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)
Oh. Well, that was disappointing.
I’d hoped he’d be here too. I’d wanted to ask more questions, but mostly I’d wanted to get the lay of the land. To understand him more. I couldn’t entirely do that with him absent.
But I didn’t have a choice since shrieks of laughter echoed toward us, amplified by all the tile and marble. A woman cried out, “Oh my god, that feels amazing. I can’t even. You have to feel this. Give me your arm.”
Was she testing out some lotion? Please, please let this be an aromatherapy party.
But the naughty spark in Willow’s brown eyes said I wouldn’t be so lucky. “This is definitely a ladies-only party.”
Save me.
I glanced behind me, wondering if I could make a break for the front door. I came for an awkward family dinner, but a randy girls’ night in with my stepdad’s fiancée? That was next-level cringe.
Jake was right. Tonight was certainly unexpected.
23
SAFE CRACKER
Jake
Perfect. She was safe and sound, inside the house.
I had no intention of waiting in the car. I had business to take care of and if Ruby knew what I was up to, she could give it away. Not on purpose. And despite what she’d said, I trusted her. But her face gave away her feelings better than she knew, and I didn’t want her to jump at noises or every creaking floorboard. I needed her to provide me cover, and the less she knew, the better the chance I could pull this off.
No need for a convenient trellis to get into Eli’s house. A convenient tree would do just as nicely, like this ironwood. Wasting no time, I shimmied up the trunk and out onto a branch until I was close enough to swing down and drop lightly onto the stucco roof.
With my lock kit, I opened a bathroom window in twenty seconds flat. Sliding through the window, I found myself in a palatial bathroom suite that smelled like expensive perfume and fancy, feminine lotions, as well as a woodsy aftershave. A faint light from the makeup mirror fell on fluffy towels, a waterfall shower, and double sinks.
Nice digs.
I stood still for a moment, listening. The room was quiet, but I could make out the faint sound of women’s laughter coming from the floor below. As I’d hoped, the focus was on the dinner guests and not anything happening upstairs.
Padding silently down the hall, I counted doors, passing a guest bedroom before reaching a closed door. There was no light coming from beneath the door—it could have been another guest room, but if I was lucky it would be a home office. Holding my breath, I grasped the doorknob and turned it slowly, noiselessly. Then, easing the door open, I peered through the gap. Moonlight streaked through the window, falling across a desk and onto the floor then climbing up the shelves.
Photos of Eli’s fiancée and his family decorated his desk. A picture of Ruby kissing a stingray caught my attention. The sun shone on her face, and the water sparkled behind her. Her smile could launch a thousand ships. Her happiness radiated from the frame.
Focus. Someone could leave the table and come upstairs any time.
I began to search the room—where else could Eli’s safe be other than his office?
It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for. The safe was small, hidden on a bookshelf behind a series of coffee-table photograph books of remote island locations. The combination took all of two minutes and twelve seconds to crack.
I held my breath and gingerly opened the small metal door. My heart pounded and I let myself hope, just a little, that I could wrap this all up now by finding the money Eli stole in the form of a velvet pouch full of diamonds.
Not wanting to risk a flashlight, I reached into the shadowed safe and felt around, finding a passport. Logical place to put it. Then I reached deep and felt something else, drawing it out into the moonlight to take a look.
Holy smokes. That was what Eli chose to keep in his safe?
With no time to contemplate the man’s reasoning, I pocketed the item, closed and locked the safe, then arranged the books in front of it as they’d been before. I slipped out of the office and shut the door, then crept down the hall and left the way I’d come in.
Leave no trace.
That was my mantra, and I’d succeeded tonight…almost.
I’d taken something from the safe. It was ill-advised, but I had to show Ruby.
24
DIAMOND GOODIES
Ruby
“Come see all the goodies,” Willow said, clasping my arm and whisking me toward the back of the house, where the party noise originated. “Have you heard of Just For Her?”
I blushed. Of course I’d heard of the premiere sex-toy company. I owned a few of their products too.