“Just a small one,” I said as she uncapped the water and took a drink.
“Nice.”
I took the bottle from her and set it down, then took her hand and led her to the bed. “Is this okay?”
She nodded and I climbed in and pulled her down next to me, lifting my arm. She hesitated only a second, then scooted down so she could lie on my chest. I pulled the covers up over us so she’d be warm.
She was stiff at first, but after a few minutes her body loosened against mine. The smell of her shampoo — strawberries, I thought — mingled with the scent of her skin. It worked its way into my blood and I was glad her hand was on my chest so she wouldn’t know I was hard as a rock.
I’d wanted her in my bed, but that didn’t mean we had to fuck. Honestly, I kind of felt like the luckiest man in the universe just to lie next to her, to feel her body against mine, hear the soft inhale and exhale of her breath.
“What are Rafe and Jude doing?” she finally asked. “Like what are they really doing?”
“Do you want me to be honest?”
“Yes.”
“Stealing.” Rafe would have my head if he knew I was telling Lilah a single detail about our business, but I didn’t really care. Lilah was like us, even if she didn’t know it yet: someone who lived on the fringes, who lived by her own rules.
She shifted, turning her head to look up at me. “Stealing what?”
“That part I can’t tell you.”
“Is that what you do for a living?” she asked, her brow furrowed. “Steal?”
“Sometimes.”
“What about the other times?” she asked.
“Sometimes we protect people who need it,” I said. “We rescue people, we?— ”
“Yourescuepeople?”
“Sometimes.”
“What kind of people?”
“All kinds, but usually rich people or the families of rich people.” They were the only ones who could afford us. “You’d be surprised how many billionaires with compounds in sketchy places end up with their kids or wives kidnapped for ransom.”
She frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Which part?” I asked.
“You said you steal, but then you said you rescue people. One of those things is a good thing, an altruistic thing. The other is a crime.”
“Depends on what you’re stealing, on who you’re rescuing,” I said. “But I know what you’re getting at, and I can see where it would be confusing if you didn’t know the rule of our business.”
She laughed a little. “The rule? Your business has one single rule?”
“One single important one.”
“What is it?”
“Never hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it,” I said.
“That’s it? That’s your rule?”
“That’s it.”