The Christmas Heist_A Stolen Hearts Novella

by Mallory Crowe

  They made their way up the curving staircase until they reached the second-floor landing. The second floor didn’t have the open floor plan of the first. It was mostly one long hallway, branched off to rooms in either direction. Probably mostly bedrooms or offices.

  It was obvious which room the Cypher was in because two people stood in front of it. Jennifer and Austin were quiet as they approached the first door on their left. They opened it and slid in without making a noise, careful not to draw the attention of the guards. They could be loud and draw as much attention as they wanted downstairs. Most of the guests wouldn’t care. But the guards watched everything, and if there were any inebriated guests up here, they would make them leave. So it was time for stealth mode.

  Jennifer didn’t close the door all the way. Instead, she reached down into her bag and pulled out a little straight pole. The small metal instrument was about five inches long; but then she pulled on it and revealed that it would extend up to about two feet. At the end of the pole was a little mirror, only about two inches in diameter. It wasn’t much, but it was all they would need. She wiggled the narrow instrument through the opening of the doorway and angled it down the hall. It was small enough that only one of them could use it at a time, but Austin didn’t need to be looking over her shoulder to make sure she was doing it right.

  “Now we wait.” He leaned back against the bookshelf. He took in the room around them, trying to figure out whether anything in their surroundings could help. This seemed to be an office, but not a very used one. Although the cleaning staff was good about making sure everything was dust free, the computer on the desk was dated. Anyone who lived in a house this nice would have a more upgraded system for their everyday computer system. That was good. It meant they probably wouldn’t be interrupted while they were here.

  Jennifer kneeled, seeming to get more comfortable. “So...” she started hesitantly. “Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?”

  “I thought you knew. Weren’t you listening to every word I said?”

  “I know why Graves wants you here. But I still don’t understand why you came without me. Do you not trust me anymore? Do you think having Lucy made me soft?”

  Austin felt as if he’d been slapped. He was pretty sure she could physically hit him with a hammer and it would hurt less than that comment. Words weren’t enough, so he crossed the room and knelt behind her. She didn’t turn to look at him, but she didn’t have to. He wrapped his arms around her anything but soft stomach and bent his head toward her neck, inhaling her unique scent that always drove him wild.

  With his lips touching her neck, he said softly, “I’d never think you’re soft. I mean, in the best ways maybe....” To emphasize his words, his hand around her stomach dipped lower until it was at the juncture of her thighs, feeling her even through her dress and panties. He knew she wouldn’t be wearing any hose. She hated the constriction and wanted to be free if she needed to run for her life.

  It was one of his favorite things about her.

  Jennifer sucked in a breath, and her eyes closed. He knew he was reaching her, but he still had not answered her question. “I didn’t come here because I thought you were soft. I came here because I was afraid I was getting soft.”

  She turned her head to look at him, but didn’t move from his arms. “What are you talking about? You’re one of the best thieves I know.”

  “I was. But it’s a skill, just like anything else. I need to practice. I need to keep on my toes. I know we agreed to take a break, but we never agreed on when that break would end. And when that break does end, I don’t want to have lost my edge.”

  She let out a soft laugh and moved her hand over his where he was still pressing against her. “Austin, you could never lose your edge. You’re all edge, silly.”

  He smiled against her neck and pressed a soft kiss to the sensitive skin. Right where there was a little vein pulsing with a heartbeat that was rising every second he was touching her. She always responded so well to him. He could just breathe in her direction and she would be ready to go. It only seemed fair, since that was how she affected him, too.

  He then took just the barest bit of her skin between his teeth and gave a quick nip. All of a sudden, Jennifer dropped her little mirror tool and it clattered to the wood floor. They both scrambled away from the door, pressing it softly shut before they disappeared into the corner. The main lights were off, but the Christmas lights outside cast a soft white glow into the room.

  Austin pressed Jennifer into the darkest corner and covered her with his body. Just as Austin thought no one had heard the noise, the sound of footsteps approaching echoed through the room. Maybe echo was a strong word, but it was all he could hear at the moment. His body tensed as he waited to see what was going to happen.

  Sure enough, the footsteps stopped in front of their door. The seconds seemed to tick by before he heard the squeaking of the door being pushed open. He braced himself for action and looked down as the light from the hallway stretched deeper and deeper into the room. But then it stopped just inches from where his foot started. The guard, seemingly satisfied with the dark room, pulled the door shut.

  Austin let out a sigh of relief as Jennifer punched his arm. “Way to go, stud. You almost got us caught.”

  He had to hold in a laugh. “Me? You’re the one who dropped the mirror.”

  “I only dropped the mirror because you were doing....” She seemed at a loss for words. “You know what you did.”

  He couldn’t help himself. He ducked down and gave her neck one more little nip. She jumped in his arms, and he finally let out the laugh. “You talking about that?” he asked against her skin.

  “Oh, you son of a—”

  He thought she was going to hit him or push him away, but instead she targeted the buttons of his suit, pulling his shirt apart to bare his skin. He would’ve smiled if he weren’t already bending down to capture her mouth in his.

