A Thief's Heart

by A Caprice

  “Sure. I’ll text you when I can get away from work.”

  He nodded then opened his mouth, closed it. He looked away. “Goodnight, Amanda.” He turned and she trailed him to the door, locking it behind him.

  The bottle of chianti remained on the table and she picked it up and downed a slug. Some people just weren’t meant to get close to others, she told herself. No need to feel sorry for herself about it. Just a fact of life.

  She walked into the kitchen and finished wiping down the floor, trying to talk herself out of her funk. Gio wasn’t there to romance her. He was there to help her find the decoder.

  She attacked the counters with a sponge.

  Focus on the decoder. Who could have taken it? Accessing ARC without authorization was darn near impossible, so chances were it was an inside job. But who at ARC would have wanted it?

  There were more valuable pieces stored in the archives. Newton wasn’t a paranormal, as far as Amanda knew, so there was no metaphysical reason to want the decoder. Frankly, the only person the decoder had utility for was Amanda in decoding the founders’ letters. And why they had needed to encrypt letters congratulating each other on a daughter’s marriage here and a property contribution to ARC there was a mystery to Amanda. She guessed if one found oneself in the possession of a Newton decoder, it would only make sense to have some fun with it.

  She threw the sponge down in disgust. Time for cheesecake.

  Nose in the open refrigerator door, Amanda sniffed. Something didn’t smell right. She sighed and reached for the cake. Instead of a hot time with a sexy man between her thighs, she faced a night cleaning out her refrigerator, searching for a mystery odor.

  She sniffed again. Something smelled off, but not like fuzzy leftovers. Like…gas?

  Amanda popped up and looked at her appliances. The stove was off. Nothing else used gas.

  The window above her sink shattered and, in what seemed like slow motion, an arc of blue light shot into the kitchen. Without time to think, she threw herself next to the fridge and pulled the open door around her, the porcelain-covered metal cocooning her against the wall.

  The air around Amanda flashed brightly, then she saw no more.

  Chapter Four

  The force of the explosion knocked into Gio’s back, making him stumble. He spun around, saw a ball of flame billow from a second-story apartment, and started running.

  Even from this distance down the street, he knew it came from Amanda’s apartment.

  Pounding up the stairs to her door, he tried to focus his mind, control the racing of his heart. Amanda would be all right. He had just had dinner with the woman; she couldn’t be dead, gone in the blink of an eye. She was vibrant and funny, and his mind wouldn’t wrap itself around the idea that she no longer existed.

  Smoke seeped from the bottom of her bulging front door. The frame was warped from the explosion, but the door still held. He yanked on the doorknob, but it didn’t budge. Gio took a step back and kicked at the wood next to the handle. He barely acknowledged the pain that shot up his foot as he kicked again and the door flung inward.

  Smoke enveloped him, stinging his eyes and clogging his throat. He wrapped his arm around his nose and mouth, ducked low, and entered. “Amanda!” He could barely see through the haze, but it appeared the blast had centered in the kitchen. Part of the wall between the kitchen and living room had collapsed and flames licked up the surviving walls. “Amanda! Can you hear me?”

  Coughing, Gio entered the kitchen. Heat seared his exposed flesh. A small kitchen table was embedded halfway into what was left of the wall and the refrigerator lay face down. Ceiling tiles littered the floor. Dark, acrid smoke curled up from the remains of the oven. Each breath burned a path down his throat to his lungs. He made a quick scan and turned to leave to search the rest of the apartment.

  A flash of raven hair caught his eye.

  “Amanda,” he yelled. He stumbled over the floor then dropped to his knees beside the bottom of the refrigerator. A small gap was created between the refrigerator and the wall. Amanda’s body lay wedged within.

  “Dio mio.” Gio swore. With no time to be careful of potential injuries, he grabbed her limp hand and pulled, dragging her over the side of the refrigerator then hefting her dead weight over his shoulder. He turned and stumbled for the door.

