Page 37 of Prettiest Little Thief
“Never.” The Lucas from the masquerade peered at me. Not the mean, cold-hearted Lucas he had been for weeks.
There was an ease between us when he didn’t have his shield up.
Lucas helped me to the room before he left me to get dressed alone. He wandered off to grab a few things. Sliding my shirt over my head was torturous, with the aching and throbbing pain that bolted through my joints and muscles. The same was true for when I slipped on my yoga pants. There was a moment when I had to breathe through the agony to get them over my hips, gritting my teeth and scrunching up my face the entire time.
When I was fully dressed, I curled up onto the bed in the fetal position and pulled the covers over me. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t even want to breathe, because even inhaling sent an ache through my ribs and belly. But as soon as Lucas returned, I knew I would have to woman up.
The warmth from the bath and then the blanket encasing my body had me drifting in and out of the sleep I so desperately needed. What felt like moments passed before the bed dipped andLucas ran his knuckles over my throat. My eyes fluttered open, and I glanced up at him, a pensive expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He broke his gaze from me and reached over to the nightstand, where he grabbed a cotton ball and saturated it in antiseptic before gently dabbing it along the cut on my cheek.
I hissed at the sting of liquid as it seeped into my wound.
“Sorry.” His focus was entirely on my injuries.
“Can I ask my questions now, Lucas?” He gave me a curt nod before he reached back to grab a few other things from the nightstand. “You came in there like a–—ow!” I screeched and batted his hand away where he was applying an ointment to my cuts.
He opened up a bandage, removing the protective strips from the adhesive. Gently, Lucas placed it on my skin. “You were saying?” he asked.
“I was saying you just came into Charles’s house like a freaking crazy man. Popped that jerk Rocco in both of his knees. So, who the heck are you?”
“Lift up your shirt.”
My brows shot up. “What?”
“Lift up your shirt so I can put some arnica on your bruises. It’ll help it heal.” He held a tube in his hand.
“Oh.” Lifting my shirt to just beneath my breasts, I allowed Lucas to spread the cold gel over my ribs and belly. My stomach quivered as his fingertips ran across my battered flesh, and my breath quickened. With being this injured, his touch shouldn’t be affecting me this way. But something about him just set my body on fire. The flames licked their way through my body, and always, always ended right between my thighs.
I tried not to wiggle and squirm.
After a few long moments, Lucas was done and slid my shirt back into place. “Lucas Knight, owner of Knight Technologies,” he finally spoke.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure that’s common knowledge among the masses. You own one of the largest tech companies in North America.”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Not even close. How are you here and not surrounded by police?”
He sighed. “I have clients in high places. The police and other… unsavory businesses are valuable when I need them. Besides, I’m pretty sure Charles kidnapping you would have also been an issue with the cops.”
“I didn’t realize you were so connected.” I shifted on the bed and sat up taller.
“I don’t typically go around telling people my business.” The smallest of smirks played on his handsome face. “Is that a problem, little thief?”
Was it?
Not really. I couldn’t say I would be any better if I had people in my back pocket. Readily available when things went wrong.
The choices I had made in my twenty-five years were on the same spectrum as Lucas. Well, not the part where he shot someone. But he had reason.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good. Now that you know who I am, are you willing to marry me?”
“That was only one question.”
