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Humor lit those green eyes brighter, and he huffed out a breath that hit my cheek. Warm. Spicy. Clean. He smelled as good as he looked.

He brushed his thumb back and forth beneath my jaw, the soft movement gentle and unnerving.

“How the hell did you get out of those cuffs?” His voice was deep and low, vibrating through his chest into mine. It was really hard to concentrate on his words when his hips were pressing into mine, his chest pushing against my breasts with every even breath he took.

“Magic?” I tried.

“Cade thinks you’re more trouble than you’re worth,” he murmured, his eyes lit with humor.

Who the fuck was Cade? Also, fuck this Cade person. I tried to ignore the twinge of hurt those words caused, though. How many times had people said that about me? How many times had I been discarded because I acted out? Nobody had ever cared about why I was the way I was. They just wanted me gone.

Including this Cade person who I’d never even met.

“I definitely am,” I agreed. “You should just let me go.”

He inhaled, his chest squishing mine as it expanded, and he opened his mouth like he was about to say something.

Hopefully that this was all a misunderstanding and, hey, there’s the door, you’re free to go.

But that’s not what came out of his mouth. Instead, his eyes searched my own, long enough to bring up an intense feeling of discomfort. I’d have squirmed beneath that penetrative look, but I was well and truly pinned.

Then he said, “I have a proposition for you.”

What?

“Isn’t it a little early to be talking about a lifelong commitment that ends in divorce half the time?”

“That’s a proposal, you—” He sighed and pressed his lips together. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and then the corner of his mouth tilted up in a tiny smile. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

I was delighting in getting on his nerves. He had been so calm, unruffled, that annoying him felt like a win. Getting under his skin was my only available weapon right now and I had a talent for rubbing people the wrong way.

He took his hand off my neck and ran his fingers up the side of my face and into my hair. What sick game was he playing? Did he think he could lower my guard with a few stray fingers? A warm palm? Some gentle strokes?

Because it was fucking working.

I swallowed hard. Now that he wasn’t holding me down by the throat, I should try and get a good head butt in⁠—

“How much do you know about Peter Thorne?”

The question caught me off guard. Mr. Thorne? Wasn’t this guy just a random robber? Or not, because he’d mentioned before that Thorne wasn’t a good man. So he’d targeted the Army Surplus store? There was a rhyme to his reason?

My curiosity was piqued, and while I wanted to say that I was seeing him in a new light now, unfortunately the same old headache-inducing fluorescents were still shining down on us.

“Mr. Thorne? Oh, you know. The basics,” I hedged.

He lifted a brow. “Which are…?”

If he wanted to know about Mr. Thorne…

Hmm. Maybe I could spin this a different way. If I had something he needed, then he’d be more inclined to let me go. Right? Maybe even just hand over the money he’d stolen from me that I’d stolen from the man he was asking me about.

“Let’s just say the things I know about Peter would astonish you.” That sounded vague enough but still insinuated I had some kind of dirt on the man.

The giant above me smiled. “Would they now? Please, by all means…astonish me.”

“Nah. This kind of information is worth a lot of money. In fact, I’m late for a meeting with another buyer, so unless you’re offering more than he is⁠—”

“What’s he offering?”