Guarded Moments

by Cassie Miles

  “You deserve more,” he said. “I wish that I was a sheikh and you were the beautiful Aziza, draped in precious rubies.”

  “I wouldn’t like that at all. Too dangerous.” She drew a line across her throat. “I might lose my head.”

  “That’s precisely what I had in mind.”

  He yanked out the tail of his shirt, and began unbuttoning. “Help yourself to the bagels. I’m going to take a quick shower.”

  While he was in the bathroom, she dressed in the silky gown. Though she’d never thought of pink as her color, she loved the way the gown warmed her pale complexion and contrasted with her black hair.

  A bag with the logo of the hotel gift shop stood open on the dresser and she found necessary toiletries for herself and shaving equipment for David. She’d begun to nibble at the bagels when he came out of the bathroom.

  Apparently, he’d purchased no extra clothing for himself because all he wore was the white towel slung low on his hips. His body was magnificent. His muscular torso and broad chest, sprinkled with crisp black hair, beckoned to her, and she glided away from the bed toward him.

  “I should shave,” he said.

  “Let me be the judge.” Her sensitive fingertips stroked the rugged line of his jaw. The roughness of his evening beard excited her.

  “Come here,” she whispered.

  “Does this mean I shouldn’t shave?”

  “Lie down on the bed.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. Obediently, David stretched out on the clean, crisp sheets. His hands spanned her waist as he pulled her toward him.

  She resisted. “Fold your hands behind your head.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s my turn.” She lifted his muscular arms, crooked his elbows and placed his hands beneath his head. “You’ve done so much for me. Let me do something for you.”

  He was so handsome. The swarthiness of his skin made her fingers seem pale as she ruffled his still-damp hair and traced the strong angles of his face.

  “Your hands,” he said. “God, that feels incredible.”

  “I’ve always been good at fine detail work. When Stacey and I were with the magician, he said he’d never seen anything like it.”

  “So delicate,” David murmured.

  Tasha concentrated, making her touch softer than a feather sliding across silk. She massaged his chest, teasing his flat nipples into hard buds. The tips of her ultrasensitive fingers claimed his body. She caressed the inner skin of his arms. “What happened to your Spiderman tattoo?”

  “A decal. It washed off. If you like it, I could reapply.”

  “Please don’t.”

  Closing her eyes, she explored his shoulders. His warm skin covered swelling muscles with hard, heavy bone beneath. He felt wonderful. She stroked his neck, teased his earlobes.

  Each time he reached for her, she chided, “Not yet. It’s still my turn.”

  She gazed down upon him. Her eyes beheld him, absorbing his virile beauty, memorizing every inch of him.

  Then, slowly, she unfastened the towel, revealing him. With light touches, she fondled the ridged hardness.

  David’s breath caught in his throat. Fiercely, he pulled her down on top of his hard body and held her tightly. Then, he rolled, and he was on top. His mouth descended to hers for a hungry kiss. His hands on her flesh were demanding, swiftly discovering the sensitive points on her body and manipulating them until she writhed beneath his touch.

  A moist arousal spread through her body like hot oil. Conscious thought vanished from her mind. There was only sensation, warm and throbbing.

  When he peeled away the robe, then the gown, his gray eyes glistened with passion she knew was reflected in her own unfocused gaze. Naked, she arched toward him.

  Skillfully, David brought her to the brink of desire and beyond. She yearned for completion. Her thighs opened to him, and he entered her most secret flesh.

  A tiny cry escaped her lips as he probed slowly within her, driving her wild.

  His voice was husky, rough. “I can’t hold back anymore.”

  “Now, David. Please.”

  He thrust hard and fast, finding a primal rhythm that pounded like breaking waves on the intimate shores of her soul, and Tasha trembled at the brink, her body racked with pleasure. Together, they reached the fulfillment of perfect lovemaking, and she drifted in unearthly clouds of contentment.

  As she snuggled beside him in the candlelight, Tasha felt that truly this night was her first time. She’d given something more precious than her virginity. She’d given her trust.

