Page 3 of The Billionaire's Final Treasure

We pull up in front of a tenement building and he reaches across me to pull plain envelopes from the glove compartment. He divides the money from the pawn shop into the envelopes, before carefully sealing them. He smiles at me, nodding toward the dilapidated porch.

“The person I stole the jewelry from owns that building,” he explains. “She never does repairs and half the tenants don’t have heat.”

I follow him inside and watch him put an envelope in each of the mailboxes. We hurry back to the car as if that’s where he committed a crime, but before he starts the engine, I put my hand on his.

“That was really kind,” I say. I’m a bit in awe of him.

“No,” he tells me. “It’s only fair.”

I lick my lips as my eyes drop to his mouth. I lean closer, a helpless moth to his flame, and kiss him without thinking. His hand rises to my cheek, his touch soft and tender, until my mouth opens to his questing tongue.

With a moan, I press closer. His fingers tangle roughly in my hair, pulling my head back to take what he wants from me. I press my knees together, straining to stay in my seat and not crawl into his lap. We’ve known each other for …

With a gasp, I pull away. “It’s been much longer than fifteen minutes. I have to get back.”

Guilt and worry tug at my heart as he drives back to my building. When we arrive, I realize I don’t have my keys or my phone. I’d rather die than wake a neighbor to let me in, since the new tenants are anything but neighborly to me. Finn sees the look of horror on my face and taps my chin.

“Did you think I’d just leave you at the door?” he says with that smoldering smirk of his.

He parks under the fire escape and once again I climb on his back, clinging to his broad shoulders and burying my face in his neck. Back on my landing, I’m so worried that I hurry through the window and race to my mother’s bedroom, forgetting to thank him or say goodbye.

I find her fast asleep, with no signs she woke up at all while I was gone. Breathing a sigh of relief, I straighten up her blankets and go back to the fire escape, much too worked up to go to bed.

“Surprised?” Finn asks when I gasp at the sight of him sitting in the chair I keep on the fire escape. “If you’re too tired, I can leave.”

I shake my head, falling onto his lap when he holds out his arms. “I’m not even close to tired.”

We end up talking until the first hint of dawn peeks through the densely clustered buildings and the darkness begins to evaporate. Because of it, I can see that his eyes aren’t the same color as the night, but a deep, rich blue. A faint hint of stubble stands out on his chiseled jaw, and his chocolate brown hair has a few silver strands at his temples.

“You have school,” he says, standing up, letting my body slide down his until my feet hit the fire escape grate.

My classes were just one of the many things we’d talked about all night, and I reluctantly agree I need to get ready. He looks down at me, taking my face in his big hands and gives me a rough kiss before swinging over the side.

“I’ll be back tonight,” he promises. “Be ready.”

I lean over the railing, watching him climb down until his feet touch the ground. I’m already counting the minutes until I get to see him again.

Chapter 4

Finn

Being with Kori is even more of a rush than stealing from assholes and returning the money to the people they’ve screwed over to get it. It’s certainly more exhilarating than running my branch of the company, but I go into work anyway, counting the hours until I can see her again.

She’s so sweet, yet adventurous. Who else would have climbed down a fire escape with a stranger like that? It makes me curious about what kind of lonely life she leads, tucked away in that tall building.

Her long, golden tresses, the eager fire in her green eyes, and those lush curves are all a bonus. It’s a long day at the office, spent thinking about what I’d like to do with that body of hers. The feeling of her lips still strong in my memory. It’s so powerful my assistant almost catches me in a compromising position, my cock rising against the front my suit pants at the very thought of Kori.

The time finally comes when I can climb the long series of ladders to see her again, but when I arrive on her landing, she isn’t there. Her window is locked, not that a little lock has ever stopped me before.

It takes only a few seconds to break in and carefully slide the window open. Her bedroom is large, but simply decorated. The blankets on her bed are threadbare, the colors and patterns faded. She keeps a small notebook on her tidy desk, but her vanity table is covered with hair tools, bits and bobs I can’t name. Sketches of intricate hairstyles are tacked onto the wall all around it. My girl is talented as well as gorgeous.

A moment later I hear an anguished scream, as if someone is being tortured, and run to see what’s happening. The terrible screeching gets louder and more desperate by the second. I stop outside the next bedroom door to see Kori trying to soothe her mother, whose face is red and tear-streaked, her gray hair standing up in short tufts all over her head. She tears at her robe, leaving angry scratches on her chest.

Kori is too caught up in keeping her mother from seriously hurting herself to notice me, so I step back into the shadows. I fear that a stranger would do more harm than good, otherwise I’d jump in to try to help her. It takes what seems like forever to calm the woman down and get her to stop clawing at herself.

“Would you like to brush my hair, Mom?” Kori asks, patting her shoulders as she rocks back and forth on the edge of her bed.

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