Steal Me
A Bad Boy Romance
Riley Rollins
Contents
Author’s Note
Mailing List & Facebook
Steal Me
1. Max
2. Ana
3. Max
4. Ana
5. Max
6. Ana
7. Max
8. Ana
9. Max
10. Ana
11. Max
12. Ana
13. Max
14. Ana
15. Max
16. Ana
17. Max
18. Ana
19. Max
20. Ana
21. Max
22. Ana
23. Ana
24. Max
25. Ana
26. Max
27. Ana
28. Max
29. Ana
30. Max
31. Ana
Epilogue: Max
Thank You
My Beautiful Killer
1. Dane
2. Abby
3. Dane
4. Abby
5. Dane
6. Abby
7. Dane
8. Abby
9. Dane
10. Abby
11. Dane
12. Abby
13. Dane
14. Abby
15. Dane
16. Abby
17. Dane
18. Abby
19. Dane
20. Dane
21. Abby
22. Dane
23. Dane
24. Abby
25. Dane
26. Abby
27. Dane
28. Abby
29. Abby
30. Dane
31. Dane
32. Abby
Epilogue: Abby
Thank You
Also by Riley Rollins
Copyright © 2017 by Riley Rollins
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental.
Steal Me is a full-length novel. You can expect it to end around 52% on your Kindle.
After Steal Me is a bonus book, My Beautiful Killer.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy!
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Steal Me
A Bad Boy Romance
I'll work my way into her mind… then I'll work my way into her delicious, passionate little body. One way or another, she's going to give me everything I want.
She's Hillyard's museum coordinator, who only cares about proving the origins of the Strastnyy Diamond.
I'm a liar and a thief who only cares about stealing it.
She's tiny, while I'm twice her size.
It makes me hot as f*ck, just thinking of all the possibilities...
She's soft and luscious. I'm as hard as the rocks I steal. Tiny, gorgeous and brilliant, she's going to be the hottest jewel I've ever stolen. And, unlike an ice cold diamond, she's going to scream my name... as I take her over and over again.
I'm in this to the end. Just don't ask me to choose Ana's heart, or the famous Strastnyy Blue?
Somehow, I've got to steal them both.
1
Max
The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Three years ago
A glint of steel, one smooth stroke and he’s on the bathroom floor, hot blood cooling fast as it pours from his throat and pools beneath him on the tile.
I pocket his key card with a gloved hand and leave him in the dead spot, one of only two areas near the museum that the sensors won’t reach tonight. The uniform I wear was stolen months ago and altered to fit my height and the breadth of my shoulders. I move in the shadows like a dark, predatory animal as my blood pounds through my veins. The Bratva knows me as Pantera, the panther.
I swipe the card, keeping my head low as the surveillance camera pivots and hums. I move down a narrow hall with a single flickering bulb, make a second swipe and the dead guard is officially clocked in for the night shift. A little purchased information told me this was the most vulnerable moment, the opportunity. There are only two other men on duty and neither has ever met the man I’ve just become.
“Shtoh noh-vah-vah?” asks the short old man pushing a broom the other way down the hall. He removes his cap and wipes his lined face with it.
“Nee-chee-vo ah-so-byen nah-vah,” I answer casually as I pass.
I move, dark and silent down the service corridors and reach my target in minutes. The engraved brass plaque makes my eyes dilate and my heart beat faster, like the sight of a beautiful woman. Special Collections: The Great Jewels of Russia, it says and I push open the door to the Gold Room.
The glass case is on the far wall. Savvin has assured me the environmental sensors and alarms will be down by now. He’s mainly electronics and Sergei says he’s brilliant. I have no choice now, but to trust that he is.
I move forward like a spectre. I spot what I want and my heart races. I punch in the series of numbers that have echoed in my brain for weeks and the back panel of the case drops open with a click. I reach inside and my hot flesh hits cold fucking ice. I suck air through my teeth and a surge of hot adrenaline runs through me. It feels so fucking good.
I’m the best jewel thief in the world. Hot diamonds and even hotter women are what I live for. As I close my fist on the cold stones, I know precisely what I’ll be stalking next.
I zip the shit into my pocket and get the fuck gone.
“Aaahh, this is the best, yeah?” Sergei Kozlov said, as he bit into his third donut. I smiled and took a swallow of coffee. Hot and bitter, just what I need after a sleepless night with the adrenaline only beginning to recede.
We sat in Pyshki, his favorite coffee house in the city, famous for their fried dough. Sergei’s been coming here for decades. He looked up at me with a smile, his lips shining with grease and satisfaction.
“So… you got them,” he said, nodding. “You like Savvin… he’s okay, right? I told you he knows his shit. Now you had a trial run with him, you’ll take him for the American job.” Sergei wiped his mouth with a napkin and lifted his coffee cup. “I know you don’t like new partners Maxim, but he’s the best there is with the fucking security systems, and he’s goddamn fucking smart.” He burned his mouth on the coffee. “Sometimes I think maybe too smart.”
