by Liliana Hart
“You done for the day?” Coop asked.
“Yeah, I’m done.” He slipped another glance at his watch and grimace. “You might as well come into the house. I’m going to fix something to eat. I didn’t get a lunch break today.”
“You need to hire nurse to help even out the load a little.”
Thomas laughed and pulled a casserole out of the fridge one of his patients had given him. He stuck it in the oven and turned to face Cooper, his arms crossed over his chest.
“What do you want, Coop?”
“Where’s your guest?”
“She had to go out and deal with a few things. She’ll be back.”
“It’s sounds to me as if you’re trying to convince yourself of that fact.”
“Layoff, Coop. She said she’d be back. So she’ll be back.”
“Fine, I don’t want to fight about her. I actually came to apologize. I talked to a friend of mine from the FBI.”
Thomas stiffened at his words and his gaze narrowed.
“I can tell by looking at you that you know more about her past than I do. My buddy was real closed mouth, but he led me to believe that they considered your lady friend to be a valuable consultant. He said if I wanted more information I’d have to get it from her myself.”
Thomas relaxed and fought the urge to check his watch again. “I love her, Coop. And don’t tell me I haven’t known her long enough. Sometimes you just know.”
“I’m not going to tell you anything. But how does she feel?”
That was part of the problem. She’d never come out and directly said she’d like to stay in Surrender. To give them time and a chance at a life together. The biggest hang up with that was she didn’t want to give up thieving. They were going to have to come up with some kind of compromise.
Before Thomas could answer Coop’s question, the kitchen door opened and Dane walked through.
“Shit, it’s wet out there,” he said. “These nice fall days aren’t going to last too much longer.”
Dane walked over to the fridge and helped himself to a beer. He twisted off the cap and took a long swallow, eyeing them both.
“So I guess you guys are talking now, huh? Did I interrupt something important?”
“No,” Thomas said. He looked at his watch again and checked the casserole in the oven. It still had a while to go, so he grabbed his own beer from the fridge and sat down at a barstool behind the island.
“You look like a lovesick puppy,” Dane said. “They’ll be back soon.”
“Who will be back?” Thomas asked.
“Charlotte and Cat. They decided to do a little shopping this afternoon. I thought you knew.”
The pressure eased around Thomas’s heart and he took a swallow of beer to hide his relief.
“Cat, huh?” Cooper asked. “I never would have guessed.”
“Shut up, Coop,” Thomas said.
“Yeah, Charlotte said she really liked her. Said she seems just perfect for you, little brother.”
“She is,” Thomas said. “But it’s nice to hear someone else doesn’t think I’m completely insane.”
Thomas took another swallow of beer and almost swallowed his tongue when Cat and Charlie walked into the kitchen. He thought Charlie might have said hello to him, but he only had eyes for Cat. Her hair was damp with the rain and drops clung to her russet lashes. She wore a miniscule denim skirt and a fitted flannel shirt over a white tank top. Hiking boots and thick socks were on her feet, and all he could think about was stripping her bare of everything—everything except the boots.
“My brothers were just leaving,” Thomas said, ignoring Coop’s eye roll and Dane’s chuckle.
“Before he kicks us to the curb,” Cooper said. “I’d like to welcome you to Surrender. I hope you’ll stay here as long as you’d like.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Cat said, barely able to tear her eyes away from Thomas.
“It’s just pathetic,” Dane said, shaking his head.
Charlie punched him in the arm and laughed. “You’re one to talk,” she said. “Thomas, don’t forget we’ll all be here for Sunday dinner. Try to be dressed by then.”
Thomas ignored their laughter as they piled out the door and back to their own homes.
“I wondered if you were coming back,” he finally said to Cat.
“I had a moment or two where I wondered if I should come back. You’ve got a nice life here, Thomas. A nice family. A person who grew up like I did doesn’t deserve things like that. I’m paying my price.”
“Bullshit.”
He stalked toward her, his gaze hot and his cock already straining behind his jeans. He lifted her in his arms and kissed her, delving into her mouth with all the pent up emotions he carried inside. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and the skirt she wore rose up around her hips. She shrugged off the flannel shirt and yanked at his t-shirt.
“Please, Thomas. I need you.”
He groaned, desperate to feel flesh against flesh. He carried her to the first available surface, which happened to be the dining table, and set her on the edge. Her legs refused to let him go as he pushed the tank top and bra she wore over her breasts and drank in the sight of her. He took a rigid nipple in his mouth, biting gently at the hard nub as she worked at the button of his jeans.
“Jesus,” he said as she accomplished her task and he sprang free into her hot hand. He skimmed his fingers up the inside of her thigh and pushed the panties she wore to the side before plunging his fingers inside. She came around his hand in an instant, drenching his fingers with her desire.
“Please, please, please,” she begged. “I want all of you.”
Thomas was insane with lust, and he ripped the panties from her body and thrust inside of her. Her heels tightened against the small of his back and her head banged against the table, but she was oblivious to anything but the pleasure.
