The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) (13 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

The floor mats in Eli’s Audi were covered in sand from their morning beach excursion.

“I can’t return the car to him like this,” Steph said as she slid into the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition.

“There’s a car wash down the road,” Jake said, gesturing to the right as they exited the hotel.

“Cool. I’ll stop there first.” She followed his directions, glancing into the rearview mirror as she slowed at a light. A streak of green metal raced past her, and she snapped her gaze to the window. “Was that a green Honda?”

But the car was already gone, zipping down a side street and out of sight. “Let’s hope not,” he said, scanning for the auto in question. “I don’t see anything. It was probably a different car. Tell me more about your tour tomorrow. How many people?”

“I’m fully booked,” she said with a grin as she pressed her foot to the gas, choosing to put the green car out of her mind. “My stepdad’s assistant manager even joined the tour. Clarissa. She’s super sweet. She adores Eli.”

“That’s nice,” he said, though his tone sounded grudging.

“Sorry, I know you don’t like him.”

He held up his hands. “We will agree to disagree on this. I respect your need to step back, as long as you respect mine to keep going.”

“Of course. And don’t worry, I will keep all your secrets. I’ve got your back,” she said.

Soon, they arrived at the car wash.

“The full deluxe, please,” she said, handing the keys to an eager car-wash attendant, who wore khaki shorts, white bouncy sneakers, and a sky-blue T-shirt with the name of the car wash emblazoned across the chest.

Island Shine.

“That’ll take about twenty minutes. If you’d like to wait outside, we have comfy chairs under the awning, or you can check out our lovely selection of sundries and island gifts inside,” he said in a helpful tone, gesturing to a gift shop attached to the car wash. “You can even watch the cars being washed. We have a long window on one side that gives a view into the wash itself.”

“Ooh,” Steph said. “Can’t go wrong with that.”

“I do believe we’ll avail ourselves of the gift shop opportunities,” Jake said, dropping a hand to her back as he held open the glass door in a deliberately gallant gesture. Then to her he said, “This is our first official date, so you just better get used to this kind of fancy treatment.”

She arched an eyebrow. “First date? What about the panini shop?”

He leaned in to whisper. “First date now that you’ve finally come to terms with the elephantine desire you possess to have more of me.”

She rolled her eyes. “You are such a cocky bastard.”

He answered by pinching her butt as they walked to the display that boasted a selection of up to 170 different and deliciously scented car air fresheners.

“How is this a date exactly?” she asked. “Are you going to treat me to whatever kind of air freshener my little heart desires?”

He nodded. “I’m just that kind of generous guy,” he said, sweeping his arm out broadly. A huge array of scented cardboard shapes dangled along the hooks on the shelves. “Tell me. I’m dying to know more about you. What is your favorite car scent?” He reached for an air freshener shaped like a coconut. “Could it be the enticing aroma of the world’s most impossible fruit to eat if stuck on a deserted island?” He grabbed a pineapple cardboard cutout. “Wait. These suckers are hard to open, too. But they are the most delicious fruit known to mankind. Please tell me you love pineapple.”

“Like a house on fire.”

He sighed happily and cupped his hand to her cheek. “You have impeccable taste. You like pineapple and you like me.”

She laughed, enjoying the easy way he had with her, and how he could take something as mundane as waiting for a car wash and turn it into a good time.

Jake’s hand shot out and he grabbed more air fresheners, brandishing them all like a fan as the car-wash machines whirred faintly, the hum of motors turning landing on her ears.

“Cherry? Cinnamon? Lavender? Wait. What about this?” He reached for one more. “Pumpkin?” He crinkled his nose and lowered his voice to a bare whisper. He spoke as a plea. “Please don’t say pumpkin; please don’t say pumpkin; please don’t say pumpkin.”

“Aha! You’re one of those people who hates pumpkin spice lattes. I’ve heard about your kind but have never spotted one in the wild.”

He nodded vigorously. “So much. I can’t stand pumpkin spice lattes or pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie. It feels so good to confess this to you. And you need to know this to be with me, but I don’t understand the pumpkin craze. Please say you understand,” he said, grasping her hand.

She adopted a reassuring tone. “No need to worry. I will never force a pumpkin on you.”

He wiped his hand across his forehead. “OK, back to the air fresheners. Take your pick. You can even get two if you want. I’m splurging.”

She drummed her fingers against her chin. “I’m going for cherry and also coconut. In part because I know coconut drives you wild,” she said, bringing her fingertips to the front of his shirt and tap-dancing a line down his chest.

