Then and only then could I put my laws back into practice and return to my cool, collected lonely world.
Spinning to face Selix, I ordered, “Book a suite at the H?tel de Paris for tonight. Have the housekeeping staff on the Phantom pack an overnight bag for myself and Pimlico along with the red parcel on my bed. Send the items to the suite.”
“Just one room?” Selix asked innocently. Too innocently. “I’m guessing because you said an overnight bag for both you and Pim, there will be two guests.”
I gave him the finger and didn’t answer.
He knew exactly how many guests there would be.
And exactly what we’d be doing.
Chapter Eighteen
______________________________
Pim
IT TOOK ME a while, but I finally found it.
Ever since Elder stormed from the office, I’d sniffed around trestles and tools. I’d ducked into nooks and corners. I’d hunted through storage and knickknacks. In my treasure hunt, I came upon the silver photo frame I’d stolen previously, back where it belonged, covered in sawdust and glinting dully next to a rasp and hammer.
Elder had been true to his word and returned the item to its rightful owner.
My heart hugged itself with joy.
If he could keep such a flimsy promise—just to ease my conscience—then I could trust him to keep his promise that tonight would be mutual. That I could direct what would happen just as much as he could. That I had no need to fear the thought of sleeping with him because if it all became too much, I could say no, and he’d listen.
At least, I think he will.
We hadn’t discussed the rules. We hadn’t discussed much of anything. It seemed our voices were becoming drowned out by our bodies and their demands. Until we’d satisfied a physical conversation, I doubted we’d be able to have an intellectual one.
Picking up the gift Elder had hidden for me made my heart stop hugging itself and turn into a little hammer. Striking at my ribs, it pounded a tune I didn’t recognise. A tune slowly becoming known the more my fingers feathered over the origami prettiness. The paper gritty with warehouse dust, the soft green faded beneath wooden shavings.
That soft fluttering. That unmistakeable bubbling.
I’m…happy.
I was happy after years of being miserable.
I was happy because Elder made me feel valuable with his self-restraint and origami presents.
That was the true gift: the ability for me to find cheer in a world I thought I was ready to depart.
Bringing the origami closer, I inspected the firm folds and elegant, crisp lines. The little house was made from a hundred dollar bill, hinting, perhaps, at both past and present.
Did the four walls and the tiny roof represent his house on the hill where his mother had screamed at him or whatever place he’d take me tonight to see if we’d survive each other?
My imagination flowed heat through my veins as I pictured Elder's elegant fingers as he crimped the hundred dollar bill, forcing it to turn from rectangle to three-dimensional design.
When had he done it?
He was so talented, so hidden.
What other secrets did he harbour?
What other pain did he conceal?
Cradling the intricate paper home, I strode back through the warehouse.
I needed to find Elder and thank him. I needed him to know I was happy to take this token because it wasn’t stealing, merely claiming. It was meant for me. It had a momentary and emotional value attached. Elder still expected me to steal to pay him back. To buy my freedom based on his estimation of my worth.
Well, my first repayment would be this hundred dollar bill—if I ever had the stomach to destroy what he’d folded.
Until then, the gift was priceless, and I wouldn’t spend a penny of it.
Chapter Nineteen
______________________________
Elder
H?TEL DE PARIS, Monte Carlo welcomed us with high foyers, marble colonnades, and stained glass skylights. The five-star hotel had housed celebrities and democrats, famously known for being a home away from home for Winston Churchill.
I’d stayed a few nights while searching for a house to buy and never forgot the discretion of attentive staff and smooth elegance of luxury.
Prowling through a hotel lobby should invoke sensations of relaxation and enjoyment at spending time in a new place and being looked after in utmost class. However, my back remained tight and upright, my hands aching from fisting.
Ever since Pim had found me and thanked me for the origami house, I’d been on edge. We didn’t discuss what would happen tonight, and when Selix appeared outside the warehouse with the car, she hadn’t asked any questions.
She didn’t demand to know if we were returning to the Phantom. She didn’t dawdle or pause as if having second thoughts.
She merely climbed inside and remained silent, turning into the quiet little mouse I’d rescued and not the bold little minx I wanted to fuck.
I almost preferred her that way. It gave me a reprieve and allowed protective instincts to shield her from outside threats as well as myself.
My stomach growled with hunger and stress. We’d stayed at the warehouse longer than I’d intended, mainly because the alterations to turn the yacht from Alrik’s to Pim’s included in-depth rearranging to switch warship to cruise liner.
Pim had been content to drift and watch, using her fingertips to draw sawdust patterns on the many work-tables and studying men and women of all ages transform wood and metal into a living vessel.
The intensity she gave everything was undeniably erotic.
I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. Selix stayed behind us as Pim walked beside me. Her head tilted to take in the twilight glittering through the round skylight above. Her mouth parted in wonder at the one-story sized flower arrangement in the centre of the hand-stitched extravagant carpet.
She drank in beauty as if she’d never seen such things. She basked in colour and decadence in a way that made me take a second look and appreciate it all the more. I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy her awe. It made me swell with pride as if I’d been the one to carve and whittle every masterpiece, cornerstone, keystone, and marble archway.
My stomach rumbled again while my cock throbbed with a different kind of hunger. All day, I’d entertained thoughts of Pim alone in a hotel room. Of taking her against the door or on the floor because I’d be unable to wait until we stumbled to the bed.
If she was any other woman, I would’ve acted out those fantasies. I would’ve gone hungry for the rest of the night if it meant a marathon of passion and climaxes.
But Pim was unique, and I was attracted to her because she was unique. Her strength and determination to even contemplate a night alone with me blew me away.
I wouldn’t destroy her trust or fledging acceptance of desire by using her for my own satisfaction. In fact, I would go one step further to ensure tonight was all about her, not me. That she would be safe from my needs.