Dollars (Dollar #2)(78)

I wanted so f*cking much to kiss her.

My fingers unlocked around her wrist, allowing her to pull her hand from my shorts, yet she didn’t. She stood exactly where she was, staring at my eyes, my mouth, trapped in the same indecision I was.

My head lowered.

If she wanted me to kiss her, that was entirely different to me wanting to kiss her. It meant she invited it not just accepted it. I’d do whatever the hell she wanted.

Her eyes fluttered as our mouths inched closer. My skin heated and prickled while hers broke out in goosebumps. I gritted my teeth in preparation, knowing the moment we kissed I’d struggle to stop at just a gentle caress.

My mind flashed black with images of dragging her downstairs, stripping off that grey dress, and taking her.

She’d let me. But only because she was trained to. She wouldn’t fight me. But only because she’d been beaten enough that fighting was no longer an option.

Her breath skated over my lips, sweet with strawberries and mango from breakfast.

I groaned at the barest feather of her mouth on mine.

My mind almost snapped.

And then…she was gone.

The wallet ripped from my pocket and flew with her as she parried backward, a sly grin on her face.

For a heavy heartbeat, I couldn’t figure out what the hell happened.

Then she waggled the money holder, taunting me.

Blood rushed from my cock back to my brain.

I glowered at her, anger rising a little that she’d conned me. She’d cheated. But then again…wasn’t that the point?

She cheated on her past with happiness. She stood there smiling in a way she’d never smiled before. And the new life in her sombre eyes drowned out my annoyance like a pinch to a matchstick flame.

I couldn’t discipline her or tell her she couldn’t go around kissing potential marks to distract them from the crime. I couldn’t march toward her and grab her and f*ck her in reward for using her surroundings to win—just like I’d taught.

All I could do was shake my head and accept that she’d broken my rules and schooled me. Aching with need and smouldering with lust, I threw my head back and laughed.





THAT WAS THE first day but definitely not the last that Elder broke my proverbial chains and taught me how to smile again.

After we almost kissed and I stole the wallet, his captain arrived and dragged him off to discuss the impending storm on the horizon. Elder had looked at me for the first time with reluctance.

My heart skipped with heat. He was as against the idea of leaving me as I was him going. Whatever had made us pay attention to each other back at Alrik’s sprang into full authority, tangling us in budding friendship and desire.

He’d stalked toward me and for a second, I’d wanted to kneel at his feet and give him permission to unleash the lust painted all over him. For the first time, I would submit—not because I wanted to, but because he hurt and I didn’t like him hurting—not after everything he’d given me.

Once again, I wanted to use sex to repay him because that was all I had of value. But even if I did, even if I locked myself tight and gave him the use of my body, he wouldn’t take it.

He’d call me a whore and I’d never let him utter such filth again.

Stopping in front of me, he’d snatched the wallet from my fingers, removed the one-hundred dollar note and deliberately stuffed it into his pocket.

I’d failed to steal with secrecy but I didn’t care about the money.

I had something much more treasured. I had a newfound lightness—a more comfortable existence in this world.

His hand had soared upward and didn’t stop until it connected with my cheek.

We’d frozen at the contact. His palm comforted me in a way touch never had before, and I’d pressed into him for the barest of heartbeats.

Then he’d gone to deal with whatever nature had in store for us.

Alone on the deck with a smeared watercolour of baby blue and black above, I’d returned to my room to combat the sudden loneliness he left me with.

Now, an hour after my pickpocket lesson, I relaxed on my balcony. Goosebumps from the cold wind replaced the goosebumps caused by playing with Elder. The ocean hovered beneath a thick grey blanket with churning white caps. I didn’t understand how the sun could be banished so quickly in favour of such violence.

But I wasn’t worried.

The Phantom was sturdy, and Elder was a perfectionist. If I had to be at sea in a storm, there was nowhere safer.

Ignoring my hair snapping around my ears in the breeze, I stroked the origami boat he’d made. I’d scooped it up when I’d entered my suite, needing to hold something of his. An insatiable need to touch him again after I’d squirmed in his arms only an hour ago consumed me.

Another howling gust whipped off the horizon, fluttering the corners of the green money in my hands. The ferocity threatened to tear it from my grip.

My fingers tightened as fear of dropping the little boat increased with every bluster.

Returning inside, I locked the balcony doors and settled on the couch. Already, the normal swell-lullaby of the yacht had been replaced with a choppy rock and yaw.

I settled in to ride it, and was glad of the interruption a few hours later when dinner was served. Along with the maid, two men entered my suite to check the moorings on my table and furniture before nodding respectfully and heading out.