Read Thief for Free Online Page B

this in almost a decade. He’d kept it neatly folded in the back of his drawer, like a memory preserved.
    She lifted up the brown trousers which were just as faded and worn. She pulled on a dream turned nightmare. Visions of fields filled with rolling grain, and then a woman of home and comfort with three children at her side. Then came a burning sickness. Death. The destruction of all he loved. The resounding echo of her vision in her own heart literally floored her.
    Jace must have heard the crash from the other side of the door. He tapped twice. “Kraft, you okay?”
    “I’m getting there.” She stumbled to her feet and buttoned up the trousers. She wondered how much of what she’d felt was real and how much had been perverted by the drugs. Everything had a surreal chemical edge. Time seemed like salt water taffy in the sun…
    “Are you decent?” Jace asked through the closed door.
    “Debatable, but I’m dressed.”
    The storage room door creaked open. Jace wore almost the exact same outfit as she did, but his shirt was battered blue and his trousers were made of denim. He looked at her for the longest time, and she almost lifted her hands to protect herself. How could that man, with his gaze alone, make her feel utterly vulnerable? She chalked the unfamiliar feeling up to the drugs she’d been injected with for the last month.
    His clothes fit her well. The shirt strained a bit at her bust and the pants a bit at her hips, but they were about the same size in most places. Kraft took hard-and-fast notice of where they differed.
    “I wanted to get into your pants, Captain Lawless, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind.”
    Jace startled back a step. He seemed amazed she hadn’t lost her sense of humor. He suppressed a burst of laughter by turning away and coughing hard. Having composed himself, he turned back, but kept his attention on her bare feet. “We’ll have to get you some shoes.”
    “Tell you what, at this point in my life, I’m grateful I still have feet.” Her attempt at humor compelled him to meet her gaze. She smiled, but it felt forced, and if his worried brow was any indication, he noticed.
    “You’re safe.”
    A thousand questions swirled in her mind, but in the end she shrugged and asked, “Why?”
    “You can cook, right?”
    Caught off-guard, she laughed. “From captain to cook? I’ve had quite a tumble from grace.”
    “But you can cook.”
    The look on his face brimmed with so much hope, a genuine smile lifted the edges of her lips. “That I can do.”
    “Then that’s why.” He leaned casually against the doorframe.
    “You needed a cook?” She knew there was far more to his helping her than he would ever admit to.
    “Yep. Good cooks are rare. Fairing’s cook even more so.”
    Shock made her drug-ravaged nerves tingle. “Who told you that?”
    “Feller by the name of Trickster. He gave me this as proof.” Jace pulled a folded paper from his hip pocket.
    Pleased to see a well-worn friend, she clutched the paper tightly when he placed it in her hand. “Can I keep this?”
    “Then it is yours?”
    Caught, she looked up into his exotic-sunset green eyes. “You are so much more than pretty.” She dropped her gaze to the paper. “What do you want for it?”
    “Cook for me and my crew, and it’s yours.”
    “How long will I be beholden to you?” Despite her best efforts, her husky voice sounded suggestive.
    “It’s up to you.” He shrugged, pulling his soft blue shirt tight across his shoulders. “Whatever you think is fair.”
    “What latitude.” She couldn’t help but feel suspicious of his generosity, but trying to read him would probably be a waste of her time at the moment.
    “Honor among thieves.” His slight smile made her shiver.
    “You don’t owe me,” she defended, dropping any suggestive tone from her voice or posture.
    “No, I don’t, do I?” He turned and walked away.
    She followed behind, mumbling, “Looks like I owe you.” She tucked