Dollars (Dollar #2)

by Pepper Winters

  Elder smirked. “I wasn’t finished. Pickpocket successfully and keep whatever you steal without giving in to the guilt and returning it, then you’ve won, and you can have your freedom.”

  He sauntered toward me, his hands fisting. “However, if you fail and speak before that happens, you give me one night.” He shook his head as his hand landed on mine wedged against my chest as if it could contain my suddenly light as a wisp heart. “No, not just one night. You give me your body and mind. You give in to me completely. You trust me.”

  His fingers squeezed my hand, his body setting off alarm bells in every cell.

  I took a step back, dropping our linked grasp, holding my head high.

  The rules had been drawn. Whatever lightness I’d been filled with at the thought of freedom was dragged down again in what I had to do to earn it. I was afraid but also invigorated. It’d been so long since someone pushed me to evolve. So long since I’d had requirements other than obedience to follow.

  “So?” Elder licked his bottom lip. “Do you agree?”

  I wouldn’t back down from the gauntlet.

  I nodded, sealing my fate and cursing the flutter in my stomach at the thought of him winning. What would he make me do in one night? And why was I terrified but also secretly intrigued about what sex would be like with him?

  “Good. Let’s get started.” Elder took a deep breath, expelling the tension that’d once again thickened around us.

  He patted his back pocket, looking so damn handsome in the sun. “Come toward me. I’ll show you how to steal then you can practice.”

  He was giving me permission to attack him? To slip my fingers against his butt and loot him?

  Once again, part of me recoiled at the idea of being so close while the rest of me woke up from a two-year hibernation and prepared to relearn that elusive, incredible word.

  Play.

  FUCK, THIS WAS a bad idea.

  A really, really bad idea.

  As Pimlico stalked toward me, her face dancing with an eager but distrusting smile, my cock thickened in need. The more I was around her, the more I wanted her. Especially now as she relaxed into herself, slinking with more confidence and…is that playfulness?

  I didn’t think she’d ever relax enough around me to play.

  It hit me right in the goddamn heart to think, despite her disagreement and scorn whenever I used the word trust, she’d already started to do it. She’d allowed herself to soften—if only just a margin. She wasn’t expecting me to hit her the moment she came close. She wasn’t looking for chains or pain when she walked beside me.

  Playing my cello for her last night had been a daredevil move. I worried I’d shatter the rest of her soul and end up sweeping up the pieces. But she’d surprised me. Shit, she surprised herself.

  She might’ve hated every strum, but when I’d kissed her…Christ, she’d kissed me back with a liveliness she hadn’t shown before. Our second kiss in weeks and instead of granting a reprieve on my desire for her, it only made it ten times fucking worse.

  Drinking in her face one last time, I spun around and stood still. She paused, then her footsteps padded softly again behind me. My skin prickled with awareness as she took her time, judging how best to steal. A quiet shuffle of bare toes and the lightest flutter of touch on my back pocket.

  I gritted my teeth as everything roared inside for more. I wanted her hands on every inch of my skin. I wanted her mouth on me. I wanted my cock inside her. My entire body hated me for punishing it with celibacy, bashing against my patience like a dog off its leash.

  I throbbed with need as I locked my knees and fought the delicious shudder of her hand slipping into my shorts.

  The delicate, sensual flicker of her fingers on my ass—goddammit, I almost shot around and grabbed her. Every urge in my blood bellowed to march her backward until her spine hit the deck railing, hook her leg over my hip, and drive my agonising erection against her.

  But I didn’t.

  Because I couldn’t get past the guilt of what that would make me and the knowledge she’d let me in just a little.

  I could be patient until she let me in a lot.

  Forcing myself to focus on why we were doing this and not how hard I was, I stopped breathing and let her finish.

  The moment the weight of the wallet left my shorts, I grabbed her wrist without turning around. “Gotcha.”

  She wriggled as I dragged her forward, plucking the leather from her hand with my free one. “Far too noticeable.”

  Her chin cocked, dark hair dappling with pinpricks of sunlight from the shade-sail above. I fucking loved the argument on her face, the tenacity and willingness to show what she’d hid along—that she fought for everything and no longer had to pretend to submit to survive.

  Clearing my throat from the sudden rush of pride, I said, “You’ll learn though. I’ll teach you.” Letting her go, I replaced the wallet into my pocket and strolled away to lean against the railing. Blue skies glowed sedately, but ominous black clouds lurked on the horizon. I made a note to talk to Jolfer about sailing around if a storm brewed. I didn’t mind rough seas, but Pimlico couldn’t become afraid of the Phantom. This was her home for the foreseeable future. She had to love it as much as I did.

  While I lost myself in the sky, Pim snuck up behind me.

  I hid my smile at her attempt to be stealthy.

  My ears twitched with her little breaths. My body flinched knowing she came close on her own accord. She moved faster this time; the shadow of her arm snaked over the deck as she reached for the money.

  I bit my lip as her fingers crept into my shorts again, sending haywire misfires of what was decent and what was not.

  Fighting my shudder, I waited until her touch wedged against the wallet and my ass. Slamming my palm over hers, I kept her hand firm against my flesh and spun around. I corkscrewed into a tangle of bodies—her arm tight and looped over my hip as if she’d half embraced me and summoned me to kiss her.

  Everything fell away as our eyes locked.

  Fuck, really bad idea.

  Her mouth thinned as she tried to snatch her hand back.

  I didn’t let her go. My gaze danced over her face, committing every freckle and scar to memory. “I felt you coming.”

