The Lady is a Thief

by Aimee Nicole Walker

  One book had a martini glass and another had a skeleton key. I bought one that said: World War II and Action Adventure. They added a drawing of an old war plane used in that era. They put a lot of thought into the event and I ended up having a lot more fun than I anticipated. It might’ve had something to do with the coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies, but I was pretty sure it was the woman who radiated joy in that fiery red sweater dress and knee-high black leather boots.

  You know very good and fucking well that I couldn’t wait to see what she wore beneath that sexy little number. I couldn’t wait to put her booted legs on my shoulders and make her mine over and over again. I decided to assist Milo with beverages while Maegan and the other employees helped ring up sales of blind book dates. I figured it was better to keep my mind busier on things that didn’t include getting naked.

  My little wildcat had an entirely different idea. Once everyone left, she led me to her office and let me do all the filthy things to her that I wanted to the first time I visited her there. I thought for sure that antique desk was up to the task, but then it started groaning and straining beneath my wild thrusts. I carried her to the door and gave her a good wall-banging, hard fuck.

  “Maegan, you’re making it really hard for me to prove that I’m not in this for the sex,” I told her, resting my forehead between her glorious breasts while I tried to catch my breath and wait for my heart to stop pounding.

  “Are you saying you want us to abstain from sex?” she asked in a disbelieving tone.

  “No, but I’m attempting to be a gentleman.”

  “Elijah, who asked you to be a gentleman? I love how raw and real you are with me, and you have never disrespected me—not one time. I love looking at you and knowing that you want to be between my legs more than you want your next breath. No one has ever made me feel the way that you do. I love that you don’t try to change a single thing about me. You make me proud to be a sexual woman.” I lifted my head and looked at Maegan. Her luminous eyes and soft smile made my heart kick back up. “We learned just how fleeting life could be and how much it could all change in a blink of an eye. I was really lucky, Elijah.”

  “We were lucky,” I corrected her because goddamn, I couldn’t imagine life without her in it.

  “I love you, Elijah Markham. You might not be ready to say the words, but you’re going to hear them. I. Love. You. I want to make you as happy as you make me.”

  The lady was a thief, plain and simple. She robbed me of my ability to think, stole my breath, and snagged the heart that I thought had been long gone. I madly loved her.

  “I love you too, Freckles. I really do. No one has ever made me as happy as you do, and I thank my lucky stars every single night for you.”

  She was brave, fearless, and more courageous than most men I’ve known in my life. And the lady is mine.

  Four months later…

  I WALKED THROUGH THE FRONT door of the house that sat at the end of a secluded lane at the edge of town. I looked up into the two-story entryway and hardly recognized it as the same house that I entered the night Thom Renzo was murdered. It looked like I stepped back in time to when the house was first built.

  The hardwood floors gleamed beneath a crystal chandelier, and the wide curving staircase that led up to the second-story landing had been refinished as well. My heart’s desire stood looking over the balcony railing at me with her hands on her hips.

  “There you are,” she said. “I was starting to think that you got lost.”

  Maegan had stripped the old wallpaper off the walls and painted them in soft neutral colors that would act as a backdrop to her art and furnishings, allowing the original, restored woodwork to shine. Well, that was what she said would happen anyway, and I had no reason to doubt her. My lady of the manor knew what the hell she was doing. You’d never guess that the house had been in horrible shape just a few months prior.

  “Nah, you can’t lose me that easily,” I told her. “I backed the moving truck in the driveway to make things a little easier. Your mom, dad, Milo, and Memphis are heading over in a bit. They promised to bring pizza and beer.”

  “What do you think of the place now that she’s finished?” She didn’t let me come over the last week because she wanted to surprise me. I was surprised all right.

  I had been really skeptical of her buying the place because so much mystery surrounded it. I wasn’t sure that I believed in ghosts, spirits, and whatnot, but Anthony Bliss’s disappearance and Thom Renzo’s murder had to leave an imprint on the place. Right? Maegan called a local resident named Emory Jackson who claimed to be a psychic. Hell yeah, I was disbelieving until I researched him on the internet and saw all the cases he assisted law enforcement officers with over the past five years. It helped to find out that Emory was good friends with the captain and Adrian. They told me he was the real deal and vouched for his character. Then I felt like a real asshole when I learned that he was also Memphis’s cousin.

  Emory seemed like a great guy and I liked him the moment we were introduced. Before Maegan bought the house, she had Emory come over and give his impressions. “I’m not detecting any negative energy present, but there is a ghost here.” A door had randomly slammed upstairs as if to punctuate his statement with an exclamation.

  “I’m telling you that’s Anthony’s ghost. I don’t believe he just disappeared,” Maegan said. “This is his beloved home, but I think it’s sad that he’s trapped here,” she had told me. “I have a feeling the answers are in that cellar and I’m going to find them.”

  Maegan hired someone to haul every single thing the Renzos had owned after she made sure that none of the Bliss family’s belongings were mixed in. Only a few of the Bliss treasures, as Maegan called them, were discovered upstairs, such as the pearl necklace Renzo had told Maegan about, and a very old, elaborate smoking pipe carved out of dark wood and ivory. She just knew it was Anthony’s and the source of the random tobacco smell we caught on occasion. Most everything else remained in the cellar waiting for her to explore.

