Jess’s face went soft and her eyes blurred. Enough of that; he cleared his throat. “He wasn’t a saint, of course. I think the actual term for him is ‘career criminal.’”
He waited for Jess’s disapproving expression—but there wasn’t one. Her lips just curved into an encouraging smile.
“He had his hands in a lot of illegal pies. He was muscle-for-hire or anything anyone would pay for. But above all, he was a talented thief.” Adam glanced around the room. It felt so strange to talk about this. He’d never discussed his origin as a thief with anyone. “I started helping him with jobs when I was ten. By the time I was eighteen, I was a full-on partner, helping him find and plan jobs.” He sighed, remembering the urge to stretch his own wings. “When I was twenty-one, I started doing my own. I was more comfortable with the newer technology. I could do jobs that were more physically demanding.”
Jess’s eyes were wide, but she just nodded at him to go on. “We had some really good years then. We worked independently, but we got together on holidays and stuff. Like families do.” Shit, was that a catch in his voice? What the fuck?
“Then what happened?” she asked.
And...no. Nope. Sorry. Memory lane was closed. Maybe he’d broken a few of his personal rules for this woman, but he couldn’t discuss what happened next. A hurricane of images and emotions flashed through his mind: the look of excitement on Tony’s gnarled face when he talked about “the huge job,” the terror in his own gut when he realized his fuck-up, the cuffs around Tony’s wrists, the bewilderment when the DA told Adam he—alone—was free to go.
He hadn’t talked about it with anyone ever. As tempting as it might be to unburden himself to Jess, to soak in some of the sympathy he knew she’d offer, tonight was not going to be the exception.
“I’m going to get us another round.” He stood, tossed her a crafted, dazzling smile. “Then I’ll tell you about being a thief.”
* * *
An hour and two bourbons later, Jess said, “This is freaking fascinating. You literally have a ‘Five Step Process’ to successful thievery.”
Adam nodded. “Let’s see how close you were paying attention.” He raised his eyebrows in mock-sternness. “What is Step One, Ms. Hughes?”
She raised her hand like a school kid. “Ooh ooh! I know! Pay your hacker an obscene amount of money to infiltrate the databases of the world’s biggest insurance agencies. He finds policies on jewels worth over $100,000.”
“Well done,” he said, enjoying the role of school-master. “And how often is this step taken?”
She batted her eyelashes. “Annually.” She hiccupped and they both laughed.
We’re drunk, he realized from a distance. But he didn’t much care. “Step Two?”
She furrowed her forehead. “Oh! Narrowing down the list to suitable targets. The jewels have to be able to be...ah...”
“Fenced,” he supplied.
“Fenced,” she repeated. “You also look at the owners. They cannot be royalty or politicians or any other sort of over-protected individuals.”
“Correct.” He smiled at her over his drink. “Although exceptions to that rule can and have been made.”
Her eyes lit up, but before she could ask for details, he demanded, “Step Three?”
Now, her face went serious and sweet. “My favorite step. Researching the target to get a sense of the person. If the person is, as you so delightfully put it, an obvious asshole, move on to Step Four. If person seems genuinely okay, remove from target list.”
Her doe eyes were making him uncomfortable, even in his inebriated state. “Don’t go putting me on a pedestal, Blondie. I still steal things for a living, even if I do prefer to steal from jerks. Step Four?”
She matched his brisk tone. “Plan the job.”
“Which may include what activities?”
“Tailing to get a sense of routine. Procuring blueprints of the owner’s residence or workings of their security systems.” Hiccup. “May involve building a team. May involve bribery.” Hiccup.
He had to laugh. “You have a hell of a memory. And a case of the hiccups. We’re finally to Step Five. Also known as ‘The Fun.’”
Jess finished her drink with a long swallow. “Step Five is Executing the Job. May involve breaking and entering. May involve role-playing.”
“Hooray, you remembered everything.” He laughed again as she gave a tipsy little bow. A month ago, he couldn’t have dreamt up an evening like this. Sharing secrets with a beautiful woman. One that made him laugh, one that challenged him.
