Caught in the Act: A Jewel Heist Romance Anthology

by Ainslie Paton

  He walked over and sat in the lizard’s chair. His knees hit the underside of the desk. He sat low in the chair and steepled his fingers like he’d seen Leonard do so many times.

  “Okay, if I were Leonard hiding the necklace, where would I put it?”

  He looked down at the bottom drawer which was really a steel-walled safe. “If it were there, I’d have it nearby all the time. I could open the drawer and look at it any time I wanted. But I don’t really like the diamond. I just like the fact that I won. That I have it and my cousin doesn’t. The beauty of the stone is lost on me. Plus I’m pissed that the sale I planned fell through after the debacle at the museum.”

  It wouldn’t be in the desk safe.

  “But I would want to see it sometimes. And because it’s so hard for me to bend down over my potbelly, I probably wouldn’t put it in the floor safe. Every time I need something out of there, I’d have to get someone to do it for me. And while I would love to have Jake do my bidding, and have to see the diamond and know he lost, he doesn’t work for me anymore.”

  Not in the floor safe.

  Which left behind the painting of Gretchen Staffordshire.

  Jake stood and crossed to the painting. It had been done when she was still relatively young, before she’d lost both of her children and had to take on two youngsters. There was a sparkle in her eyes that hadn’t been there as she aged. She was probably in her late forties in the painting. Her hair had already turned silver, because Gretchen Staffordshire’s hair wouldn’t dare turn grey. She was wearing the diamond attached to the tiara. Staring at the painting, he couldn’t help but see Ana in twenty years. God, he hoped what he was about to do would bring that same sparkle to her eyes.

  Jake reached for the latch on the frame and pulled it open like a door. He’d retrieved things from the floor safe and the desk safe more times than he could count over the years, but this was Leonard’s private safe.

  Still, Leonard was a creature of habit and Jake didn’t think it’d take too much out of him to open the safe. Jake would have suggested something much more secure if he’d actually cared about Leonard. Something with changing passwords and multiple levels of security, like the one he had at his own place, or his former place.

  But with Leonard, he often went with the KISS method—keep it simple and stupid.

  It was a four-digit code and from the smudges on the keypad, Jake knew one of the digits repeated. This should be a piece of cake. 5-2-1.

  Gretchen Staffordshire’s birthday had been December 15. Could it really be that simple?

  Jake entered the code 1-2-1-5. The door safe whirred and clicked open.

  “Thank you for being predictable,” Jake muttered.

  The safe door swung open and there was a small purple velvet bag sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty safe. He reached in and opened the bag.

  Even though he was prepared for what he was going to see, the beauty of the necklace, of the stone, took his breath away. He was just about to close the safe when he noticed one other thing in there. A small white envelope. If it was important to Leonard, Jake wanted to know what it was. He pocketed the envelope along with the necklace. He closed the safe and put the painting back into position.

  “Always nice to see you, Gretchen,” he said.

  This time when he ran down the stairs, he stepped where the motion sensor lights would see him. He wanted the lights to be blazing when Leonard got home. He slipped out of the house undetected. He walked to the nearest cross street, where the opera had just gotten out, and got lost in a sea of New Yorkers.

  * * *

  Four weeks.

  It had been four weeks since she’d left New York behind. Island life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sure, every day was as beautiful as the one before. It was hard to complain when every day was eighty degrees and sunny. The evenings brought cooler temperatures with refreshing breezes. It’d be perfect if she had someone to share it with. As it was, Jake’s socks and suit jacket were all she had to keep her company. She’d had to wash the socks, and the jacket barely held any last trace of his scent.

  The few hours she’d spent with Jake in the museum had been some of the best in her life. She’d never considered herself a sexual person, though tabloids would disagree. With Jake, she’d learned so much about herself. His words, his forbidden touch, had awakened things she’d never known existed. Unfortunately, her vibrator was a poor substitute for Jake’s raw power, and to say she was unfulfilled was an understatement.

  The first few days after she left, Ana had scoured the internet for any news of Jake. She’d been horrified to see pictures of him in handcuffs being led out of the museum. How she managed to avoid being photographed while leaving, she’d never know. She hadn’t even seen any paparazzi and usually she was very attuned to them.

  After those pictures, there had been nothing.

  No news on Jake.

  No news on the diamond except for a brief blurb to say that Leonard had decided not to sell the necklace, nor would it be returned to the museum. So where in the hell was it? She’d done as Mr. Hoffman had asked and sent a postcard telling him how much she was enjoying herself. It was a lie. So many times over the past few weeks she’d wanted to call him, but she hadn’t. She was supposed to trust him. Trust Jake.

  So she was sitting in paradise, staring out over the crystal blue water. Alone.

  As far as she was concerned the whole clusterfuck proved what a terrible criminal she was. She’d planned to end up on this island alone. But she’d never thought it would be this lonely.

