Thousands (Dollar 4)

Selix moved off toward the bridge as trained staff members came to tether and look after the chopper.

Clearing my throat, I made the mistake of making eye contact with Pim and having my heart suffocate with crushing desire to grab her, kiss her, drag her back to my room, and never let her leave my bed.

Marching away, I didn’t wait for her to fall into step. “Come, I’ll take you back to your room.”

Her smile fell, but she pushed off into a quick stride to keep up. We didn’t speak as we traversed the deck. We didn’t look at the horizon and flocking seabirds, we didn’t pay attention to the milling staff, and we definitely didn’t look at each other as I pressed the elevator button and stepped inside the mirrored box to ascend to her level.

I kept my eyes resolutely on the doors as they closed in front of us.

Pim knew better than to interact.

She sensed everything I was battling, and I was grateful she understood enough to stay quiet and let me get a hold on having her back in my domain.

My skin hummed having her so close.

My hands opened and closed with the need to touch her.

It was a blessed relief when the doors slid open. I bolted into the wide corridors of her deck. Inhaling deep, I tried to delete the sickening lust quickly building into unavoidable.

Pim padded beside me, close but not too close, her presence slowly forming a mushroom cloud of tangles inside me. By the time we stopped by her door, my muscles seized and minor tremors quaked down my legs.

She was back on my yacht.

She was back in my life.

I wanted to fucking celebrate and jump overboard in equal measure.

Turning the handle to her room, I stopped on the threshold then moved to the side for her to enter.

She carried forward then turned sharply as I said, “Well, goodnight then.”

“Goodnight? It’s not even evening.”

“Well, I, eh, I have work to do.” I wasn’t lying. I had a shit load of replanning to do regarding my family. No way in hell would I take Pim anywhere near my family if there was a chance she could get messed up with the Chinmoku. New plans were needed. Better ones.

“Oh.” She rocked on the carpet. “Will you…at least come in?” She glanced beneath thick alluring eyelashes, wrapping her magic around my cock, my heart, and practically yanking me into the room.

Gritting my teeth, fighting her power, I shook my head. “Too much to do. Besides, you need to rest. How long since you’ve slept, showered…ate?”

“They have showers and beds in the hospital, you know. I’m not going to fall into a dirty coma from lack of care.” Taking a breath, she softened. “Please, El. I’d love some company. If only for a little while.”

Company.

Right.

I swallowed a dark chuckle. She expected me to willingly enter a room with her—with lockable doors and utmost privacy after what happened in Monte Carlo?

Silly girl.

Couldn’t she see I liked her way too much to do that to her again? And I liked myself too much to slip into addiction.

Like her?

My conscience rolled its eyes.

Like wasn’t the right word for what I felt for her.

I’d already admitted it was love.

Yet for some reason, that word fucking petrified me.

“You need your rest.” I pointed at the bed. Fresh sheets and fluffed pillows invited sleep and other activities I couldn’t think about. “I’ll send someone to bring you a meal.”

She glanced at the floor then back to me. “You’re welcome to join me for dinner. That is…if you’d like?”

I would like.

But I shook my head again, fighting a building headache from denying myself everything I hungered for. “Maybe tomorrow. In the dining room.” Where we will have an audience, and you’re not in danger of being molested.

“Oh.”

That tiny but destroying word again.

She frowned, her gaze drifting from my eyes to the door handle that I held in a death grip. Her gaze darkened; her body tightened. “That’s new.”

Shit.

Just as she was far too observant when it came to my moods, she’d noticed a change in decorating.

Playing dumb, I asked, “What’s new?” Removing my hand from the handle, I scowled as if it was same old, same old. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

Shit, I do.

There, in very noticeable glory, was a brand-new deadbolt.

It glinted with accusation—straight out of the box and installed by yours truly a few minutes before I boarded my helicopter to find Pim and bring her home.

Precautions were necessary.

She has to understand that.

“It’s just a lock, little mouse.”

Her lips parted at the nickname even as her forehead furrowed. “Liar. It’s so much more than that.”

It was as if she’d already investigated and found it was completely inaccessible from the outside—no key insert, no quick hack, no way to unlock it.