Page 26 of The Sweetest Devotion

Cain peered at me. He lifted his hand, releasing his worker. “Beans? Don’t interrupt my meal again.”

Beans took a look at me and nodded before returning to his own table.

Cain’s gaze was cast on me. “I’m sorry about that. I won’t make it a habit to discuss business during dinner or when we’re together.”

“W-What do you do?” I stammered to ask.

Cain almost grinned it seemed. “I run a casino, Kennedy.”

I wasn’t that naïve. “And…?”

“And that’s all I’m going to say on that,” Cain said as he gathered his wine and took a sip.

He wasn’t just a casino owner. I should’ve left well enough alone, but if I was stuck with him, I wasn’t going to be kept in the dark. “Do you really have to be so…”

“So what?” he demanded to know curiously.

“Ruthless?” I asked. “Are you really going to kill…” I couldn’t say what he’d alluded to.

A corner of Cain’s mouth quirked up. “It’s elementary to believe kindness makes the world go ’round.”

“And it’s pessimistic to believe it won’t help it,” I shot back.

That smile twitched again. “Next question.”

It was clear he wasn’t about to discuss his secular business ventures with me. And just then I didn’t want to pry any further. Didn’t want to get soot under my nails just talking about it. “Why do they call youDice?”

Cain didn’t mind answering this. He leaned over on his hip and dug into his pocket and soon pulled out a set of clear red rolling dice. He set them on the table in front of me. “Wanna give ’em a roll?”

I declined to touch them. “No.”

Cain shrugged and put them away. “I’m a gambling man. It’s in my blood. The name comes with the territory.”

“Were you close with your father?” I dared to ask.

Cain shook away the slight gentleness his face once held. “My father and I met for a very short time.”

“Long enough for him to make you heir.”

He thudded his finger onto the tabletop. “I deserved it.”

Touchy. James Carter was a sore subject. “Will I be meeting your mother, then?”

Cain eased back in his chair. “My mother is deceased.”

“Any other family?”

Cain looked over at Beans and the other associate before returning to me. “I don’t have any.”

The air was thick and uncomfortable. I didn’t feel safe. All my suspicions had been confirmed and he sat before me so nonchalant. I couldn’t focus, let alone eat. Not even ten minutes later when our food arrived.

The halibut looked so good and delicious, as did the asparagus and potato it came with.

“Why didn’t you marry that football player?” Cain wanted to know as he cut into his foie gras. He noticed my watching and frowned just a little. “I won’t order this again in front of you.”

How nice. A murderer had a conscience for his dates. “I was twenty-two and overwhelmed. It was my first ever real relationship. Guy’s a sweetheart, but I wasn’t ready to be so wrapped up then.”

Gaius was young too, and I guessed I feared he’d somehow get caught up in the fame of being a new and highly admired NFL player. That he’d get bored with me. I loved him, I did, but when things got too heavy, I ran.

---