“Who are these people?”
It occurred to Penny that he was grilling her already and he hadn’t even upheld his side of the bargain, so she shook her head and placed her spoon on the table. “I won’t tell you anything else until you drop me off.”
“How do I know you’re not leading me into a trap?”
She frowned, because that was a stupid suggestion. Had Sebastian been imagining her as part of some sort of crime mob? With hulking henchmen close by to take the money? She almost laughed, imagining Rachel and Lyra decked out in suits, gun in hand. “How could I be?”
“You might have called up one of your criminal associates and apprised them of the situation.”
“My criminal associates? Really, Sebastian?”
“For all I know yes.”
God he was relentless. “And when exactly did I manage to do that? You haven’t let me out of your sight since the moment you caught me.”
He scowled. Because that was the truth and they both knew it. Hell he’d been buried balls deep most of the day. Penny suspected he might even have watched over her whilst she slept. He’d certainly awoken quick enough the moment she tried to escape!
“I do not know,” he said, his accent thickening. “But if the last day has taught me anything it is that you, Penny, are sneaky and way too smart for your own good. I would not put anything past you.”
“Sebastian—”
“No.” He shook his head and stood, looming over her. “You will tell me the address and who or where we are taking this money to—money that you stole and have somehow prized from me—or we will not go at all.”
“Money I’m working for!” She felt it was important to remind him of that.
He frowned. “Money I am choosing to give you. That is how we will refer to it. Now talk or we will not go.”
“Then you won’t get the answers to your questions.”
The frown disappeared to be replaced with a smile, a sensual one full of promise. Penny gulped, her heated words dying on her lips. “Oh, Kleftisa, I will. You know I will. In fact, I hardly need to agree to this. A few more days in my bed and you’ll be singing like a canary.”
“A few more days….” Her heart thumped, imagining that time spent with him. The things they could do. She had more than enough fantasies to fill the hours. The lube came to her mind again and what she thought he’d been planning to do in the mirror. She had to do at least that with him before the madness faded.
It was all completely out of control!
“Minimum,” he added.
More to give herself something to do than because she wanted it, Penny spooned another lump of chocolate into her mouth. It was lush, all the food was, but then she was sitting at the table of a billionaire wasn’t she? Though it seemed she’d forgotten that, which was a mistake in itself. No matter how out of control everything got she had to remember! “Then fine,” she said eventually. “I’ll tell you.”
“I’m all ears.”
“If you really must know the money is to buy a property, and the people who are counting on me doing that are my sisters.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sebastian strongly wishing he’d driven his jeep. His current car did not fit into the surrounding area—far from it. He gripped the steering wheel and looked around, slightly startled. It had been some years since he’d driven the rough streets of London. In fact now that he thought about it, he rarely had even when he was short of money. He’d made his first million whilst in Athens after a gift from his uncle Gosta did particularly well on the markets. None of it had been available to spend then—it had all been invested— but he’d stayed with relatives when he first came to London and they’d been comfortably off. He was almost positive he’d never driven these streets—nor did he want to again. To say they were grim in the rapidly darkening evening light was putting it mildly.
The local council had clearly given up on fixing potholes and he felt the car judder and jar with every dip in the road. One out of every three street lights was blinking on and off and several houses were either boarded up or just looked plain depressing. Who would ever want to live in such an area he thought and then shook himself, because the residents clearly did not have a choice. Whilst much of London was prosperous, there were still areas of extreme poverty. Million pound town houses backing up against council owned housing complexes and here that difference was quite startling.
“Where exactly are we going?” he asked.
Penny shot him a smile. Dressed in a pair of his sweats and an old tee, she looked fresh and innocent. He almost snorted at the thought.