King Me (Forever Wilde 7)

“I don’t hate you,” he said with a soft smile, running his hands up my bare thighs to my waist. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed as hell you didn’t tell me what you were planning, but if you had, it would have put me in a precarious position.”

I nodded. “I know. That’s why I couldn’t tell you.”

Dirk reached a hand up to thread fingers through my hair. “You planned all of this. You set him up.”

I nodded again.

“But if you’d been caught in there…” His brows furrowed. “You would have been blamed just as much as he was.”

I nodded again. “That’s why I had to get the hell out of there.”

“Why not just hand him the crown?”

I explained that if I’d actually handed Elek the crown and he’d somehow escaped, it would have been a disaster. I hadn’t been sure I’d be able to zip-tie him. And if not, the crown still needed to be safely inside the building.

Dirk seemed to follow what I was saying. “But you got away clean and then came back, impersonating an FBI agent! Why the hell would you do that? It’s a crime, King.”

I met his eyes. It was important for him to understand.

“I know.” I took a breath, but before I could explain, he seemed to understand.

“You were giving me something to arrest you for,” he said softly.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It had to be your choice, Dirk. I needed to know if you truly wanted to send me away, and you deserved a chance to make that decision.”

His eyes pinned me in place. “How in the world could you think I wanted to send you away?”

My heart wanted to thump out of my chest and into his.

“I didn’t think that. I just…”

“Do you trust me?”

I swallowed thickly, leaning my forehead onto his chest. “Yes. But it scares me.”

Dirk’s lips brushed the top of my head. “I know.”

After a few minutes of him murmuring reassurances, he brought the topic back around.

“Tell me about the painting,” Dirk said, leaning in and kissing my neck.

I shivered. “I can’t think with your mouth on me,” I groaned.

His lips moved down to suck on my collarbone.

“Dirk,” I breathed.

He pulled off me with a cheeky grin. “I can’t help it. You taste good. Now, tell me about the Delacroix. It’s been driving me crazy. What did that have to do with all of this?”

Dirk’s fingers came up to brush through my hair, and I preened into his touch.

“He had a forgery,” I explained. “The last one of mine in existence. All the other ones have been destroyed.”

“I’m figuring that out,” he said with a laugh. “He said he has a list.”

“Yeah, well, they’re all originals, I promise. That was the last one. I saw it on the drone surveillance Ziv did the afternoon of the crown op in Greece.”

“Your last-minute recon trip…”

I nodded. “That’s when I swapped it out. I’d brought the original with me from Paris.”

“The delicate tripod,” Dirk said with a groan. “Was an original painting stolen from the Louvre.”

“Yeah, sorry. But I had to make sure he had some stolen artwork on him when he got caught since I wasn’t willing to hand him the crown.”

“Wait, you boarded his yacht without backup?” he asked, pulling back and staring up at me. “Are you crazy? Something could have happened. You didn’t have anyone telling you when the coast was clear. We could have—”

I stopped him with a kiss.

“I’m used to doing jobs with no backup,” I said. “It was fine. But when I was there, I realized the crown wasn’t on the boat. Since there was no way to tell you how I knew that, I had to board the fucking boat all over again that night.”

Dirk’s hands roamed all over the bare skin of my back, making me shiver with excitement. My dick was already hard as steel.

“Never again,” he ground out. “I meant what I said, King.”

“Never again. Not without backup.”

“Not at all,” he insisted.

“I’m teasing you,” I said, suddenly feeling light and free. “Never again. Not at all.”

I slid my arms around his back and laid my cheek against his chest, hoping like hell he believed me.

His hands moved into my hair again. I was so tired, and his touch was so comforting, I almost started to doze and drool.

Several minutes of silence passed before Dirk’s deep voice rumbled against my cheek. “I’m falling in love with you.”

I squeezed my eyes closed and prayed I hadn’t just dreamed that.

“Was that too much? Did I manage to scare you off?”

I lifted my head to stare at him, and he chuckled, reaching out to swipe at my cheek again. “Your eyes are very leaky tonight.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Yes,” he said, wiping off tears and showing me. “See?”

I punched him lightly in the chest. “No, you idiot. The love thing. Because…”