Steal the Day (Thieves #2)

Steal the Day (Thieves #2)

Lexi Blake




Acknowledgments

Thanks to the team that helps keep me going. Thanks to my editors, Chloe Vale and Kasi Alexander. To my lovely beta readers, Stormy Pate and Riane Holt. To my friends, Kris Cook and Shayla Black who keep my spirits up. And to Liz Berry and my husband, Rich who have championed this series from the beginning.





Chapter One





I stretched as I rolled out of bed, trying not to wake the man next to me. I caught sight of Devinshea Quinn and couldn’t help but stare. It didn’t matter that I’d seen him naked a hundred times before. I always had to stop and sigh. His tan skin made a stark contrast to the white sheets. His dark hair was mussed from our activities, and though his face was relaxed, there was no way to soften that perfectly shaped jawline. The sheet was around his waist, leaving most of his lean, muscular body on display. Everything about Dev Quinn was perfect, from his washboard abs to his cut chest, to those ridiculously sensual lips.

I felt a smile cross my face as I sat there and just watched him sleep.

He shifted, rolling over in bed, and I decided it was time to go. As much as I liked to look at him, I really didn’t want the argument that was sure to come when he realized where I was going.

I stood up and was finally able to get out of the Christian Louboutins Dev had given me earlier in the evening. I flexed my feet, trying not to groan. The shoes were ridiculously gorgeous. My eyes had widened when I opened the box, and my heart fluttered. It hadn’t taken Dev long before he had me in the shoes and nothing else. Those shoes were exciting and sexy, and just the slightest bit uncomfortable. They were a little like my relationship with Dev. The sex was incredible and, while I was in bed with Dev, I didn’t think about anything but him. The minute I rolled out of bed, I wanted to get out of those shoes and put on a pair of Converse. That was our problem.

Well, that and my husband.

I walked through the grotto, collecting stray clothes along the way. Dev’s apartment was at the top of a building he owned in the middle of downtown Dallas. The bottom of the building housed his club, Ether, the hottest club of its kind. It isn’t the kind of club that shows up on the Best of Dallas lists. It’s an underground club where the bouncers zealously guard the entrance. I’m one of the only humans to be permitted inside.

Ether is the place where the supernaturals of the world go to mix and mingle and do a little business. It’s an official place of peace despite my best effort to burn it down several months back. I hadn’t meant to, but then I never do. Trouble just follows me. That had been my first date with Dev, my first date of any kind in years, really. I had been sadly single for a very long time before meeting Dev.

I slowed, unable to rush through. Dev’s “condo” took up the whole top floor of the building and was the most decadent space I’d ever seen. The first time Dev had taken me up the private elevator from his office in Ether to his penthouse, the doors had opened and I’d gasped.

I call the whole place “the grotto.” It’s something like an indoor forest, complete with a brook that runs through the various rooms of the apartment. When the sun is out, the whole place lights up with soft, natural light. In the dead of night, moonbeams stream through the overhead windows, shining down and making the room seem magical.

It’s odd for a faery to live year round in the city. They don’t like the feeling of being enclosed. It goes against their nature, but Dev is mortal. He’s the only of his mother’s children who didn’t take after her and, because of his mortality, he’d chosen to leave the sithein and cut off ties. Since the day we’d met, I could remember two conversations we’d had about his family.

This place made me think he missed them.

I walked into the bathroom that was bigger than my entire living room and turned on the shower. The splendor of Dev’s home put in stark contrast our relative differences. Money wasn’t a problem for Dev. The same couldn’t be said for me. I’d recently finished a job that gave me enough money to buy a little fixer-upper in the country, but I was starting to hurt for cash. My account was down to the low four digits, and I didn’t have more money coming in.

Of course, I would have given up all the money I made on my last job if I could have changed the outcome of it. Some jobs aren’t worth the payday.

Tossing my clothes on the counter, I stepped under the rainfall of deliciously hot water. The water stroked over my skin, and I stretched again. Sex with Dev was inventive and exciting, and required a certain level of flexibility. I could see yoga classes in my future.

Suddenly two big hands came from behind and cupped my breasts. I sighed for two reasons—one because it felt so good, and two because there would be no getting out of a fight. I let my head fall back against his chest, his body nestling against mine. If we were going to fight, I might as well enjoy the first part.

“Zoey.” Dev breathed in my ear, his voice the sweetest of seductions. His hands moved across my skin and despite the fact that we’d made love earlier, I responded to him immediately. Everywhere he touched, my skin seemed to flare to life. “I sincerely apologize. I have treated you poorly.”

I smiled because I knew what was coming next. “I disagree, Dev. I was treated incredibly well. At least three times.”

One hand played with my breast, plucking at my nipple, pinching and lighting it up. “Three times isn’t enough. I want to watch you come all night long.”