“What, you mean my team of secret operatives?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “I thought they were undercover operatives.”
“That too.”
“Gods, you’re so full of BS.”
“It’s what makes me a damn good thief. And you, once upon a time.”
For some reason, his words made her smile. “Is that a compliment, Jer?”
“You know it is. Aside from my brother, you were the best partner I ever had.” Foolish as it was, his heart pinched remembering the closeness they’d shared while working a heist. He was damn glad she’d gotten out of the life, but it didn’t mean he didn’t miss her.
She twitched her nose. “Last time I checked, Dash and I were the only partners you had. Second best doesn’t make me much of anything.”
“I never said you were second best.”
Her smile this go-around threatened to blind him. Her cheeks flushed with some strange happiness, she averted her gaze and took a sip of her water. “Flattering me won’t get you out of the hot seat. I still want to know more about this job. What is it that we’re really supposed to steal?”
“You don’t believe I’m after Francesca’s art collection?”
“No.”
He’d suspected she wouldn’t fall for the story he’d concocted for Madam Love’s benefit, but it would have been damn easier if she had. Left with little recourse than to give her the partial truth, he filled her in on Casper Winston and the man’s missing research. He made sure to make no mention of the events that’d led to him signing on as acquisition engineer.
“What exactly is the research you’re supposed to lift?”
“That’s part of the detail I don’t have.”
Avily’s expressive eyebrows dipped low. “You don’t know what it is, but you’re going to steal it anyway? That’s not like you, Jer.”
Knowing he was walking a tricky tightrope that could topple him any moment, he gauged the answers he could give without making her too suspicious. “They offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”
That at least wasn’t a lie. Her safety was worth any asking price.
She fell into a contemplative silence. Worried she’d latch on to more questions he didn’t want to volley, he waved the waitress over and put in an order for a Ginnish with a chaser of Strasser’s Ale.
The second the waitress departed, Avi pinned him with the full weight of her prodding stare, earning his silent groan. He should have known she wouldn’t give up that easily.
“Did you do a background check on Casper to see what he might have been working on?”
Painstaking research was the norm for him. Always had been. Avi had participated in far too many takes with him to fall for a lie in that department. Which meant she was attempting to call his bluff. “Yes.”
“What did you find out?”
“Nothing of interest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Could you be any more vague?”
“The man was some kind of human-genetics whiz. Everything he worked on had something to do with that field.”
Avi leaned back and crossed her legs, momentarily distracting him with the delectable curve of her thigh peeking from her modest pinstriped skirt. He imagined tracing that sexy expanse of skin with his tongue, right up to her hipbone. Then he’d change course and head south, until he reached the Promised Land between her legs. He’d lick her slow and deep, tasting her sweet pussy from the inside out. Visualizing her melting like honey on his tongue, he killed a groan. On the bright side, it was too damn cramped under the table to give in to his fantasy.
“This scientist was a human?”
Her question ripped his thoughts from his imaginary feast. He took a quick swig from her water glass in hopes of restoring some of the moisture to his mouth. “Yes. Why?”
“Jer, why do you suppose these people are interested in something a scientist specializing in human genetics developed?”
He had no answer for her beyond a shrug.
She graced him with an exasperated look. “Aren’t you the slightest bit curious?”
The last thing he needed was her innate nosiness getting activated further. That could only spell trouble for her, and therefore him. “No. It’s a job. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“How can you be so indifferent? So impersonal about it?”
He wasn’t. He fully intended to kill the assholes who’d threatened her and blackmailed him into taking on this job. That was personal. And he was personally going to enjoy bringing that world of pain on top of their spineless heads.
“I could never distance myself from it the way you do.” She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, absently smoothing the fabric between her fingers. “It’s why I had to get out of that life.”
“I know.”
“I thought I could be strong enough to stick it out. To not be affected by the seediness.”
“You’re strong for getting out. You’ve built something better for yourself. I might not have said it before, but I’m proud of you.”
She swallowed, her delicate throat working. “That means a lot to me.”
For a moment she looked so lost and uncertain, he longed to take her in his arms. But doing that would lead to other longings. Longings he wasn’t sure he had the strength to resist.
Lifting her head, she gazed at him, her eyes soft and vulnerable. “I also got out because of you.”
The admission wasn’t a surprise to him, but it still sat heavy in his chest. “I know that too.”
If there was any good that came out of his hurting her, it was her leaving her thieving past behind. He’d never wanted that life for her. He wished with everything inside him that he could turn back the clock and steel his heart to the desperate plea she’d waged on him fifteen years ago to mentor her. The thief’s life had been no place for an innocent girl. It was a miracle her softness, her decency, hadn’t been twisted and corrupted.
Then there were the unsavory characters populating his world. Even now, five years after she’d thought herself free of it, the shady, criminal stink that clung to everything he touched like a rotting, foul fungus had reattached itself to Avi.
And it was all his fault. Merely knowing him had endangered her.
He wanted to punch his fist through the closest wall because of it and the knowledge that he couldn’t scrub the taint of him off her. It was the reason he had to stick firm to his resolve not to touch her virginity. Binding herself to him for life was a death sentence neither of them could afford. He’d do well to remember that.
All the same, he found it a tough pill to swallow when she wrapped her arms around him and sniffled. “There were times I missed you so much, my chest felt like it was caving in.”
Giving in to his need to comfort her, he ruffled the hair at her nape and leaning in, pressed his lips to her forehead. His sinuses were instantly filled with the sweetness of her, and he breathed deep, longing and desire fierce warriors destroying his equilibrium.
“I don’t know if I can ever stop loving you. And it terrifies me,” Avi admitted on a heartbreaking whisper.
His heart thundered with a multitude of emotions that scared the living crap out of him just as equally. He opened his mouth, the heaviness constricting his throat making it near impossible to speak. “Avi, I—”
“Jerrick Hunter, you fucking son of a bitch!”
The angry retort didn’t spill from Avi, but the voice delivering it bore a familiarity that tore through him like a hot blade. Half convinced he was suspended in a twisted dream, he pulled away from Avi and stared over his shoulder.
The last person he’d expected to set eyes on stood quivering in outrage at the foot of the table.
With a good deal more calmness than he actually felt, he slipped on a cold, detached smile. “I see your endearments for me haven’t improved since our last meeting, Leena.”