  At the sidewalk, Gio took a breath, grateful for the clean air, then eased Amanda down until he cradled her against his chest. Sirens screamed in the distance. He walked a safe distance away then laid Amanda down on the sidewalk in the circle of light from a streetlamp.

  Her face was covered in soot, a trickle of blood ran across her throat, and she had yet to open her eyes. But she breathed. Strong, even breaths that had Gio’s hopes skyrocketing.

  One of the neighbors who had come outside after the blast walked over and told him that he had called emergency services. Gio nodded but kept his focus on the unconscious woman. His hands methodically smoothed down her body, checking for further injury. At her waist, he felt something moist graze his fingers and his breath caught in his throat.

  Forcing a long exhalation out his nose, he tamped the panic back under control and looked for a wound. Streaked across her dress was a tan substance. Frowning, he brought his fingers up to his nose and sniffed. Sweet. With a hint of nuts.

  Another oath escaped his lips. It was the damn hazelnut cheesecake.

  An ambulance careened down the street and he waved it down. The paramedics hopped out and trotted over, placing an oxygen mask over Amanda’s face. Within minutes, her eyes fluttered open. Gio heaved a sigh of relief when he heard her quietly responding to the paramedic. He fell back a step, his ass hitting a low fence that guarded the steps down to someone’s basement.

  He gripped the railing, and sucked in a deep breath. Another. He focused on his breathing until his hands stopped shaking.

  She was alive.

  After seeing her kitchen, he didn’t know how. She had to be one of the luckiest women in the western world.

  He watched as firemen doused the flames. Seeing the damage, though, luck didn’t seem like the appropriate word.

  What the hell had caused it?

  A policeman approached, asking questions. Questions that Gio didn’t have the answers to. And what he did know, he couldn’t tell the authorities.

  He stuck to the story that he and Amanda had enjoyed dinner together. He left out anything about the decoder, leaving the impression that the dinner had been a date. By the time he had finished relaying what little information he knew, the paramedics had loaded Amanda into the ambulance and the police officer asked if Gio wanted to accompany her to the hospital.

  He looked at the ambulance and his insides twisted uncomfortably. Her body was strapped to a stretcher, a lock of dark hair cascading over the edge. She looked small. Breakable. And he wanted to climb next to her, hold her hand, and tell her she would be okay.

  But she wasn’t his. They’d only met.

  Getting involved with Amanda Sullivan would be a mistake. He still needed her for his own purposes. So he held back and watched as the ambulance drove away, answering a couple more questions from the police.

  After the officers took his statement, Gio took to the shadows, watching the police and fire departments, eavesdropping on their investigation, even swiping a fire investigator’s notebook after he had left Amanda’s apartment.

  The preliminary notes on the blast were incomplete, but it was suspected that a gas leak in the stove supplied the fuel and an electrical charge had triggered the explosion.

  He remembered the stove in her kitchen. He had gotten a fairly close look at it when he had picked himself up off her floor. The stove/oven combination was an older model made of white, chipped porcelain and Gio could well imagine it leaking gas. Hell, he could imagine his little klutz accidentally blowing out the pilot’s light while she cooked that atrocious dinner. But wouldn’t he have smelled something before he left
? And what sort of electrical charge sparked the blast? The information he learned left him with more questions than answers.

  Gio went home and stood in the shower until the water ran cold. He tried to examine what little evidence he had from every angle. Amanda could very likely have caused the explosion; disaster seemed to trail after her. A sick feeling in the pit of his stomach didn’t let him believe that, however. Someone had stalked Amanda in the dark at ARC. Amanda was the only person making noise about the decoder being stolen. Could those events be connected to this explosion? And if so, was Gio responsible for her injuries?

  He pounded his palm on the cool shower tile. He enjoyed stealing. He loved plotting entries and escapes, figuring out passwords, cracking safes. It was like a chess game to him. The monetary rewards, while quite nice, were secondary. But he always made it a point to steal from those who could well afford it and he never took family heirlooms. He never felt as though he was hurting anyone, and the idea that Amanda might be paying the price because of his theft twisted his guts.

