Bossy Burglar: A Hero Club Novel

by A. J. Norris

  “You’re a Navy brat.”

  I moved half a step backward. My heels met the wall. The heat from his body stayed with me so I knew he followed. “Were you in the Navy?” I hated this man, but hot damn, now I pictured him in uniform. He had the hairstyle for it, too. Almost sheared on the sides and back, tapered, and longer on top. His tan skin would look amazing against all the white starchy fabric. I licked my lips.

  “Does a man in uniform make you hot?”

  Oh, god, yes. I swallowed hard. “It reminds me of my dad, so what do you think?”

  “I’m not your dad.” No, he certainly wasn’t. Not with his sandy brown hair and those blue eyes. He spoke right next to my ear in his deep voice. I shied my head away from his; however, this resulted in my lips being closer to his mouth instead of my ear. I cursed myself for wanting him to kiss me.

  “Yeah, well, he was nothing like you. He died for his country.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said without hesitation and with a surprising amount of sincerity. “A man of honor.”

  “Something you don’t have, I’m sure.”

  He chuckled. “You don’t know anything about me.”

  I put my hands on his chest. His broad muscular chest. I hated this man. I really did. Every time we were in the same room, something about him irked me. Maybe it was the full-of-himself expression he always wore or the cocksure way he moved. His swagger. Oh, lord, that swagger of his. And his fine ass. I didn’t know what to do with myself except maybe go home and...okay, this line of thought wasn’t helping our current situation. I needed to pay attention here. “I know plenty.”

  “You got my attention.”

  “For one, I know that you’re a criminal. I know that you think you’re sexy. But you’re not at all as hot as you think you are.”

  He snorted. “Got me all figured out, don’t you?”

  “I do. And you probably got yourself dishonorably discharged from the military. That’s why you turned to a life of crime. No one wants to hire someone who can’t follow orders.”

  “You got it all wrong, sweetheart. But I’ll tell you what, I know exactly who you are.” His hand found its sneaky way to the nape of my neck. His fingers massaged the back of my neck in circles. And I didn’t hate it.

  “You got my attention,” I mocked. “Do tell. I can’t wait to hear this.”

  “You’re a stuck-up bitch who gives lousy hand jobs.”

  My cheeks heated. “Excuse me? I was not giving you a hand-whatever when I stuck my hand down your pants.”

  “You may not have been trying, sweetheart, but my dick doesn’t know the difference.”

  “Well, it should.”

  “It doesn’t when a beautiful woman cops a feel. It goes, ‘Hey, now.’”

  He thinks I’m beautiful? Oh, why was I getting all mushy? “I wasn’t copping a feel.”

  “It certainly felt like it. I’m sure you noticed.”

  I clenched below the waist. No. I was doing Kegel exercises. That’s it. Spontaneously. For no reason. “I did not—okay, maybe I did, but it wasn’t about that.”

  “You wanted it, all right.”

  “Yeah, I wanted...” Shut up, Melanie. He’s not talking about the necklace.

  He laughed. “Why don’t you finish that sentence? You know you want to.”

  “I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction if my life depended on it.”

  “Funny, your words are harsh, yet I can hear the smile in your voice.”

  “I’m not smiling.” Yeah, I was. From ear to fucking ear. This man made me question my sanity, though. “And wipe that smug grin off your face I know is there.”

  “Smug? That’s how I smile.”

  About fifteen feet from us, the headlights of an SUV came on, blinding me. How long had that car been parked there?

  CHAPTER 2

  Lincoln

  Nora drove me nuts. She was the most stubborn woman on the planet. Sexy as fuck. But stubborn. The lights of my partner’s SUV flipped on at precisely the right moment. The woman in front of me shielded her eyes from the sudden flood of light. I’d been toying with her neck for a few minutes now, getting her used to the feel of my hand. I twisted the chain in my fingers, breaking the clasp that held the necklace around her neck, and caught the diamond strand with my other hand. “That’s my ride. See ya around, sweetheart.” Pivoting toward the vehicle, I shoved the necklace into my jacket pocket.

