The Reluctant Thief (The Stolen Hearts #4)

by Mallory Crowe

  He hit the doorbell. Toni braced herself for putting on a happy face and seeming as unthreatening as possible. But before she could totally get into that character, Scott put his arm around her shoulders.

  Before she could ask what the hell he was doing, she huddled closer into Scott as the guy looked them over. He was older, which made sense for a retired detective. From the looks of it, he was in his early seventies, with shock-white hair that was fuller than most guys his age. He was tall and would’ve been more intimidating if it weren’t for the considerable beer belly that stretched his Hawaiian shirt tight. She gave a small smile and tried to make herself appear as small and nonthreatening as possible, which happened to involve pushing herself as much as she could against Scott’s body.

  Which happened to be warm and strong and she was refusing to think about it.

  “Hart? Boy, I heard you got yourself in a world of trouble.”

  “He was cleared of all charges,” she said quickly.

  “It was all a big mix-up,” said Scott in a much calmer voice than her. “One of my old marks wanted to get back at me and decided to do it in the craziest way possible. But I’ve had a bit of a hard time. Can I make a few calls and figure some things out?”

  The guy narrowed his eyes and looked between her and Scott. “Who’s the girl?”

  Toni managed to step forward a tiny bit and shifted the laptop to her left arm so she could hold out a hand. “I’m Toni. Nice to meet you.”

  “This is my girlfriend. Toni, this is Kevin Broussard.”

  That actually seemed to shock Broussard more than the fact that Scott was there. “Girlfriend?” He reached out to shake Toni’s hand in a firm shake.

  “It caught me by surprise too.” She pulled her hand away and once again leaned against Scott. For the sake of appearances, she told herself, even as she savored the feel of his heat soaking through her clothes.

  “Come on in.” Broussard stepped away. “You caught me at a good time. I was about to run some errands.”

  “We’re not going to be long.” Scott moved to lead them inside. He seemed casual enough, but she saw his eyes bouncing around and taking in any sign of threat. All in all, the nicely, if a bit busily, decorated house was terrifying in its normalness, but there was nothing overtly threatening that Toni saw.

  “If I can get a hold of my sisters, we should be out of your hair in just a few hours.”

  “And you don’t have cell phones?” asked Broussard skeptically.

  “My landlord found out that I was under suspicion for the bombing,” said Scott, lying smoothly. As though it were second nature. “While we were running out for coffee today, he threw out all of our stuff and changed the locks. It’s not legal, but until we have phones and some place to stay, there’s not much we can do right now.”

  Broussard ran a hand over his white stubble. “That does seem like a run of bad luck. Can’t believe anyone would think you could do something like that. Damn. The minute I heard the rumors, I knew something was fishy.”

  Toni snorted. “You’re telling me. Anyone who has met him knows he’d never be capable of something like that.” Scott looked at her sharply, as though he were telling her to stop talking, and she shrugged. “It’s true. I’ve told you before that you’re one of the best people I know. I’m sure Broussard agrees.”

  Scott clenched his jaw and she felt as if she’d said something wrong but for the life of her couldn’t figure out what. It was the truth. She moved on and smiled at Broussard. “Is there Wi-Fi?”

  Scott wiped his face down with the washcloth that had a strangely floral scent considering Broussard lived here alone. Must be whatever detergent he used. Everything seemed as though it was a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down. As if he’d inherited everything from elderly women in his family who’d passed away.

  From what Scott remembered about Broussard, he’d been married a few times, but nothing had lasted. Not a strange story in the force. In fact, Broussard had offered to give Scott a hand if things with Catherine ever went south. Scott had laughed and agreed, all the while thinking that things would never go wrong.

  How stupid he’d been.

  He tugged off his shirt and threw it on the counter, happy to get away from the smell of smoke for even a few seconds. But he didn’t want to ask Broussard for any clothes. There was only so much hospitality he could take from Broussard before the other man got suspicious. Considering how far Sterling’s reach extended, the more people who were aware of his location, the more likely his next location would be six feet under.

  He went out of the bathroom and Toni was on the bed, her fingers clacking over her keyboard, doing God knew what.

  “Why did you do it again?” she asked when he came out, not looking at him.

  “Do what?” He pulled at his shoes and took a second to appreciate the freedom of having bare feet.

  “You said we were a couple. Again. You did it at Slade’s so people wouldn’t suspect why you came all the way out there for me. But Broussard? What does it matter?”

  “A girlfriend and boyfriend would have things like phones and all possessions in an apartment together. If you were just a friend, why wouldn’t I be going to your place? It was logical.”

  Her lips tightened as though she was digesting all of his words and looking for a flaw. “Logical,” she repeated slowly.

  “Have you talked to your sisters? What about Weston?” he asked, changing the subject as quick as he could.

  “Sisters are MIA. Their phones have all changed. I dropped an email that will be bounced through enough IP addresses that it can’t be traced. But there’s no number for me to give them to get in touch, so it will be an email-only contact. I’ll keep monitoring it to see if there’s any way for me to get in touch. Weston answered, but he and Willa are in Arizona. He asked if I wanted him out here and I said no. After the run-in at the police station, I think he was happy to get Willa out of town for a bit.”

