Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
I headed for the car, running a hand through my hair, like that could erase my frustration over the whole damn night. The party had been a total bust. The dinner invite had amounted to nothing. “And I’m aggravated to think we’ll have to return to search another day. Plus, my champagne buzz is nearly gone, so I could really use a Cherry Popsicle.”
“Is that code for a ruby-encrusted—”
I was not in the mood for innuendo. “No. There’s a bar along the beach that serves frozen cherry margaritas with a block of cherry ice that you can suck like a popsicle when you’re done. I need one to erase the image of my stepfather’s fiancée holding that thing.” I gestured at the black pouch.
“Fair enough. Let’s go.” We resumed the walk to the car, and he asked, “What’s a bandage dress?”
“It’s a dress that’s very clingy and tight.”
“Sounds uncomfortable.”
“So does a diamond-encrusted dildo.”
He laughed and opened the car door. When he got in on the other side, he smiled, like a cat who’d caught the tastiest mouse in the universe.
“What’s that grin for?” I asked.
“I have good news.” Mischief lit his eyes and brightened his handsome face. “We don’t have to go back. The diamonds aren’t in the house.”
I gaped at him. “How do you know?”
“Because you did an excellent job on your recon of the first floor.”
What the hell was he talking about? I furrowed my brow. The man could be seriously cagey at times. “What do you mean? Just tell me, Jake,” I said, eager to know.
He shrugged happily, a little smugly too. But damn, he wore smug well. “What I mean is while you were scouting the ground level, I took care of the second floor.”
My jaw dropped. I needed details, stat. “What? When?”
Hooking a thumb toward the moonlit house, he said, “I climbed in through the second-story window and checked out Eli’s office while you kept everyone busy downstairs.”
Damn him. I knew it. He didn’t trust me.
“You were in there the whole time I was downstairs? Did you know you were going to do that? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted you to act natural,” he said, all casual and cool.
“You tricked me again!” I protested, my voice pitching higher. I was grateful we were in the car, parked at the end of the block, and no one could hear me. This man riled me up.
“I like to think of it as protecting you,” he said, and his tone was so confident, so in control, and it pissed me off.
He really thought I couldn’t handle this investigation. Folding my arms, I stared him down. “Protecting me from what exactly? From myself?”
“From inadvertently letting on that your partner was sneaking around upstairs and cracking open your stepdad’s safe,” he said.
I huffed. “This was exactly my concern earlier. That you don’t trust me. That you think I can’t do this,” I said, flapping my hand at the house down the street. “You’re the expert and I’m the amateur, and you don’t even tell me what’s going on.”
He grabbed my wrist, curled his hand around it, and gently squeezed. “Ruby, I didn’t tell you because I do trust you.”
Huh? What? That made no sense. “Do you hear yourself, Jake?”
“Yes. And ask yourself this—do you honestly think I would break into a home, sneak around, and crack a safe if I didn’t trust my partner? Trust her implicitly, and with my fucking life? I couldn’t tell you because I needed it to work flawlessly. But I also couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t trusted you to do your part. To provide cover. Do you have any idea how hard it is to provide cover?”
He stared at me with such intensity that I was kind of turned on. A shiver ran down my legs. “No. How hard?”
“It’s one of the toughest things. To go about your business, like you did, and protect someone else. You did that for me.”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it,” I whispered, suddenly feeling disarmed. Maybe even swayed by his point.
“I know,” he said, his tone softening, like he was imploring me to see his full heart and mind. “Because I knew you would do your thing. You would chat with the ladies. You would scope out the situation. I trusted you’d do everything so I could canvas the top floor. And you did. Thank you.”
I was quiet for a beat, absorbing his points. “You’re welcome,” I said, unsure if I meant it at first, then thinking I mostly did. I was also wildly intrigued. “So you broke in? You were sneaking around?”
“I did. I climbed a tree. Then jumped on the roof. Opened the window.”
Why was that sexy? I didn’t even know, but the images were surprisingly hot. Jake sneaking into the home, Jake surveying the upstairs, Jake being all subterfuge-y and daring.