  The island was small. She loved her small bungalow, set back on a private beach. There were four other bungalows on the property. The one on the far side of the island was inhabited by a couple who worked at the main house. The others were currently empty.

  The main house was a huge white two-story structure at the highest point of the island. She’d yet to make her way up there, she was polite enough to be waiting for an invitation. Not only did it have a wraparound porch on the first floor, but a balcony spanned the entire second floor as well, only interrupted by stairs leading down to the first floor. It was an amazing house. Her grandmother would have loved it. The doors and windows were always closed, since it was currently empty, but it begged to be opened to the natural elements.

  Ana couldn’t spend all her time doing nothing, so after the first week she began volunteering at a local school on one of the larger islands nearby. She’d been tutoring English, which kept her busy. But not busy enough to forget about Jake.

  Every day she woke up craving him with a hunger that scared her. And not just for sex. She found herself wanting to share her day with him, laugh with him.

  “Miss Ana! Miss Ana!” Roddy, a young local boy in her English class, ran down the beach in her direction, his little feet kicking up sand. His parents both worked in the main house several days a week so he was a regular sight around her new home.

  “Whoa,” she said, reaching out to slow him down. His small body was warm. “What’s your hurry?”

  “There’s a new man in the island. He has white skin, too.”

  She laughed.

  It was a privately owned island so when she purchased the bungalow, she’d been assured she wouldn’t have to worry about tourists. Unfortunately, last week, she’d found out it had been sold to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous.

  “Maybe he’s a guest,” she said.

  The young boy struggled to catch his breath and shook his head.

  “No. I heard him tell the boat driver that he was moving here. Like you.”

  She’d have a new neighbor. It was a small island, but surely she wouldn’t have to worry about running into him if she didn’t want to. What a contradiction. She was lonely, yet didn’t want the company of a stranger.

  Roddy never
stayed still for long and soon, after his mother called, he dashed down the beach again, leaving in a sandstorm. She smiled behind him. He was one of her favorite students, eager to learn.

  She sat back in her lounger and brought her feet up close to her, wrapping her arms around her knees. The sun had felt amazing the first couple of days, but she spent more time under the umbrella than she did sunbathing. Swimming in the crystal clear water was her daily exercise. Some of the turtles that made their home near the offshore reef didn’t even bother swimming away from her anymore.

  It was looking like a long and lonely life here by herself.

  Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

  If she’d had the diamond, would that have made a difference?

  She sighed deeply.

  She’d still be miserable and alone. The island was perfect, everything she imagined and more. She’d give it another two months before she couldn’t take anymore. On the plus side, she hadn’t actually committed a felony so she would be able to travel wherever she wanted.

  She wanted to go back to New York and make sure Jake was safe.

  “Princess.”

  Ana closed her eyes. Great. Now she was hearing things. Her dreams were full of Jake at night, but she thought she’d gotten over thinking of him during the day. Apparently she was wrong.

  She’d never imagined that masculine laugh before though.

  She spun around on the lounge chair so quickly she almost fell off. “Jake? What? Why? How?”

  She stared at him as he sauntered over to her extra-large lounge chair. He plopped down next to her, completely relaxed, like he hadn’t been conjured out of her imagination. He brushed against her when he sat. Little pinpricks of heat skittered over her skin everywhere they touched.

  “Which question would you like me to answer first?” he said. “This is nice, by the way. The only thing missing is a fruity drink with a little umbrella.”

  “A girly drink, you mean?”

  She had so many questions for him. She wasn’t sure which one of them was more surprised by her glib comment. But she didn’t mind when he looked at her through narrowed eyes, making her body temperature rise like a cartoon thermometer, bursting through the top.

  “I’m quite secure in my masculinity, thank you.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it a few times, unsure where to start. She studied him closely as he leaned back and closed his eyes. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, and his khaki pants were rolled up to mid shin. He wore an untucked light blue cotton button-down shirt. It enhanced his olive skin tone and made his black hair look even darker.

  “Go ahead,” he finally said. “Ask your questions. I’m not going to get any rest until you do.”

  “I don’t even know where to start. Last I heard, you were being arrested. The internet connection here is spotty. I can’t always get New York news.”

  “Hmm. We’ll have to do something about that. Surely SI can get better internet service here. They are a global leader in communications, after all,” he said, quoting their branding.

  “You’re still with SI?”

  “Hell, no. Your cousin sacked me right after I was released from police custody. Which only lasted a couple of hours, by the way, and I was never actually arrested, simply taken in for questioning.”

  “But...”

  He let out a huff of breath and sat up. Ana moved away from him, crossing her legs and waiting for an explanation.

  Instead of speaking, though, he reached in his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. He handed it over.

  Inside was a bank account number and an absolutely ridiculous amount of money. “I don’t... What?”