  Toweling himself dry, he swore he would return the decoder just as soon as he decrypted his letter. Now that Amanda had explained the process, it shouldn’t take long.

  He dressed and went to his study but hesitated at the door. He could help Amanda out most by finishing his work and returning the decoder. But thoughts of her, injured and alone in a hospital bed, had him changing course. He cursed as he picked up his car keys and strode to the garage.

  This was stupid.

  She meant nothing to him.

  But he’d just make sure that she was okay.

  Then he would get to work.

  ***

  Amanda was fighting with a worn cardigan, trying to get her arm into the sleeve, when Gio entered the small room in the E.R. Her face was pale and her hair looked like it had lost a fight with a badger, but she looked remarkably well, considering.

  That old refrigerator had protected her as well as a bunker.

  He came up behind her to help her into the sweater. She started when his hands touched her arm.

  “How are you feeling? You gave me quite a fright.” He pulled the cardigan around a pair of hospital scrubs and turned Amanda to face him. He began on the buttons. His knuckles grazed her breasts, and he forced himself not to react. He wasn’t that big an asshole. He wouldn’t get turned on by a woman in a hospital.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said softly. “Mild concussion. No internal injuries, just bruises.”

  “And the doctor said you could leave already?”

  Amanda’s forehead crinkled in confusion. “I’m sorry, what? My hearing is all messed up. I’m reading lips mostly.” One side of her mouth quirked up. “The nurse said I’m either shouting at her or whispering too softly for her to hear.”

  He gently rubbed her shoulders and smiled when he felt the muscles under his fingers relax. “I said, have you been discharged from the hospital already?” He made sure to enunciate each syllable.

  “Yes.” Her chin lifted at a stubborn angle.

  “Hmm. I will be back shortly. I want to speak with your doctor.”

  Amanda grabbed his hand, stopping him. “The doctor wanted me to stay overnight,” she admitted. “But I finally convinced him I was fine to go home.” At his raised eyebrow, Amanda pulled at the shirt beneath her sweater. “See, the nurse even found me some scrubs to wear.”

  He hesitated. “Yes, but you cannot go home. Your home is fairly well destroyed.”

  “Huh.” She looked stumped for a moment. “I hate to ask, but can you loan me money for a hotel room tonight? I really want to get out of here.”

  A nurse walked in carrying a clipboard. “Miss Sullivan, if you will sign these papers, you can be on your way,” she said in French.

  Amanda took the paperwork and began to flip through it.

  Gio turned to the nurse. “Are there any precautions we need to take? Any medications she needs?”

  “You are her caregiver for the night?” the nurse asked.

  Amanda’s head snapped up. “What was that? What did she say?”

  “She asked if I was your caregiver,” he said loudly. In a more normal tone, he told the nurse, “Yes, I am.”

  “No, he’s not,” Amanda said at the same time.

  He spotted a pair of slippers by the bed. “Amanda, you cannot go home. You should have someone watching over you tonight. It only makes sense for you to come home with me.” Which was either a really stupid idea or brilliant.

  There were things at his home he couldn’t let her see. So much to hide.

  But on the other hand, if he still couldn’t figure out the decoder he’d need her to trust him in order to tell him more about it. And what better way to earn trust than to take care of the woman?

  He rubbed his chest. It also just felt like the right thing to do. IF he was responsible for getting her in trouble, he should be the one to help her out of it. So, he was decided. Until he knew what had caused the explosion, he would keep Amanda Sullivan close. Close, and safely tucked up in his bed. No, he told himself sternly. Her own bed.

  “She should be woken every two hours to make sure her concussion is not more serious,” the nurse said. “She has a bag of pain medication and some sleeping pills, if needed, but no sleeping pills tonight, understand?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Anything else?”

  “The cut on her neck required three stitches. The wound should remain dry for the next few days.”

