Suddenly, there’s the sound of a man swearing viscously.
“Code red!” He roars, his radio squawking. “The heat sensors aren’t broken! The Whistler set is gone! I repeat, the whole set is gone! Code red! Full lockdown!”
Goddamnit. The plan was to swipe the jewels, replace them in the case with the near-perfect replicas I’ve got in my pocket, and then head down to raise a toast to Martin. I’d eat his food, drink his booze, talk shop with the other finance assholes down there, and then be on my way. I’d go to work on Monday, and every work day after that, for another month before putting in a notice. I’d fade away, and if in a year or two, Martin finally figured out he had bullshit in his jewel case, I’d be a ghost.
None of that shit is happening now.
I can hear the security guard or whoever he is dashing from the room as the sound of an alarm starts blaring through the whole mansion.
Motherfucker.
So much for the smooth exit I’d planned. Because right now, it’s now or never. It’s run or be caught red-fucking-handed.
“Get your fucking hands off—”
“Stop it.”
My voice is like steel and fire in the darkness of the hidden room. And she stops squirming for one second.
“I came here for those diamonds, princess,” I growl. “And I ain’t leaving without them. All of them.”
She twists in my grasp, and in the dim light through the crack around the hidden door, I can see her looking up at me. I don’t need light to feel the fire blazing behind those eyes.
“Even,” I purr, and she stops squirming for one second, those wild green eyes locked on mine.
“Even if that means I gotta take you too.”
Chapter 2
Valentine
The hands that hold me are huge and hard, his grip like iron. He pulls me tight against him in the tiny, dark, cramped little hidden room, and when he shifts, I can feel the ripple and bulge of thick, rock-hard muscles under that polished tailored suit.
“Get your fucking hands off—”
“Stop it.”
I shiver at the sound of that voice. My God, it’s like velvet and steel. Whiskey and fire. There’s this commanding, dominant edge to it, and at the same time, it’s almost sensual as his voice growls into my ear.
And my breath catches.
“I came here for those diamonds, princess,” he growls. “And I ain’t leaving without them. All of them.”
The words sizzle through me like fire. I’ve quickly gone from thinking he’s just one of the other asshole suits at the mansion kissing Martin’s ass to knowing he’s… well, something else. He’s no ordinary “suit,” that’s for freaking sure. For one, because he knew, instantly, when he walked into the study just as I finished hiding the diamonds and shutting the case.
And then, there’s the size of him. I mean, business guys work out, but he’s more than that, and I can feel it as he grips me tight. Thick, rippling arm muscles, and the kind of chest you’d find on a professional football player, not a boardroom suit. That rough, masculine, totally scary and yet totally hot growl is another one. No typical finance suit talks like that.
But beyond anything else, it’s the diamonds themselves. He doesn’t just know that I’ve got them, he wants them himself.
…And something tells me it’s not so he can be a good boy scout and put them back. And that means, he’s here to take them, and a man who’s prepared to take something worth this much from a man like Martin?
Well, that alone has my pulse racing. That we’re shut together in a tiny dark room, my body pressed tight to him with his firm hands holding my wrists is another reason my blood is roaring like fire in my veins. That the way he growls his words has the hairs on the back of my neck tingling and my breath catching is another.
And the fact that dangerous or not, scary or not, jewel-thief or not, I know the big man holding me pinned to the wall of a hidden room is freaking gorgeous. Those piercing blue eyes, the dark hair, the perfect lips and the jaw carved out of marble.
I blink, shaking my head as I scowl at myself in the darkness.
Jesus, get a grip.
Hot or not, the man is clearly up to no good, clearing pretending he’s something he’s not, and very much holding me captive in a dark, tiny room. I shiver, twisting again in his grip before I feel it tighten and feel the warmth of him as he leans close, looming over me in the darkness.
My core tightens, and I swear I couldn’t help my thighs squeezing together if I wanted to.
“I came here for those diamonds, princess. And I ain’t leaving without them. All of them. Even,” he growls. “Even if that means I gotta take you too.”