The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(29)

And when she opened it, there was no angry Jadon Belli staring her down, so she could only assume the woman had given her an out. Melody quickened her steps and went right for the elevators. There was no security access necessary to get back into the lobby. She was certain she was going to be on the building cameras, but that wasn’t any huge concern. Sterling already knew what she looked like, and there would be enough dirt on this computer to make it impossible for Jadon Belli to go to the cops.

Even so, Melody’s heart beat like a drum and it seemed to get faster with each level that the elevator descended. Just then, her phone started to vibrate in her purse, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer it. Not until she was physically out of the building.

In the mix of adrenaline, the walk out of the building seemed to be a blur. She was back through the turnstile, past the security, through the doors. Just as she started to take a breath of relief, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the side of the building.

Before she could scream, she saw the familiar blond hair and ice-blue eyes. “Adam,” she breathed.

“I swear, if your death wish doesn’t do you in, I’ll kill you myself.”





Adam pulled the pillow over his eyes, trying to shut out all the light, to no avail. It would help if Melody stopped pacing around the room for two damn seconds. “What the hell is wrong with you? Sleep. You’re going to need it.”

“Sleep? No. You have the address of the man who killed my mother and you want to nap! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Adam sat up and glared at her. “I have an address that was turned over to me in two seconds by a guy who hates me. Forbes is going to be expecting us. We’d be walking into a trap.”

“Of course it’s going to be a trap. We’re going after a killer. Risks will be taken. Just give me the address and I’ll take care of it.”

If she said that one more time, he was going to handcuff her to the damn radiator. He didn’t have handcuffs, but he’d find some. “You already went on one suicide mission today. Do you really need another one?”

“I have told you a thousand times—it wasn’t a suicide mission. It was a calculated risk. And if you had let me come with you like you promised, I wouldn’t have had the spare time to do that.”

“I didn’t promise you jack shit, all right? I told you we’d get to Forbes and that’s what we’re doing. Just in a smart way.”

He sighed and decided to go at it from another direction. “Why don’t you work on getting into that laptop instead?”

“Guys like that have security measures. If I even try to get into it, the GPS will activate and it will lead them right to us. Turned off and stowed is the best place for it until I can get Toni to look at it.”

“And you’re not calling Toni because you know she won’t want you walking into a trap.”

“I’m not calling her because she wouldn’t want me to be alone in a room with you.”

“Hell, I’m starting to think this is the smart sister.”

He heard some muffled curses and the jingle of her grabbing her purse. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“No, you’re not.”

She didn’t say anything, which had him worried enough to sit up and see her already halfway to the door.

“Son of a—” He bolted off the bed, and even though he didn’t beat her to the door, he managed to snag her wrist and pull her back, letting the door fall shut as he pushed her against the closet doors.

“Darlin’, I swear, I’m trying to be a gentleman, but you keep forcing me into these compromising positions.”

Her head fell back against the door and he had the sudden temptation to kiss her neck. But that would probably make her bolt for the door once more.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“I kind of like it. But what do you prefer? I like Angel too.”

“Mel.”

“What?”

“Friends, family, and now psychotic killers call me Mel.” She lifted her head enough to meet his eyes. “Now let me go.”

“Mel.” He let go of her wrists and ran his fingers over the side of her face. “We’re going to do this. We’re going to do this together. But you need to trust me.”

The corner of her mouth curled up. “You know I’m never going to trust you.”

“Maybe not completely. But you’re already alone in a hotel room with me. What does that say?”

“It says what you’ve been saying all along.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “I have a death wish. Why else would I be here with you?”

Adam clenched his jaw as he pushed away from her. It was hard to fight with his own words. After pointedly putting the bolt in place, he made his way back to the bed, listening carefully to see whether Melody was going to try to make a run for it again. Instead, he heard her footsteps approach as he lay down.

He looked out of the corner of his eyes to see her sit on the edge of her bed, facing him.

“Why?” she asked.

“Why what?”

“Why everything. Why did you let me go?”

He eyed the ceiling as he debated what she should know. “I thought we weren’t going to get personal.”