  “I think I know someone who can help you if you’re interested,” Emory told her. “He’s a paranormal investigator. You might’ve heard of him, Lyric Willows.”

  “Oh! Oh my God! Are you kidding? That’s the guy that Memphis lusts after!”

  “I know, and I offered to introduce them but…” His words trailed off.

  “Memphis only likes the bad boys,” Maegan had finished for him.

  “Elijah,” Maegan said, pulling me back to the present.

  I walked further into the foyer and shut the door behind me then walked to the bottom of the steps. “It’s almost as beautiful as the lady who owns it.”

  “Awww,” Maegan said, walking toward the top of the steps. Instead of walking down, she hopped onto the banister and slid down into my waiting arms. “That never gets old.”

  “You know what else never gets old?” I asked seductively.

  “I have an idea. How much longer will we be alone?”

  “Not long enough for me to fuck you proper.”

  “You say the sweetest things, Elijah.” She slid out of my arms and headed to the front door. “I guess we better get started moving boxes in now so that we can get to the more pleasant activities quicker. That gigantic copper bathtub will do wonders for our tired bodies tonight.” That damn thing was big enough for three people, but I promised that it would only get used by two.

  “Now you’re talking, Freckles.” I started to follow her outside, but stopped when my cell phone rang. My heart seized in my chest when I saw who was calling me. There could only be one reason for my old captain from the Columbus Police Department to call me. “Detective Markham,” I said into the phone.

  “It’s Captain Barker calling, Detective. I’m afraid I have some bad news. I just learned that—”

  “Axel Washington is a free man,” I said, finishing for him.

  “An hour ago,” he confirmed.

  “How?”

  “Evidence and
witnesses went missing. There were issues with juror intimidation also. The judge declared a mistrial and that animal is walking free until the prosecutor can decide if they want to retry him.”

  “If?” I asked.

  “They like to win, Detective.”

  “Fuck!”

  “My sentiments exactly,” the older man said. “I don’t have to tell you that you’re in danger if Axel Washington ever learns your true identity. Be careful, Detective.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  I hung up just as Maegan walked in with her family and Memphis behind her. “Look who’s here.” She saw my thunderous expression and the smile slid from her face. “What’s wrong?”

  Telling Maegan that a psychopath might show up in our lives someday served no point right then. Axel didn’t know my identity yet, and I just had to pray it stayed that way. I finally had everything I ever wanted and no scumbag was going to take that away from me.

  “Just took a call about an old case that I worked. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Freckles.” I could tell that she wasn’t one hundred percent sold on my answer, but I saw the moment she decided to trust me.

  I just hoped she didn’t live to regret it.

  Maegan and Elijah’s story continues in The Lady Stole My Heart.

  Only You

  The Fated Hearts Series

  Chasing Mr. Wright, Book 1

  Rhythm of Us, Book 2

  Surrender Your Heart, Book 3

  Perfect Fit, Book 4

  Return to Me, Book 5

  Always You, Book 6

  Any Means Necessary, Book 7

  Curl Up and Dye Mysteries

  Fatal Reaction (Series Prequel found on author’s blog)

  Dyeing to be Loved

  Something to Dye For

  Dyed and Gone to Heaven

  I Do, or Dye Trying

  A Dye Hard Holiday

  Road to Blissville Series

  Unscripted Love

  Someone to Call My Own

  Coauthored with Nicholas Bella

  Undisputed

  Circle of Darkness: Genesis Circle Book One

  First, I need to thank my husband and children for their constant support and encouragement. It’s not easy living with a writer who often disappears into a fictional world for long periods of time. They do so many things to help me out so that I can realize my dream. I love you guys more than words can ever express.

  Many thanks go out to my three best friends, Annabella, Deena, and Kerry. They’ve stood by me, cheered me on, picked me up, and held my hand through some rough patches. I love you girls so very much. I wish everyone had friends like you because the world would be a much kinder place.

  To my creative dream team, thanks seem hardly enough for all that you do. Pam Ebeler of Undivided Editing thank you for your tireless work, feedback, and many laughs while editing. Jay Aheer of Simply Defined art is just an incredible artist, and I love how she brings my words to life. Stacey Blake of Champagne Formats is also an amazing artist who does incredible interior formatting and designing for e-books and paperbacks. Let’s not forget Judy Zweifel of Judy’s’ Proofreading. She does an amazing job of finding the tiniest details that make a book shine.

  I would like to thank my beta readers for all the honest feedback they gave me. I appreciate you gals so much. Aimee’s ARC Angels are Racheal, Abbey, Jodie, Kim, and Laurel. Thank you for all that you do!

  I am a wife and mother to three kids, four dogs, and a cat. When I’m not dreaming up stories, I like to lose myself in a good book, cook or bake. I’m a girly tomboy who paints her fingernails while watching sports and yelling at the referees. I will always choose the book over the movie. I believe in happily-ever-after. Love inspires everything that I do. Music keeps me sane.

  I’d love to hear from you.

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