Page 32 of Mile High Heist

“You’re new to this.” His eyes lingered on my chest. “Fear has a scent. It’s not detectable to most people. But I am not most people.” His eyes flicked up. “I scare you. Why?”

“I’m not scared,” I lied. I was terrified.

“You lick your lips when you lie.”

Note to self: cut out tongue next time.

Sweat prickled the back of my neck. Somehow, I’d ended up cornered, with no way out. I had to either retreat or regain control.

I still didn’t know where he could be hiding it. If only I had more time, or a way to get even closer to him…

His eyes flickered away, as if losing interest. Shit.

“You do scare me,” I blurted out. His gaze sharpened on me. “You remind me of my father.”

That made him positively gleeful. Of course, an arrogant psychopath like him would relish a girl with daddy issues.

He laughed again, and I hated that it was a pleasant sound. Low, smooth, like melted chocolate.

My eye snagged on his watch once more. I couldn’t figure out why it bothered me so much.

And then I realized why.

His watch wasn’t moving.

The hands were frozen, stuck on 10 and 2. My father’s watch also didn’t have that tiny engraving at the bottom.

Those tiny engravings that looked exactly like…

“Enough.”

I jolted, my eyes swinging up wide. “Sorry?”

“Let’s cut the chit-chat.” Peter stood up so quickly that I found myself pinned against the back of the opposite seat. “I know what you want.”

Shit, shit, shit.

He stared down at me, a challenge in his eyes. Your move, that look said.

It was too late to back down now. If I was right, the watch was the key. And if I played my cards right, I could get close enough to take it for myself.

“I want to continue our conversation,” I said, smiling. I imagined he smelled the fear wafting off me in waves. “Do you, um, want to—”

“Yes,” he said abruptly. “I want to fuck you.”

Oh my god.

I glanced around, hoping no one had heard him. Again, he didn’t seem to care. He believed we were still playing his game. He was in control, and I was just the pawn.

“Okay,” I said with a secretive smile. “Just, uh, follow me?”

My knees turned rubbery as I moved back into the aisle and strolled toward the bathroom. He followed me silently, so silently that I was tempted to check and see if he’d moved at all.

But I didn’t. I knew if I looked back and saw his hunger, his dark intentions, I’d chicken out.

I walked past Ryle, who gave me a wide-eyed look that screamed: What the hell are you doing?

I was going off-script.