The Arrogant Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 8)

by Mallory Crowe

  “You think I’m your boyfriend?” asked Gage.

  “What?” sputtered Melissa. “I never said that.”

  “You just called me your boyfriend. Twice. Is that what you want?”

  “This is bullshit. I’m out.” She went back to the hallway and walked until she found Sarah setting up one of the spare bedrooms. Of course, the spare bedroom was about as big as her master bedroom back at home.

  “Do you need help?” she offered weakly as she entered the room. Sarah was just spreading out the top sheet, so it didn’t look as though she needed help with anything, but Melissa really didn’t want to go back into the living room.

  “Oh, no. You’ve been through enough tonight. You can just relax.”

  “Relaxing doesn’t feel right at the moment. Anyway, what do you know about tonight? What did Gage tell you?”

  Sarah let out a little laugh. “Oh, he didn’t tell me anything. He’s never really been one to talk about work.”

  “So you know what he does? You know who he is?”

  A little blush crept up her cheeks. “I mean, I know the basics. It was kind of a don’t ask, don’t tell thing.”

  “So, um,” God, this was awkward, “just to clarify, you two aren’t together anymore. Right?”

  Sarah let out a little laugh. “Oh, no. He’s all yours.”

  “You seem really cool about all of this. Weren’t you two together less than a week ago?”

  “We were. But it was never very serious.”

  “It was serious enough to be exclusive, wasn’t it?”

  “It was exclusive, mostly for health reasons. I can’t afford to go catching anything. I have to be careful about the partners I choose.”

  Well, that was oddly practical and less passionate than she was expecting. “So how did you two meet?”

  “Oh, we’re at this party. I can’t even remember what it was for. A fundraiser for something, I guess. I was bored out of my mind, and Gage came along and swept me off my feet, literally. He pulled me into a dance, and I’m not a good dancer, mind you, so he had to endure quite a bit of torture. He was working a job, and he needed to look like he belonged, so he picked me as an easy target to become his date.”

  “And he just told you?”

  “That’s the thing about Gage. He goes between telling lies and the truth so fast you hardly know which is which. I thought he was kidding at the time, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized he was serious. A guy like that'd never be a permanent fixture in my life, but I liked the idea of the adventure. The passion.”

  “Are you sure you couldn’t possibly be long-term? Why didn’t you even try?” It was a stupid question considering she most definitely wanted him for herself. But she found herself intrigued by the romance that never really took off.

  “Do you want the honest answer?”

  “Well, I don’t want you to lie to me.”

  “You.”

  Melissa’s eyes widened, and her heart leapt into her chest. “Excuse me, what?”

  “I couldn’t have anything serious with Gage because he was totally into you. He mentioned you a few times, but never by name. When he called me tonight and asked if he could come over, I suspected, but when I heard you two arguing in the living room, it pretty much confirmed that you were the one he was obsessed with. You’re the little sister of his boss who hates him, and he can’t get enough of.”

  “He told you all that?”

  “Bits and pieces here and there. He never gave me any illusions of this as a long-term relationship. It was just fun while it lasted.”

  “You’re an interesting person, Sarah. What do you do for a living?”

  “Well, I do nothing. My family left me a big inheritance, so I live my life representing my family’s name, donating and investing smartly. Nice, but boring. You can see why I’d be interested in Gage.”

  It was funny. That kind of life seemed like Melissa’s dream job. Living in luxury apartments, having casual sex with mysterious men. But the way Sarah spoke about it.... She seemed wistful. Sad. It was hard to imagine someone like Sarah could be jealous of someone like her.

  “You guys can stay here as long as you need to. My brother is pretty well-connected as well. I’m sure he can help you out if you need it.”

  “Who’s your brother?”

  “Wade Maxim. While I got the giant trust fund, he got a company to run. Men get work, while women get taken care of. My family was nothing if not traditional.”

  Melissa wouldn’t mind a bit of taking care of, but she couldn’t imagine having a family life where the gender lines were so divided. She and Peter had always been partners growing up. They were all the other had.... “Thanks for your help,” she murmured, changing the subject. “We really appreciate it.”

  “Do you mind me asking what’s going on right now? Why you need my help?”

  Melissa opened her mouth to answer but stopped when she saw Gage in the doorway.

  “It would be better if you don’t know,” said Gage. “Once everything blows over, I promise I will tell you everything.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, Gage,” said Sarah playfully. “There are plenty of blankets in the chest next to the bed.” She pointed to said chest. “If you need anything else, I can have a runner pick it up for us. There’s another bedroom with a king-sized bed. Gage, do you want me to make it up for you?” The meaning behind the question was very obvious, and Melissa held her breath as she waited for Gage to answer.

  “One should be fine, Sarah. Thanks for this. I owe you.”

  “Well, the next fundraiser I head up, I expect you to be the number one donor, sir,” she said pointedly.

  “Well, I’m suddenly in a very charitable mood,” he said back.

