by Giselle Fox
Taylor went to her side and reached up. “I feel it.”
“Now step back,” Jericho said. Together, they took a few steps back. Taylor’s mouth dropped again when the whole center cabinet began to slide forward.
“There’s a tunnel that leads out past the property and into the park. If you need to get out, this is how you do it. Just grab Max and your mother and run.”
“Jericho I ...”
Jericho grabbed her hands. “None of this is going to happen. You’re going to be safe here. But just in case, right?”
Taylor peered into the tunnel. “Okay.”
Jericho pressed the little button again and the cabinet slid back into position.
“This ... is a lot to take in,” Taylor said.
Jericho leaned against the edge of her work table. She looked down at the bits and pieces of the drill beside her. “I know it is.”
Taylor stood silent and looked around the room again. Her eyes landed on the vest inside the glass cabinet.
“That was the prototype,” Jericho said when Taylor looked back at her. “The other one is bulletproof.”
“And you’ve been worried about me,” Taylor whispered.
“Taylor,” Jericho began. “I don’t want you to feel any pressure here. You can stay as long as you want and as long as you need to. I just want you to be safe. Right now this is the best place for you to be.”
Taylor nodded slowly.
“In a perfect world,” Jericho went on, “we would have gotten to know each other slowly.”
“We didn’t get that chance,” Taylor whispered.
“No we didn’t.”
“You know everything about me … and you still stayed,” Taylor said. “You saved my life. If it weren’t for you ...” her voice cracked. Tears began to flow from her eyes. She covered her face with her hands and wept. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Jericho wrapped her arms around her. Her heart ached. “You don’t have to be sorry.”
Taylor’s fists clenched at her sides and then relaxed. She coiled her arms around Jericho’s shoulders and let the tears fall. Jericho kissed her cheek and stroked her hair. She whispered that everything would be okay even though she didn’t know if it was true. She hoped more than anything that it would be and was ready to do everything in her power to make it so. She wrapped Taylor even tighter. “I love you,” she whispered.
Taylor’s head shot up. Her watery green eyes stared back at her. “What?”
“I ... love you,” Jericho said again.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah ... I’m sure.”
“It’s not just ‘cause you want to help because I know that you’re that kind of person and I need to make sure that you’re not getting yourself into something that -”
Jericho pressed her mouth to Taylor’s. She slid her fingers through her hair and gently gripped the back of her head. She pushed their lips past words and uncertainty. She wrapped Taylor in a kiss that removed all doubt.
When Taylor opened her eyes, all her questions and tears were gone. “I love you too. I think I did the first time we were together,” she whispered. “It scared me beyond belief.”
Jericho kissed her lips again. “Me too.”
They held each other and stared shyly into each other’s eyes.
“Can’t believe I fell for a city councilor,” Taylor whispered and then smiled.
Jericho frowned. “City councilor? What about the other stuff?”
“What? You being a thief?”
Jericho nodded.
Taylor exhaled. “I’ve been around crime my whole life and believe me, thieving isn’t the worst I’ve seen. It would be different if you were stealing from regular folks. But -” Taylor shrugged and then looked up into Jericho’s eyes. “It doesn’t bother me if some rich guy loses his diamonds.” She stopped and looked around. “And this is definitely the coolest basement I’ve ever seen.” She tipped her head and kissed Jericho again. “You were going to show me something.”
Jericho walked over to the far wall cabinet and pulled open the wood door. On the other side, embedded in concrete and rebar, sat the old Wells Fargo safe.
Taylor stood quietly as she spun the big combination dial and pulled the door open.
Jericho reached inside and pulled out a black velvet bag. She pulled the knot and reached inside. “Ready?”
“I’m ready,” Taylor said.
“Hold out your hand.” Jericho pulled the 45 karat blue diamond from the bag and placed it in Taylor’s palm.
“Oh my God!”