He knew the evening was a time-out. There was inevitably trouble ahead. As a couple, he and Jess weren’t made for happily ever after.
But was it so wrong to want a little happy right now?
Something in her mind had caught Jess’s attention. There was a line between her eyebrows as she rested her face on upturned palms and stared off into space. Just lean forward and kiss her.
But the woman was just too goddamn smart. Even after four bourbons, her brain was working well enough for her to say, “Wait. Adam, how does Maurice Knoll fit into your Five Step Process? You didn’t say anything about diamond smugglers. Or anything like this at all. This project is a complete anomaly for you, isn’t it?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Yes.”
She cocked her head. “So...why?”
He was suddenly angry at everything. Angry at himself that he’d told her too much. Angry at her for looking interested and sympathetic and so damn beautiful.
He stood and threw some cash on the table. “Because Knoll’s not the only one with debts to pay, okay, Blondie? Don’t ask me about it again.”
* * *
Jess woke up feeling hungover and sorry for herself. Another marathon shower in the fabulous Wynn bathroom and three Advil did wonders for the headache, but little for her bruised feelings and unsatisfied body. She pulled on the hotel’s white terry cloth robe and climbed back into bed.
Last night had not gone as she thought it would. After Adam tailed her to the tango show and they agreed to meet at the dive bar, she’d been ninety-five percent sure they’d end up in bed together. The 5% uncertainty was in case she chickened out. But he had been the one to walk away. After he’d snapped at her and thrown money on the table, he hadn’t spoken to her again. He watched to make sure she got a cab safely, but that was it.
The worst part was that it was her own fault. I pushed too hard. She wasn’t under any illusions here. She and Adam weren’t living in some sexy fairy tale. She just got carried away with all the sharing and laughing. She almost never talked about her family, and she doubted he routinely explained how he thrived as thief. Early on in the conversation, she realized that he didn’t want to discuss his uncle...but he did, at least a little. He seemed to need to connect as much as she did, if only briefly. Yet she’d still managed to kill their flirtatious fun a little later on. If she hadn’t been feeling so close to him, she never would have pried about his motivations for robbing Knoll. Damn it.
It wasn’t any of her business anyway...or was it? He knew why she was desperate to bust Knoll with the diamonds. If they were really partners, why shouldn’t she know why he was so desperate to take the diamonds from Knoll? Why this job when it was so different from his typical targets?
Sexually frustrated and wide awake, the question wouldn’t leave her mind. So, she did what she always did with a puzzle—she pulled out her laptop. It took her longer than usual because of the bourbon, but by 3:00 am, she was pretty sure she knew why Adam was so focused on Knoll. But finding the answer didn’t satisfy her like solving puzzles usually did. She had a feeling that only one particular activity would bring her satisfaction right now. A naked, sweaty activity. With one particular person. She huffed a breath and flopped back against her pillow.
Sleeping with him wouldn’
t have been smart. But she would have bet everything in her pathetic bank account that it would have been good. Her life was sorely in need of a little good. What was the worst that could happen anyway? She’d never tell anyone about this interlude of her life. No one would believe it anyway.
Maybe she’d get another chance. Maybe they’d stay in Vegas another night. It wasn’t like either of them had a normal job to rush back to. The idea perked her up enough so that she brushed her teeth and blew dry her hair.
She was trying to decide what to wear when someone knocked on her door. Looking through the peephole, she saw Adam’s face under a gray hoodie. Just seeing him was the equivalent of someone giving her spirits a shot of adrenaline. Instead of feeling gray and hungover, she felt buoyant and fizzy.
She opened the door. “You’re the Unabomber today?”
He walked in and took a seat on the couch. “Don’t knock the classics. It’s low tech, yet strangely effective.”
Wondering why he hadn’t just let himself in as he had every other time, Jess fidgeted with the belt on her robe. “What’s up?”
