Scott couldn’t bring himself to pretend to be happy. He just leaned back and rubbed a hand over his head. “For better or worse.” That was truer than he ever intended it to be.
Toni took the small sheet of paper from Gage and didn’t bother to say thanks before she turned and took the stairs two at a time to get back to her room. She’d more than earned the Wi-Fi password from him, and now she was itching to get back to the freedom of the Internet.
Scott was in the bedroom and sat on the bed. But not sitting like a normal person. Sitting cross-legged with his back flush against the wall next to the mattress where the headboard should've been. His eyes were closed, but she could tell from the tension creeping through him that he wasn’t sleeping. She eyed him warily but decided not to interrupt whatever funk he was in and continued on her original quest. After slipping her laptop out of her bag, she plugged it into the wall and, as quickly as the limits of her state-of-the-art computer allowed, she’d entered in the password and there it was. The beautiful, beautiful Internet.
As soon as she was in, she started to run diagnostics on the type of Internet and the number of connections through the house, trying to get as much of a feel for the security system of the house without alerting anyone to what she was doing.
“How did tonight go?” asked Scott from the bed without opening his eyes.
“Umm.... Well, we’re still alive. But I lost major karma points so I have to add some good deeds to my to-do list. You’re a Boy Scout. Maybe you can help with that.”
He ignored her Boy Scout dig. “I think we should work out an escape plan.”
“Escape? We just got here. We just got the guys to kind of trust us. If we leave now, we’re going to lose all the ground we’ve gained.”
His eyes popped open. “Something is wrong.”
“Is that a hunch you have or do you know something I don’t?”
“Our cars are gone. Did you notice?”
She tried not to be insulted by the basic question. “Yeah. I noticed that. Hardly surprising, though.”
“Slade got out of the van at one point and talked to someone in a limo.”
That got Toni’s attention and she sat up straighter. “Did you see who it was? Do you think it was Sterling? Have you talked to Slade about it?”
“I think we need to have an escape plan,” he said simply. “Can you put a tracker on these guys or anything? Some way for this whole thing to be worthwhile?”
Toni looked down at her computer and wished she’d learned something more helpful from her search. “The security system has flaws. I’m pretty sure I can get past the firewalls and leave a Trojan horse program. Kind of like what I did tonight for Sterling. But if I did it, systems would go down for a while. It wouldn’t happen without Gage picking up on it.”
“You’ve taken plenty of risks in the past.”
“Yeah. I’m all for risks. Doing this would be stupidity. I avoid stupid.”
Scott nodded and fell quiet again. Somehow his silence bothered her more than his foreboding tone.
“We can’t leave,” she insisted. “We just got the all clear. If we’re going to get anything we can use against Sterling, it’s going to be soon.” He didn’t say anything or react, which didn’t make her feel any better. So she went to work, looking for any other weakness in the system she could exploit. Gage had done a good job setting things up. There were about fifty ways she could get in, but none that would allow her to sneak past the safeguards unnoticed. And considering Gage knew she just got the Wi-Fi password and could ride the Internet right to the front door, he was going to be on high alert for at least the next few days.
After that, she spent a few hours checking all her accounts, making sure none of her sisters had tried to get a hold of her and to check in in on world events. She’d felt too cutoff since she’d come here. Isolated in a small room with Scott. It made it easy to forget that there was an outside world.
Once again she found herself looking up Hearts and Homes. A fresh wave of guilt washed over her for what she’d done. She’d screwed over plenty of people in the past, but none like that.
She was no Robin Hood. Her motto was steal from the rich and give to herself. That being said, she had never ripped off a charity. And whatever Sterling’s motives were for spying on the nonprofit, she knew it had something to do with his sinister dealings. Which now made her an accomplice in those sinister dealings. Fuck.
She also checked her bank account balances and then looked at the large transfer that had gone into the bank account number she’d given Slade. It was big. Concerningly big. Considering she’d agreed to work for Sterling in exchange for him leaving her family and Scott alone, there was no reason for him to pay her at all. Let alone the six-figure amount she was looking at now.
This was undoubtedly dirty money. One more string she needed to follow up on.
She blinked a few times and it didn’t help the burning behind her eyes. She’d been so happy to get her computer back that she’d forgotten to do anything else. Like, say, sleep. She glanced to the bed and saw the lump where Scott was under the blankets. Maybe there were other reasons why she was procrastinating going to bed.
She’d done a damn good job at not thinking about the kiss from earlier, but as soon as she shut her computer, it was going to be her and him alone together in a bed, and damn it, she didn’t want to have to go through that right now. More specifically, she really, really wanted to go through that right now but under completely different circumstances. Circumstances where he wanted it too.
Finally being able to kiss Scott, to touch him in a way she’d only imagined, had been ten times better than she ever thought it would. But this was hardly the space to strike up a new romance. And he seemed more than happy to pretend nothing ever happened. It was hard to be offended when she knew he was making the best decision for both of them. But her logical mind and passionate mind were at war with each other.