He grabbed her hand, laced his fingers through hers. “How did you know?”

“Because my lotion is coconut sugar, and you’re always sniffing me and groaning in pleasure.”

Nailed it.

He yanked her close and ran his nose from her collarbone up the column of her neck, inhaling her intoxicating smell. He was aroused instantly. “You’re right,” he whispered and flicked his tongue lightly against the shell of her ear. She melted into his touch, and the way she fused her body to his, even here, even in a car-wash gift shop, reinforced that trying a relationship on for size simply felt . . . right.

So damn right.

Ironic, too, because a week ago he was dead sure he’d be able to keep this fling no-strings. He’d been certain he wouldn’t break his rule about getting involved with someone he worked with. But the thought of being without Steph was more terrifying than snakes. He wanted all in, all strings attached.

She was some kind of special, and now, she was some kind of his.

He wanted to know even more about her. He wanted to know every detail, so he could do sweet little things for her when he saw her back home. Bring her gifts. Take her out. Make her feel adored. He rounded the corner to the greeting card row.

“My Steph education must continue. Greeting cards. Do you get the ones that are all heartfelt and gooey, or the ones that mock the person’s age?”

She shook her head. “Neither. I usually go for black-and-white comics of animals saying something clever. Or ones that mock cats. Because cats are, let’s be honest, kind of mockable.”

“Totally mockable. Because cats can be assholes.”

“There should be a greeting card for that: Sorry I behaved like a cat.”

He laughed, then dropped a quick kiss on her forehead. “You’re a perfect woman. I can barely take your awesomeness.”

He rounded the endcap, passing a display of Island Shine T-shirts on their way into the next aisle. This row carried car accoutrements, from steering wheel covers to windshield wipers to maps. “Map or GPS?”

“GPS, of course. But if I were ever traveling through Europe, I would wing it and go without either, because that would be fun.”

“That’s it. I’m going to have to take you to Europe so we can travel without a map or GPS.”

“I won’t say no to that.”

He grabbed her hand and marched to the final aisle, with candy on one side, cold treats on the other. “Ghirardelli or Godiva?”

“Ghirardelli. Hold the nuts,” she said with a wink. “What about you? You’d probably say both. Given your overactive sweet tooth.”

He fixed her with a stare. “My sweet tooth is a very serious condition. I would appreciate you not making fun of it. Once when I was a young boy and lost a tooth, the tooth fairy took my sweet tooth by mistake. It was the most devastating week of my life. She had to return it, and when she did, all hope was restored to the world.”

“You are a piece of work, Jake Harlowe.”

He looped a hand around her waist, unable to resist touching her. “So are you,” he said, nuzzling her neck. “Have I mentioned how glad I am that this isn’t over?”

She nodded into him. “Yes.”

“So glad,” he said softly, then looked her in the eyes. “It won’t always be easy to see each other. I travel a lot, and I know you do, too, for work, but I want to do everything I can to make this work.”

“Me, too,” she whispered.

He wrapped her tighter in an embrace and brushed soft kisses across her cheek. He hardly cared where they were. He’d kiss her anywhere. He wanted her fiercely.

As his lips brushed her skin, a flash of movement caught his eye. Craning his neck, he peered at the rectangular window that looked into the car wash itself.

The black flaps brushed aimlessly back and forth, slowing their pace against a car. The whirring of the machine faded, then clicked off. As the motion ceased, a pair of car-wash attendants stepped gingerly through the machinery, inspecting the car.

The gleaming black Audi.

“Your stepdad’s car,” he said, pointing. “Something’s wrong with it.”

She stared through the window, then spun around. “I should go see.”

He left the air freshener at the counter. “Be right back for this.”

He shielded his eyes as they walked outside, then to the entrance of the car-wash machine. One of the attendants had slid a long iron hook underneath Eli’s car, as if he were trying to attach it to the chassis.

“Looks like it’s stuck,” Steph said to him.

A grunt sounded from the attendant as he yanked, muscles straining against the back of his shirt.

“A little more,” the other guy called out. He was the one who’d greeted them.

“Hey there,” Jake said loudly. “That’s our car. Everything OK?”

The attendant looked up, nodded, and flashed a smile. “Yes. Please don’t worry. The car just got stuck on the rails while it was going through. Happens once in a while, but we’re getting it out.”

“Why did it get stuck?” Steph asked curiously.

“Ah, sometimes it happens when the trunk is heavy. This one seems to be lower to the ground than usual,” the attendant said, then returned to helping his coworker tug the Audi free from the machines.