“He did fine Sergei. I got the stuff so I can’t complain. You say he’s the best, I believe you.” I sipped my coffee and looked around the small, noisy room. We kept our voices low. This was hardly the place I’d have chosen, but it’s Sergei’s routine. We’ll take a walk, after. Then he’ll tell me what he plans for the next job and we’ll do the exchange.
The earrings are some of the finest I’ve ever acquired. Enormous pear shaped diamonds totaling some fifty four carats, I can feel their weight in my coat pocket. I’d spent the rest of last night holding them up to the lamp and watching as they came to life, warmed by the light and my hands. I almost
hate to give them up.
I watched as a beautiful blonde pushed past our table, her plump ass swaying in our faces. I don’t like distraction before a job so I hadn’t had a woman in a while. Too long, I thought. My cock hardened impatiently as the woman moved away, shooting me a glance and tempting me to follow. I ran a rough hand through my hair. I was going to need a good long fuck before the next job, just to clear my head…
“Finish this Max,” Sergei said, pushing a congealed donut toward me. “I’m going to take a piss and we’ll walk, yeah? Get down to business.” He disappeared as I cleared our table. We met a few minutes later out on the street.
“Let’s go,” he said with a jerk of his head, pulling his jacket collar close around his neck. “I like the walk from here to the Field of Mars. It gets my old blood moving and we’ll look at the Flame, right?”
Uncle Sergei hardly needed the exercise. True, he was well into his sixties, but he was tall and solidly built. Only the grey in his hair gave a hint of his age.
Half an hour later under thickening clouds, we stood leaning against a stone wall and watching the Eternal Flame as it burned. The park was mostly deserted now, as rain began to fall. I stood close to my uncle and slipped a cloth bag containing the diamonds into his hand. We waited as an old woman in rags shuffled past, then Sergei slipped a thick yellow envelope to me.
“Three million. I’m feeling generous today.” Sergei smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. No fucking kidding, generous.
“It’s more than we agreed, Uncle Serg,” I said quietly.
“I know, I know… but once these stones are recut and sold, I’ll get more than that in return. I like to take care of my family,” he said, his tone serious. I knew he meant what he said.
Nothing was more important to him than his family and our heritage. We had been a leading mafia power in Russia ever since she was ruled by the Tsars. Uncle was very old school. Shit, so was I. And we were respected for that, even by the newer organizations.
“Besides,” he continued, “you don’t know what I’m asking of you yet, from this American job. Consider this…,” he tapped the envelope I’d placed in my breast pocket, “a little grease on the wheels.”
“So, what is it Serg, and why do I need the new man, Savvin?”
“He’s good Max, you saw for yourself. He’s my cousin’s son… he’s family.”
I nodded as he spoke. I’d worked with Savvin for well over a year on this job and I knew he was good. But there was something in his eyes that gave me pause. I just hadn’t put my finger on it yet… We walked away from the Flame and headed for a damp bench under the trees.
“The next one is in Washington, Max, and it’s the most important job I’ve ever asked of you. Shit, of anyone. This job is personal.” Sergei put his hands on his knees and looked at the wet ground in front of him. “You know the legend of the Strastnyy Blue?”
“Of course,” I answered. I’d heard the story since I was a small boy. It told like a fucking fairy tale.
“The Strastnyy Diamond was given to our ancestor Anton by his lover, Catherine the Great.” I pronounced the name Yekaterina. So beautiful in Russian. “It was said to glow a brighter blue when they were in each other’s arms.”
“She gave him the diamond pendant along with an estate when they were forced to part.” Their love had been a burning passion, famous even in their own day and the stuff of romantic legend ever since.
“It was said, they still loved each other to their dying days. And that after their deaths, the stone seemed to bring ill luck to those who possessed it. And that it never shined so brightly again.”
“Most of the estate we still hold today,” Sergei interrupted proudly. “Along with Anton Kozlov’s portrait,” he said, looking at me closely. “Born centuries apart, and yet the two of you look almost identical.”
I knew that I bore a strong physical resemblance to Anton, but I also knew the similarity ended there. I sure as hell was no seventeenth century courtier…
“The central blue diamond was 28 carats, with three white pear shaped stones adding up to another 30 carats. It was said to have been cut from the Tavernier Blue in 1673.” I rattled off the details easily. I know my fucking diamonds. They’re as individual as people.
“Yes,” Sergei said. “And when Anton finally married many years later, the stone was passed down through the generations. Until it was lost, lost in time. Our family’s greatest legacy has been missing for the last century and a half...” He turned his black eyes to my green ones. “Until now.”
