God, he could be infuriating. “We had a deal, King,” I reminded him.
“The deal is I help you find the crown, nothing more. Who I am—my past—none of that is on the table.”
“It is if your partner is the one who took it,” I told him.
“Former,” he ground out through clenched teeth. His eyes caught mine and held them in challenge.
One I refused to lose. I nodded. “Right. Former,” I said as though humoring him.
His jaw twitched. As I expected, my response got under his skin, and he glared at me before shifting his attention to the window.
Silence fell between us as the plane broke through the clouds into a sky lit by a full moon.
After a moment, King let out a long sigh. “I didn’t take the ingots.” His voice was low and carried the sound of utter defeat and exhaustion in it, expressions I’d been fooled by before.
“Right,” I scoffed as if I believed my own lie. Because of course no one had actually taken the ingots, but I liked holding it over his head anyway. Leverage seemed to be the only language a man like King knew how to speak.
We were blazing into the sky when he finally looked up at me. “I don’t give a shit whether you believe me or not, Dirk.”
He closed his eyes again and reclined his chair as far back as it would go. I shifted in my own seat, trying hard not to let the sound of my name spoken in his sultry voice wake my lonely dick up.
While he dozed, I studied him without remorse. Finally, after all these years, Le Chaton was there within arm’s reach. My fingers itched for a set of handcuffs. How many times had I imagined slipping them around his wrist? Tightening them down? Seeing the moment in Kingston Wilde’s eyes when he realized I’d won? That he was mine?
But now instead of being in handcuffs, he was practically a member of my team. And I knew next to nothing about him. He was a complete mystery. I knew plenty of things about him, but nothing about why in the world this small-town kid from Texas would have started stealing high-priced art.
King’s family had plenty of money. His father was a top-level international money man, and his grandfathers owned half of their little corner of Texas. Most of his siblings had impressive resumes and made plenty of money. King himself had a master’s degree in Art History from one of the top specialty schools in the world. He could have a high-paying job anywhere he wanted to.
I shifted in my seat, reclining the back and then straightening it again, unable to get comfortable. I wanted to ignore King the way he was ignoring me, but it was impossible. Finally, I gave up trying. “How did you get into this business?” I asked.
He opened one eye to peer at me. “Same old story since time began,” he muttered before closing the eye again.
He clearly wasn’t interested in chatting, but I didn’t care. “A woman?” I pressed. “You wanted to impress a chick?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Something like that.”
“Tell me. Nothing you can say can be used against you, remember? Immunity means no matter what we find, you can’t be charged with any of those previous thefts.”
He opened his eyes again and narrowed them at me. “And once my attorney, MJ Wilde, gets paperwork to that effect, you let me know. M’kay? Until then, I’m catching some sleep.”
Fuck.
I stood up and moved to the back of the plane to get a little distance from him before making the phone call to Nadine to give her an update. It took several attempts, but thankfully King’s sister was still awake in California.
“Let me talk to him,” she snapped into the phone. “And you’re on my shit list for taking him away from here before our grandfather’s wedding ceremony, you asshat.”
I did feel bad for that. “Sorry, but it’s important.”
“More important than celebrating two men who… you know what? Never mind. Give me my brother.”
King was actually snoring when I walked back up to his seat.
“He’s sleeping,” I said before holding the phone so she could hear the snores.
“He’s faking. Give him the phone.”
I blinked at the man in front of me. The corner of his wide lips was damp with drool. “King?” I asked softly before placing my hand on his shoulder. I could feel heat and firm muscle through his thin sweater. He continued snoring.
MJ’s voice blared out of the phone, scaring the piss out of me. “It’s me, you jerk-off, and you’re keeping me from getting in bed with a beautiful woman!”
King’s eyes opened with a roll, and he took the phone from me, wiping the drool away with the back of his hand. “Cool your jets. I’m up.”