Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“Eli loves jewels…and he gave me a diamond this morning. Maybe it was purchased legitimately.”
“Maybe not,” he remarked dryly, the conviction in his eyes showing he found my stepfather guilty.
“Do you have evidence?” I asked. “About the missing money, I mean. Not specifically the diamonds.”
“I do.”
But what I also wanted to know was this—was last night a ruse? Did he seduce me to butter me up? I leaned in closer, kept my voice low. “But you see how this looks, right? Like you’re trying to get close to me because you think I know something. Is that why you found me at The Pink Pelican last night?”
“If you remember,” he said, tapping his chest smugly, “I was at The Pink Pelican already. You walked in.”
Damn him. That was a good point. He hadn’t been following me. Plus, I’d invited him to track me down today. Hell, I’d left clues for him to find me.
“You have me there,” I said.
“And when I had you in my arms,” he said in a harsh whisper, “that was all real. Don’t doubt that for a second.”
I tried to hide the little shiver that ran through me too.
“Both at the bar and at your hotel,” he added, like I could have forgotten when and where he touched me. He kept his gaze locked on me, his eyes intense. “You need to know this, Ruby. So let me make myself very clear. I don’t use women. I don’t seduce them for info or intel. From the second I saw you, you knocked the breath straight from my chest. I didn’t know your name or a damn thing about you. I knew one thing—you were stunning. And after we flirted at the bar, and the drink at your hotel and the way you said my name when you fell apart, I knew another thing. I wanted to see you again, plain and simple. It had nothing to do with the job. And it had everything to do with you.”
I shivered. Dear god, this man and his recap of our steamy night. I was getting hotter. This was dangerous. I had to stay focused. “But the picture today, Jake?” I gave a shrug that said explain yourself.
He sighed heavily, then ran a hand through his hair. “When I spotted you with your stepdad at Tristan’s this morning—”
I held up a hand. “You were following me?”
“No. I was tailing Eli,” he said, making a firm distinction. Eli was the job; I wasn’t. “And I saw you. I asked Andrew who you were. As you know, he literally just told me. Now it turns out we’re both looking out for the people who got screwed—me for Andrew and you for your mom.” His voice never wavered in its certainty, its intensity as he kept his eyes on me. “The only thing made up was that the photo was from your website. Everything else was true. I had an incredible time last night,” he said, his tone shifting to something deeper. “I wanted more. I still want more.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice to a rough and sexy whisper. “A lot more.”
Heat raced through me. “Me too,” I said quietly, admitting that at last. It was impossible not to, especially with the way he looked at me like he was picturing me naked. Picturing us together. “I want all the bad things.”
“I’m very good at doing bad things.” His tone was rough, dirty.
I wanted to grab the check and beeline for my hotel right then. But how could I when I didn’t know how much I could trust him? Maintaining my skeptical stare, I shoved the naughty thoughts away. “I’d like those things a lot…with someone I trust.”
He matched my skepticism with certainty and a little deadpan charm. “Yeah, I like trust too.”
So, there we were. Admitting we didn’t quite trust each other. Where that left bedroom matters, I had no idea.
But lust wasn’t the most important factor right now. Diamonds were. Playing fair was. Doing the right thing, rather than a real good bad thing. “So, where do we go from here?” I asked.
Jake sat back, his tone lightening. “Look, things got complicated today when I learned who you were. I’m not going to deny that. But I’m still here. Still talking to you.” He tapped the table with his finger, then gave me a crooked smile. An incredibly charming one. “Because maybe we should work together to find the truth. We’re on the same team.”
Hmm. I was intrigued but not sold. “Why should I work with you?” I asked, a little challenging. Or maybe a lot. “What do I need from you? I’m the one who was invited into Eli’s house later this week. I can just look for clues or diamonds or whatever myself. I don’t have to, you know, break in.”