My breath caught in my chest as I watched his eyes glitter with excitement. I’d been told the story from the earliest days of my life. It was as much a part of me as were my ancestors, who’d once owned the stone. The story of the royal Blue and the mysterious powers it seemed to carry was our story. It belonged to the Kozlovs. Then and now, it remained and would always remain rightfully ours. I felt a surge of pride for my family and I knew the enormity of what my uncle was about to tell me now.
“After all this time and all the generations who’ve come and gone, the stone has been found, Maxim,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice.
“And you are the one man who can finally bring her home.”
2
Ana
Mount Hillyard Museum, Washington, D.C., Today
“Ana… Ana!”
I heard Stuart calling for me again from his office at the end of the hall. I pushed my paperwork aside and rubbed my temples. There was nothing to do but go see what he wanted now. I sighed and got up from my desk for the third time this morning. It was only nine thirty.
“Did you call me?” I asked, poking my head around his doorway with an artificial smile on my face. This game was getting old fast, but I wasn’t sure how to change the rules. Ever since I’d told Stuart that I didn’t think we should see each other anymore, it had been like this.
Well, everyone had told me, never date the boss…
“This coffee is just undrinkable, my dear,” he said, with an equally artificial smile. “I’m sure you can do better.” He waved his mug at me and I stepped in to take it from him. “I have meetings until lunch and then I’ll be out for the rest of the afternoon. I’d appreciate your dealing with my calls, Ana.” He stood and pulled his tweed jacket around his soft midsection. The man was only in his late thirties. I imagined him five years from now, looking positively middle aged with the resentment in his eyes hardened into bitterness.
“Of course, I’d be glad to, Stuart,” I answered as I backed toward the door, dirty mug in hand. What the hell had I ever seen in the man?
“And please, do a better job with the coffee in the morning. I should hardly think it’s too much to ask…” He pushed past me, closer than he had to and I felt his arm brush against my breast. His lip curled in angry pleasure as I pulled back. “You do a fine job here Ana. In some ways. But there’s no one who can’t be replaced, sweetie. Just keep that in mind and do a good job for me, alright?” He walked down the corridor toward the main entrance and his footsteps echoed hollowly. “See you in the morning,” he called to me without looking back, as the heavy door slowly closed behind him.
I stood holding the cup, wanting nothing more than to smash it into a thousand pieces against the door. Instead, I turned and headed for the kitchenette. Stuart might be the director, but he still needed me. I was the one putting the next major exhibit together, and this would be our most extraordinary collection ever. He still damn well needed me.
Teresa, one of the museum’s techs, was at the table, coffee in one hand and a fashion magazine in the other. “Is he giving you shit again, Ana?” she asked. She put her magazine down and looked up at me. “Why the hell do you put up with him? Look at you! You’re young and beautiful… such a lovely little figure. And Mister Collins is just full of it. This is the best damn coffee I’ve ever had.” She lifted her cup to me like a salute. “If you’d just let me introduce you to my son…”
“I love you Te
rry,” I said, wrapping my arms around her chubby neck and kissing her soft cheek. “But I’m just fine the way I am. After Stu, I’m not in any hurry to get involved again.” I poured myself a cup from the coffee maker and took a sip. “This last year on my own has been good for me. I’ve been able to spend a lot more time with my sister, and I love being able to focus on my work.” I moved toward the doorway and smiled back at her warmly. “And you’re right. I do make damn good coffee.”
I heard her chuckle as I headed back to my office. I sat down and took a deep, relaxing breath. Stuart would come around... eventually. We’d only dated for a few months after all. It hadn’t gotten further than dinner, the movies and a few awkward kisses at the front door. But almost a year later, he was still angry. How much longer could this go on?
I sighed, and spun in my chair to look at the cork board behind me. I pulled off a curling photograph and smoothed it in my hands. The diamond it showed was incredible. Huge, blue and mesmerizing, it had consumed my thoughts for the last three years and soon I would be bringing it here, to the Mount Hillyard Museum, to be put on display with the Imperial Russian Collection. Our museum boasts the largest selection of gems from the Russian Diamond Fund outside Moscow. And as a collections specialist, I would be bringing the Strastnyy Blue here from the underground vaults of the Smithsonian to join them.
This diamond was my baby. I was the one who had done the research. I was the one who had first speculated, and then boldly made the move, to include her in the collection. There was no proof yet, but my instincts told me she belonged with the Imperial jewels. I knew it in my heart.
I kept the picture in my hand as I left my office. As excited as I was about the upcoming exhibit, I was still distracted and unhappy about the situation with Stu. What was it about me, that I never wanted a real relationship with the men I dated? It never seemed to fail. After three or four dates and all my high hopes, I inevitably gave a polite excuse and crept back to my quiet job and my quieter apartment, frustrated and dissatisfied once again. The men of this modern world left me cold. Some had ambition, but they were weak in spirit. Others were physically strong, but they could only work a machine at the gym. And none seemed to know what they wanted... beyond a fast roll in the sheets.
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