Chapter 2

Josiah was enjoying gazing at the woman next to him on the couch. He wanted to be offended at the way she pressed herself away from him, but he understood. Few people, well good people, wanted to be in his close proximity. He was told that he had a very intimidating demeanor. To be fair, a man didn't get to where he was in the underworld by being nice. He was ruthless as they came and he was under no misconceptions that loyalty was the only reason he employed as many people as he did. Fear was a large reason for most of their obedience. In this world, once you reached a certain level, there was no backing out.

"I wanted to discuss the arrangement between you and your brother." He told her letting his fingers graze the bare skin of her shoulder.

"Okay, what would you like to discuss?" She asked him risking a glance over at him, only to find his eyes waiting for hers to meet them. Like a physical connection between them, she felt the abiity to look away from him leave her.

"Well, for starters, why are you the one paying his debts off? I don't seem to remember you being the one to borrow the money." Josiah asked her.

"Because I know my brother, he wouldn't be able to pay you back. He has a gambling addiction with very little luck on top of that. You don't strike me as the type to forgive a debt because the bet didn't go as planned." She responded with a shrug.

"No, I wouldn't typically forgive the debt. I lend money with the expectation of repayment." Josiah agreed.

"I also don't see why you should care that I'm repaying the debt in his stead. You're receiving your money, so I don't really understand why we're having a conversation about it." Ross didn't mean for the combative tone, but he was making her nervous which, for her, translated quite naturally into defensiveness.

"I take issue with an innocent party being drug into someone else's debts. But you're a grown woman and if you decided, very undeservingly for your brother, to help him out that is your decision. You obviously were at least fully informed, so I give him props for at least being honest about what he had done." Josiah said and she could clearly hear the disapproval in his tone when he spoke about her brother.

"Okay, so whats the deal then?" She asked giving him a confused look.

"Are you aware of the amount that he owes?" Josiah asked her.

"He said he took out around ten k. I've been able to get about a thousand a week back to the guy so there is only about four thousand left." She said with a shrug.

"Yes, but the thing is, since he was getting repaid regularly, the guy reupped his loan. Your brother borrowed another ten k two days ago. So now there is a total of 14k outstanding on the debt." Josiah said, watching her carefully for her reaction.

After a moment of stunned silence, Rossalyn exploded from her seat, pacing the floor in clear agitation. She wanted to actual physical harm to her brother but he wasn't any where near her at the moment. The only person in her immediate vicinity was the one person she'd be scared would retaliate.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" She finally whirled to face him, her tone furious. "I told the guy not to loan him any more money. That I would pay him back to keep my brother from trouble this time but he had a problem!"

"My guys are not responsible for helping people manage their addictions or irresponsible money decisions. He was getting regular payments and hell, you could have signed off on it like your brother said you did." Josiah said with a shrug, outwardly unbothered by her outburst.

"Yes because I just love stripping so much that I want to do it for basically free!" She fumed hands on her hips.

Josiah didn't respond, just watched the vision of her standing in front of him clad in nothing but an almost see through bra and thong with stockings and garter belt. She was standing before him with her hands on her hips, her breasts heaving from her agitated breaths. He quite forgot himself and just stared at her for a moment. She was a very beautiful woman, and he couldn't deny he liked seeing her angry. For a moment she just stared back at him, then seemed to remember herself and retreated across the room to try and compose herself. He let her have her space for the time being.

"What exactly am I supposed to do about this? It isn't like I can just let him be beaten to a pulp, no matter how badly he deserves it." She said with a clear effort to calm her tone down.

"Well, I could always beat him to a pulp, a few times. He does owe quite a lot of money." He told her, though his tone was playful.

She gave him an eyeroll, though made no response to his suggestion. It seemed to him she was still doing some deep breathing exercises to control her temper, and he knew the moment she got away from him, her brother was going to receive an earful from her.

"Let me preface this by telling you I know it sounds crazy and that I surely can't be serious. When those thoughts come into your mind, let me assure you I have thought about this very carefully and I am quite serious." He told her, adopting a serious tone for her benefit.

"Okay?" She said, her face giving him a questioning look. She had no idea where he was going with that warning.

"When my mother was alive, she was a very devoted Christian woman. She loved her family and loved her husband. She believed that a man should be married and be a father. I was very resistant to this idea when I was younger. I took the saying, marry in haste regret at liesure very seriously." He told her sitting back into the cushions of the couch and watching her carefully.

"Thats a very common belief, the ought to be married to be happy, thing. What does that have to do with me?" Rossalyn asked him raising an eyebrow.

"Mother passed away a few years ago of cancer. When she was getting close to the end, she made me promise her that I would get married one day and have a family. I'm not sure if she wanted the family line to carry on or for me to not be alone. Probably a little of both." Josiah said and for the first time in the conversation they'd had she seen past the cool demeanor he projected and seen the pain in his eyes.

"I'm really sorry about your mom. I'm sure she didn't want you to be alone. It seems to me that having a family made her very fulfilled so she wanted that for you. Thats very understandable." She said gently.

"Well I obviously couldn't deny her that. She knew I keep my promises once made, for better or for worse. It seemed to give her peace when I made her the promise to find a good woman and marry her." He said, quickly putting the mask back into place.

"Okay, what am I supposed to have to do with any of this?" She asked him, confused but even more scared of where she had a feeling he was leading her to.

"Simple, you marry me, I forgive your brother's debts and keep him from doing anything else stupid like getting involved with anyone else." Josiah said.