The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)(62)

“Third time’s a charm,” she said, then kissed him, and he kissed her back. Soft, slow, lingering.

“Can I stay the night?” He didn’t want to leave. Couldn’t imagine being elsewhere. Her room was the only place he wanted to be.

“You’d better.”

They didn’t fall asleep right away. They stayed up, chatting in the afterglow of great sex. Sometimes, conversations were made easier because of the endorphins already flowing. They talked about work and some of their favorite jobs. She told him about a dive trip in the Bahamas that she’d loved, and he shared more of the Stradivarius story. When he finished, she ran her fingers once more against the scar on his forearm and whispered sweetly, “I like this. It’s sexy. It says you’re rugged.”

“You like your men rugged, Steph?” he asked, brushing a hand through her soft hair.

She shrugged, snuggling closer in his arms. He liked having her like this. He pressed his nose to her hair, inhaling her.

“I do,” she said. “It says you can do things. My ex did nothing. But you—you work hard, and I like that.”

He smiled. “I try. I like working, and I like that it enables me to take care of my family.”

She sighed, a happy, contented sound that worked its way under his skin. That weaved through him, seducing him. He had to be careful or he would start feeling things for her. Dangerous things that he had no room for in his life.

But the way his heart tripped just being near her told him he was already there.

She turned to face him. “This is crazy,” she said, gesturing from him to her. “And it’s everything we said we shouldn’t do.”

He kissed her forehead. “I know.”

“But yet you want to spend the night.”

“I do. So much,” he said softly, letting a sliver of vulnerability slip through. He didn’t usually show this side of himself, but he couldn’t find his resistance tonight. It was gone, and he was done searching for it. “For some reason, I can’t fight this right now,” he said softly, running a thumb over her chin. “You have your hooks in me.”

She mimed latching on to him, and he laughed, then wrapped an arm around her. She felt so damn good in his arms. So right. She wasn’t a bit like Rosalinda. She wasn’t a mercenary. She wasn’t conniving. Steph had so much at stake, so much to lose. Like him, she only wanted justice. She only wanted to do the right thing. He told himself this situation wasn’t remotely similar to the Medici job, and that reassurance made it easier to say the next thing. He took a deep, fueling breath, then laid it out. “What do you say we stop fighting this and just give in for the rest of the time we’re here?”

“We’ve done a pretty bad job at resisting,” she said, tap-dancing her fingers across his chest. “So I’d say giving in to an island tryst sounds a hell of a lot more fun than fighting it. Besides, I like working with you, and I like the way you work on orgasms for me.”

He chuckled deeply. “Excellent. Count on more. Because I am enjoying this so damn much. I’m enjoying you so much. More than I ever expected to,” he said, then kissed her once more.

Soon, darkness cloaked them, and the peaceful, easy feeling with her lying in his arms almost made him forget why he was here.

The job. The jewels. The bounty he was hunting.

He fell asleep thinking of diamonds and her. Steph and diamonds, and soon the two were blurred together.




Early the next morning after teeth were brushed and orgasms were administered, Steph and Jake parked themselves on the end of the bed and worked on the plan for the art gallery. The morning sun shone brightly through the sliding glass door of the balcony, lighting up the room and their work.

They had blueprints. They had a road map. They would be following it later today. In no time, they’d be Robin Hooding and Batmanning their way through the gallery right around lunchtime. The art on display was all frameless, which narrowed the location down to a storage room or office.

Jake’s stomach rumbled. Steph raised her eyebrows. “I have a crazy idea,” she said in a stage whisper.

“About how to get into the art gallery and find the diamonds?”

“No,” she said, patting his flat belly. “It’s about breakfast. What would you say to ordering some room service? This might not be a fancy hotel, but it has the best eggs and toast. And they actually have these little tiny jars of honey for the toast that are weirdly amazing.”

“Say no more,” he said, sweeping out his arm gallantly. “Eggs are my second favorite food in the world.”

“After ice cream,” she said with a wink.

“Or maybe after weirdly amazing honey,” he joked.

A half hour later, wheels rolled by outside the room, then a knock sounded on another door. Steph popped up from the bed. “I think they got the wrong room,” she said, heading to the door and peeking down the hall. Ah, there was the waiter with a tray and two plates of eggs and toast. She waved to him.

“Are those for us?” she asked.

“Oops,” he said with an apologetic smile. “I went to the wrong room.”

Standing outside the door, she signed the room service to her room, then thanked him. Back inside, she enjoyed a delicious breakfast on the balcony with a man who she was having an island tryst with.