  Gio bent and guided Amanda’s feet into the slippers. “Understood.”

  She rested her hands on his shoulders to balance. “I don’t need a babysitter, Gio. I’ll just set an alarm at the hotel to wake me up.”

  “And if you do not wake?” It must be the trauma of the explosion making her so illogical. “Who will call the doctor?”

  He rose and extended his hand to Amanda. At her hesitation, his stomach hardened. If she didn’t go with him, he had no way to keep her safe. To make sure she didn’t pay for his mistake. “This is your ticket out of here. I promise, my home is quite nice. We will avoid the dungeon on this visit.”

  She slid her bandaged hand into his grip and squeezed lightly. “Thank you. This is very kind of you, considering.”

  “Considering what?” Did she think that minor mishap between them in her kitchen would be enough for a man to turn his back on her? He frowned.

  “Considering we hardly know each other.” A hint of a blush tinged her cheeks.

  Ah. Considering that. Funny, but after a dinner, one hot kiss, and pulling this woman from a burning building, he felt like he was coming to know her quite well.

  She, however, didn’t know him at all. Not with all the lies he’d told.

  He cleared his throat. “Your chariot awaits.”

  The ride home was quiet, her lip reading made difficult by his focus on the road ahead. He pulled into his long driveway and Amanda straightened in her seat. “This is your home?” She looked at the three-story stone structure incredulously.

  “Home sweet home.”

  “Retrieval experts make good money.”

  “Only when you are as good as I am.” And when he supplemented his income with his own little thefts. He pulled into the garage and led her into the house.

  He gave her an abbreviated tour, noticing the droop to her shoulders. When he came to his study, he paused. “This will work out well. Since you are here, tomorrow you can work on translating the documents you agreed to work on for me.”

  She followed him up a wide staircase to the second floor. “I thought we would keep looking for the decoder.”

  “I will look for the decoder while you stay here.” Where it was safe.

  “I can work on your documents after we retrieve the decoder.” She stopped next to him at an open doorway. “Besides, I have to work tomorrow.”

  “No, you will call in sick tomorrow.” He glanced at his watch. “Today, actually. You have been in a se
rious accident and need to rest. You can work here at your own pace and rest when you need to.”

  She hesitated and Gio pressed the issue, knowing she was close to caving. “You can’t honestly tell me that you would rather go to work than play hooky.” He flipped the light on in a guest bedroom. “Your bathroom has a whirlpool spa and there is a hot tub and lap pool out back you can relax in. Keeping your neck dry, of course.”

  She looked around the room and sighed when her eyes landed on the four-poster bed. “Your home is lovely. Perhaps taking tomorrow off wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I am tired. I probably wouldn’t be good for much work if I went in anyhow.”

  He smiled and went to his room and brought her some old t-shirts and sweats. He gazed down into her tired blue eyes and couldn’t stop from tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on the soft skin of her neck.

  In the blink of an eye, this charming creature had almost been killed today. How fragile life was.

  She nibbled at her plump, lower lip and his cock twitched. It wanted the same attention. He really was an asshole. “Sleep well, Amanda.”

  She swayed toward him, the tips of her breasts gently brushing against his chest. He hastily stepped back. He didn’t want to start something that she was in no shape to finish. “Sweet dreams.”

  By morning, Gio realized sweet dreams had been wishful thinking. His own sleep had been interrupted by the need to check on Amanda, waking her every couple of hours. The first two times he had roused her, she had merely mumbled at him grumpily. The last time she had thrown a pillow at his head and uttered some very filthy words.

  Amanda wasn’t one of those people who thrived on little sleep. He made sure his coffee pot was full before starting work.

  She found him in his study. Even wearing his oversized t-shirt and sweats with the cuffs rolled up to her ankles, she looked sexy as hell. Rumpled. Mussed. Like she had just come from his bed. His body heated.

  “Good morning.” She shifted on her feet. “I, uh, wanted to apologize about last night. I know you were just checking up on me like the nurse told you to.”