Pennies (Dollar #1)(57)

Bracing myself on my knees, I yanked her lower leg. I wasn’t gentle or kind. She swooped from reclining to spread, and the moment she was on her back, I locked my fingers around her throat again.

The panic I’d witnessed in the stairwell when I’d given her my jacket unravelled. Her breathing picked up, unable to avoid the trigger whenever I touched her neck.

If I was a nicer man, I would remove my hand and touch her elsewhere.

But I’d already established I had my faults.

She would have to live with them.

I waited for her to erupt into an attack—to fight me off—but once again she inhaled and exhaled, taming her snarling pulse, locking everything from view.

Fuck, she’s so much more than I thought. More warrior, more wounded, more woman.

But none of that mattered.

I would still earn my answers.

“Three questions.” Shifting my body to lie back beside her, I whispered, “You get three questions. If you answer them, I’ll let you go. I won’t expect anything more.”

Her gaze widened as my hand slipped from her throat to resume my position on her sternum. “However, if you don’t answer them, then I’ll expect everything. I’ll f*ck you, just because I can. I’ll treat you like a slave because that’s all you’ll ever be if you don’t let me into your mind.”

I locked eyes with her. My control snarled, begging to snap. But I had just enough discipline to ignore it. “First question, how long is it since you ate?”

Her face went slack with surprise.

I chuckled low in my chest. “Not something you expected me to ask?”

Come on, shake your head.

Answer me.

The longer she was silent, the more my obsession increased.

I will break you, Pim.

Poking her stark ribcage, I said, “I want to know because I’ll ensure Alrik is starved the same way, once our deal is complete.”

Her muscles tensed, her eyes flying to the ceiling, searching for cameras. I didn’t need to be quiet about what I intended to do. We had a contract. That contract would keep peace until delivery of his yacht.

After that, he would try to kill me—like the f*ckwits who bought my services always did. And he would fail—like the f*ckwits always did. But at least I would’ve upheld my side of the business and my reputation remained intact.

However, I wouldn’t kill Alrik so fast. I’d pay him back, like for like, let him live Pimlico’s life before ending his.

What would she say if I admitted my plan? Would she rejoice or cower? I had a feeling if she had the power to make her master hurt, she would be the one to do the dirty work. She wouldn’t be satisfied with an outsider extracting tolls she herself had paid.

Our mutual silence filled with thoughts of revenge and the slightest thawing in her gaze welcomed me to ask another question.

She might not know it, but she’d just lost.

She’d let me in.

Stupid, stupid girl.

“How long is it since you’ve been free?”

Whatever openness she’d given me shut down with the clang of a steel gate. Her eyes closed as she swallowed.

“Months or years?”

She didn’t flinch.

Studying her body, counting the breaks and kicks and bruises, I answered for her. “Just like a tree gives up its age when its trunk is revealed, your body answers without words.”

Her forehead furrowed, keeping her eyes shut.

“I’ll guess a few years.”

Anger heated my blood—not because of her pain, but her refusal to reply. Such questions might’ve made a normal man care. Might’ve given them second thoughts about being here and doing his best to shoplift a girl’s secrets.

But I wasn’t most men. I did care…somewhere inside me. But I’d been through my own trauma, and it’d tainted my view of others.

I didn’t have a saviour when I’d needed one.

I had no intention of being a saviour to someone else.

Who cared about such generic questions? I’d earn her answers through other means. She owed me a debt. It was time to pay it.

The thought of watching her finger herself thickened my cock.

Alrik was right about one thing. Being at sea made it hard to find a f*ckable companion—unless I supplemented my on-board staff or flew in an escort with my helicopter. However, both those options didn’t hold allure.

Not like this creature.

I didn’t have long before I returned to the ocean. I’d wasted enough time already.

“Enough questions. Time to repay me, Pimlico.”

Her eyes shot wide as my hand splayed on her lower belly, trailing up her ribcage, following the slight curve of her breast to the vivid collarbone sticking out with hunger.

I didn’t stop touching her—up her throat, to her cheeks where I dug my thumb into one side and my fingers into the other, yanking her face to mine.

She stopped breathing.

I squeezed hard, forcing her to pay attention and listen to every instruction.

“Open your legs.”

Her teeth clenched beneath my hold.

My hand tightened. “Do it.”

For a moment, utmost detestation glowed then, ever so slowly, her legs switched from glued together to slightly spread. Not nearly wide enough for a hand or tongue but enough to glimpse what lay between them.