  The sentence had a double meaning. Would I ever feel her come? Could she come? Could I somehow train a girl who’d traded virginity for slavery and sweep away her horror all in the name of creating pleasure rather than pain when I touched her?

  Because it was no longer a matter of if I would touch her—my sake and hers be damned.

  It’s a matter of when.

  And when it happened, we were both fucked.

  Her forehead furrowed, her lips sucking in a hungry breath.

  I chuckled, dragging her forward until her chest slammed against mine. With a possessive grip, I shoved her hand further into my back pocket, forcing her to grope me.

  She shuddered as I lost control a little and locked my gaze on her lips.

  Having her so close, feeling her heat, feeling her fingers twitch against my ass, hell it was enough to drive anyone insane, let alone a man who’d made an oath not to touch this woman until she wanted to be touched—despite the memories of her mouth on his cock and her tongue on his lips.

  We both struggled to breathe, almost as if the world had suddenly dried up of oxygen and we could only survive breathing each other.

  “You’re right if you think a stranger wouldn’t be attuned to your presence like I’ve become,” I murmured, forcing myself to teach rather than imagine her naked and in my bed. “But your shadow gave you away. It’s not just a matter of quietness and light of touch—it’s about using your surroundings to keep you invisible rather than revealing your crime.”

  I bowed my head, and hers tipped up as if the same conductor choreographed us.

  Sea air wrapped around us, bringing us closer without noticing. My gut clenched as her body swayed into mine, pushing me into the railing.

>   The irony that I’d just fantasied about pinning her against the same thing wasn’t lost on me.

  I wanted so fucking 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 fuck 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.

  I ate pumpkin fettuccine and vanilla panna cotta even though mild seasickness took hold. As rain lashed at my windows, I did my best to keep my thoughts positive and not let the rapidly deteriorating weather worry me.

  I kept staring at the door, hoping Elder would come like he had this morning, but I had no more visitors.

  By eight p.m., the water world was no longer below us but all around us. Torrential rain hammered, splashes of fresh liquid mingling with salt in a washing machine churn.

  I stayed where I was on the couch, cross-legged and riding the waves, clutching my origami boat in one hand and my bronze genie lamp in the other.

  My positivity turned pessimistic, and my muscles were already tired from fighting to stay upright. My healing body was not equipped for a rodeo this soon.

  Elder never visited, but he did call around nine p.m.

  I’d never received a phone call in my suite, and it took me a moment to figure out where the ringing came from.

  Picking up the receiver, I tensed and melted in equal measure as his heady voice licked into my ear. “Sorry, I never came back. It’s been a rough day navigating. The storm is too wide. There is no way we can sail around it. Tonight will be bad.”

  I opened my mouth to reply, two years of silence deleted by a mere phone call. The memory of what to do when holding such a device begged me to speak.

  But I swallowed it back.

  Not because of the stupid bet, but because I liked whatever was growing between us, but was still wary enough not to trust it.

  “I know you won’t reply, so this will just be a one-sided conversation. I won’t be around tonight. I’m staying on the bridge. Don’t go wandering around. Have a shower now if you want before it gets too choppy then get into bed and don’t leave. By Jolfer’s estimate, the worst of the squall will hit in a few hours. If you get sick, there are bags in the bedside table. I’ll come for you in the morning once we’re through.”

  I could barely stand already, let alone have a shower.

  Loneliness settled heavier than before. I never normally wanted company, but tonight…I did. I wanted someone to cling to and murmur that the weather wouldn’t kill us, even if it sounded like it had every intention of dining on our corpses.

  A slight pause once again urged me to fill the silent void.

  “Goodnight, Pimlico. I had fun today. I—” He stopped.

  My heart shoved aside the howling storm, focusing intently on the phone. I e
xpected him to hang up. I almost wanted him to hang up.

  But he sucked in a breath and finished. “I look forward to seeing you again.”

  The dial tone hit hard and harsh in my ear.

  The raging wind gathered pressure. The angry rocking of the yacht did its best to delete the repeating words in my ear.

  I look forward to seeing you again.

  I look forward not to sex or pain or making me do whatever he deemed acceptable.

  I look forward to seeing you…

  So simple a pastime but so rare and priceless.

  Elder could make me rob a thousand banks and commit a million crimes to pay him back for rebuilding me. But he’d made that an impossible task as he kept increasing my value day by day.

  I was right.

  Elder Prest was the most dangerous man I’d ever known.

  Not because he could kill me whenever he chose, but because he had the power to steal so much more than just my life.

  He could steal my heart.

  THE STORM GATHERED in shape and snarl the longer I stood on the bridge.

  “Guess we’ll be able to put the automatic levelling system to good use tonight, huh?” Jolfer grinned. His face held respect for the sea and the slight insanity of a pirate.

  “Let’s hope it treats us well.” I clutched a handrail as a particularly large crest sent us racing forward. “What ferocity will it climb to?”

  Jolfer shrugged. “Harder than the last one.”

  “That doesn’t ease my mind.” The last storm had torn apart rigging and knocked over the bulk of the furniture not screwed down. The damn spa tub on the deck had been emptied of its chlorinated hot water and replaced with salty brine multiple times over that night.

  “My recommendation is to climb into a chair and ride it out.”

  Until I’d seen the radar with its hissing black mess and our little red dot bleeping its way into the nucleus, I’d had plans on doing exactly that. Saddling in to ride Mother Nature. I’d pulled myself out of the gutter enough not to want to end my life the way I did when I was younger, but I couldn’t stop the small tendril of excitement to see how bad things would get.