Guilty Pleasures (18 page)

“Believe me, it was touch and go for a minute. I got them out of there today. They're in the bedroom.”

“You square everything away with Sebastian
”

“He was pissed that I was going to be out, but I promised him he could always reach me by cell phone in the event of an emergency. But before we leave, I'm going to go over everything I can think of with Tara. She's itching to run the studio one day. This will be her chance, and I'm going to impress that upon her. If I can get her to believe that contacting me is an indication that she isn't ready to handle things”—she bobbed her head up and down—“I won't be expecting any calls.”

Jake patted her thigh. “Always on the ball.” He pushed up from the couch. “I'm going to take a quick shower and get out of this monkey suit before they get here.”

Eva sat there for a few minutes more. Ordinarily she would have been eager to join him in the shower for a quick one, but for some reason she wasn't in the mood. Her nerves were shot, and as much as she'd kept it from Jake, she hadn't been able to sleep soundly since this entire fiasco began.

A part of her resented him for getting them into this mess, and the anger was making her distant. She hated to feel that way, but she did. She couldn't remember a time since they'd met that she hadn't been hot for him twenty-four hours a day. Sooner or later he would notice, if he hadn't already.

She listened to the sound of the shower, tuned in to her body, waited for it to respond to the temptation that was only a few feet away. It never did.

*   *   *

“Did you get approval for the time off from work
” Lenora asked Stan as they stood side by side in the kitchen.

Stan nodded. “It won't be a p-problem.”

“Good. I don't want to risk anything by flying down there and having our names on any flight itinerary. So we're going to drive.”

“All the way to F-florida
”

She chopped an onion into minuscule pieces with the precision of a samurai warrior. Stan winced at the intensity with which she wielded the knife.

“Yes.” She stabbed the knife into the wooden cutting board and turned to him. She wiped her hands on her apron. “It's the best way. It will take two days. We can spend the night in a motel along the way, meet them for the pickup, and then be on our way.”

“Lee…” His throat worked up and down. “W-what are we going to do a-after this is o-over
”

She looked into his pale blue eyes, hoping to see some remnants of the man she'd married, hoping that her heart would soften. “Don't worry about it. I have everything under control.” She stroked his hand as she would a pet and went back to preparing dinner.

Stan left Lenora to her work and went into the living room to fix himself a drink. If there was one thing he knew about Lenora, she always had a plan, and his gut told him her plan did not include him. He'd have to have one of his own.

 

13

“Hold still,” Eva warned. “I need to fix this sleeve.”

Rita huffed. “Just don't stick me again, okay.”

“I wouldn't if you would stay still.”

“Hey, Eva, the shirt is missing one of the gold buttons on the shoulder,” Jinx called out.

Eva rolled her eyes. They had no clue what it took to put together an entire wardrobe, especially one that had to be mimicked down to the last detail. She went to sleep dreaming about gold buttons and sagging hemlines.

“I swear I don't know what you see in him,” Eva said as she made the final adjustment on Rita's sleeve.

Rita chuckled. “The same thing you see in Jake.”

“Not possible.”

Rita put her hand on Eva's to stop her fingers. “Look, I was never really sure what went down between you and Jinx. And … I don't want to know. But Jinx is a good guy. Give him a break.”

Eva sighed. “Maybe. He just rubs me the wrong way.”

“That's too bad, 'cause he thinks the world of you and would walk in front of a truck for his brother.”

Eva angled her head at her look-alike cousin. She shrugged then lowered her gaze. “I never told anyone this—”

“I know. He made a pass at you. He told me all about it, ages ago.”

Eva's head snapped up; her brows rose. “He did
”

Rita nodded. “Jake knows too. You're the only one who thinks it's this big ugly secret.”

Eva chortled. “Wow, how dumb have I been
”

“Very. And here's the best part. He thought you were me.” She winked.

Eva put her hand on her hip. “You really believe that
You know I'm cuter.”

“You wish.” Rita grinned. “But seriously, it was a long time ago, cuz. He was a little high.” She shrugged. “He would never intentionally go after his brother's woman. You should know that. Jinx isn't that kind of guy.”

“Hmmm.”

“Listen, we're all going to have to work together on this. Trust each other. You can't let some damned near decade-old bullshit mess with your head.”

Eva pouted. She knew Rita was right. It was a long time ago. Jinx had never tried anything since. He always treated her with respect, but she'd thought it was because he believed she would tell Jake. Hmph—she was the last one to know. The joke was on her.

“You're right.” She sniffed. “I'll give him a break.”

Rita patted her shoulder. “Good girl. Now come on. I want to get out of this thing.”

*   *   *

Jake handed Rita, Jinx, and Eva their PDAs.

“Each of them is loaded with the the ship schematics. There's a list of all of the rooms, staff names, and titles. I have the master file on the laptop and can beam information straight to each of the PDAs whenever necessary.” He looked at everyone. “Whatever you do, don't lose it. Now let's go over the list one more time. We can't afford to forget anything.”

For the next hour they rehearsed their roles, reviewed all the possible scenarios, went over the time schedule and the escape routes.

“The plane leaves for Brazil at six a.m.,” Jake continued. He braced his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. “When we arrive in Brazil, we'll check into a little out-of-the-way motel that Jinx secured, board the ship the following morning, check into our rooms, and then get busy. We have six days before we reach Miami. Six days to put the finger on Suarez, make sure he has what we want, get it, and get out.”

“Have you confirmed our transportation out of Miami after the meet
” Eva asked Jinx.