“This is one of the rarest and most precious stones on Earth. It’s up there with the Hope and the Millennium Diamonds. It was once owned by Louie XIV, then the Sultan of Turkey. It’s rumored to have been stolen from an idol found in India, and has since been cut by three of the most skilled masters of the craft.”
Taylor held it up to the light. “It … glows.”
“Yes, it does,” Jericho said. “This stone disappeared twenty-five years ago in one of the bloodiest robberies in history. Thirteen people were killed, mostly hotel staff along with two security guards and three bystanders. It happened in broad daylight, right in the middle of a black-tie gala. This diamond was the special guest but there were others too.”
“Oh my God,” Taylor whispered.
“They went in with machine guns and smashed the six twelve-inch glass and steel enclosures with sledgehammers tipped with diamonds. They took the whole collection.”
“Wait, I know this story. It was on the news. That politician...”
“Yes. Lincoln Holt owned the complex where it happened,” Jericho said solemnly. She sat down in her chair. “It’s not common for criminals to get away with something like that. Jobs that messy - people talk. Informants get word. Everything is connected, especially with diamonds. The investigation went on for years but they never found anything.”
Taylor closed her fingers around the stone and looked up at her. “How did you get it?”
“Now that ... is the interesting part,” Jericho said. “Last year we did a job. We got into the building, then the vault. We cracked open the safety deposit boxes and inside one of them, we found this.”
“Oh my God,” Taylor said.
“At first we thought it was a fake. But when we had it checked out, we realized what it was. It’s the Sun Catcher Diamond.”
“Who owned the safety deposit box? Do you know?”
“Yes. It took awhile but Lexi figured it out.”
“Who?”
“Lincoln Holt.”
Taylor gasped. “It was an inside job?”
“It seems that way.”
“Those poor people!”
Jericho nodded. “It never should have happened.”
Taylor stared at the stone in her hand. “Sort of takes the sparkle out of it, doesn’t it?”
“People do crazy things. I guess I’m one of them.”
Taylor’s head shot up. “But you never hurt anyone. It’s different.”
“True. It’s all I can do to get Charlie to use rubber bullets.”
“You do it for sport,” Taylor said. She looked around the room. “Or maybe because you like figuring things out.”
“That’s part of it. I’m not going to lie - I also like the money - but not enough to kill someone.”
“Jericho … upstairs you said something about a next job?” Taylor asked.
Jericho took a deep breath. “It’s happening soon. Charlie’s already gone. Lexi will be there in a few days. I leave early next week.”
“Leave for where?”
“London.”
“But I don’t understand ... if you already have one of the rarest diamonds right here in your own house, what are you going to do in London?”
Jericho knelt down in front of her. “We’re going to put the Sun Catcher back where it belongs.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Portimao, Portugal
“Since I’ve proven wha
t a good little accomplice I can be, can you please tell me what you’re going to do in London.”
Lexi looked up from her laptop for a moment and then put it down on the wicker table beside her. She stood up and went to the edge of their covered balcony and poured Cate a glass of wine from the bottle that was sitting on the railing. She handed it to Cate then bent and kissed her on the tip of her nose. “No.”
Cate knew it had been a long shot but she pouted anyway. “Not fair. I’ve taken a lot of risks for you lately.” She swirled the wine around in her glass and sat back in her chair.
Lexi resumed her position beside her. “Yes, you have and now we have to make sure INTERPOL loses interest in you. They know you - and when INTERPOL knows you...”
“What … happens?”
Lexi didn’t finish. “Fortunately, I think Agent Marquez was more interested in you for personal reasons than anything official. I’m still keeping my eye on him.”
“Maybe I flirted with him a little harder than I thought. I was so nervous when we were in the bar - it seemed to help.”
“I’m sure it did. But I’m betting he’ll track you until you finally go home. Fortunately you bought an open-ended ticket. He doesn’t know when you’re actually planning on heading back to Chicago.”
Cate gave her a look. “I’m not going home early. This is my big trip. Besides, I can’t move back into my condo for another five months.”
