Page 11

Phantom

I glanced at her from time to time as I read. She sat with her knuckles pressed to her mouth, her eyes focused as she devoured my filthy little romance. I knew she wouldn’t get to the good shit anytime soon, but she was invested.

And maybe it was sick, but I enjoyed it. How the well-behaved, fancy princess got corrupted. I had pushed her to uncontrollable rage, to begging and making trades with the wicked—meaning, myself—and now, she was reading a smutty romance.

It was all innocent enough, but everything had to start somewhere, right? And this girl would be deliciously filthy by the time I was done with her.

Or not. I rapped on my empty fucking head with the butt of the knife I played with, drawing an alarmed look from Barbara.

“Just trying to focus,” I explained, which was, shockingly, the truth.

I was distracted, and dangerously so. It wasn’t my job to corrupt the girl. I was supposed to catch the fucker who threatened her and then leave, my task complete.

And yet, my mind went into those forbidden little nooks, my instincts pushing me to act like a psycho. I internally cringed at how I asked her to climb me. As if I couldn’t be any more obvious in how much I wanted this girl who wouldn’t have given me the time of day if I wasn’t her protector.

Pathetic. I should do something to shut down those idiotic instincts fast. Just eviscerate the urge to tease her. To protect her beyond the scope of my assignment. To keep her warm and snug, and happy.

And yet, when Barbara’s stomach growled loudly some time later, I couldn’t help but put the book down and plan where we could eat safely. She was hungry. Ergo, she had to be fed.

Immediately.

“Let’s go,” I said, hooking a foot around her chair’s leg and pulling her away from the table.

She gasped and shot me an irate look. “Did you find something useful? We can’t leave until you do.”

“Lots of speculation. The author is an imbecile. Let’s go.”

I grabbed her arm and hauled her up to her feet. Barbara huffed in anger and pushed me away.

“I’m not going anywhere! You can go if you want.”

I laughed mockingly and grabbed her elbow this time.

“We can come back here after you eat. Come on.”

She took a deep breath, unclenched her fists, and gave me a stern look. “I’m used to being hungry. I want to stay and read until we have something useful. What if someone else gets the book while we’re gone?”

Her stomach rumbled again. I lost my patience.

“Fine.”

Before she stopped me, which she probably would have, I tore off the back half of the book’s cover that had the anti-theft chip attached to it. Barbara made a choked sound of shock, and I stuffed the cover under the carpet by the wall, stomping on it a few times to make sure it wasn’t obvious.

“See? Done,” I said, putting the book in the pocket on my shin. “Can we go now? I get nervous when women are hungry. You get insufferable and all bitch… all unpleasant.”

I turned away from her and made a face. Oops . If Barbara reported that little word to anyone, I would pay a huge-ass fine. Good thing she had no idea about the contract I signed.

When I turned back, I was met with her angriest glare yet. A frisson of excitement went down my spine, pink tinting my vision.

“I can’t believe you destroyed a library book!” she hissed so sharply, my butt cheeks quivered with excitement. “And now you’re trying to steal it! It’s a crime!”

I ran my tongue over the sharp edges of my inner teeth, doing my best not to enjoy it too obviously. Man, what was it about this girl’s anger? Why did it do it for me?

“It’s barely a misdemeanor. Come on. I’m the one doing the bad shit, so don’t get your knickers in a twist. Your conscience is clear, doll.”

“But I should report you!” she exploded in a stage whisper, digging her heels in when I pulled her away from the table. “I should be good and tell someone!”

I stopped and regarded her. My vision was so fucking pink, I could barely concentrate. Any minute now, I would start seeing tiny hearts floating around her face.

“Well, do you want to report me?” I asked, genuinely curious about her answer. “Do you want to be good?”

She froze, her eyes widening. Slowly, a tentative smile spread on her face, turning up the pink polluting my vision by one hundred per cent.

