Thief: A Bad Boy Romance Read Online Free Page B

shoots me a look, shaking her head. “Yeah, let’s watch the swearing like a sailor around the four-year old, shall we?”
    “Sorry,” I mumble.
    “Where’s Blaine and what’s-her-name? Your assistant.”
    “Ainsley,” I say absently. “Blaine took a later ferry so she’s hanging back to wait for him.” I blow air through my lips.
    Stella’s brow furrows as she pulls off of Main Street. “What’s this about Silas? ”
    I give her an accusing look. “Uh, did you forget to mention before I came home that he was back in town?”
    Her frown deepens. “Silas Hart is here ? Seriously?””
    “ Yeah ,” I growl, turning to stare out the window at the tree-lined streets. “Apparently,” I mutter before raising a brow at her. “Wait, did you really not know?”
    “If I’d known, I’d have chopped his you-know-what-off long before your ferry arrived,” she mutters, making me grin.
    “What the heck is he doing home is the real question.”
    It’s the only question. It’s the question making my damn head spin as I stare out the window, totally lost in it as we pull through my parent’s neighborhood.
    Stella coughs.
    “Hmm?”
    She gives me a look. “What’s he doing in Shelter Harbor?”
    “You’re not going to believe it.”
    “Try me.”
    “Dad’s dedication.”
    “Pop-pop!” Carter crows from the backseat.
    Stella balks. “You’re sh-” she catches herself. “You’re s-h-i-t-t-i-n-g me,” she spells out.
    “Oh,” I smile thinly. “It gets better. Rowan invited him.”
    Stella whistles lowly. “Remind me to kill our brother.”
    “Me first.”
    “So that’s going to be fun with Blaine coming,” Stella says dryly. “Wait, he doesn’t know about-”
    I shake my head, looking out the window.
    “You haven’t somehow fixed that thing and forgotten to tell me have you?”
    “It’s on my to-do list.”
    It was never going to be a “forever” secret. But we were young, and in love, and what started as a silly conversation in the back of his pickup under the stars one summer night turned into reality. Because when you’re eighteen and head over heels madly in love, you don’t think about the what-ifs, or what-may-comes.
    You only know one moment, sharing one heart with the boy you know without question is the one - the only one who’ll ever matter.
    “Distance is going to suck.”
    His arms are around me as I sit between his legs, leaning against his chest and staring up at the starry night sky.
    “It’s only New York.” His lips brush my neck, sending a glow through my body as I sink back into him. His arms growing a little tighter - the move protective and comforting, and it makes me grin. Because it says that even as tough and as brave as the boy holding me is - even as fearless as he is with everything he’s gone through in his life - the thought of me leaving has him holding on to me, like he’s afraid to let me go.
    “Besides, you know I’ll be down there all the damn time.”
    “It’s an all-girl’s dorm,” I pout, my hands sliding over his arms and entwining in his.
    “Then I’ll dress in drag.”
    I giggle, turning back to press my lips to his. My eyes flutter open halfway through the kiss, flitting over his serene, happy face as he kisses me, and drinking in this perfect moment.
    “I just want this to be forever,” I say quietly, pulling away.
    “It is forever, Ivy-girl,” he murmurs, those eyes of his darting across my face, that roguish grin stretching across his face.
    I sink back into his arms as we both look up at the stars again.
    “What if it really WAS forever,” he says after a moment.
    I rake my teeth across my lip as the grin pulls at the corners of my mouth. “What do you mean?”
    He chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. “You know what I mean. What if it really was forever? What would you do if I asked?”
    I can feel this feeling of pure euphoria exploding through me, my eyes shining at the corners and the glowing feeling of