Page 21 of Prettiest Little Thief (Band of Thieves #1)

According to Adler, Monroe was banged up pretty good but nothing to warrant a hospital visit. It would take a couple weeks for her to feel completely normal again.

I had already canceled my travel plans for the next few weeks to be here for her. Even if she decided she didn’t want to go the marriage route to get out of her debt, I would be by her side while she healed.

“Am I just supposed to stay in bed for the next couple of weeks?” Monroe asked after the doctor left.

“Just don’t overdo it. We will stick to the things you’re comfortable with.”

She stared down at her hands in her lap for a moment. I could tell she was thinking.

“What?” I asked.

Her brown gaze met mine as her tongue ran over her bottom lip. I followed the movement unintentionally, feeling my cock harden.

Dammit.

“Don’t you have women fawning over you?”

I barked out a laugh. “I guess you could say women like to flaunt themselves for my attention, but most of the time, I’m too focused on my work to notice. Why? ”

“Because… Because if we were to get married, would it be monogamous?” Her cheeks tinged pink.

“Would you want to be exclusive?” A mixed feeling of excitement and uneasiness hit me in the chest.

She threw up her hands. “I don’t know. If it’s contractual, would it count if we were married and seeing other people? I’ve never been that person. It just seems…” She scrunched up her nose.

“Wrong?”

“Yeah. Even if it sounds stupid.”

“I don’t think it sounds stupid.” I stepped closer to her as she lay in bed. The mattress dipped under my weight as I sat beside her. “You can make a list of all the things you want during our marriage, and we will go through it together. Set limits and boundaries. What you expect from me.”

“ If I decide to marry you.” She smirked.

“I don’t think you would be asking these questions if you weren’t thinking about it.”

Her smirk dropped. “I just have to know everything this agreement entails.”

I nodded and trailed my hand to hers, threading our fingers together. Her chest rose and fell more quickly. “I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to. You make the decisions in this.”

“The control freak Lucas Knight is telling me that I’m in charge? This has to be a joke. Fox, you can come out now! Where are the cameras?” She glanced around the room.

A chuckle left me. “No cameras, Monroe. I’m serious.”

She settled back against the pillows and took a deep breath. “I still need time to think about it. It’s not every day a bazillionaire proposes and tells you they’ll bail you out of the debt you have with a crime boss.”

“It’s not every day you come across a car thief who can help you steal Anastasia’s Keepsake. ”

“I’m guessing you could have asked the ton of criminals you have in your back pocket.” She raised a dark brow.

I shrugged. “Maybe. But then you would still be stuck in jail.”

Monroe stared at our intertwined hands. “I still don’t know why you wanted to give me a get out of jail free card. Well, it wasn’t really free, but you know what I mean.”

For a moment, I thought about it. She was right, I could have used the people I know. “Maybe I wanted to see how desperate you were to avoid jail time.”

“Rude.” She rolled her eyes.

“I’m an asshole, I know.”

She laughed, and it was a beautiful sound. Her eyes lit up and her dimples appeared. Monroe Whitlock fascinated me, and I couldn’t pinpoint why.

Maybe it was because she was a criminal but still so happy-go-lucky. A hundred-mile difference from the felons I had done business with. Sweet and gorgeous with seductive, whiskey-colored eyes. Feisty only when she needed to be.

I didn’t believe she would be in the position she was in if she hadn’t made a last-ditch effort to save her mother from cancer.

She gave up her life to try to keep her mom from death’s door.

It was something to be admired. And it softened my hard exterior, because I would have done the fucking same to keep my own mother Earth-bound.

Her grief didn’t get in the way of her kindness, even as the memory was brought to the surface every time she had to steal, lie, and cheat to survive. She hated every second of it but did what she deemed necessary so she wouldn’t be murdered by the Crimson Brotherhood.

“I still don’t understand why you want to help me, or why this chest and key are so important to you.”

“In time I might reveal that to you.” I released her hand and pushed to my feet. “For now, worry about healing.”

“But I still have so many questions.” Her brows furrowed.

“And when the time is right, I will tell you.”

“You’re frustrating.” She pouted.

“Patience, Monroe. Everything will make sense eventually.”

In truth, I wasn’t ready to give her the full story about my family.

Instead of calling off the arranged marriage, Sarah had married Christian a week before Dad committed suicide.

It enraged me to the point of nearly beating the shit out of my new brother-in-law.

If Fox hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed him with my bare hands.

Christian was a known womanizer and abuser. But his family had money and a well-known name in our community. My sister fell into his web and was trapped in the wicked snare of her husband. My last hope to free her was procuring the relic and offering it in exchange for my sister’s freedom.

In a way, Monroe was like Sarah. Trapped. Unable to move forward because of the toxic people who held her back. Charles and Christian had a lot in common. Both of them used people and punished them when things weren’t brought to them when and where they wanted.

“I’m going to head out for a bit, but Fox and Evie are here,” I said, changing the subject.

Monroe nodded.