  And there it was. The spark Austin had been looking for all night. It wasn’t just the job he’d been missing. It wasn’t just the rush of getting away with it. It was doing it with her. This perfect woman he’d somehow been lucky enough to find. This perfect woman who was somehow dumb enough to love him back.

  As he kissed her, she kept working at the buttons of his shirt until they were all undone. She tugged the tails out of his waistband. But he wasn’t going to let her go that route alone. His hands skimmed the sides of her waist, appreciating the warm feel of the fabric, knowing her skin was right beneath that thin material. And then his hands moved up high enough to cup her shoulders and reach the top of that high neckline where the top of her zipper was hidden.

  He tugged it down with one smooth motion, one hand working the zipper while the other hand trailed over the skin that revealed itself to his touch. She didn’t wear a bra beneath the dress, so it was one smooth line of pure, perfect Jennifer.

  As soon as the zipper was down, he tugged the fabric from her shoulders, breaking from the kiss so he could take her in in all her glory. The lighting from the Christmas lights was just enough to illuminate the rosy peaks of her breasts, which had somehow only gotten better since childbirth, and her fantastic body.

  He loved every single detail. He loved the curve of her waist, her perfect skin. He loved the little scar that she got on her first job right between her second and third rib bone. He loved the stretch marks that their daughter had given her. He loved everything about her and, dammit, he was going to make sure she knew that. Right fucking now.

  Jennifer wasn’t basking in the glow of her naked body like he was obviously. She was more intent on getting his clothes off. She pushed at his shirt with one hand while her other went to his belt. Most women probably wouldn’t be able to undo a man’s pants with just one hand, but in their business it paid to have good control of your fingers.

  But Austin didn’t give her the chance. Instead, he reached down and made short work of his pants, pushing the material down his
legs. As he kicked off his shoes, he grabbed her waist and pulled her back against him. He had officially gone too long without kissing her. Once their lips touched, he was gone. He couldn’t think logically. He couldn’t think poetically. All he could see, hear, and feel was the need to be inside her now.

  Holding her tightly, he picked her up just enough so her feet didn’t touch the ground and pivoted around until he could rest her against the side of the desk. The top of her dress was pooled around her waist, and the thigh-high slit offered little resistance at the bottom. He broke the kiss and stared directly into her eyes as his fingers slid up her thighs and hooked into the lacy panties she wore. Staring at her the entire time, he pulled those panties down until they offered no more resistance. Jennifer sucked in a breath. He couldn’t tell exactly what she was thinking, but he could see the pulse pounding in her neck. God, he loved this woman.

  As soon as he threw her panties aside, she reached down between their bodies and wrapped a hand around his hard, throbbing cock. As he sucked in a breath, the corner of her mouth hooked up just slightly, signaling that she enjoyed having as much sway over him as he had on her. The perfect match.

  They might be perfectly matched, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t beat her at her own game. He leaned forward, catching her mouth once more as he pushed his hand between her thighs. He wasn’t soft. He wasn’t gentle. His main goal right now was to make her go insane. He found her clit almost immediately and got to work with his thumb. He knew the exact motions to drive her wild. And right when she sucked in a breath to gain some sort of control, he pushed a finger inside her tight, wet channel.

  She leaned forward and sunk her teeth into his shoulder. Not enough to hurt but enough to muffle any noises she started to make as he continued his torture of her body. It was like a game. The best game ever. How fast and how many ways could he make this magnificent creature come? No matter how many times he played it, he never got tired of it. Trying to beat his high score. Trying to beat his personal best. And it never stopped being fun to him.

  So right as her body seemed poised to go over the edge, he trailed kisses along her jaw and bit her ear at just the right moment. That was it. Her entire body went tense, and her teeth and nails sunk into him as she held onto him for all she was worth.

  Austin couldn’t wait any longer. He was desperate, frantic for this woman. He took his hand away, and his cock was right there. He slid easily inside. She was wet, willing, wanting. And even though she had just come down, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him tighter.

  When he was all the way home, he wanted to stop and savor the feeling. But there was no savoring right now. He needed to move. He couldn’t stop the primal rhythm. His fingers dug into her waist as he held her in place and fucked her for all he was worth. For all she was worth. Until they were one and the same and there were no boundaries between them. They moved together as one. One perfect unit, like he knew they were. And then, as he started to come, she clenched around him once more. They hung onto each other for dear life as they each came together, gasping and panting and sweating. Forgetting what they were there for. Forgetting who they were. Forgetting the job. All they were was man and woman in that very moment. And that moment was perfect.

  So.... On the scale of things that shouldn’t be done working a job, fucking on the desk of the hideout room you were in wasn’t number one on the list, but it definitely was on the top ten. Though, while her body was still coming down from her amazing double orgasm, she was having a hard time feeling bad about it. She did the best she could to clean up with the Kleenex on the desk.

  She avoided looking at Austin, and Austin, who of course was too observant for his own good, laughed at her. “You embarrassed, sunshine?”

