The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(6)

She was still looking for any sign of him and Adam balled his hands into fists. Damn it, why was she here? She’d barely escaped their last encounter alive, and now she was going to throw herself to the lions once more? Fine. If she had a death wish, that was on her. He’d already done too much for her. If she wasn’t going to take his order to stay away seriously, then she’d have to deal with the consequences.

And if she was there for Belli? The guy he was supposed to be watching? He reached for the radio hooked onto his belt. “I need to step out for a second. Someone cover my area.”

He kept to the shadows of the edge of the room as he headed for the exit. Except when he reached the corner, he didn’t leave. He found Melody once more and just watched her. When she walked, the slinky dress seemed to move with her as though they were one and the same. It hugged the curves of her ass. And when she turned toward him again, it looked as if she defied physics to keep those breasts contained.

Damn it, what was she doing here?

“What are you doing here?”

Adam knew the speaker immediately, and he let his eyes drift closed for just a second as he worked to regain his composure. He could maybe handle the sudden appearance of Melody and maybe handle the overbearing man who was supposedly his boss, but not at the same time. Well, according to all the paperwork and structure of the security company he was with, Ike Shriver was his boss, but Adam just couldn’t give him that kind of position in his mind.

“It’s not time for your break yet,” said Ike. His manager had a good two inches on Adam, but the man had almost no muscle mass. Whoever thought security was a good line of work for this guy had probably never been in a life-or-death situation. Although Ike might be able to handle a gun, Adam doubted he’d ever be able to beat even the most anorexic model in a fistfight.

“It won’t be long,” said Adam, doing his best to play nice.

“It won’t be at all. We need all the coverage we can get tonight.”

Adam nodded. “I agree. That’s why I’m going to cover the stairwell for a few minutes. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

Ike did the worst possible thing and grabbed Adam’s shoulder. All the tension in him sprang out, and in one fierce movement, he had Ike’s hand and twisted it until the bones were just about to snap. Adam had done this move enough times to know exactly when to stop. Ike should be grateful he had controlled himself enough to stop in time, but from the mix of pain and range in his “boss’s” eyes, Adam didn’t think Ike saw things that way.

“I’m going to take a long break.” Adam unhooked his radio and dropped it on the floor at the same time he released Ike’s hand and walked out the door before Ike could even pretend to fire him.

But when he looked over his shoulder once more, there was no sign of Melody. Probably for the best.



Melody took a deep drink of champagne. She had to have imagined it. If Blondie were here, why would he hide? If anything, he would’ve already dragged her out and probably finished the job he didn’t do before. No, this was her subconscious reaching out and trying to scare her.

Trying and succeeding. She finished off the rest of the champagne and set the glass down. Someone currently stood on the raised platform at the front of the room and went through the list of accomplishments that Jadon Belli had apparently accomplished. Soon he’d be giving his acceptance speech, and if she wanted that laptop, now was the best time.

She slipped into the hallway that ran perpendicular to the wall of windows. Stairs were usually in the corner of buildings, but they required security cards to access. She might as well try her luck with an elevator. She was just about to head down the drab hallway when she heard footsteps approach. Melody fell into the nook of a doorway and flattened herself against the thin protection of the nook. Immediately she cursed herself.

She wasn’t supposed to be hiding from the security team. She was supposed to be charming and flirting. Isobel had never once been caught snooping. She’d been caught “getting fresh air” or “looking for her lost sister.” She always had a story ready to go.

Now if someone walked by and saw her cowering in a corner, what were they going to think? Maybe she could pretend she lost a contact....

“Where is he?” asked a man from around the corner.

Melody caught her breath and willed her heart to slow down. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. If they found her, there was nothing they could do....

“They’re bringing him down now,” said a second voice. “Ike wants to make sure he gets a... special send-off.”

Both of the men laughed and Melody frowned. She was missing something.

“I’ve been wanting to do this from the second the little dipshit showed up,” said guy number one.

“They wanted us to play nice and we did. If Smith wants to leave, who are we to say no?”

They both laughed again and then Melody heard a door open. From the sound of the heavy latch, it was the stairwell. She was just about to convince herself to ignore it and go back to scope out the elevator, but a sound reached her. It was barely audible, and she held her breath as she waited to hear whether it was going to come again.

There it was. Almost a moan? She poked her head out of her nook, but she was alone in the hall now. Even though she knew she should go for the elevator and ignore any of these variables, she didn’t like the uncertainty. Hell, this entire night was filled with so many variables that she didn’t need one more.