  Bandit pulled forward and stopped with a jerking halt. I hopped into the passenger seat and he took off before I slammed the door, Firestones squealing. The urge to check on Nora in the side view mirror overwhelmed me and I caved. The taillights cast her in a red glow. She stood there shaking her hands out like what the hell?

  “What the fuck took you so long?” Bandit asked. He’d earned the nickname when we were kids playing cops and robbers and it stuck. He would cover half his face with a red bandana. The man always wanted to be one of the robbers. Things had changed a lot since then, though.

  “Nora happened. What do you think?”

  My best friend smiled and shook his head. “Please tell me you got it.”

  “Right here,” I said, pulling the necklace from my pocket. “This is what took so long... Well, that, and the hand job she gave me.”

  He laughed in a burst. “Yeah, right. No way, man. During a job?”

  “Take a left,” I told him. “Miller wants us to check in tonight.”

  “And what about getting the necklace to the Cowboy?”

  “He can wait.” The Cowboy, a.k.a. Flynn a.k.a. the head of the Hermosa Beach Crime Syndicate, whose real name no one knew for sure, could wait until the morning for his trophy. The piece of crap necklace had supposedly belonged to his ex-wife and Flynn had given it to her. He wanted it back. Except, these diamonds were made in a lab. So, however doubtful as it seemed the necklace was a gift, it was possible Flynn had it placed in her house for this game. Whoever stole the necklace earned a spot on the Syndicate’s top crew. Why Nora also wanted on the crew so badly was anyone’s guess.

  My reason was simple.

  “Come clean, man. She didn’t really give you a tug?” Bandit prodded.

  I chuckled. “She shoved her hand down my pants.” I wasn’t about to give him all the details, like how I got hard the instant she touched me or how our encounter made things worse for me. I already wanted her despite her being on the wrong side of the law and a giant pain in the ass. Now, I knew how soft her hands were and how her body fit so nicely against mine.

  He furrowed his brow in disbelief. “What? Why?”

  “I put the necklace there. Hey, I didn’t think she’d actually go in after it.”

  Bandit laughed. “Wow. I underestimated her.”

  “That makes two of us.” And you don’t know the half of it.

  * * *

  Bandit and I walked into the squad room and immediately the captain hailed us from the doorway of his office. A couple of the unis smirked at our clothes. Well, my partner’s, not mine. One of them whistled and said, “Nice legs.”

  “Don’t you have some paperwork to do?” Bandit said. His flip-flop and board shorts combo looked like he’d come from a day at the beach. Honestly though, all he needed was a robe and he could be the Dude from The Big Lebowski. He already passed for a young Jeff Bridges.

  The Hermosa Beach Police Department’s captain stood with his arms folded across his broad chest, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up mid-forearm. Captain Thomas Miller was a tall, Black, no-nonsense leader. He’d spent twenty-seven years on the force as a detective then lieutenant in his native Detroit before coming out to SoCal. He cleared his throat. “How long does it take you two to cross a room? Get in my office, now.” The commanding tone of his deep bass voice wasn’t easily ignored. When he spoke, you moved your ass no matter who you were. Everyone respected the man.

  Miller closed the office door after us and sat in his chair behind the desk. Bandit sat in the chair facing him. I le
aned my ass on the edge of the narrow table against the wall. However, the captain stared across at me. “How’d it go tonight?” he asked.

  “Successful mission, sir. Got it right here.” I patted the pocket with the necklace in it. “I’m taking it to Flynn in the morning.”

  “Have any trouble you want to report?”

  The man was fishing for some reason, it wasn’t like he didn’t already know that a bunch of our own unis showed up. And a helo. “I’m sure you heard what happened.”

  “Yeah, but I want to hear it from you. Tell me about the woman spotted fleeing the house with you.” He leaned back in his chair and narrowed his dark brown eyes.

