Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87618 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Good thing you’re a hacker genius.”
“Good thing,” he agrees. “In the meantime, I need you to keep a low profile. Don’t go out if you don’t have to.”
“You’re locking me up now?”
“No, I’m not, but I will if I have to.”
“Good luck with that.”
He laughs lightly. I feel his breath on my skin and smell mint and coriander. I close my eyes, trying not to shiver with excitement.
“You’re good at getting into places you don’t belong,” he whispers, and I feel a finger stroke up my bare thigh.
“Hey, easy with that,” I say, trembling as I gently swat him back.
He doesn’t seem fazed. “You’re right, I doubt I could keep you prisoner here even if I wanted. That’s why I’m asking. For the next month, try not to take any risks.”
Okay, that’s reasonable, even if it annoys me a little bit. “I’ll do my best.” I turn onto my side and look right into his face. Fuck, he’s handsome. “Why don’t we just steal the decryption key from Jeremy Fong?”
He licks his teeth again, and my mouth absolutely waters at the thought of that tongue invading my lips again, just like on our wedding day.
“That’s not an option. He might seem benign, but trust me, Iron Head is a serious player.”
“I wish you’d stop calling him that. It sounds like a bad gamer tag.”
He ignores me. “I’ll find a way to break it tomorrow. In the meantime, no trouble.” He pauses, and I think that’s the end of the conversation, but he doesn’t roll over. Instead, he asks, “Where’d you learn how to pickpocket, by the way?”
My eyebrows raise. “Are you trying to get to know me?”
“You’re my wife now. I might as well.”
“Don’t sound too enthusiastic.”
“I’m serious, I really want to know about you.”
I hesitate, not sure if I really want to reveal much of myself to this man, but decide it can’t hurt. “My older brother. He works as part of the heist team for our family.”
“Heist team?” I can see his dark smile across from me. It’s much, much too close.
“They plan jobs and carry them out all over the country. Brenden taught me how to break locks, case a target, steal a car, basic pickpocketing, all that stuff.”
“Just like a totally normal older brother should.”
“You seriously want to judge me right now?”
“Not at all, baby, not at all. I’m only teasing.” I grind my jaw, annoyed at how amused he sounds. “It sounds like you really took to his lessons, though.”
“I was good at it. I guess I have a knack.”
“Why’s that, do you think? Stealing runs in the family?”
“No, asshole.” I nudge him with my elbow lightly. “I was a pretty good gymnast back in high school, right?”
“I’ve seen how flexible you are,” he murmurs.
I’m thankful that the lights are out because I start blushing like crazy. “Anyway, I think that helped with the dexterity stuff. You know, picking locks and lifting wallets just takes a soft touch. I learned a lot of that in gymnastics, and I just had to apply it a little differently, that’s all.”
“But why stealing? You could have taken up any hobby in the world. Why did your brother’s heist work interest you?”
I don’t answer at first. I think back to those early days when I first graduated high school but wasn’t going to college. I was lost back then, drifting around and looking for something to do, and Brenden’s the one who came along to give me purpose.
“It started small,” I say finally. “Just basic lockpicking. I was pretty good at it, so I asked him to show me more. I don’t know, but it just seemed fun.”
“It seemed fun,” he repeats like he’s tasting the words. “That’s not all of it, though.”
“Do I really need another reason? Come on, you’re the computer hacker. You basically do the same thing as me, only online.”
“That’s a fair point,” he concedes, “but my cybercrimes are for money. From what I can tell, stealing isn’t your job.”
I chew my lip, considering how much to divulge. “Living with my dad hasn’t always been easy,” I say after another pause.
“How does your father connect back to stealing?”
“He’s always made me feel like I’m not good enough.” Why am I telling him all this right now? I feel naked and vulnerable, and I’m terrified he’s going to judge me. “Brenden showed me I could take control of something for once in my life. It didn’t matter what my father thought when I was out on a job, scaling a wall, shoving my way through a window, cracking a safe, whatever. Out there, I was the one in charge, and that feels good.”
He lets out a soft grunt like he understands. “You want control.”
“Exactly. Control. I haven’t had much of that in my life.” I laugh lightly, trying to act like this is no big deal and I’m totally not baring my soul to a literal stranger. “Honestly, picking locks wasn’t that fun until Brenden let me actually break in somewhere. Then I was totally hooked. It’s never been about the money for me, and I’ll never sell anything in my collection. I steal to feel free.”