“You should. You’ve built a respectable life for yourself, and I’m a stain on that.”
She whirled on Jerrick, surprising him and the crush of people walking from behind. “Don’t you dare speak of yourself that way to me. I won’t have it.”
Taking her by the arm, he steered her to a nearby shop window, safely maneuvering them out of the line of traffic. “I might not be honest about everything in my life, but I am this. I make no bones about what I am. What I do. But I’m not a fool to think it’s acceptable in the eyes of society. Your own family condemns you for being associated with me. You think that doesn’t affect me?”
Her thoughts immediately veered to the ugly scenes he’d been a party to with Leena. “I’ve already told you that it’s no consequence to me what my sister thinks. Furthermore, she stopped by my shop yesterday and made it all too clear that her grudge against you has nothing to do with your career and everything to do with your DNA.”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Bloody fantastic. Another human who despises me for my genes.”
“See? Your job isn’t the issue.”
He offered her a droll look. “No, instead it’s my heritage. Infinitely easier for me to overcome.”
“Why do you have to be so bullheaded about this?”
“Not stubborn. Pragmatic. I won’t wear blinders in this situation.”
She gripped his hand, the depth of her feelings conveyed in the circulation-stealing clench of her fingers. “I’m not being blind either. I know full well the obstacles we face. But I’m willing to endure every single one of them because I love you.”
A fraction of the tension ebbed from him, but the indefinable dark emotion in his eyes didn’t abate. He hugged her to him, his lips a gentle stroke upon her forehead. She slipped her free hand beneath his jacket and covered his heart. Hers squeezed, well aware that the responding words of his devotion failed to fall from his tongue.
“We’ll speak more of this later, Avi. No force will tear me from you, but I need to be smart about this and insure your safety.”
For her wellbeing, maybe. But he could do nothing to protect her heart.
She couldn’t even manage that.
Chapter Twenty-Five
There were a thousand and one ways this job could go to hell in a rocket-powered handcart. Studiously shoving aside those nauseously numerous possibilities, Jerrick secured his chest harness in place. If all went well, it’d be the last time he’d have to wear the contraption.
He fingered the leather strap consideringly. Unless Avi wanted him to wear it on occasion. She seemed to enjoy the look of it. And if he were being completely truthful with himself, the notion of strapping her to him while he fucked her against a wall held massive appeal.
As always, the thought of her stirred a chemical reaction in his blood, raising not just his cock, but the briskness of his heart rate. His emotions were in a constant upheaval where she was concerned. He knew she waited to hear the words from him. Why was it so damn impossible for them to slip past his lips? It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. Gods, did he ever. With an intensity that threatened to crush him.
And there lay the crux of the matter.
He’d denied the dream of her for so long, giving voice to it terrified him. To speak the truth in his heart courted the all-too-real risk of it being ripped away from him. He’d given his devotion to Leena, pledged his undying love, and look at what happened there. His long-ago affection for Leena was a pale shadow of his love for Avi. If the goddesses wished to annihilate his soul once and for all, they had only to take her from him.
The pinch in his chest impossible to ignore, he abandoned the bathroom and joined Avi in the main living quarters. He inclined his head, and she preceded him down the stairway.
The drive to the club was a tense, nerve-wracking one. Between the clusterfuck of the road conditions and the massive scope of the job ahead of him, his blood pressure straddled the danger zone. He had to keep his cool. Hold desperately to his wits. Because there was no greater hazard to a thief than an uncollected mind.
They reached the lot parallel to the club, and he parked well away from the other vehicles. He was relieved to note that there weren’t many. Sunday was apparently a light day for getting their kink on. That, or they were enjoying the final weekend of Amora Moon away from the club. He reached for Avi’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Remember, not until you hear the alarm.”
She nodded, and he slid his free hand behind her head, pulling her in for a searing kiss. He put the depth of his emotions into the act, conveying his love in the only way his mind would allow him.
He slowly relinquished the kiss and brushed her cheek. Before his chest grew any tighter, he opened the door and climbed out. They made their way together to the gate, and the guard let them in. Once their belongings were checked in, he passed Avi a subtle look, her cue to get the ball rolling.
She gifted the attendant with a felicitous smile. “Is Mistress Dominitri about this afternoon? I was hoping to have a word with her.”
“She is, but she’s in attendance with out-of-town guests.”
A brief flash of panic skittered across Avi’s features, threatening to oust her interest. Jerrick pressed two fingers to her shoulder blade and fizzled a silent sigh of relief when she relaxed.
Composure reasserted, she cleared her throat. “Would you mind letting her know I wish to speak to her when she’s done?”
He sent her a mute signal of approval. With any luck, she’d be able to keep Francesca away from her apartment while he rang the alarm. During all of the chaos, it’d be an easy enough matter for Avi to give Francesca the slip and make a run for the dolly.
This would work. It had to. He couldn’t afford any other outcome.
They left the entrance behind and journeyed into the bar. Alcohol was out of the question given the task ahead of them, but the intimate seclusion of the space provided an ideal spot to coordinate the next stage. Lifting Avi’s wrist, he synched their compu-timers. When the displays hit the minus sixty, he’d feign an urgent need for the restroom. That’d begin the next countdown—precisely seventy seconds to get up to the sixth floor and hit the fire alarm. If the sisters of fate were on his side, he’d be able to make it up to the penthouse before the conveyance was called down to any of the other floors. If he were really fortunate, the penthouse would be empty. Gods be damned if Francesca was up there with her guests.
Shoving that worrisome thought to the farthest corner of his mind, he clicked the set button on their timers. “Slight change of plan. Send the dolly up on the elevator, but get your ass out of the building with the others. We’ll meet up in the parking lot once the coast is clear.”
She blinked at him. “Are you crazy? You can’t do all of it on your own.”
“This is a better plan. Trust me.” Knowing she was seconds from balking, he seized her mouth in a fierce kiss. Their timers beeped, and he broke away from her. He detected her angry inhalation as he stood.
“Damn you, Jer. Don’t do this to me.”
Risking her wrath later far preferable to endangering her any more than he already had, he released a breath and strode into the main anteroom. The corridor was blessedly empty, saving him the pretense of hitting the restroom. With no suspicious members to question the motive of a sub venturing too far from his mistress’s side, he ducked into the elevator and punched the button for the sixth floor.
Well under the seventy seconds he needed, the elevator slid to a smooth stop, and he stepped out into the Lust Ballroom. The sisters of fate smiling on him again, he noted the vacancy of his opulent surroundings. Not only would his actions go unnoticed, he wouldn’t have to worry about immediate competition for the elevator.