  What could I say? The Nora situation was complicated. She didn’t fit. Nothing made sense concerning her. I had a hard time believing she was a career criminal, and the feeling wasn’t because she was sexy. Fuck. Why was I even worrying about her? I needed to get her out of my head. There were much bigger issues at stake. Yet, I couldn’t help myself. She’d had her hand down my pants. And like I told her, my dumb handle didn’t know anything but her touch at that moment—non-sexual on her part or not. “She’s not an iss—”

  “Her name is Nora. She’s fairly new to the Syndicate,” Bandit blurted.

  “Yeah, she was there looking for the necklace too,” I said.

  “Wants a spot on the crew.”

  Shut up, Bandit. I glared at the back of his head. “She isn’t anyone to worry about, though.”

  “Special Agent Harris asked for our help in the case, so we are going to give the Feds the facts, not our opinions. I want a full report in my inbox by Friday at nine AM, including what goes down tomorrow morning,” the captain said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re excused.” Miller waved dismissively. My partner and I headed for the door. “Oh, and don’t leave the Nora woman out of your report.”

  Yes, sir.

  When the door shut, Bandit turned to me. “Hear that? He wants a full report of events,” he whispered.

  “Shut up, man.” My report would be as thorough as possible, but some details, no one needed to know.

  CHAPTER 3

  Melanie

  I’d parked three streets over from the estate. By the time I got to my car, my muscles ached from running. I groaned as I slid in behind the wheel. Would a ride to my car have been out of the question? Apparently so, as Lincoln and whoever was driving left me there. I put my hand to my throat. At least, I had the neck—

  Anger boiled inside of me. “That bitch. Are you kidding me!” I gripped the steering wheel and shook. There was no way I’d lost the necklace between the church parking lot and here. I would have heard it drop. That was why he put his hand on the back of my neck. That sneaky bastard. The headlights coming on was also a great distraction. He probably planned the whole thing, even down to pretending he didn’t care if I followed him or not.

  The ego on that man, too. As if I’d give him a hand job. Of course, I’d be lying to myself if I denied noticing his body’s reaction. Hell, yeah, I noticed. Who wouldn’t?

  I had to remember why I was doing this. The Syndicate killed my brother. Thoughts of the last time I saw my brother alive invaded my mind. He had been on edge, not his usual goofy self.

  Josh sat across from me at Starbucks with shadows beneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days. His knee jogged up and down under the table. And he refused to meet my eyes even when I made a joke. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I have to go away for a while.”

  My heart panged. My brother was the only family I had after Dad died. “Why? I hardly see you as it is with you two hours away.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. It’ll be safer for you.”

  “Is this about your new job?”

  He stayed mute, but his eyes, which finally rose, told me everything I needed to know. “You’re stealing again, aren’t you?” I whispered. So, his new “job” wasn’t legal like he had promised. Joshed looked away. I leaned forward. “Look at me.”

  Reluctantly, he met my stare. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to say?”

  “That you’ll quit and get a real job or go back to school.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Tell whoever you work for this time you want out.”

  Josh put his face in his hands. “I wish I could, but it’s not that simple with the HBS. There’s a new boss.”

  My breath caught in my throat as my pulse quickened. He referred to the Hermosa Beach Crime Syndicate. They were like Hotel California. Once you came, you could never leave. Well, except Josh had gotten out once before, when the previous boss went to prison. I closed my eyes and tried breathing normally. “Why do you have to leave?”

  “I just do, all right?”

  “You’re here to say good-bye, then. When will I see you again?” Tears rolled down my cheeks. There was something he wasn’t telling me, and I had a suspicion he’d pissed off the wrong person—as in, the boss.

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry, Mel. I need to protect you. You don’t deserve a brother like me.” He jumped to his feet and walked away.

  I ran after the only family I had left and caught up to him outside on the sidewalk. “Wait!” He stopped, then came and stood in front of me. Throwing my arms around him, I hung onto him, sobbing. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Take care of yourself.”

  The next time I saw him was on a cold, stainless-steel slab in the hospital morgue. I shouldn’t have let him leave. I should have begged him to stay. Forced him to go to the police. Anything. He was the only family I had, and he was gone. Forever.