Lexi reached for her hand. “You won’t be in Chicago for long. But I think it may be time for you to catch something. I’ll start the necessary paper trail tomorrow. I know a clinic here.”
Cate didn’t like how any of it was sounding but she knew she had no choice. Traveling around Europe with Lexi would hardly be free and easy with INTERPOL on her back. “So ... if I do return to Chicago, how will I get to have any fun with you?”
A grin spread over Lexi’s face. “You said you wanted an alias. Start thinking of a name.”
“You can do that?”
“Of course, I can do that.”
“Like … a whole new identity?”
Lexi nodded.
“Wait a minute - you don’t steal people’s credit cards and things do you?”
“No, nothing like that at all.”
“I should be careful what I wish for,” Cate muttered to herself.
Lexi looked at her seriously. “Are you having second thoughts about this?”
Cate looked into her eyes. “You mean about you?”
Lexi nodded.
“My second thoughts aren’t about you as much as what happens around you.” Cate tipped her head back and looked at Lexi sitting there, with her sandy blond hair blowing gently in the breeze, her dark blue eyes penetratingly still. She was beautiful, sexy, and dangerous in every way imaginable and yet so alluring that Cate could hardly keep from staring.
“What are you thinking?” Lexi asked softly.
“I was thinking about you and how different you turned out to be.” Cate turned away and stared at the wine bottle on the railing in an attempt to halt the tractor-beam-like effect that Lexi’s eyes were having on her. But Lexi reached for her hand and gripped it tight.
“I’m the same person you met in Panama. You just know more of the story.”
Cate turned and looked at Lexi again. “But I don’t, do I? I know fragments. You say you’re going to stop all this once this next big job is over, but I can see plain as day how excited it makes you.”
Lexi sighed.
“Part of me wonders if it’s possible for someone like you to ever stop. I mean, I can see why you wouldn’t, you have so much power, so much ability, you’ve figured out the weaknesses and ...”
“Is that so wrong?”
“I don’t know, is it? I have no idea because you haven’t told me what all this is leading up to. Then maybe I would really know if I can handle it.”
Lexi’s eyes grew dark. “You’re thinking of leaving.”
Cate sat up in her chair and clasped Lexi’s hands. “No, I don’t want to leave you. I want to love you. I want to travel with you and enjoy you and not have to look over my shoulder or wonder if you’re planning something. I’m scared of losing what we have. I’m scared that this will always be more important to you. I want to be more important to you. I just don’t know if that’s possible.” She sat back in her chair again as she felt tears begin to sting her eyes. “There, I’ve admitted it. I’m weak and clingy.”
“I love you.”
Cate looked back at her. “I know you do. I feel it when you touch me. I can see it in your eyes - which is really weird since they’re a different color than they were when I fell in love with you.” Cate traced her finger up Lexi’s arm. “I want you to be who you are because you’re going to be miserable otherwise. No woman has ever attempted to change her lover and not had it come back to bite her in the ass.”
“Bite her in the ass, hey?” Lexi said with a grin.
“What?”
Lexi straddled her and pinned her hands above her head.
“You’re still stronger, it’s not fair,” Cate breathed.
“How is it not fair? You like it.”
“Sometimes.”
Lexi gazed down at her with a gentle smile. “But right now you’re trying to make a point.”
Cate nodded.
Lexi tipped her head slowly. She slid her tongue gently over Cate’s lips and then pushed in between. It circled and played inside Cate’s mouth, drawing her back until Cate felt her hardened insides weaken until there was only warmth - languid, soft, delicious warmth - surrounding her, rolling against her, pressing and circling. When Lexi pulled back and hovered just above her, Cate opened her eyes.
Lexi pulled Cate’s hand to her lips and kissed the backs of her fingers. She slid her hands slowly down Cate’s body. “When this is over, I want to spend the whole winter lying in our snowy cabin and making love to you.”