She couldn’t focus on how much she wanted Scott when she needed to focus on Sterling right now. With that thought first and foremost in her mind, she flipped her laptop shut and rolled her neck. After going to the bathroom and brushing her teeth and hair, she was as ready as she’d ever be for bed. If Slade was going to make her run again in the morning, she’d need all the sleep she could get.
She carefully crawled into the bed, trying her best not to wake up Scott. Once she was in, she lay on her side away from him and closed her eyes. But her mind raced as she replayed the events of the day: the jog from hell, the fight between Scott and Slade, the kiss, Hearts and Homes.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she rolled onto her other side, trying to get more comfortable. But now she faced Scott, which was distracting in an entirely different way.
How long had it been since she was with a man? She’d never been the type to remain celibate for long. Sex was healthy, and most importantly, it was fun. It relieved stress and helped calm her mind, which always had a tendency to work way too fast. But ever since she met Scott, every other man fell short in some way. Not tall enough. Not smart enough. Not good enough. Standards that had always been fine before were now raised to almost unreachable levels.
Because who could really compete with someone like Scott Hart?
As though he read her mind, Scott rolled over and, his eyes open, looked right at her. “Go to sleep.”
“I’m trying.”
“You’re not trying hard enough.”
“I’m sorry I don’t sleep good enough for you,” she snapped.
All of a sudden, Scott reached out and set a hand on her arm. Toni jumped at the unexpected touch, trying not to freak out about the fact that here she was in bed with Scott and he was touching her. On purpose and not because they’d rolled together in their sleep....
“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he said carefully. “But we might not be able to sleep again for a long time.”
She took a deep gulp and tried to think about anything but h
is hand on her. “I’m lost,” she admitted finally.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean we’re here to get Sterling, and I don’t feel any closer than we were a few days ago. What if we’re playing right into his hand? What if he is always going to have the upper hand?”
“We’ve taken his revenue stream. We’ve taken his best guys. We’ve taken his allies. Sterling is more vulnerable now than he has been ever since we started this. We’re going to get him.”
“You sound so sure.” She really didn’t want to sound whiney, but here, in the middle of the night and with nothing but her anxiety to keep her company, it was hard to not feel overwhelmed.
“You give me a few more days, Toni. I’m going to get a plan together. I promise.”
“That’s asking a lot, Hart,” she said finally.
“Asking for your trust?”
“I’m a thief. You’re a cop.”
“You’re a hacker. I’m a former cop.”
“I guess I’m trying to stop a bad guy,” she admitted. “And you’re willing to break the law to bring him down. Maybe we’re going to meet somewhere in the middle.” She thought about that for a second and figured that was probably a huge insult to Scott. The last thing he’d want to think of himself as was a thief, no matter what questionable things he did. “Don’t worry,” she added quickly. “Once we’re done here, you can find a way back to your old life. Those Boy Scout badges don’t go bad, do they?”
“I wasn’t a good Boy Scout.”
She snorted at the random thought. “I doubt that.”
“No, it’s true. It took a lot of time and I would rather be hanging out with my friends or going out. My parents forced me into the program and never let me quit.”
Toni rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling. “Isobel forced me to do a few things I didn’t want to do. But nothing as wholesome as scouts,” she said with a little laugh. “Jennifer and Melody were so much better than I was. They were naturals. Super pretty and back then they both looked so innocent.” Even when she was twelve, she had an air of trouble about her. That’s what Isobel said, even if she would say it with an air of pride. “It’s how I got into computers. I wanted to help but knew I would never be as good at a con as Isobel. My emotions don’t stay hidden for long.”
“I noticed,” said Scott.
“Hey....” Just because she said it didn’t mean he had to agree.
“It’s not a bad thing. Honest to a fault should be a good thing, right? No one wants a life full of lies.”
He and she really did lead different lives. “Did you ever lie to Catherine?” As soon as she asked the question, she wished she could take it back. Catherine was obviously a sore subject for him. And considering his late wife was one of the reasons she was pretty sure she’d never have her own shot at Scott, it wasn’t her favorite topic either. But she couldn’t ignore her curiosity about the woman either.
She thought Scott was just ignoring her, but then he said, “Sometimes.”
She didn’t say anything else. Instead, she waited for him to continue if he wanted to.
“If I worked a bad case or saw something really horrible... I’d always come home and every single day she’d asked me how work was. Every day without fail. And every day I came home and had completely lost faith in humanity and I saw her, my one reminder that not everything was death and destruction, I’d look in her eyes and tell her everything was fine. I know she didn’t always believe me, but there were some parts of my life I didn’t want her to be a part of. But I didn’t do a good enough job of protecting her.”
Toni knew she should just go to sleep. Leave it at that and let the poor man mourn. But, as usual, her stupid mouth couldn’t be contained. “Maybe she didn’t want to be protected. Maybe she just wanted you.” She remained looking at the ceiling but could feel Scott’s gaze on her. She didn’t want to face him. She didn’t want to find out whether she’d passed the point of no return with him.