But Jake wasn’t thinking about the machines anymore. He was thinking only about
why
a vehicle would ride so low. There was one reason, and one reason only. Something was in it. A kernel of hope resurfaced in him, rolling through his veins, picking up speed.

He tugged at the waistband of Steph’s tank top, gently pulling her out of earshot under the awning. Lowering his voice, he whispered, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Her eyes twinkled, but a hint of nerves shone through. “I’m not sure. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about what might be so heavy in the trunk that it makes a car ride that low . . .” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to say it. Wondering if this changed her mind. Hoping it did.

Hell, he wanted to crack this case wide open with her by his side.

“Let’s look inside.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

As he pulled back the heavy trunk cover, she gasped quietly, covering her mouth.

Holy shit.

He was right.

With the car now parked at the back of the car-wash lot, and the attendants vacuuming the mats, Steph was free to peek. And what an eyeful it was. Her stepfather had built a safe into the trunk of his car. Her mind scrambled with possibilities. Her brain lit up with far too many options. She’d abandoned the hunt yesterday. It had become too dangerous, but it had also stirred up too much guilt for her. The lunch with Eli had left her swimming in a sea of doubt.

She was still treading water. Only now there was a safe before her eyes, a safecracker by her side, and the potent possibility that he could finally have what he was hunting.

Talk about a dilemma.

Her gut twisted. She didn’t want to find diamonds. She wanted Eli to be the guy he was becoming, the man who was changing.

“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, nerves threading through her voice. Her stepfather had given her use of this car because he trusted her. She was one of the few people he trusted. To paw through his private property seemed wrong now. He might have done some shady stuff in his lifetime, but she didn’t have to do the same.

“It’s right here,” Jake pressed. “What if, Steph? What if?”

“What if it’s another trick?” she pointed out in a low tone.

“We’ll never know unless we check.”

Her eyes floated closed for a second. Her worries gnawed at her. This just felt . . . wrong. She opened her eyes. The noise from the vacuum grew louder, but she kept her voice low. “I won’t stop you, but I don’t know if I can do this.”

He sighed heavily. “Seriously?”

“I know Eli’s made mistakes, but he’s trying to change, and it seems wrong of me to look for diamonds now.”

He scrubbed a hand across his jaw. “You said you weren’t going to stand in the way,” he muttered, sounding irritated.

“I’m not,” she said insistently. “You can go ahead. Look.”

“Shit,” he said as the attendants moved to the backseat now, pressing hoses to the floor of the car. “I can’t look now. You’re making me feel bad for trying to finish this.”

She pointed at herself, and her jaw fell open. “I’m making you feel bad? It’s all my fault now? C’mon. Take a little responsibility for your own emotions.”

He straightened his shoulders. “Oh, excuse me for having some. Excuse me for wanting something.”

“Oh, don’t get all worked up about it. You’re a grown man. You can deal with feeling bad, and you can also deal with trying to do your job. Doesn’t mean I have to.”

He crossed his arms. “I can’t do it. I just can’t. It’s your stepdad’s car, and if you don’t want to, I’ll have to go along with you,” he said, blowing out a long stream of air. “Gotta respect my girl.”

Something about the way he said that rankled her. It wasn’t the use of
girl
. That didn’t bother her. It was the way he tossed the decision back on her. That was wholly unfair. Frustration rushed through her, driven by the need to put a fork in this once and for all. “Look, if you won’t man up, I’ll do it. I’m sure it’s an obvious combo like his birthday,” she said, bending her head into the trunk and pressing numbers into the dial pad. But the door wiggled before she entered the last number. It wasn’t even locked.

She grabbed the handle and yanked it open as the sound of the vacuum shut off.

Holy mother of jewels.

Diamonds. Everywhere. Handfuls of them. Gobs of them. Her throat went dry, and her pulse spiked. There they were. A towering pile of priceless gems, glittering in the sun. She froze, gawking at the glory before her.

She dared tilt her head an inch to catch Jake’s gaze, and he was staring into the trunk in amazement, too.

“Gorgeous,” he whispered in a stunned voice.

“It wasn’t even locked,” she said, surprised, as a door nearby slammed shut. Steph raised her face out of the trunk, looking for the source of the sound.

The click of an engine turning over blasted through the air, and the Audi took on a life of its own.

“Thanks for the help. You’re the best,” a woman wearing an Island Shine T-shirt shouted, and Steph raced around the car. Clarissa poked her head out the window and grinned madly at Steph. With one hand on the wheel, she peeled out of the parking lot and drove off with the car, the stash, and the keys that had been left in the ignition as the attendants cleaned.

