something you did all the time.”
“I do it when it’s required. I’ll let you know the next time.” He had to get used to her innocence. Other women, those sent in an attempt to destroy the club, would use any information they had to destroy them. “For now, I want you to get used to hanging around the club. If you stay in my room for longer than an hour during the day, I’m going to come up and spank your ass.”
She gasped. “You’d spank me like I was a child?”
“Oh, you’d love that kind of pain, until I made it unbearable.”
“You really want me to hang around with your friends?”
“They’re my club. I’m not giving you a free pass to leave the walls. You’re safe in the compound. I know the men will have your back and protect you.”
“I’ll try.”
“No, you’ll succeed. I don’t like failures, Beth. This is your home now. I’m not giving you back, so any fantasy you had playing in your head, you need to get rid of. I’m not letting you go.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
He smiled at her. She didn’t attempt to argue, which pleased him. “I’m also going to stop you from being so submissive. When you don’t like something, you need to tell me.”
“But won’t that annoy you. Make you angry?” She nibbled on her lip. “I don’t like pain.”
He gritted his teeth. “When you disobeyed your father, he hit you?”
She didn’t answer right away. She went pale.
“Beth!” He growled her name out, needing an answer or he was going to do all kinds of damage.
“He would hit me with his belt or slap me. I don’t like pain.” She looked down at the ground and for now, he was pleased because he didn’t imagine for a second she would like the look in his eyes. Forge had been told many times that he had an empty stare of death when he got into a murderous rage.
Peterson’s last days were coming and the next hit he gave would be from his belt. He’d show that fucker.
“Then I guess it’s time you learned how to also hit back.”
She looked up then, her confusion replacing the obvious shame.
“Hit back?”
“Yep. You’re going to learn how to smack a man down, kick him in the balls, and what to do if a man attacks. I’ll even give you a couple of rounds on the gun.”
“Can I do that?”
“Babe, you’re with me. You can do whatever the hell you want.” He winked at her. He was going to have so much fun with this woman. She was going to thrive with him in her life, and he’d be damned if any man pushed this woman down again. He would make her his queen, where all women admired her and wouldn’t dare try to hurt her.
Tilting her head back, he slammed his lips down on hers, not caring if his men saw. They knew the consequences if something were to happen to her, and he wasn’t going to allow them to doubt her place in his life.
Tomorrow, he was going to start to repair the damage her father had caused. He’d build her up, change her entire world.
Breaking from the kiss, she looked breathless and the smile on her lips was heaven. “I like it when you kiss me.”
He did it again and this time, she gasped, moaning, and he used the moment to slide his tongue into her mouth. She whimpered his name, and he felt completely consumed by his need for her. She really was everything and he couldn’t get enough of her.
He didn’t take her up to his bed straightaway. Staying around his men, he drank a couple of beers, kept Beth at his side throughout it all. When she started to get a little heavy, he realized she was falling asleep.
He sent her upstairs and she went after a kiss to his lips. Watching her go, he saw men and women part for her. Did she even realize yet that she was their world now? There was no getting out of it. She belonged to all of them, and she looked so damn pretty. Her beauty shone brighter than anyone else here.
Drinking his beer, he finished the can and crushed it in his fist. He got to his feet as Romy made her way out of the clubhouse. She was smiling until he caught sight of her.