  “What run-in at the police station?”

  “The one where we were trying to figure out what they were framing you with and Sterling was trying to make it look like you were stealing all the evidence.”

  “Oh yeah. I forgot about that.”

  “I didn’t think you forgot anything,” she said.

  “You’d be surprised.” He fell back on the bed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. He couldn’t sleep, not even for a quick catnap, so he’d have to enjoy this temporary break as much as possible.

  “It’s not logical,” said Toni.

  He knew exactly what she was talking about but didn’t know what else he could tell her. “It seemed easier,” he said weakly.

  “Well, it’s not easier. And it’s not logical. At least not for me. So now, if it can possibly be avoided, I need you to not say we’re a couple, okay?”

  Scott’s eyes shot open and he sat up on the bed. They’d been dancing around this for too long, and considering that they might be running for their lives for a bit longer, a few things needed to be cleared up. “I’m not the best person you’ve ever met.”

  She raised a brow and shut her laptop, a sign that this conversation was about to get super serious. “Please don’t tell me what I’m supposed to think.”

  “You don’t know the things I’ve done.”

  “I don’t care about the things you’ve done, Scott. It’s who you are. It’s what you do. It’s how much you care. You’re just... I don’t want to talk about this.” She set the laptop on the nightstand and moved for the door.

  Scott stood. He half wanted to run after her, but he knew that they weren’t actually together, so there was nothing he could say to her. “Where are you going?”

  She stopped right as she reached the door. “I don’t know,” she snapped. “I have nowhere to go. I don’t know if people are tracking us. I don’t know if there’s going to be another terrorist attack any second that’s going to be framed on me this time. I really have no idea what’s going on. I’m hanging on by a thread h
ere and now I have to listen to you having a pity party for one and I just can’t take it.”

  “I’m not asking for your pity.”

  “And you don’t have it!” She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes as she seemed to regain her composure for a second. “You don’t have my pity,” she said again, this time calmer. “You have my respect. You have my admiration. You have my stupid, undying loyalty. Scott, it literally doesn’t matter what I think about you because everything I feel, you’re never going to feel back.”

  He took a step forward and tried to find the best way to comfort her and tell her she was wrong. “Toni, I respect you and I’m loyal to you.”

  Totally taking him by surprise, a tear escaped the corner of her eye and rolled down her cheek. “Oh, Scott. I wish that were true, I really do. But trust me. You’re never going to feel the same way as I do.”

  He clenched his jaw as he slowly understood what she was talking about. But he couldn’t believe it. Toni was so.... She was Toni. She was so self-assured and proud. She was always the prettiest woman in the room and definitely the smartest person. As confusing as things had gotten between them, he’d figured he’d been a curiosity. A passing fancy. So before he truly believed any of this, he needed clarification. “Tell me how you feel.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t. Please don’t make me say it.”

  He took another step. “You need to. Tell me. Say how you feel.”

  She shook her head and stared down. “I won’t do it. I’m not going to embarrass myself in front of you any longer.”

  One more step and he was right in front of her. He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head up so he could meet her bright blue eyes. “Say it.”

  “Scott, I—” Her voice cut off, as though she was physically incapable of saying the words. But he stared into her eyes and willed her to finish. “I love you. Because I’m a moron and glutton for punishment and an idio—”

  Scott kissed her. He couldn’t help himself. He didn’t know what else to do, and right now, this was all he wanted. He couldn’t say he loved her back or give her any type of promise. But he could give her this small moment.

  Toni kissed him back for the briefest second before she pulled her head away, even though she didn’t make any motion to put distance between their bodies. “Don’t do this, Scott. I think on the best of days, my sanity is questionable and somehow you found this way to wiggle so deep inside me—” She winced. “I didn’t mean like sex wiggle inside me, and I don’t think wiggling is really the best way to describe it, but either way I don’t think I can really take this being a thing and then not working out, and I think we both know that you’re not over your wife.”

  Your wife. The words were a shock and brought him suddenly back to reality and reminded him that temporary insanity was just that. Temporary. He stepped back from her. “Toni—”

  But before he could say anything, she’d stepped out of the room and shut the door in his face.

  Toni took in deep gasps of air, trying to stop the world from spinning. That hadn’t just happened. That couldn’t have happened.

  She could feel her face going red with humiliation, and she closed her eyes tightly, willing time to spin backward to before she’d ever spilled her guts to Scott and basically laid her heart at his feet.

  No. This wasn’t all her fault. He made her do it. He asked for it. But why? What could he possibly have to gain from her pain? Damn it. She pushed away from the door and walked down the hallway. She had a thousand things she could be doing right now, and instead she was here wallowing in her own self-pity.