Jake tore off after her, running like a track star, sprinting on a mad dash for the car. He ran like a bullet, powered by adrenaline. Out of the lot, down the street, chasing the black automobile.

But Clarissa and the Audi were far faster. She sped through the light by the car wash, leaving Jake in the dust. He parked his hands on his thighs and bent over, panting.

A green Honda drove by next, following the Audi. Tristan was at the wheel.

He ate his scream of frustration. Clenching his fists, he brought them to his eyes and just cursed everything and everyone under the sun. He was ready to stomp his feet, to bang his head against a door, to yank out his hair.

Because . . . fuck.

The diamonds had been in his grasp. Inches away. He’d been reaching for them when Clarissa had torn off in Steph’s father’s car.

It was Venice all over again. He had his hands on the goddamn prize and it was stolen from under his nose.

By Clarissa. Who was joining Steph’s tour. Who Steph said was super sweet. Followed by Tristan. Steph had dined at his restaurant twice.

His chest burned. His jaw clenched. Déjà vu descended on him and gripped him hard.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

He knew better, and he’d gone in anyway. He’d taken the risk for the woman, letting his stupid heart lead, and look where it had landed him.

Straight into
His Dumbass Romantic Decisions—the Sequel.

“Did you know?” he asked, and he wasn’t even sure where the words came from or what he was trying to say.

“What?” She looked at him like he was crazy.

He pointed in Clarissa’s direction, though she was long gone, and so was her accomplice. “Did you know she was going to do that?”

She parked her hands on her hips. “How would I know that?”

“How else would she know to be here?”

“She was following us,” Steph said, as if it were obvious.

But was it? Was it crystal clear? Or was it muddy? “You said she was joining your dive tour. You said she was nice. You said you liked her.”

“And that means what, Jake?” she asked, her tone cool and even.

“How can you be so casual about her taking the diamonds? Unless you’re—”

She held up a hand. “Think real hard before you say it. Ask yourself if you want to go there.”

“Go where?” he volleyed back.

“You’re about to suggest I’m in on it, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what the fuck to think,” he spat out, frustration eating away at every bit of common sense, spitting out every cell in his brain. He mimed holding something precious. “I had them. We had them. And then she just took off. In your stepfather’s car. I’ve been there before, Steph, and you knew it. I told you what happened in Venice.”

“And somehow that means I’m in on it? What the hell? You think I plotted that with my stepdad’s assistant manager, who I just met a few days ago?”

“Did you, though? Did you just meet her? Or have you known her for years like you know everyone else on this island?” he said, because he didn’t know what the hell to think anymore. For all he knew, he’d been played a fool from the start. What if she’d backed out last night for this very reason? To set up this moment? To make herself appear more unlikely as a thief? That’s what Rosalinda had done.

He’d thought he knew Steph, but what the hell did he know about anything? This was his Achilles’ heel—he fell too hard and too fast for the wrong women.

Women who crossed him.

“I don’t know her. She’s
clearly
the thief. She’s
clearly
been after the diamonds all along. She
clearly
followed us,” Steph said, her chin raised high. She stabbed her finger against the side of her skull. “How is this not
clear
to you? How is this not getting through your head? I did not plan a diamond heist with Clarissa. She was just going to join me on a dive.”

“Maybe a celebratory tour?”

“Are you crazy?”

He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t see straight. Nothing made sense anymore. He’d run into dead ends every damn step of the way. He’d been thwarted everywhere and none of the clues had added up. She could have been using him as her front man to break into places and chase down leads ’til she got closer. Hell, she might be working with Monica, too. Maybe Monica had staked him out for Steph.

He didn’t know.

But he knew this—there was no proof her own diamond had been stolen. Only her word.

“Where’s your diamond, Steph?” he asked, his tone low and accusing. She’d pointed fingers first. She was certain he’d pilfered her rock. But maybe it had never been stolen. “How do I even know for sure it was stolen? How do I know you haven’t been playing me from the get-go?”

Her eyes widened. “I thought we’d gone over this already, but just in case it’s not clear. I like you, Jake. I’m crazy for you. I did not play you.”

“But how do I know for sure? How do I know if any of this between us is real? Or just a setup to take the diamonds?”

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Just a low hiss of breath.

Then, words came. Measured. Focused. Sharp as a blade. “One, you know because of the time we’ve spent together. Two, it’s not a setup because I’m falling for you. Three, in case the first two weren’t clear”—she paused and waved crisply at him—“that hurts more than you can know. Good-bye.”