  Jennifer faced him and tried to look cool. “Not embarrassed,” she said carefully. “Surprised.” And that was true. She was surprised. Surprised she let it happen. Surprised she wanted it. Surprised she liked it. And especially surprised she wanted to do it again.

  It wasn’t as though she didn’t know how good he was in bed. Pretty much every night, he made a point of proving exactly how talented he could be between the sheets. She was just surprised at the danger aspect of what happened. That seemed so much like... old her. Not new, protective, maternal her. Maybe her past and present weren’t as segregated as she liked to think. She opened her mouth to try to say something, to tell him how she felt, but the sound of footsteps running down the hall pulled them each away from their own drama. They ran to the door and heard the man running past cursing under his breath. Jennifer and Austin locked gazes. “Laxatives,” they both said at the same time.

  She padded over to where she left the little mirror instrument, and by the time she got back, Austin had cracked the door enough for her to poke it out and they looked through. Sure enough, the hallway was now empty. Austin’s stupid plan had worked.

  They each reached for the door handle at the same time. Neither one of them fought over who would open it. They both just pulled together and walked into the empty hallway.

  The smoker guard was gone, and laxative guard was distracted for the time being. No time like the present. Jennifer left her shoes in the little office. She didn’t need heels getting in the way.

  Once they reached the door the guards had been standing in front of, Austin pulled out his little lock pick set. These historical doors had nothing on the modern technology of a thief. It took fifteen seconds for him to get the door open. Jennifer knew because she always counted. At least she had back when they were still working. Funny how easy it was to slip back into old habits. The door opened and Austin waited for her to go in first. A little bit of chivalry between criminals.

  As soon as she was in, she scanned the room, trying to figure out where something valuable would be. Houses like this weren’t original. She went straight to the artwork on the wall and found the safe behind the second largest one. Because she didn’t do research on this case, she didn’t know what kind of safe it was going to be. Luckily, she didn’t have to.

  Thanks to having a sister who made it a point to defeat every computer she met, Jennifer had a few tricks up her sleeve. She opened her purse and pulled out a little ball that looked like chewed-up bubblegum; she attached it to the safe and then put a little computer chip-looking device on top of the tacky sphere. As soon as it was there, she took out a lighter and let the heat do the work.

  She looked over at Austin. “Guard your phone,” she said as the computer chip suddenly let out a loud pop. Just like that, all the lights in the room went dark. However, none of the Christmas lights outside even dimmed.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Austin in a soft voice.

  “It’s a little toy that Toni has been tinkering with. It cuts off the electronics inside the safe but has a nasty effect of reaching other electronics in a close radius.”

  “A little warning next time you set off your electric bomb thing.”

  “I did warn you. I said ‘watch your phone.’”

  “With no context!” he whisper-yelled.

  She gave him an innocent little smile as she pulled the safe open. And there it was. In a beautiful gilded glass case, there was the Cypher. “Well, damn,” she whispered. “We might have actually pulled this off.”

  And that’s when the door opened.

  Austin didn’t have to guess which guard was back. He smelled the cigarettes well before he turned around. Austin flipped around to look at the man and put an innocent smile on. “Hello there,” he said. But there was no time for charm. The guard was taking out his gun and aiming right at Austin.

  Austin’s eyes widened as he quickly went through every option to get them out of this mess when something flew through the air and hit the guard in the face. As the man was falling over, Austin realized Jen had thrown the glass case at his head. Resourceful girl. He knew it wasn’t enough to keep the guard out, but it was enough to get the gun out of his hand. Austin leapt forward and grabbed the gu
n before the guard could fully recover. The thing felt strange in his hand, and he looked it over curiously. Not an actual gun. A Taser. Interesting. But not that interesting. He aimed it at the guard and shot off a few hundred volts into his body. It wasn’t like the movies where he would pass out, but it would be enough to keep him down while they made their escape. He angled his head toward the window. “Out. Now.”

  Jennifer didn’t have to be told twice. She ran to the window, flipped open the locks, and pushed it up, followed quickly by the screen. They both looked out at the same time to assess the situation. There were no balconies they could climb down to or trees they could use to help their descent. And because this house had high ceilings, the second-story height was oddly intimidating. They probably wouldn’t die if they jumped, but he was going to bet all their bones wouldn’t make it.

  They each looked around and looked back at each other at the same time. “Christmas lights,” they said in unison. Right as they heard more footsteps down the hall, they started to climb out. Each taking a different side of the window, they grabbed onto the nearest string of Christmas lights and then threw their weight outside the window.

  He wouldn’t exactly say it was a graceful landing, but as they tore the Christmas lights off the building, it slowed their descent enough to keep the landing from becoming a bloody mess. They each flopped onto the grass in an ungraceful heap as a couple of guys stuck their heads out of the window above them. Austin reached out for Jennifer’s hand, and as soon as she intertwined her fingers with his, they took off running. This wasn’t the kind of heavily guarded place that had people at all corners. Pretty much all the guards had gathered in that one room. And now the escape was easy. After ducking in a few shadows and lurking around a few corners, Austin had made it to his car and Jennifer was in the passenger seat. As they drove away, Jennifer took out the Cypher so they could both appreciate their prize.