Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights #2)(37)

“Is that a frequent problem?” she teased.

“Would you complain if it were?” he returned huskily, already feeling his cock swell in his pants.

“No, I don’t think so.” She sounded breathless as he felt her arms reach around him to return his hold. Her arms around him felt good.

“I’d like to try that with you, Jewel. Morning sex,” he nipped at her ear. “And with your brothers away, I was hoping you’d stay.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I should have left a note or something. But I have responsibilities . . . ,”

“A note would be nice. Next time,” he murmured against her cheek before pulling back and looking down into her eyes. He didn’t want it to sound like a recrimination even though it kind of was.

“Yes, I should have texted, but like I said I had a bunch of stuff I needed to do.”

He wanted to ask what those things were, but didn’t want to come off as being nosy. “So you were busy?” he attempted to lead her.

“Yes, busy,” she evaded and gave him a perplexed look.

This was going to be harder than he thought. Perhaps a bit of the truth would help to get her to open up. “Well, I’ve had a pretty busy day myself. We are having some serious problems with theft. This morning when I came in we got some bad news.” This time he stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. He wanted to gauge her reaction.

“What was it?” she asked suddenly aware that the mood had shifted. His tone worried her.

“We have been having some problems with theft. Rooms getting robbed. Last night there was a robbery at The Mohegan Sun. We don’t have all our hallways video recorded yet, but they do. They sent us copies of the tapes. We are trying to see if the crimes are connected.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. Robberies would be bad for the casino. It could ruin their reputation. But she thought it was strange, too, that he would be bringing that up with her. “That’s horrible.”

He nodded his agreement. “The only clues we have are that they seem to be working in a group of three. A triple threat. Three people, two tall, one short. We are assuming at least two are men, from the looks of it. But all wore masks, so we can’t be sure. The third person was the lookout and much shorter.”

“Okay, well that’s good. It gives you something to go with.” Jewel was a tad lost. It had been awhile since she’d been in a relationship. Perhaps he was just sharing his day with her.

She saw his face reset into a grim expression, as he leaned back against the desk. “But not much.” He sighed in his frustration. He’d decided to be upfront with her. Direct. He’d learned from his brother’s mistakes about going off halfcocked.

Jewel could tell he had something else on his mind as he searched her face, but still didn’t know why he was confiding all of this into her. It was something about the way he was looking at her that made her ask her next question. “Why are you telling me all this?”

He shook his head morosely before speaking. “I’m sorry,” he stopped, and then started again, “I, um . . . saw your brothers this morning. I thought they were on an overnight.”

Her face fell. Her eyes went round in shock. “You think they . . .,” she stammered at a loss for words.

His hands went straight to his cropped hair. She was in shock, and she could tell he was having difficulty looking for just the right words. “I know crazy, but I saw the tapes, and both of the men that got into the rooms were about their height and build. It’s stupid.”

She lost it. Her brothers would never do anything of the sort. “They had nothing to do this with this,” she lifted her chin in anger. Her eyes pierced his.

“They walked like . . .,”

She didn’t let him finish. “Don’t even say it. I know my brothers. And I thought I was beginning to know you,” she ripped out, and then turned her back to him. Her heart was pounding. Her head, too.

He grabbed her by the arm and turned her back towards him. “I really wasn’t accusing. I just wanted to get your take on it. I saw them this morning. You had left some time in the night, and then I saw the tape. I don’t know. I had you on my mind, and then saw that. I am just trying to be upfront.”

Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. “You think I had something to do with this too,” her outrage was clear. But instead of getting louder, her voice had dropped to a menacing whisper.

This had gotten way out of hand. “No, I . . ,” he started, but to his shock her hand came up out of nowhere, and she smacked him soundly across the face. Hard.

He grabbed her hand to stop her from doing it again, and he could feel her struggling to break free. “If you think I slept in your bed, and then crawled out in the middle of the night to steal from hotel rooms in a casino you better think again. Long and hard. And before you even attempt to call me, you owe me and my brothers an apology.” She wrenched her hands away from him, and before he could blink, she stormed out of the small office.

Her outrage had been over the top. He hadn’t even thought of her being the other person. But it was she that had now put the idea into his head. Could she have been? The food in her car. Sneaking out last night. No. They had made love many times last night. It couldn’t have been her. But he needed to check the timelines. His gut clenched, and it felt like he swallowed a rock.