“Knoll and Sedarno both left Vegas this morning, so our work here is done.” He put a small jump drive on the coffee table. “I made a copy of their golf cart conversation for you. Also got you a ticket on the first flight back to Chicago that had a first-class seat open, which unfortunately, isn’t until the red eye tonight.”
He shuffled on the seat, not quite meeting her eyes. “I’ll call you in a week or so and we can talk about the recording.”
Jess sat on the bed, all fizziness gone. “You’re not on the flight with me?”
“No. I have a job in Nashville on Wednesday. I’m going to hang around here for another day or two and then fly straight there.” His voice was bland, like he was discussing travel with his dry cleaner.
Well now, this all felt very familiar. Painful, but familiar. She was entirely used to men not wanting her around. Her father, her brothers. Hell, her goddamn boss took money to get rid of her.
If she’d wanted to, she could have put her poker face up and said a cheery “Goodbye then!” And he’d never know how close she was to either crying or punching him. So—she didn’t. She didn’t say anything at all, but she let her face and her eyes do the talking.
He rose immediately and took a half step toward her. “What’s wrong? Why are you sad?”
“I’m not sad,” she snapped. “I’m disappointed.”
The pissy tone took him back a step. “Why are you disappointed?”
Oh please. She let her eyes wander over his legs, his mid-section, his chest, his mouth. When she finally got to his eyes, she was pleased to see them dilated. “Why do you think?” she bit out.
His nostrils flared. “I’m no good for you, Blondie.”
“Thank you for that shocking announcement,” she said, sarcasm coloring her voice so heavily it almost didn’t sound like hers.
She stalked over to the windows and turned her back to him. The surrounding hotels glittered in the morning sun. “For the record, I’m not looking for someone to be good with.” Under her breath—but still loud enough for him to hear—she said, “I was actually hoping to be rather bad.”
Then, louder, “I’m very clear on what we are and what we are not, Adam. We’re two people in a weird moment in our lives. There’s no future.”
She took a deep breath, dove into the humiliation. “But you simply walk in the room, and I get hot and wet. That’s never happened to me before.” She was grateful her voice didn’t shake. Why was she opening herself up like this? Risking rejection and humiliation? So not her. Especially not for what could only be a one-night stand.
But she couldn’t ignore the lingering closeness they’d discovered together the night before. Any woman would want him for his plain-as-day sexiness and charisma—and she was far from immune to that. But it was the way he looked so sick on her behalf when she talked about her dad. It was the fact that he truly only stole from people who deserved it.
He stared at her, open-mouthed, and she quickly cut off the thoughts that were probably painting tenderness all over her face. She lifted her chin. Might as well finish her angry little speech. “So forgive me if I’m disappointed in how last night ended. And for being disappointed that we don’t have another night here together to behave badly.”
He was so quiet she didn’t hear him walk across the room to her. Actually, he was there a millisecond after she finished talking, so he must have almost ran.
“Interesting thing about Vegas,” he said, his voice rough and guttural. He yanked the thick brocade drapes closed, and the room went entirely black. “It’s always night.”
Chapter Ten
Standing in the dark, heart racing, Adam forced himself to count to ten. One last chance to change her mind. But then he felt her tentative hands, reaching out blindly to him. Thank Christ.
He pulled her to him, rested her hands against his chest. The room was quiet except for the ragged sounds of their breathing. He lowered his face to her neck, breathed in her scent. She smelled like lilacs and vanilla.
“Once I kiss you,” he said, licking the side of her throat. “I won’t be able to stop. So when you think back to this day, remember that I tried to be noble.”
She slid her hands up his chest and around his shoulders, laced her fingers behind his neck. Standing on her tiptoes in her robe, she responded with one of her rumble-purr laughs. “We’re about to be naked together and what you want me to remember is that you tried to be noble?”
She never stopped busting his balls. It made him even harder, and he wouldn’t have thought such a thing was possible. But when she put it that way... “Actually, no,” he admitted. “Maybe this instead?”
He finally, finally, kissed her.