  Melissa turned over again, but sleep was no closer. She assumed it would be awkward to be sleeping in the same bed as Gage. In her mind, it was the sexual tension that would keep her from falling asleep. Instead, it was him sitting up next to her and his hands clanging away on the keyboard of the laptop Sarah had lent him.

  Finally, she gave up on trying to sleep. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to get us out of this mess.”

  “Thanks, I managed to guess that much. Want to be more specific?”

  “I’ll let you know more when I know more.”

  Rolling her eyes, Melissa turned on her side to face him. “You’re keeping me up all night. Don’t I deserve to be kept in the loop?”

  “It’s not about deserving. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

  “Give me a break. I’ve been through all of this and I haven’t broken down yet. I don’t want you to promise me that you’ll take me away and protect me. Just let me know what you’re thinking.”

  There was a pause, as though he seemed to be thinking about whether she was worthy or not. Finally he leaned back against the headboard. “Toni is working to keep your neck safe, and Hart is looking for anything he can use to blackmail Courtney with to leave you alone. But I don’t know if we can truly beat Courtney at her own game unless we know why she’s doing it.”

  “I thought she was doing it for the money we stole.”

  “That seemed like the promising motive. But now that we’re fucking with her brother, I think it’s more than that. If we can figure out why she’s doing what she’s doing, she’ll be easier to manipulate.”

  “That’s really smart. Why wouldn’t you just tell me that?”

  “Because I’m grasping at straws here. I thought once we pulled the rest of the team in that it would be easy to get that thing off your neck and get the fuck out of here. Now things aren’t looking so promising.”

  The words coming from him were especially sobering. She reached up and touched the collar around her neck. Gage had been her rock through all this, so to hear him doubt her survival odds was terrifying. “Hey,” she said with a joking tone. “I said it was okay if you got my hopes up, not that you could crush them completely.”

  He gla
nced down at her, but there was no humor in his eyes. “I’m not happy about any of this.”

  “Obviously. I doubt you take joy in being manipulated like this.”

  “I don’t fucking care about Courtney using me. I hate that you’re here. I hate that I can’t do anything to help you. If anyone is supposed to keep you safe, it’s—”

  He broke off, but Melissa couldn’t help but finish the sentence in her mind. If anyone was supposed to keep her safe, it was him. Between her slip about him being her boyfriend and that little slip from him, she was starting to think this wasn’t a casual thing anymore.

  “Gage.... What are we doing here?”

  “We’re surviving, babe. Plain and simple.” He started to clack away on the keyboard again, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was nothing plain and simple about this.

  “But I mean, after all this is over, what are we—”

  “Mel, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “But—”

  “I’m serious. We have to take this one day at a time.”

  “We have to take the stuff with Courtney one day at a time. I think we can at least discuss this.”

  “We know that Courtney is having us mess with her family, so family is the key,” said Gage, completely shutting down her relationship talk.

  Damn it, she hated to be the girl in all of this, but this was life-and-death. What if she died never knowing whether Gage actually cared about her or whether she was just a stress bang for him?

  “Fine,” she said, admitting defeat. “So we’re going to look into her family life?”

  “Albert Vance, the one who set up Vance Industries and was the brain of the whole thing, is living in an upscale nursing home in Manhattan.”

  She frowned. “There are nursing homes in Manhattan?”

  “Did you think New York banned old people?”

  “No. I just imagine nursing homes being around grass and trees.”

  “You have a more pleasant view of nursing homes than most people.”

  “My family isn’t exactly the type that I’d want to visit, even if they made it to old age.”

  “Fair enough. But this nursing home is more like an upscale resort with very attentive doormen who happen to change adult diapers.”

  “Thanks for that image. It’s now burned in my head.”

  “You’re welcome. But stay focused. If we can visit Albert, he might be compromised—make it easy for him to spill his guts. Maybe he can give us insight that the internet can’t.”

  “We’re going to use an old man’s dementia against him? That seems cold.”

  “You’re wearing a bomb around your neck, hun. If there’s any time to be cold, it’s right now.”

  Gage took another deep drink of the warm coffee. There was no milk or sugar to help the taste. He just kept drinking the black sludge to get the caffeine into his system as quick as possible.

  He was just pouring another cup when Sarah walked into the kitchen and let out a big yawn. “Good morning.” She padded closer to the coffee. “Did you sleep well?”

  In response, he downed the cup in a few deep gulps.

  “Well, I guess that answers that.” She took the coffeepot and poured herself a cup. But she’d only just taken a sip before a grimace passed over her face. “Ugh. Do you have any idea how much this coffeemaker cost? How can you make something that tastes so bad on such a fine piece of equipment?” As she spoke, she turned to the sink and poured out the contents of her cup. “I hope you and Melissa weren’t going at it all night. I don’t want to have to have a cleaning crew come in after you two leave.”

  “We were very chaste,” he assured her, which didn’t do anything to help his mood. “I was researching all night.” It wasn’t as if he’d be able to sleep with Melissa right next to him the whole night. Even if he was able to keep his hands off her while she was awake, he’d never be able to do the same while he was unconscious. He was sure that the second he fell into a deep enough sleep, he’d pull Melissa right up against him and slide inside her before he even knew what he was doing.