But he didn’t yell at her or tell her how wrong she was. Instead, she heard him roll over, and he didn’t say another word. And with that, she finally closed her eyes, and after a long time, sleep eventually won over her anxiety.
Scott rolled over and wrapped his arms around the light of his life. He knew his alarm was going to go off any minute now and drag him away from his perfect cocoon, but he needed these few minutes of peace.
Catherine wiggled in his arms and snuggled closer, letting out a soft little moan that caused some parts of him to be more awake than others. “It’s too early,” she said into the pillow.
“I know. Go back to sleep,” he said into her neck. He pressed a soft kiss onto her shoulder.
“I can’t sleep. I have to get up. There’s a source who wants to meet me before the rush.”
Her job as a reporter usually allowed her to sleep in and led to a lot of late nights, but because she’d always been a night owl, it worked for her. He felt bad for her, but his job wanted him to wake up early and work late, so he only had a limited amount of sympathy. Every moment in this bed with her was precious to him.
“What article are you writing?” he asked, trying to pretend to be interested in her job when all he could think about was how easy it would be to slide her nightgown up over her hips and part her legs for him. He was sure he could fit a quickie in, but did he really want a quickie? No, he wanted hours and hours to devour every inch of her.
“If I tell you what it is, I’m going to jinx it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he pointed out, but she rolled over in his arms and touched his nose softly with one finger.
“Luck doesn’t have to make sense. And I need all the luck I can get. This could be a really big story.”
That was enough to pull him out of his aroused haze. “Does that mean it’s dangerous? I can get someone to go with you.”
“Cops scare people away. Trust me—the guy I’m meeting isn’t dangerous. He’s not even going to have anything I can use. He’s a stepping-stone to a better source.”
Sometimes her job as a reporter and his crossed over a lot more than he liked. He understood the idea of cultivating a source a lot more than he wanted her to.
Just then the damned alarm started to blare and signaled that his little piece of heaven was over. He leaned forward and slammed his hand on the snooze button a lot harder than he wanted to.
“Another day, another dollar.” Catherine smiled at his bad mood.
“You don’t want to be up any more than I do.”
“No, but your grumpiness is always amusing.”
“I know something you can do to cheer me up,” he pointed out as he looked down at her.
She settled deeper into her pillow and smiled up at him. “If we do that, you’re going to be late,” she reminded him.
“Some things are worth being late for,” he said with a wicked grin. And then he bent down and kissed her.
“Hart.”
Scott bolted upright in bed and blinked the memories away. Damn it. He hadn’t dreamed about Catherine in months. He thought the memories had finally started to give him some relief, but the last few days must’ve washed something to the surface.
It took him a second to get his bearings. He was in the empty building in the empty house and in bed with Toni. Toni, who was.... He didn’t even know about her at the moment. She had bolted upright too, and he realized belatedly that it wasn’t her who had called his name. There was a silhouette of someone in the doorway. It wasn’t hard to see that the oversized guy holding himself way too tensely was Slade.
Scott ran a hand over his eyes and groaned. It was still dark out, but the clock next to him signaled that dawn wasn’t too far off. “What?” he muttered.
“Come out to the barn.”
“You two aren’t going to fight again, are you?” asked Toni in an annoyed, still drowsy voice.
“I think after yesterday, a private training session is in order. Maybe we can work through some of o
ur differences.”
Scott narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to know what Slade meant by “work through differences.”
“Yeah,” he said reluctantly, recognizing that for the moment, Slade was the “boss.”
“Five minutes.” Slade left the doorway, the door still wide open.
That would barely give him enough time to get dressed and take a piss. One hell of a way to wake up. He rolled out of bed and got to the bathroom as soon as possible. When he walked out, Toni was up and pulling on a pair of jeans. He got a quick flash of her ass in some pink lace panties and forced himself to look away. He focused on getting himself dressed instead. He found the sweatpants that Tristan had given him and laced up his tennis shoes. “I want you to stay on alert.” He stood.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Like the bad feeling you had last night?”
“Just... keep your eyes and ears open, okay?”
Of course Toni wasn’t the type to blindly follow instructions. “Do you think Slade is going to try something? What did he say that tipped you off? Should I go down with you? I can maybe slip a knife out of the kitchen.”
“I....” He really wished he had more than a gut feeling on this, but ever since he saw Slade get out of that limo yesterday, he had felt as if there were a countdown clock over his head. “I think it’s time to consider that escape plan.”
Toni looked around the kitchen but didn’t see anyone. Which was good, because no one should be awake at this hour. She found the drawer with the knives and pulled it open right as someone flipped the lights on. She flipped around but managed to keep her face in place. She still wasn’t the best liar. There were some talents she just wasn’t born with, but she had improved with age. “Hey,” she said to Gage as he stepped into the kitchen, eyeing her warily.
The Reluctant Thief (The Stolen Hearts #4) Page 9