  THOUGH IT SEEMED improbable that life could return to a schedule after a night of such sensual perfection, Tasha was back in her shop at eight o’clock sharp. She’d left David in the hotel room at six-thirty and returned to her apartment, which seemed undisturbed, to change clothes and apply makeup.

  Still bedazzled by last night’s passion, which had repeated twice more after the wondrous first time, Tasha perched on the stool behind her counter and sighed. She felt tender all over, happily bruised by pleasure.

  David had promised to be in by nine o’clock, and she eagerly anticipated the instant she would see him again. Following her routine, she took delivery of dozens of roses, baby’s breath, star gazer lilies, asters and clusters of bouvardier. These flowers she stored in tubs of water in the temperature-controlled refrigerated unit.

  She checked her calendar. Her major project for the week was a floral arrangement for a banquet at the Natural History Museum on Tuesday. Tomorrow night. On the weekend, she was providing flowers at a small wedding for a rather unimaginative bride who couldn’t understand why bowers of iris and lilacs, both springtime blooms, were difficult to obtain and expensive in September.

  Tasha began to envision the wedding bouquet, then stopped herself. In three days, on Wednesday night, Spectrum would steal the Sheikh’s Rubies. Fatalistically, she realized that it might not be wise to plan beyond that date.

  What would happen? She and David hadn’t begun to work out the logistics. Without telling the police, how could they perform a sting? How could she amass enough evidence to ensure that Green would be arrested and locked up forever?

  At nine o’clock, she opened her doors for business. Five minutes later, David—in his Wally Beamis disguise—stumbled inside. He wore the same baggy-seat trousers and an ugly plaid shirt with long sleeves. His hair was askew. His posture, atrocious. His mouth, with the dental appliance, twisted in a goofy expression.

  She’d never seen a more gorgeous man in her life.

  Unable to control herself, she smiled widely. She said, “You’re late, Wally.”

  “Sorry.” His voice was a nasal whine.

  “Come into my office, and we’ll go over your schedule.”

  He closed the door behind him and pulled out the fake teeth. “Darling Tasha, you can’t look at me like that when I’m disguised as Wally.”

  “I can’t help it.” She slipped into his arms and sighed.

  He hugged her, then held her back. “The first rule of disguise is attitude. When I’m Wally, I can’t let myself think of how I really feel about you. And it’s got to be the same for you.”

  “But I—”

  “No,” he said firmly. “If we can’t even fool each other, how will we trick Green?”

  The mention of that name was a splash of cold water in her face. She stepped away from him and took a seat behind her desk. “You’re right.”

  “Your apartment? When you went back there, was it okay?”

  “It didn’t seem like anyone had been there. It didn’t even look like my answering machine had been played. By the way, I had a message from Mandy. She’s gone home from the hospital and is staying with her mother.”

  “Good for Mandy.”

  “I’d like to get out and see her, but I don’t know when I’ll find time.”

  Dryly, he said, “It’s tough working in baby visits while you’re trying to foil international jewel thieves.�
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  “David, how are we going to pull off this sting without telling the police?”

  “We’ll figure something. Your job is to discover as much as you can about their plan. So far, we know that Brown intends to make a large hole in the wall leading to the vault. Try to find out how they plan to deal with the guards.”

  “Got it.”

  He slipped in his fake teeth, and they returned to the front of the store. “Okay, Wally, I have a project for you. Over there, near the back exit, is my worktable. I need more surface, so I want you to figure out how to suspend the rolls of ribbons that I have on standing spools.”

  “Hang something from the ceiling?”

  She nodded. “That should keep you out of trouble.”

  It was after eleven o’clock when Brown slipped through the front entrance to Bloom’s. Immediately, he moved away from the windows and sidled behind the counter. It was the first time she’d seen Brown while the sun was shining, and natural light did not improve his cadaverous looks.

  Without preface, he said, “Your office.”

  Though Tasha hated to relinquish her sanctuary, she led him into the windowless back room. She called to David, “Watch the front, will you?”