  “After Brad got a call the night of my not-arrest, giving him majority voting interest in SI—he thanks you, by the way—he called a shareholder meeting and ousted Leonard. That’s when the alphabet of agencies swept in. I’ve got it on good authority that he probably won’t see the outside of a prison wall for a very long time. I was retrieving some of my things from Leonard when I came across that.” He indicated the letter still in her hands. “It seems as if Leonard was skimming the books a bit. More than a little bit, actually. I, uh, liberated the money from his secret bank accounts. Most of it is set aside to use as restitution for the people he swindled over the years. And I spent some of it, so the bank account is no longer that large. Actually there’s very little left at all.”

  She looked down at the dollar amount again. Holy shit. She’d been born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, had a trust that assured she would never have to work. Yet she’d never seen so many zeros.

  “I’m still...I don’t know what I am,” she said. This was more than her brain was capable of processing at the moment apparently. A part of her wasn’t sure if this was an amazing dream. “What are you doing here?”

  He smiled at her, a real smile, not one of those predatory ones, though she liked both equally. “I’m here to protect my investment, what I bought with my cut of the money.”

  Her heart sank. He wasn’t here to see her. “Your investment?”

  “Yeah. You heard that the island was sold a couple of days ago? Well, I bought it.”

  “You bought my island?”

  “Technically it’s my island. You just live here. Do you know that private islands aren’t as expensive as one would think?”

  Right.

  “So, do you want me to leave?”

  He laughed again and then he finally reached out and touched her, just a hand on her knee, but she’d been waiting for physical contact since he’d sat down next to her.

  “Fuck no,” he said. “Then I’d be all alone. What the hell would I do on an island all by myself?”

  “So what are you saying?”

  He leaned forward now, his hand brushing her knee to her bare thigh. He leaned toward her so that their faces were only inches apart.

  “I’m saying that I’m here, you’re here, and when I arrived I sent everyone else away.” His voice was deep and husky and his fingers dug into her hip.

  “So we’re alone?”

  He nodded.

  She wanted to ask so many more questions. She needed his body.

  She shivered when he deftly untied the side fastening of her bikini bottoms. He leaned even closer and their noses brushed, but his mouth still wasn’t on her.

  “I’ve been dreaming of tasting you again,” he said. His breath was warm against her skin.

  “Yes.” She’d agree to anything he said at the moment.

  She stared into his dark eyes, swirling with emotions she couldn’t decipher. She hadn’t noticed him moving until she felt the cool ocean breeze on her bare breasts.

  “Fuck,” he murmured looking down at her body. “Even more beautiful than I remembered.”

  He pushed her backward on the lounger. She startled for a moment, afraid she was going to fall, but like always, Jake was there to catch her. He gently laid her back, blanketing her with his body, his mouth going directly to her breast. She arched against him, pressing further into his mouth. His teeth scraped her nipple and she let out a low moan.

  “You like that don’t you?” His hand slid up her body, over her stomach to her other, neglected, breast. He wasn’t gentle at all when he tweaked her nipple. “You like a little bit of pain mixed in with your pleasure. I love that about you.”

  She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t.

  With Jake, she did like a little bit of pain with her pleasure. She’d take a lot from him, which terrified her as much as it turned her on.

  She slid her bikini top out from in between them, tossing it aside. Then she reached down to untie the other side of her bottoms. Only to find Jake had already done so.

  “Don’t ever doubt my ability to get you naked, Princess. You’ve made
me into a madman. All I could think about over the last month was your incredible pussy, your amazing tits. The fact that when we fuck, it feels like you were made for me.”

  His words had her halfway to orgasm.

  She tried to grind herself against him, to offer her aching pussy some relief, but every time, he moved away.

  “You’re so needy, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, damn it,” she said. “So why won’t you do something about it.”

  He gave her one of those smoldering looks that promised she’d have to pay for her words. If he thought that was a threat, he was sorely mistaken.

  He left her breasts, kissing his way down her stomach. She spread her legs wide, waiting for his mouth on her, his fingers inside her, but...nothing. She opened her eyes to see Jake standing by the lounge chair. He carefully folded the envelope and slipped it back into his pocket. His hands went to the buttons on his shirt, slowly parting the cotton, revealing his beautifully bronzed chest.

  “What is that?”

  She asked the question, even though she knew exactly what it was. She remembered a conversation she’d had with Jake during her troubled early twenties. He’d shown up, out of the blue, as he often did, to talk her out of getting a tattoo. She’d assured him she knew what she was doing, but he said he’d never get a tattoo. Nothing would ever mean so much to him that he’d want to mar his skin permanently. She’d thought that was kind of ridiculous coming from a man who had as many scars as Jake did, but she didn’t get inked that night, nor had she ever.

  So to see the Staffordshire Diamond memorialized on his chest, right over his heart, brought tears to her eyes. She climbed up on her knees, reached out and touched the ink. It was still healing, but it was breathtaking. It must have cost a fortune, though she supposed he had that now, remembering all the zeros she’d seen in the envelope, but it was perfect, completely realistic. The diamond looked like it rested right on his chest.

  “It’s exactly the spot where the diamond left a mark on me after our night at the museum,” he said, his voice low.