  Now, all I wanted was justice for my brother’s murder by sending his killers to prison. The police had been no help even though I’d told them who shot Josh. They said my statement didn’t mean anything. They needed evidence to make any arrests and their investigation had turned up nothing substantial. Well, I was going to get them evidence of a major crime, even if it wasn’t for murder, or die trying. I was a waste of space, anyway.

  I started my car and drove home with an empty heart and empty hands. Tomorrow, I would face Flynn and beg him for another chance.

  CHAPTER 4

  Lincoln

  Cowboy Flynn sat behind his desk with his feet propped up on the wooden expanse. The black soles of his python cowboy boots had coiled snakes and stars. The head of the Hermosa Beach Crime Syndicate talked with a Texan accent and chewed tobacco no matter the time of day. He spat the used dip on the floor as I took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Two of his top crew members entered the office and stood behind me, blocking the exit to the office located in an old car repair shop, which Flynn had inherited. Well, more like he took it over after the last boss was sent to prison.

  I opened my jacket, reached for the necklace and tossed it onto the desk. Flynn leaned forward and reached for the POS. He smiled. “And here I thought you were all hat and no cattle.” Being a SoCal native, I wasn’t familiar with some of the phrases he used. This one I’d heard him say a few times, so I’d looked it up. It wasn’t a compliment.

  “I get the job done, come hell or high water.”

  Flynn laughed. “I see what you did there. You should come to Texas with me the next time I go for a visit. You’d fit right in.”

  “Is that an invitation?”

  “It might could. If you continue to prove useful.”

  I nodded.

  “A promise is a promise. I’m givin’ you a shot on the crew. So, I’m countin’ on you not to fuck up. Jerry will run point, so he’ll be ridin’ shotgun with Bandit. Derrick, Rico, and you will be the inside men. Ideally, I’d like one more on the inside, but—”

  There was a knock on the office door. Flynn sighed heavily. “See who that is,” he said to the men in back of me.

  “Who is it?” Derrick asked through the door.

  “It’s Nora.”

  This woman didn’t give up, did she? I sank deeper
into the chair and crossed my arms.

  “Let her in,” the Cowboy said.

  Walking in with her head held high, she went to the desk, where she planted her feet firmly on the floor.

  Flynn kicked up his chin. “What can I do you for, darlin’?”

  “I want on the crew.”

  He chuckled. “Seein’ how you didn’t prove you could handle a simple job on your own, the answer’s no.”

  “There must be something I can do.”

  Cowboy pursed his lips.

  “You can do me,” Rico said while faking a cough.

  Derrick laughed, Flynn smirked, and I ground my molars.

  “No, thanks, I’d rather lick the inside of a toilet,” she said.

  Now, that made me laugh.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I already gave the spot to Lincoln.”

  Nora put her hands on her hips. “Did he tell you that he stole the necklace from me?”

  “Yeah, after you stole it from me,” I drawled. I wasn’t going to let her rile me up. Her showing up this morning had mildly irritated me already.

  “I stole it first and you know it.”

  Ha! I jumped to my feet. “You did not, liar. You’re just mad because I beat you to it.”

  “So, who got there first?” Flynn asked.

  “I did,” she and I both snapped at the same time, glaring at each other. She was only a few inches shorter than me, putting us almost eye to eye.

  I chuckled without humor. “You know something, you’re out of your damn mind. I got there before you, found the necklace, and would have been out of there before the police arrived if you hadn’t shown up.”

  “The same argument could be made for my case. You’re the one who wasted time shoving the necklace down your pants.”

  I glanced at the Cowboy, who dropped the choker on the desk like it was dripping in a novel virus. The other two idiots in the room snorted. “You’re a waste of time.” Yeah, I said that. Nice, ass wipe. What’s next, tell her she’s fat? And she wasn’t at all. The skinny jeans she had on showed off her rocking body. Her luscious curves made my head spin. So much for staying calm.