Cate looked into her blue, penetrating eyes. “Really?”
Lexi looked back at her. “Trust me.”
“Okay,” Cate said almost automatically. What else could she say? She was completely powerless under Lexi’s spell, pinned beneath her as she was.
Lexi brought her mouth down, to her cheek, to her eyelids, and then to her ear. “I want you,” she whispered.
Her silent fingers began to work the buttons of Cate’s shirt. Then her hand slid around and pulled the strings of Cate’s bikini. Her eyes dropped down to her breasts. She slid from her lap and knelt at her feet.
“Open your legs,” Lexi whispered even though she’d opened them herself. Cate was pulled forward until she teetered on the edge of her wicker chair. In another second, her shorts were gone. Lexi’s hands raked up her thighs. She dragged the tip of her finger through the wetness between Cate’s legs. Cate’s body jumped with anticipation.
Before her eyes, Lexi’s expression shifted from playful to hungry. Her blue eyes darkened and blood flushed her cheeks. Cate watched with fascination knowing that she herself was responsible.
“You have everything I want,” Lexi rasped. Her mouth met her fingers, then her fingers pushed inside.
Cate gripped the armrest with one hand and coiled the other around Lexi’s neck. As Lexi worked her body into blissful submission, Cate knew there was no hope of return. Wherever Lexi went, so would she. Like a moth to a flame, for better or worse, she would follow.
***
“Natasha Prince,” Cate whispered.
Lexi rolled onto her side and blinked her sleepy eyes. “What?”
“My alias - I want it to be Natasha Prince.”
Lexi seemed to consider it for a moment. “Okay. I’ll start working on it in the morning.”
“Wait,” Cate said before Lexi closed her eyes again. “Is it sexy sounding enough?”
Lexi yawned. “Yeah, it’s a good name.”
“Like, does it make you want to … you know?”
Lexi grinned. “Drop my knickers?”
“I me
an, maybe there’s a better name.”
“Maybe there is, but Natasha Prince is pretty good.” Lexi rolled onto her side and slid her arm under Cate’s pillow. “You seem very awake for 2:30 in the morning.”
“It’s a lot to live up to.”
Lexi frowned. “What is?”
“A whole new name. I mean, I could be and do anything. I’m going to need a story. The possibilities - it’s a little overwhelming.”
Lexi kissed her shoulder. “Just keep to yourself. You don’t really need to talk to anyone.”
Cate looked up at the ceiling and thought about that. “I guess not.”
“Natasha?”
Cate turned her head. Lexi was smiling.
“There ... That’s all you need to do, just answer when someone calls you. Keep it simple.”
“You’re right.”
Lexi sat up. “Roll over.”
“Wow. Just like that? No foreplay?”
Lexi chuckled and kissed her shoulder. “I’m going to give you a massage so you fall asleep.”
“Mmm, okay,” Cate said. She rolled onto her front and tucked her arms under her pillow. Lexi straddled her legs. Her hands swept up her back.
“I can feel your lady bits,” Cate sighed happily.
Lexi slid her hands up and over her shoulders and down the sides of her breasts.
“That feels really nice,” Cate moaned.
“We should go to Paris,” Lexi whispered in her ear.
“What’s in Paris?”
“Beautiful food ... beautiful scenery ... some art ... and a pretty nice tower.”
Cate smiled happily. “Okay.”
“We’ll fly.”
“When?” Cate asked sleepily.
“I was thinking the day after tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Cate said. Lexi was working away the tension in her shoulders and neck. She felt herself relax. “Whatever you say.”
“Good. Now just relax, Natasha,”
Cate smiled as she felt herself begin to drift. “Hmmm … relax.”
***
Two days later, they were at the Lisbon airport. Their flight to Paris was set to board. Cate unscrewed the cap from her water bottle, took a sip and then offered it to Lexi. “So, I was thinking the first thing I want to do in Paris is sit on a patio with a glass of wine in one hand and you in the other and do some serious people watching.”