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)
“Thanks for your help, babe!” Clarissa called. “You’re the best.”
My jaw dropped. No way. No way was she doing this.
But she was.
With one hand on the wheel, she peeled out of the parking lot with the car, the stash, and the keys that had been left in the ignition as the attendants cleaned.
Jake tore off after her, running like a track star, sprinting on a mad dash for the car. He ran like a bullet, powered by adrenaline, out of the lot, down the street, chasing the black automobile.
But Clarissa and the Audi were far faster. She sped through the light by the car wash, leaving Jake in the dust. He bent over, panting, his hands braced on his thighs.
A green Honda drove by next, following the Audi. Tristan was at the wheel.
52
SLIPPED THROUGH MY FINGERS
Jake
I swallowed my scream of frustration. Pressing my clenched fists to my forehead, I cursed everything and everyone, ready to bang my head against the concrete and yank out my hair.
Because…fuck.
The diamonds had been in my grasp, inches away. I’d been reaching to run my fingers through them when Clarissa had torn off in Ruby’s stepfather’s car.
It was Venice all over again. I’d had the goddamn prize in my hands only to have it snatched away.
By Clarissa. Who was joining Ruby’s tour. Who Ruby said was super nice. Followed by Tristan, whose restaurant Ruby had dined in twice.
Déjà vu descended and gripped me hard. My chest burned. My head pounded.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
I knew better and I’d gone in anyway. I’d taken the risk for the woman, letting my stupid heart lead, and look where it had landed me.
Straight into My Terrible Romantic Decisions—the Sequel.
“Did you know?” I asked, not sure where the words came from or what I was trying to say.
“What?” She looked at me like she didn’t know me. I felt wild, frustrated, annoyed, and mad as fucking hell.
Not at Ruby.
Not at all.
But still…those diamonds had slipped through my fingers.
I pointed in Clarissa’s direction, though she was long gone, and so was her accomplice. “Did she know you were going to be here? Did you tell her?”
Ruby parked her hands on her hips, her brow knitting tightly. “Why would I tell her?”
“How else would she know to be here?”
“She was following us,” she said, as if it were obvious.
“You said she was joining your dive tour. You said she was nice. You said you liked her. You trust so easily, Ruby. You get too close to people.” I was grasping at straws, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.
“And that means what, Jake?” she asked, her tone cool and even.
Meeting her gaze, I asked, “How can you be so casual about her taking the diamonds?” Ruby had said she was done with the diamond hunt. It was too personal. She’d leave it to me. When she’d stepped back from the mission, had that distance made her too open with Clarissa or Eli? Had she let down her guard so much that she’d inadvertently let some hint slip while she’d been in Sapphire or at lunch?
Ruby held up a hand. “Think real hard before you say whatever is on your mind, Jake. You can’t take these next words back.”
I clenched my fists. Drew a tight breath. “Did you say anything that might have tipped them off?”
She scoffed. “Seriously? You really just asked me that?”
“Ruby,” I said, at my wits end and the end of my rope as well. After so many false leads, to have the diamonds snatched literally from my fingers…I couldn’t think straight. “We were so close, so damn close. Clarissa was right here in seconds, or maybe she’d been waiting for us. I’m just trying to logic this out. Is there anything you might have said, inadvertently—”
“How could you think I’d be so careless?” she demanded. “Never mind that I didn’t know we were coming here until we, you know, came here. But I care about this too.”
She did. Or she had. But not like I did.
“I don’t know what the hell to think,” I spat out, frustration eating away my common sense. I mimed holding something precious. “I had them. We had them. And then she just took off in your stepfather’s car. I’ve been there before, Ruby, and you knew it. I told you what happened in Venice.”
“Just because something happened once doesn’t mean it has to happen again, Jake. And it for sure doesn’t mean I’m the same as the woman in your past.”
“Of course you’re not.” The way I felt about Ruby was different. But watching the Audi speed down the street, all I knew was that this was happening again and the only common denominator was me falling too hard and too fast when I should have known better.