Page 69 of To Catch a Sub

Landon bent, untying his shoes and slipping both them and his socks off. He put them under the wall mounted bedside locker. As he straightened, her bracelet and necklace caught his eye.

The black marks on the inside of the bracelet were a series of letters and numbers with periods in between.

“Landon?”

He looked up.

Colette was wearing nothing but a black bra and panty set. The panties were the black satin he thought he’d glimpsed between her thighs. She was much slimmer than she’d looked this morning when wearing what he now knew had to be exceptionally baggy clothes.

He eased onto the mattress, his attention once more on Colette, except…

“Before we…um.” Colette shrugged awkwardly. “There’s something in the bathroom I need your help with.”

Landon raised a brow.

“Not that! Will you just come look?”

Curious, Landon rose, heading into the bathroom.

Colette waited until he was inside, looking around curiously, before she yanked the door closed.

* * *

Colette hooked the wood hanger around the bathroom door handle and grabbed a second hanger. She latched them together, hooking the other one around the handle of the main door.

The bathroom door opened a few centimeters before the hanger caught, preventing it from opening any further.

“Colette?”

Colette closed her eyes, pressing her hands over her face. She was so stupid. So, so stupid.

Colette yanked on her dress, throat tight with tears.

“Colette!”

“I’m sorry, Landon, I can’t do this.”

There was a short silence, during which she grabbed her slipper-like foldable flats out of her clutch and put them on.

“Baby, that’s okay. You can just say no. I’ll respect it.”

With another man, she might not have believed that, but with Landon, she did.

“I know. And thank you for that.” Colette quickly clasped the necklace around her neck.

“Okay, then open the door.”

“I can’t.”

Another silence, before his voice rang with command. “Colette, unlock the door.”

Colette gingerly slid the second century CE Roman bracelet onto her wrist. She’d worn it out of the museum today. She shouldn’t have worn it to dinner, but she hadn’t had time to go to her safe, and hadn’t wanted to leave it in her shared flat.

She also hadn’t had time to dissolve the item number marked on the inside of the bracelet. Dissolving the lacquer without hurting the piece was a delicate process.

Today had been nothing like she’d planned. It had been such a simple plan—make sure London Metro knew the full extent of the theft, thereby forcing the museum to fix their massive issues, before disappearing. She had an exit strategy all planned—she was heading for a dig in Greece. She’d go there for a day, get sick, and then disappear.

Meeting Landon had fucked her plan. He was…nothing like she’d expected. The attraction between them was instant, and every time he touched her it felt like she’d just taken a sip of good champagne—she felt bubbly, happy, and turned on.