“Harder. Fuck me harder.”
He took her at her word and stood up straight, unwrapping her legs and pulling them over his shoulders, deepening the penetration. He couldn’t stop touching her, watching her. She looked amazing, her skirt rucked around her waist and her shirt just above her kiss dampened nipples. Her eyes were closed and her head moved side to side.
“Yes, yesss…” she screamed.
He felt her tighten around him and let himself go. His cock swelled and he pushed as far inside her as he could go, bottoming out until his balls touched her ass. Spots danced in front of his eyes as spurt after spurt of come went into her waiting body.
He picked her up and sat in a dining chair, afraid his legs would give out. “Please tell me we can do this forever,” he whispered against her hair.
“We’ll kill each other. But I’m willing to give it a shot if you are.”
“Definitely. But there’s the matter of your highly dangerous profession. I know you told me you didn’t want to quit. And I’m okay with that. I think. But I’d like you to be more careful in choosing which jobs you take. And maybe you could cut back a little bit. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”
Cat lifted her head from his shoulder and looked him in the eye. Tears coated her lashes and she kissed him softly. “You’d really let me keep doing it? No ultimatums?”
“I love you, Cat. The real you. As long as you’re careful, I’d never keep from doing something you loved to do.”
“Then I promise,” she said kissing him again.
She bit his bottom lip and then soothed it with her tongue, and he felt his cock begin to harden again.
“I promise to take fewer jobs. And I promise to be really careful. I wouldn’t want to ever give this up.”
She lifted herself and sat down again, stroking him teasingly before standing up.
“Why are you stopping?” Thomas asked, his breathing already strained and his cock throbbing.
“Come with me, sweetheart. I’m going to show you how a thief makes love.” She walked toward the bedroom with a twitch of her
hips and Thomas had no choice but to follow.
A future with Cat was sure to be full of adventure. He couldn’t wait.
Chapter 7
The soft click of the grappling hook hitting the roof was like music to her ears.
Cat MacKenzie grinned as she tested her weight against the rope and then hooked it to her belt. She flexed her gloved hands and took a deep breath, glancing around once more to make sure no one had seen her. An occasional car passed on Main Street, but the risk of being caught wasn’t a deterrent. Just the opposite, in fact. It made her blood sing.
Traffic was minimal on a Saturday afternoon in Surrender, Montana. Most people stayed home or drove into the city on the weekends since all the businesses except Lucy’s Diner and Duffey’s Bar and Grill were closed. Small town living didn’t lend itself to much excitement.
She hoisted herself up so her feet rested against the building and began to climb. She wore black jeans, a black sweatshirt, and her Vibram-soled boots. A black ski cap was pulled over her flame red hair and thin black gloves covered her hands. Her muscles burned and beads of sweat dotted her temples despite the freezing temperatures. Since her retirement, she’d kept her body in rigorous shape. A girl never knew when she might need to scale a building.
February was still considered the middle of winter in Montana, and deep snow banks lined the buildings. At least she’d have a soft place to land if she plummeted to the ground. The sound of a car door slamming some distance away had her scurrying the rest of the way to the top of the two-story building and heaving herself over the edge. She stayed low and listened to make sure she was in the clear before she finally allowed herself to take a breath.
Cat curled up the rope and looped it to her utility belt. Leaving the same way she’d entered and announcing to the world that someone had broken into the building wasn’t the plan. And she always had a plan.
She stayed low and made her way to one of the skylights that had been newly installed with the renovation. Skylights were one of the easiest ways to break into a place. They were rarely attached to secondary alarms and the locks were flimsy at best.
The mini drill was Velcroed to the back of her belt and it took her little time at all to remove the screws at two corners of the skylight. It was a brand new skylight too, so she didn’t even have to jimmy it open.
“Piece of cake.”
She lifted one side of the skylight and looked into the office below. The desk was positioned just below her. Perfect.
“Out of practice, my ass.”
She slid through the opening and hung onto the edge for a few seconds before dropping softly onto the desk. A computer was the only thing on its surface. It was too big and bulky for her to want anything to do with, but a common thief would probably try to make off with it. She’d never been common. Any time she did a job, she had one item on her list and she never strayed from her plan. That was what separated the amateurs from the professionals.
The skylight dropped back into place as soon as she let go of the edge and it made more noise than she would’ve liked. A minute was all she had to get downstairs and disarm the security system, so she moved to the door and opened it softly.
The building creaked and settled around her. She held her breath, her heart thumping in her chest and blood rushing in her ears, and she slipped out of the empty office and into the hallway. The surge of adrenaline was almost as good as sex.
Smells of fresh paint and the carpet glue made her eyes burn, though it dissipated as she made her way down the wrought iron stairway. The renovations had most recently been done to the second level.
A few pieces of crystal and mid-priced sculptures sat out on pedestals and in niches, and there were a couple of decent paintings, but the overall haul for the entire contents was only a few thousand at best. No, it wasn’t any of those things that interested her. It was the nice big safe in the plush corner office.