It started as a mere brushing of lips, but they’d both been waiting too long and imagining too much for it to stay that way. With a tiny, eager gasp, Jess opened her mouth to him and he went wild. He kissed her again and again—hard and demanding kisses that molded her lips to his. Desperate to taste, he tangled his tongue with hers until she was panting, her fingernails digging into his neck.
He was burning up. He broke away from her, absolutely loving her whimper of protest, just long enough to whip his sweatshirt and t-shirt off. Then he found her mouth again, kissed her even harder and deeper than before. He felt her hands exploring his bare torso, groaned against her open mouth.
This time it was Jess who broke the kiss. “It’s too dark in here,” she whispered, running her hands over the muscles of his chest. “I want to see you.”
“Next time.” He was much too far gone to be stumbling around looking for light switches. He was desperate to see her too, but he was going to learn her by touch—and taste—first. He brought her face back to his for another long, wet kiss. Her skin was on fire and she trembled under his hands. Time to get rid of that damn robe. With one quick tug he released the tie, and then he used both hands to push it off her shoulders. It fell to the floor.
He didn’t know what to touch first. His hands were shaking like a teenager’s, for God’s sake. She reached for him, put her arms around his neck, and pressed her bare breasts to his chest. Fuck. They needed to get to the bed before he just gave up and dragged her down to the floor. He rubbed his hands down the warm, smooth muscles of her back, bit her bottom lip as he gripped her ass with both hands.
“Hold on to me,” he commanded. Then he lifted her up until her hips were above his. She giggled, a sound of pure surprise and delight. She straddled him in mid-air, wrapping her legs around his waist. He could feel her wetness against his stomach, her long hair tenting around him. He raised his face and her mouth found his again. She thrust her tongue between his lips and he shuddered.
Hoping his sense of direction was sound, he walked five steps forward, grateful when h
is knees finally hit the edge of the bed. Carefully, he bent forward and she clung to him until her back hit the mattress.
The bed was closer to the bathroom. The light was on in there, and even though the door was closed, the crack at the bottom cast a tiny sliver of light into the room. Enough so that he could see her a little now. Dark hair fanned out against the white comforter, long legs bent at the knees with her heels on the edge of the bed, small but perfectly round breasts.
Best of all, she watched him with those huge, black-fringed chocolate eyes. He couldn’t wait to see what her eyes looked like when she came. He got rid of his jeans in two seconds flat, only pausing to grab a condom from his wallet.
She could see him now too, he realized, as her gaze swept over his abdomen, lingered on his arousal, and back up to his face. “Wow.” She exhaled. “Just...wow.”
His dick twitched, no doubt pleased at her blatant admiration. Ignoring it, Adam knelt on the carpet. He ran his hands over her gorgeous thighs, stroking the soft inner skin with both thumbs. “I’ve been meaning to tell you...you have the absolute best legs I’ve ever seen. I’ve been wanting to do this since the first night we met.” He pressed his lips to her left calf muscle, then her right. Moved his face up her leg to lick behind both knees.
She arched her back into the mattress, and every muscle in both legs tensed. Yes. He kissed up her leg until his tongue was stroking her inner thighs. She raised herself on her elbows and stared at him, her breasts bouncing from deep, shaky breaths. “That’s right, baby,” he said. “Watch me taste you.” And then he nuzzled his face between her thighs and licked her core, swiveling his tongue until she cried out.
So, so good. She tasted warm and creamy and like vanilla and he would have spent all damn day down there if she hadn’t said, “Get up here. Now.”
He kept licking and swirling, intending to give her a hell of an orgasm first, but she pulled his hair and moaned, “I’m going to come so hard, Adam, and I want to do it with you inside me.”
And...a man only had much self-control. He’d been wanting inside her since the first moment he saw her. He climbed up her body, stopping to suck on each rosy nipple, because he just couldn’t help himself. “Please, please, now,” she begged.
Caught in the Act: A Jewel Heist Romance Anthology Page 27
