Page 25 of This Haunted Heart

“I would like to offer you a trade,” she whispered.

“I’m not interested in trading with you. If I want something, I’ll just take it like I did with your money.”

“Debauchery for information,” she said plainly, surprising me.

I squinted at her as she worked the terrycloth behind my ears and through my hair, drying the rest of me. “You’re hoping I’ll tell you where your money is,” I guessed.

“That’s right. You get a release. I get the answer I want.”

I scoffed. “Even if I told you where the cash was, I wouldn’t give it to you.”

She gestured broadly at the mess she’d made. “As it turns out, the information would be very useful anyway, even if you didn’t hand it over.”

My fingers flexed into fists at my sides, and my nostrils flared.

Rynn stepped back from me, wary. “You seem angry.”

I was angry. Furious. I sensed she was trying to trick me again. “I want to make sure I understand the rules of the game you’ve proposed,” I said, words clipped.

She took another step back and I followed her, closing the distance she’d created with one of my longer strides. She swallowed, and her smoldering eyes went dreamy and heavy-lidded. Her pupils dilated, and her nipples hardened, pressing against the fabric of her chemise. I recalled her earlier confession: she had a complicated relationship with fear.

“It’s a simple enough transaction,” she rasped. “Pleasure for information.”

“A release for one answer?” I confirmed.

“That’s right,” she said, “only it doesn’t look like you like this game. Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”

In reply, I scooped her up and tossed her onto the bed. She let out a chirp of surprise. Sprawled there, her back against the cushions, her chemise tangled between her lush thighs.

“It’s not your game I object to,” I said, dragging my eyes up her legs to where the open embroidery disappeared beneath her hem. “You think you can manipulate me with your beautiful body like I’m some animal incapable of controlling myself. I take offense to that.”

She started to sit up. I pushed her shoulder down, forcing her to lounge against the pillows.

“You’re an animal because you snuck into my room, broke into my safe, and forced me to go somewhere I had no plans to.” She added more gently, “But you’re not an animal just because you like what you see when you look at me.”

Either she’d made a very good point, or I was too far gone and too easy to coerce. Either way, it was impossible not to stare at her. “I do like what I see . . . Still seems like a terribleidea to make a trade with you.”

“It’s adreadfulidea for both of us. But we should definitely do it anyway.” Her voice had gone breathy.

The nagging feeling of walking into a trap only intensified, which is why I astounded myself when my mouth opened and “Yes,” popped right out of it.

“You agree to my terms? Information for a release?” An attractive blush stained her cheeks and throat.

“I agree,” I said. “Pull up your dress.”

Gripping the hem, she tugged it higher, revealing more of the embroidery I so admired. It stopped midthigh. I trailed my fingers up the design and watched, entranced, as her lips parted around her next slow exhale. My touch was gentle and thorough as it investigated the pattern down her knee, around her shapely calf, then along the bone of her shin. She shivered.

When her chemise was rucked up around her waist, Rynnreached for the fastenings of her garter belt.

I trapped her hand in mine. “Don’t do that.”

Her throat bobbed delicately. “All right.”

“Does your arm still hurt?”

She shook her head, and her glossy curls bounced. “Hardly. It’s a stiffness from having it in the sling so long. You don’t need to keep worrying after it.”

I didn’t believe her. By her own admission, she told men like me only what they wanted to hear. I snatched one of the pillows and tucked it up against her side, then I laid her arm across it. “This stays right here for now.”

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