“No. But… I don’t know. I don’t like stealing from a library. ”

“I’ll make a note to steal from somewhere else next time,” I said impatiently. “Can we go now?”

Her stomach rumbled the third time. She bit her lip, obviously conflicted, and I shrugged, picked her up, and threw her over my shoulder.

“Oh my God! Stop this! Put me down this second!”

I ignored her hushed demands, crossing the reading room in purposeful strides. To her credit, Barbara didn’t raise her voice, probably because that good girl instinct reminded her she was supposed to be quiet. I rolled my eyes.

No wonder that fucker got her. She was way too easy to kidnap, for one. Too afraid of breaking the rules.

“Good day. Wonderful weather, ay? Enjoy your book.”

I nodded politely at every person we passed, all of them sitting at small tables and equally paralyzed by their manners as Barbara was. Some gasped, some gave me spooked looks, but when I spoke to them politely as if nothing was wrong, they completely ignored the feebly struggling woman whose gorgeous ass now decorated my shoulder.

By the time we reached the entrance hall, she was subdued, huffing and groaning quietly, but not struggling. As we passed the help desk, she knocked on my back with her fist.

“I need to give back the magnetic card,” she hissed.

“Sure.”

I reached into the pocket on her ass, where she kept the card, doing my best to cop a really good feel without arousing suspicion. When I had the card—and the memory of her warm, soft curves that I wished to feel again without armor on—I sent it flying as if it was a throwing star. As luck would have it, the card stuck into a tiny gap between the panels of the desk top. The librarian manning the desk looked up with wide eyes, the color draining from his face when he recognized me.

“Good day to you!” I said cheerfully, carrying my furious prize out of the building.

I only let her down when we were by my bike. As soon as she was on the ground, Barbara gave me a furious look and kicked my shin with all her might.

“Aaaaah! Fuck! It hurts!” she screamed, hopping in place on one leg.

Well, it was her own damn fault. If I had expected any violence from the meek little lamb, I would have avoided her kick to spare her foot, but she chose to be sneaky about it.

“Poor baby,” I said with exaggerated sympathy. “You should never kick an abomination. Here, stop jumping around. I’ll see if your foot is okay. ”

“Fuck you,” she whined, hugging her knee to her chest, fingers wrapped around her sneaker. “Why are you so stupidly hard?”

“Well, that’s what happens when a man is strongly attracted to someone,” I said mildly. “Didn’t you have sex ed in school?”

She groaned, shot me a filthy look, and hopped away to a low wall. She sat down and took off her shoe, hissing from pain. I followed, struggling to keep my laughter in check. Damn, she really was fun to play with.

“And? How is it?” I asked after she gently checked her toes, wincing.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I broke anything,” she said with a sigh. “But I won’t dance for a few days, at least.”

She shook her head and looked up, her expression sheepish. “Sorry I kicked you,” she mumbled. “I guess I should have learned long ago. That’s what happens when I cross the line.”

I dropped to a crouch in front of her and retracted the armor covering my palms. The plates clicked gently, sliding and stacking on top of each other to mimic the lines of bones in my palms. Barbara’s breath hitched, and she watched it closely, intrigued.

“May I?” I asked, gesturing with my naked, dark-gray-skinned palm at her foot.

“I guess,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

I gently held her ankle, doing my best to hide the shiver that shot down my spine when I felt her naked skin against mine. My cock twitched, and I bit back a curse. Really, I should have touched people without armor more often. As it was, I only did it in sexual situations. I conditioned myself to respond this way.

I moved her foot left and right, sliding my fingers along her ankle. “Does it hurt?”

“No.”

I checked her delicate bones next, carefully passing my fingertips over each. I looked around from time to time, making sure we were safe and alone, and Barbara shivered, digging her nails into her arms.

“This pain wasn’t a punishment for kicking me, just a simple consequence of making a stupid decision,” I said softly as I took her smallest toe between two fingers and moved it with care.