The seconds ticked down in her mind as she made her way to the tiny security box on the wall closest to the front door. It was a newer model, one she hadn’t bypassed before, and the thought of being caught made her hands tremble a little as she pulled out wires and started disabling the system.
She had more to lose now than she ever had before. Getting caught wasn’t an option. The thought of what the parents at the PTA meetings might think of her skills, or her boys being whispered about by gossiping busybodies broke her concentration.
“Come on, MacKenzie,” she whispered so the words were only a breath of sound.
Maybe she was a little out of practice, but this kind of work was just like riding a bike. Focus. Concentration. And nerves of steel.
Cat only felt a little guilty for keeping the secret from her husband. But Thomas worried about her, and she’d promised herself that she never wanted to see that look of fear on his face again like he got whenever she left for a job. Sometimes lies by omission were a necessary evil.
A bead of sweat snaked down her spine and the screen blinked green with only a couple of seconds to spare. That had been way too close. It never would have taken that long back in her prime.
From her intel, she knew the safe was in the large corner office that belonged to the president of the company, and it was kept behind a better than average copy of Monet’s Water Lilies, however clichéd it may be.
Breaking into the safe was going to be the tricky part. She didn’t doubt her ability to get it open, but on the lower floor there were security bars on all the windows. There was only one way in and one way out of the room. She hated the feeling of being trapped, but there was no way around it.
Her footsteps were silent as she made her way down another long hallway. The door to the office was locked, but she was inside within half a second with the help of a straightened paperclip.
The room looked just as she remembered from her visit during regular office hours a couple of weeks before. Cat left the door cracked so she could hear if anyone approached and she moved behind the desk. The painting opened on well-oiled hinges and she stared at a black safe with an electronic keypad.
“God bless computers, every one,” she murmured under her breath.
If it had been an old safe with a combination lock, the skill and time it would’ve taken her to open it would’ve been longer, but it still wouldn’t have kept her out. There wasn’t much that could keep a good thief from getting what she—or he—wanted.
Cat opened the wiring box and then attached the handheld device that would decipher the combination. The owner had only programmed a four-digit code. Another mistake on his part. Probably a birthdate or the last four digits of his social security number if he was like ninety-eight percent of the rest of the world.
The safe door opened with a quiet click and she stood back as she swung it open wide.
“Gotcha,” she breathed, her smile satisfied.
“Not bad, MacKenzie. Less than ten minutes from start to finish.”
Cat whirled around, her heart pounding in her chest, and she scowled at the site of her brother-in-law leaning against the doorframe.
“Jesus, Cooper.”
He grinned but didn’t move from his post at the door. His looks hadn’t changed much over the past ten years—the hair at his temples had turned silver and the laugh lines around his eyes had deepened some—but he had MacKenzie blood, which meant he’d always be handsome, no matter how old he got. What had changed about Cooper was his feelings toward her. They hadn’t always seen eye to eye on her… former profession.
“Snuck up on you, didn’t I? You didn’t even hear me coming.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I heard you. You’ve got the subtlety of an elephant in an antique shop.” She’d never admit that he’d gotten one over on her. Either she’d gotten sloppy or he’d gotten much better. She was leaning toward the latter.
“So what do you think about the security?”
“It’s crap. Which you already knew. So why did you have me do this little experiment?”
/>
“The owner didn’t believe me when I told him it was crap. He thinks my position as sheriff makes me look at the worst in things.”
“Of course you look at the worst in things. That’s your job.”
“So I told him. The man’s an idiot, but I’m sworn to protect and serve, so I couldn’t tell him so to his face. I told him I’d get someone from MacKenzie Security to give an unbiased opinion and he agreed.”
“I don’t work for MacKenzie Security,” she said automatically. “I’m just a contractor.”
“Hmm.” Cooper raised his eyebrows but he didn’t contradict her. “Eventually you’re going to have to tell my brother what you’re doing on the side. He’s going to figure it out. And then you’ll really be in trouble.”
“I’ll tell him,” she scowled, shutting the safe with a decisive click and replacing the painting. “But I’ll tell him in my own time. I’ve only done a couple of jobs for Declan. Hardly anything to write home about. And I do plan on telling Thomas. I just have to make him understand that Declan would never send me on any jobs where I’d be in danger. The problem is I don’t know if he’ll believe me.”
“You’re scared. It’s not like he didn’t know who you were when he married you.”
“I know,” she hedged. “It’s just that things are different now. I’ve changed.”
“What you have to ask yourself is if you changed for him. Or for you. Thomas has always loved you just as you are. Tell him the truth. He’ll understand.”
Cat sighed and followed Cooper to the back door of the building. She’d parked behind some trees just outside of town and had walked the rest of the way in so no would see her and accidentally mention to Thomas she’d been in town today. People in Surrender had trouble keeping secrets, no matter how small.
“I don’t know if he will understand, Coop. I’m not the only one who’s changed.”