Pulling on a tee, she played their time over in her mind. Day by agonizing day. She’d completed her mission. She’d secured the money and was waiting only for the deeds, which Sebastian said were due any day. But then…she shivered as she replayed the sex from the night before. Once again Sebastian had tried to fuck her tenderly and she’d had to pull out some pretty inventive moves to get him back to how she liked him. Fast and furious. Because what else could she do? It was like she was wearing a suit of armor, she thought, and the tender, slow loving Sebastian seemed intent on sharing with her was the chink. It was vital that she protected that, because Penny had a nasty suspicion that if she didn’t everything would change. And that could not be allowed to happen. No way.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the bedroom door and made her way down the stairs. She had one more thing to ask Sebastian for, and she’d decided honey was the best way to get what she wanted. He was waiting for her in his study, finishing up whatever he was working on. He seemed to do a lot of his work whilst she slept, which concerned her a little. He’d changed his schedule to spend his time between her legs. Not a good sign, for her or him.
“Hey.”
He turned and gave her such a tender smile that Penny actually felt her heart stutter a little. “Kleftisa, come sit here, I am almost done.” He pointed to his lap.
“No that’s fine actually,” she said. “I just wanted to ask if you have a laptop I can use?”
“For what? Please tell me you are not a mastermind hacker, too.”
“Nope, just gonna check my Facebook page.”
“Are you serious?”
She laughed, sat herself down on the edge of his desk, and ran her fingers along his arm. “Of course not. I don’t have Facebook. In my line of work posting details online is never a good idea. No….” She paused and then jumped in feet first. “I need to check in with my sisters. It’s been almost two weeks and they might have come home by now. It’s unlikely. I wasn’t expecting them for at least a fortnight, maybe more, but it would ease my mind to check.”
“Ah, your criminal confederates. Every time I ask you about them you give me half answers or shrugs.”
“They’re none of your business.”
“Everything about you is my business,” Sebastian said and the tender smile was gone to be replaced with a steely sort of one. He reminded her in that moment of the Sebastian she’d seen when he’d caught her in the safe room. Hard. Implacable. How could she have forgotten there was that side to him? The sex was going to her head, making her forget. But you can’t let it, she reminded herself, not completely. Still, maybe everything would be a whole lot easier if Sebastian was the hard hearted billionaire she’d once thought him to be? Maybe then she wouldn’t need the suit of armor.
“I’m not going to argue with you,” she said slowly. “But I do not know why you want to know. I’ve helped you with all your procedures. Hell, you told Max I was a security contractor—a blatant lie if there ever was one—but he thinks I’m the bees knees now. Your place is practically impenetrable. I’ve fulfilled that side of the bargain and I’ve fucked you every single night. What more do you want from me?”
“What more?” he repeated the words. “What more?”
“Yes what more?”
“How about you drop the defenses a little?”
“My defenses?” Penny jumped off the desk, not liking the direction their conversation was taking one bit, and shot him a frown. “What on earth do you mean?”
“This may not be the most conventional of relationships,” Sebastian said. “Hell, it is far from it, but I want you to…” He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “I don’t know open up maybe. Stop treating this like some convenient fuck.”
She started. “What! That makes no sense. It is a convenient fuck. You told me I had to stay here until you got me out of your system. What was it? You can go to prison or you can open your legs?”
“I have apologized for that remark,” he said stiffly.
“And I forgave you and I agreed to this, the sex, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
“And if it’s not working?”
She gasped, his words abruptly making her heart race. “What do you mean?”
“The more I fuck you the more I want you,” he said and it was like the words were wrenched from him. “It’s not looking like it’ll leave my system any time soon. Maybe it’s all your secrets. You’re full of them. They tease the edges of you and make me want to dig and dig until I get them all.”