Thousands (Dollar 4)

Ever.

My temper vibrated thicker and crazier the longer the coastguard took. When they finally signed off, nodded their approval, and got the fuck off my yacht, I was a goddamn mess.

Standing on the bow, I kept my fists tight against my thighs as the police boat pulled away in a wash of froth. The Phantom towered over their piddly excuse for a craft, casting them in a shadow from the new sun.

Pim sidled up beside me, shielding her eyes with her hand from the new day’s glare.

The second, the very fucking second, the coastguard was far enough away from my territory, I snatched her wrist and dragged her across the deck.

“El—” She tugged, tripping and skipping at my pace. “What—”

“Not one word, Pimlico.” I managed to bite. “Not. One. Word.”

Staff saw us coming and veered in a different direction. Jolfer spotted us and held his tongue. Selix narrowed his eyes but gave a firm nod.

Everyone knew Pim was in deep trouble.

Even her.

She fell quiet as I dragged her past lifeboats and rigging and on-deck spas. I didn’t stop until I reached my bedroom. Stony silence was our method of communication as I yanked open the sliders and tossed her inside. Spinning around, I slammed the doors closed, engaged the lock, pressed the button to turn the glass opaque, then stalked her. “You crossed the line, Pim.”

She backed up, her bare feet scrambling. Green fire burned in her gaze, trying to deny her sin but knowing full well what she’d done. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Her toes did their best to glue into the thick carpeting, refusing to run from me, but her body continued swaying backward as if my temper buffeted her like wind. “I was worried about you—”

“And I was worried about you. That’s why I put you in the safe room.”

“But you were in danger. If those men had come to hurt you…I couldn’t have hidden in a room while they kill—”

“You think so little of me that I’d be the one to die and not them?”

She froze, her mouth parted. “No…but it’s dangerous. I can’t stomach the thought of you being hurt.”

“Exactly!” I roared. “Don’t you think it’s the same for me? To know I’m putting you in danger just by having you in my life? That I can’t offer you a safe future until I’m done with my past?” I paced, doing my best not to grab her and shake her hard. “This isn’t your battle, Pimlico.”

“It is, though, because I’m with you now, and I won’t let you face things alone.”

“Never say that.” My eyes turned to snipers. “The mistakes I’ve made are not yours. Got it?”

“But—”

“No buts! You disobeyed me. I put you somewhere safe, yet you scampered off as if you could protect me. That’s my job, Pim. Not yours. You obey me. You do as I say.”

“My safety is not your job, Elder.” She huffed condescendingly. “And if you believe I’m going to obey you on everything…well—”

“Goddammit, you test me.” I fisted my hair, taking my violence out on myself and not her. “If you were my staff, I’d fire you for being insubordinate.”

“Good job I’m not your staff.” Her chin cocked, baring her teeth. “I wouldn’t work for a man like you.”

“Good job,” I copied her, lowering my jaw, already cursing myself for this. For letting myself get so wound up, my control was seconds away from snapping. For letting myself get so obsessed with obedience, I was about to break every fucking rule and go past scolding her as a naughty child to punishing her entirely as a woman.

Like a woman I was in love with.

A woman I wanted to sleep with.

A woman I tried to deny myself over and over only to break because I couldn’t fight her influence anymore. I couldn’t stomach her infection on my carefully structured life.

“Good job what?” She scowled, her throat working, belying her fight with the truth. The truth that she was scared of me. As she should be.

“Good job you aren’t my staff.” My voice was thick molasses with an edge of razor blades. “Otherwise, you could sue me for what I’m about to do.”

Her breath came quick and shallow. “What are you about to do?”

“I think it would be called employee sexual harassment.” I stalked her, coming to a stop before her locked limbs and bristling uncertainty. Her cheeks pinked with a mixture of defiance and terror. She swayed toward me even while leaning away; a strange light lit her from within.

Incredibly, her fight and fear morphed into recognition, melted into acceptance, and solidified into determination.

Her entire body went from fight to invitation in a matter of seconds.

The fact she could stand me down while my temper threatened to do what other yelling abusive males had done, then somehow switch to crackling lust and utmost trust broke the rest of my control.