  “Okeydokey, ma’am.”

  Brown placed a briefcase in the center of her desk. “Today, I will determine the precise location for entry into the vault. Though I have obtained the layout from computerized plans, I wish to make a visual survey.”

  That seemed very workmanlike and logical. “All right. And what does this have to do with me?”

  He held up a circular pendant, five inches in diameter with gold edges and a crystal center. “This is a video camera. You turn it on by reaching underneath.” He showed her the tiny switch. “You see?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wear this. Go to Pola and Tweed. Gain access to the vault, and turn on the video. You must obtain a three hundred and sixty-five degree video of the vault’s interior. Turn in a complete circle.”

  “Is that really necessary?” Usually, getting in and out of the vault while visiting with Janet Pola was no problem. But Henning was there. He wouldn’t allow her free access to a public toilet, much less the vault. “I’ve been in the vault before. I can tell you what it looks like.”

  Brown scoffed. “I need precision, Miss Silver. If our preparations for break-in are to be undetected, we must be exact. You understand?”

  She sighed. “I do.”

  “Someone will be back to pick up the videotape at four o’clock. Tomorrow, we chip away the concrete wall.”

  “Chip away?” She didn’t like the sound of that. “Won’t that be awfully noisy?”

  “I will use a thermal lance, of course.”

  “Of course.” What on earth was a thermal lance?

  “Very efficient tool,” he said. “Cuts through six inches of tempered steel in fifteen seconds. Removing the concrete will take less than an hour.”

  “I’ll bet it leaves quite a mess.”

  He did not return her grin. “This sense of humor, Miss Silver, is mostly not funny. Last night, when you said that you were Black? Not funny at all.”

  “Well, what if I wasn’t kidding? What if I really am Black?”

  His dark eyes seemed to disappear in sunken sockets. Mournfully, he said, “Then the joke is on me.”

  He closed up his briefcase and left the office.

  Tasha slipped the video camera pendant around her neck. Fortunately, she was wearing a simple black jersey minidress with gold accessories today and the pendant didn’t look too odd. But how was she going to convince Janet to show her around the vault? The request would seem odd because Tasha had been inside before. And there were now guards to contend with.

  David, she thought. She could pretend to be taking him on a guided tour of the neighborhood shops.

  Hurrying to the front counter, she sketched out her plan to him. “So, you act like you’re interested in the vault, and Janet will take both of us inside.”

  “Is it that big?”

  “It’s huge. At least fifteen feet by eight. This building was constructed in the fifties, and there have been all kinds of shops that moved in and out. Pola and Tweed was once a furrier with a large storage area. That’s what Janet turned into a vault.”

  He nodded. “Okay, show me around.”

  “First, I’ll make sure that Janet is in the shop and, with any luck, that Henning isn’t there.” She grabbed a watering can. “Besides, I need to freshen up their flower arrangements. Keep an eye on the shop.”

  “Okaleedokalee, ma’am.”

  His gaze followed her out the door, and he watched through the windows as she stepped briskly along the sunlit sidewalk. Her black hair was a shining cap. Her eyes were luminous. Again, she reminded him of an exotic flower, graceful and delicate. And resilient. She owned an ability to think fast under pressure and a talent for bouncing back, which was also handy for subterfuge. She kept a lot hidden. It might take years to peel back the petals into a full blossom and find out who she really was.

  David wished he had the time to spend with her. At least, there would be tonight. While she was out of the store, he entertained himself with delectable memories and anticipation of tonight’s lovemaking.

  Quickly, Tasha bustled through the front of the shop. She returned her watering can to the back area near the sink and stepped up to the counter. A slight malaise clung to her.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing.” Behind her smile lurked a flicker of discontent.

  “You’re lying, Tasha.”

  “You’re right.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, my God, David. Those rubies! They’re magnificent. I can’t go near them without breaking out in a cold sweat.”

  “You want them, don’t you?”