  She needed to get away from Scott. If only for a few minutes, she needed to get out of this cookie-cutter house and get a breath of clean air. Scott would never want her to walk outside alone, even if it was the middle of the day, but she didn’t care about his approval at the moment. She’d been around the wrong side of the law long enough to be able to spot if the house was being monitored. She would be careful.

  Toni tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to make any noise. She didn’t want to face Scott or Broussard at the moment. Once she could get outside, everything would be better....

  Her attempts to sneak out unnoticed were immediately foiled when she saw Broussard glancing out the front window. She stiffened at the unexpected sight and then realized that she looked guilty as hell. She forced a smile and tried to relax her shoulders until she realized she wasn’t the only one who looked guilty.

  Broussard’s forehead was beaded with sweat. He wiped it away with a shaky palm and shifted his weight. “Hey there,” he said with his own forced smile. “Do you and Scottie need anything?”

  She narrowed her eyes and tried to figure out how worried she needed to be. “No, we’re good,” she said carefully as she continued her descent down the stairs until she reached the front window of the living room. Broussard’s Hawaiian shirt had plenty of room to hide a weapon, but she forced herself to take her eyes off him to look out the window. At first she didn’t see anything suspicious, but her mother had taught her better than to trust any first glance.

  She shifted her gaze to the Ford Focus in the driveway. In the shiny blue paint job, she saw the outline of a man along the outside of the house. Broussard had turned them in. Whelp, it was time to leave.

  “Nice day outside.” She let the curtains fall back in place. Without another word, she turned and continued up the stairs, rushing, but trying not to let Broussard know that she was on to him.

  As soon as she was on the second-story landing, she started into a soft run until she reached the spare bedroom she and Scott had been given. As soon as the door was open, she ran to collect her laptop and power cord.

  Scott, who had been sitting on the bed, jumped up when he saw her. “Toni, I—”

  “No time. We need to get out of Dodge. Your boy called the cops on us.”

  She could see the flash of confusion, then denial, and then anger cross over his face. But then Scott, who was frustratingly logical, didn’t even question her. Instead, he started to pull on his shoes. “The master bedroom has a balcony. We’ll get out through there.”

  He was so sure, it made her realize that he’d already thought out the best ways to make a quick exit.

  Damn it, why was that a turn-on? Focus!

  As soon as his shoe was on, he grabbed his shirt, and without even putting it on, they started for the door. She started to pull it open, but he put his hand over hers before he ushered her behind him. “Let me go first,” he whispered. It wasn’t asking, but an order as he took control and led the way before she could even think about protesting.

  She held her laptop closer to her chest as she followed him to the master bedroom, where the door to the balcony was unlocked. The soft curtains in front of the French doors leading out were just enough to let lots of light in but not be completely see-through. They were only a few feet away when a man’s form took shape on the other side of the door.

  Scott reached back and pressed his arm against Toni until they were each flush against a wall. Toni had managed to remain relatively calm up until this point, but she realized they had no weapons and no idea how many guys were outside waiting for them. Shit.

  “Scott...” she whispered.

  “As soon as you can, get out to the balcony,” he said.

  Before she could question him, the outside handle to the balcony turned and there was no more time to think. The first thing she saw was a gun as the man stepped into the room, but that turned out to be the man’s biggest mistake.

  Before his second foot was even in the room, Scott reached out and grabbed the gun wrist with one hand before he slammed his fist in the middle of the man’s forearm. He grunted in pain and the gun fell to the ground. Scott then used the arm he still held to roll the man over his shoulder. Because of the tight space of the bedroom, the man landed half on the bed and then tumbled onto the ground. Hardly the most painful way to flip a guy, but there wasn’t much mo
re Scott could do at the moment.

  She saw that the path to the balcony was now open. But if she left, that would mean Scott would be alone....

  “Go!” he ordered as he slammed his foot into the guy’s stomach.

  Okay, well, Scott seemed to have things under control. Toni stepped outside and looked around. She didn’t see anyone else around the back, but she had a feeling Sterling wasn’t being laissez-faire with them any longer. There would be plenty of people watching all exits of the house. She tucked the laptop into the waistband of her jeans. It wouldn’t stay if she had to make a run for it, but it would do while she climbed down.

  She put one leg over the balcony and Scott ran onto the balcony right then. “What are you waiting for?” He started to climb over the rails.

  She could argue about the need to secure her computer but kept her mouth shut as her other leg swung over the railing and she bent down until her fingers grasped the concrete edge. They were on the second story, so if she allowed herself to hang down and then drop, it would only be about six feet or so between her feet and the grass. And the peer pressure of seeing Scott do the same motion and let go with barely any hesitation was enough for her to get up the balls to let go.

  Except she didn’t fall onto the grass. She was only in midair for a fraction of a second before strong arms wrapped around her.

  She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as Scott set her on the ground. “What the hell is in your pants?” he asked.

  “Um....” Before she could explain, she saw movement behind him and tugged Scott until they were each behind a bush. A bush that gave them pretty much no cover at all. Before she could freak out, she saw Scott pull out a gun from his waistband and flick off the little safety.