  And that wouldn’t do them any good considering she was already asking him to put some sort of label on what they had. He didn’t want her to label him. What sort of future could she have with him? She wanted a house. Probably kids. She’d raised Peter’s son from a baby for about ten years, and he had no doubt that she’d been a fantastic mother figure.

  He couldn’t give her the kind of life she wanted. He hadn’t been tied down by anything, way before he’d ever been coerced into working for Sterling.

  “Will you two be staying another night?” Sarah started another batch of coffee.

  “I’m not sure. We’ll see how things go today.”

  “I want to help, Gage. You can let me help you, you know.”

  “You did help. You let us crash here. That’s plenty.”

  “It feels like nothing. Melissa seems nice. And if I can play matchmaker in the process, that’s even better.”

  He would give anything for a bottle of whiskey to suck down right now.

  “Do you think she’s okay with me? I think our relationship before makes her uncomfortable.”

  Of course it was uncomfortable. When had Melissa ever had casual sex? She wasn’t the casual sex type. She was the marry and seal the deal as quickly as possible type. When someone like Melissa gives a guy a chance, that guy better not let her go.

  If he were more selfish, he would’ve told her that she belonged to him and he was damn sure never letting her go. But for once in his life, he wasn’t going to be selfish. He was going to get Melissa out of this mess, and he was going to let her go. That way, she could find a guy who actually deserved her. A guy who could give her the things she needed. The things she deserved.

  When he said he didn’t want to get her hopes up, he was serious. He didn’t want her to think there could be anything between them. It would only end up in heartbreak and heartache. How terrible would it be to be the one who caused her pain?

  “I think you’re the least of the things making her uncomfortable right now.” Sarah still didn’t know about the pesky little necklace that Melissa was forced to wear, and Gage debated telling her. On one hand, she deserved to know if there was an explosive device in her home. On the other hand, he didn’t want Sarah to panic. Panic didn’t do anyone any good, and any sane person would have every right to panic about a bomb being in their home.

  The fact that Melissa was handling it so well was just a plus.

  “Do you want me to call Wade for anything?”

  “I don’t need any help from your dick of a brother.”

  “He’s hard to handle, but he’s got a good heart. He’d be willing to help if you need it.”

  “The only person your brother has a heart for is you. Everyone else is nothing more than collateral damage to him.”

  Sarah raised her brows. “What did he ever do to you?”

  “Nothing personally. But I’ve heard things.”

  “You know, not every rumor is true.”

  “When you hear ten different rumors with the same theme, there’s some semblance of truth.”

  “Okay, fine. Wade won’t help you. You’re on your own. Are you happy?”

  “Happy is relative.”

  Then, ever so softly, he heard footsteps behind him. Melissa was up. He stiffened and grabbed the freshly brewed coffee to pour himself a third cup.

  “Good morning,” said Melissa with a groggy voice as she entered the kitchen, leaning on the kitchen island on the other side of him and Sarah. “What did I miss?”

  “Gage is bitching about my brother. Not sure if he actually hates him that much or if he’s just trying to get to me.”

  Great. Melissa just got up and Sarah was already making him look bad. “I don’t hate your brother. I just don’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”

  “You’re strong,” said Melissa. “You could probably throw him pretty far.”

  “
With one hand,” he grumbled.

  “If it makes you feel better, Gage is scared of my brother.”

  Holy shit, he was in hell. “I don’t hate Slade. I respect him.”

  “You respect him with fear.”

  He twisted around to glare at Mel. “For fuck’s sake, I’m not afraid of him. I just know you don’t fuck your friend’s sister, okay?”

  Melissa’s eyes widened, and he had a feeling she was now wide awake. Fuck, he’d gone too far.

  “Don’t mind him,” said Sarah quickly. “He’s just hyper-caffeinated right now.”

  “Don’t make excuses for him. I got in the way of the bro code. My mistake.” Before even grabbing a drink or anything to eat, Melissa turned and went back down the hall.

  Gage balled his hands into fists and watched her go until she was out of sight. Sighing, he turned back to Sarah, who stared at him judgmentally with her arms over her chest.

  “For God’s sake, Gage. Go after her.”

  Damn it. He didn’t know what annoyed him more: the fact that she was right or that he didn’t instinctively know to do it himself. He took extra-long steps to get back to the bedroom, but Melissa wasn’t there. The sound of the water running in the attached bathroom told him where she was. He tried the door, but it was locked. “Melissa,” he called.

  “I’m about to shower,” she said through the door, stating the obvious.

  “Can we talk for a second?”

  “You don’t want to talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk through a door.”

  Finally, she pulled open the door but just a crack. “Gage, what’s your problem?”

  “I didn’t mean to snap this morning.”

  “You didn’t do anything.”

  “I snapped and—”

  “You don’t owe me an apology, Gage. We’re not a thing, okay? You’re allowed to snap. And you’re right about me in the way of you and Slade. I just want to get showered and ready to go. We’re going to see Albert Vance today, right?”