  “With all my heart. I want to wear them. Just for a minute. I want to feel the stones against my bare skin.” Her mouth twisted in a grimace. “That’s terrible to say. They aren’t mine. They will never be mine. But is it wrong to want them?”

  “No, Tasha. Almost everyone wishes for something they can’t have. An impossible dream.”

  “I almost believe I could steal for those stones. I’d join Spectrum for real.” She held out her hands. “Look, I’m trembling.”

  Her passions, when it came to precious gems, ran close to the surface, and her blatant desire made David want to drape her in ropes of diamonds, merely to see the delight in her eyes.

  She drew in a lungful of air. “Okay, I’ll be all right as long as I don’t get too close to the rubies.”

  “You obviously love precious gems. Why didn’t you open a jewelry store instead of a flower shop?”

  “Are you kidding? That would be like an alcoholic running a liquor store. An overeater becoming a pastry chef. I’d never want to sell any of my jewels.”

  “So, this is an unhealthy passion.”

  “I saw what happened to my mother,” she said. “I’m much better off with flowers. I love them, but they are, by their very nature, a transitory pleasure. Even after they’re dried, flowers will eventually disintegrate into fragrant dust.”

  “And you don’t mind that the flowers are dying?”

  “Death is part of their beauty,” she said. “In ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, there is a concept of duality that is necessary for true appreciation.”

  Her gestures, while explaining, took on a mannered gracefulness. “When you see a field of flowers, you’re filled with joy. Who wouldn’t be? The color and light and sheer bounty is too wonderful. At the same time, there’s a deep sadness, because you know the flowers will lose their bloom and will die. Duality. Life and death.”

  “That’s very Zen thinking.”

  “The concept is actually called miyabi, elegance contrasted with transition.” Her left eyebrow raised. “It’s kind of like us, isn’t it?”

  Though her reference was obscure, he understood completely what she was saying. Last night had been the m
ost wonderfully perfect lovemaking he’d ever experienced. And yet, there was a sadness. He would be leaving. Their relationship would not continue forever. “Very Zen.”

  “Let’s go next door and get this videotaping over with.” She hung the Be Back In Ten Minutes sign at the front door to Bloom’s and pointed the way for David. “I hate deceiving Janet like this, but there’s no other way.”

  In his Wally Beamis persona, David galloped along beside her. Inside Pola and Tweed, a uniformed guard stood watch beside the Sheikh’s Rubies. There were two other clerks, one of whom was talking to a customer.

  After Tasha made a brief show of introducing him and pointing out the rubies, which she did not go near, she led him through a rear door into the employee’s lounge. “Janet?” she called out. “Are you back here?”

  Janet looked up from the newspaper she was reading. “Tasha, darling, I’ve just run my figures for the weekend, and it’s safe to say that the rubies were an unqualified success in drawing customers. My business was almost equal to the annual Valentine’s Day rush for jewelry.”

  Her smile faltered as she noticed David. “Oh, how nice,” she said in her high-pitched brittle tone. “You’ve brought your new assistant.”

  “I thought if I showed Wally around the neighborhood, he might get an idea of the appropriate style for Cherry Creek.”

  “Excellent idea!”

  In his Wally voice, David said, “I like your store. Is all this stuff real?”

  “Not everything. In addition to the gemstones, ivory, jade and pearls, we have costume jewelry.”

  “Costumes?” David squawked. “Like Halloween?”

  With a long-suffering sigh, Tasha said, “Would you mind showing him the vault? He keeps talking about jewelry thieves.”

  “No problem,” Janet said, leading the way.

  The heavy steel, lead and copper door to the vault was closed but not locked. Janet explained, “I generally don’t bother with locking during the day. It would be too much trouble to open and close every time a customer wanted to see a particular stone.”

  Inside, the walls were a dull metal color. There were four large metal cabinets with doors that swung open to reveal special drawers and shelves for storing the jewelry. In the far corner was an antique-looking black safe, decorated in gold trim with the name Jezebel written in scroll above a combination lock and handle.