She gasped, but the bones were intact. I moved on to the next. “You need to be smart when you break the rules. Bend the world to your will. Karma and the law only work if you believe in them, doll. I don’t. That’s how I get away with almost everything.”

She laughed softly. “But you don’t. Your boss threatened to give you a job you hate if you don’t behave.”

I looked up, grinning, and almost recoiled when another wave of pink infused my vision. “She won’t do anything unless you give me away. So don’t. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She sighed, looking down with a small frown, and damn, but I didn’t know if she was pink because of my freaking eyes or because she was blushing.

Her foot was warm in my hand, but callused and strong, too. A dancer’s foot.

“Nothing is broken,” I said after a lengthy examination. “But you should stay off it to be safe. Put on just your sock and let’s go.”

She gave me a long look, her mouth curving in a small smile. “Really? You’re going to carry me like a sack of potatoes again?”

I grinned back, shaking my head. “No. This time you’re coming willingly, so I’ll carry you like a princess.”

When she shook her head in amusement, laughing under her breath, I cringed internally. Like a princess? What was fucking wrong with me? The words themselves weren’t even that lame, since it was a joke. Yet, I knew I meant them wholeheartedly. That was what made me want to howl from embarrassment.

I picked up her shoe and put my armor back on my hands, because if I felt her soft warmth again, I would just embarrass myself even more. Then I picked her up, bridal style. She gasped and put her arms around my neck. She avoided looking at my face, though, which was a blessing. I just knew my eyes glowed like fucking lightbulbs.

“Hop on,” I said, sitting her on my bike. God, the way her thighs hugged the seat. “Now, what do you want to eat?”

She fidgeted, clearing her throat. “Well, we should probably get back home. Since we have the book. There will be lunch.”

I heard the disappointment in her voice, and that was enough to make me push. I was determined to get to the root of the problem.

“I didn’t ask what we should do, doll. I asked what you want to do. Now, be straight with me.”

She sighed heavily, nodded to herself, and looked up with a determined expression. “Well, I… I really shouldn’t, but I want to try one of those coffee places where they make coffee into desserts. You know, with flavored syrups, whipped cream, cookies…”

She trailed off and looked away, her jaw working. I stared for a moment longer, assessing her. She said she wanted to try one of those places. Did she mean she never did it before?

Shit. My poor little doll.

“All right,” I said, adjusting the helmet to put it on her. “I’ll take you to the Fabulous Coffee Club. They have sprinkles and everything.”

When she looked up, I had to lock my legs to control my reaction. Her face was completely unguarded, her eyes full of stars, and her smile was so bright, pink exploded in my head like a firework.

She was bright light and pure joy. I stood there, dumbfounded, just staring at her, until she looked away with a soft laugh that pierced my black, shriveled heart like a knife.

“That sounds amazing,” she said with quiet joy in her voice.

I couldn’t move. Shivers ran down my back, because no woman ever had looked at me like that. The looks I got in the night club were covetous and horny, and the looks I got everywhere else were horrified or disgusted, but she…

God, the way she smiled. At me. Because I offered her coffee with sprinkles.

It was fucking sad. Sad because she radiated joy at such a simple thing that no one thought to offer her before. And sad for me, because in my thirty-four years of life, no one had ever smiled at me like that.

I cleared my throat, trying to make the pink go away. When it didn’t, and the pleasant shivers crawling up my thighs got more intense, I clenched my teeth and braced. I had to make this glow go away, and brutal honesty was the way to do it.

She’s fucking royalty, and you’re a monster. You’ll never get to have her. She’ll never want you like that, moron. So get these stupid thoughts out of your head and do your fucking job.

The pink diffused. I put the helmet on Barbara’s head to get rid of that temptation of a smile before I got on, engaging all systems to ignore her presence so close to me.

I had one job: catch the mind manipulator. After that, this would be all over, and I’d never see her again.