Sable swatted his hand playfully before lacing her fingers through his. Why was the one man she couldn’t have the only person she’d ever connected this intensely with? This wasn’t a fling. Yes, they’d only been on two dates, but supernaturals differed from humans. When they met their soulmates, something changed inside them. Their souls were like magnets, pulling and pulling and pulling until the hearts were forced together, and the pull on Sable’s heart had already begun. She’d told herself she would use this dinner date to learn more about the Fae security, but the second she saw Cash in his jeans and sweater, all thoughts of the heist flew out the window to be replaced by the need to understand him. They talked about their likes and dislikes, their pasts, and their funny stories. She asked questions about Clover instead of magic technology. She listened to tales about his time in the special forces instead of listening to his descriptions of the museum. She was a thief, through and through, yet the conflict in her chest drove her to question how badly she needed this prize money. She loved to take what didn’t belong to her, but suddenly that egg seemed pointless if it meant hurting this man. Perhaps that was why she liked Cash so much.He didn’t belong to her. He could never be hers, and maybe that’s why she wanted to steal his heart… or maybe she craved him because fate was smarter than she was.
“Where did you go?” Cash squeezed her fingers, and Sable jerked to attention. “Am I boring you? After only two dates, that’s a bad sign,” he teased.
“Yup, that’s it. I’m super bored.” She stood up suddenly and pretended to leave the table. “I think I’m going to go home now.”
Cash rolled his eyes as he caught her wrist and gently yanked her backward until she fell into his lap. Sable collapsed across his thighs with a laugh and threw her arms around his neck, planting another kiss on his lips that was spicier than every jalapeño in this restaurant combined.
“Keep that up, and we’re going to be asked to leave,” Cash moaned against her mouth. “This place has amazing food, so it would be a shame to get banned because I can’t behave around you.”
“I think you know exactly how to behave around me.” She gave him one last quick kiss and pulled back, but she made no move to get off his lap. Let the patrons judge her for eating the rest of the meal like this. She didn’t know how much time she had with this man, and she wanted to spend every moment possible in his arms because she’d never find anyone like him again.
“I’ve had enough to eat, but would you like another round of drinks?” Cash asked.
“I’m in no rush to leave. Order me a jalapeño margarita, please.”
“Ugh, that poison? Maybe we should leave. You have no taste.”
Sable swatted his chest. “I have exceptional taste. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
“I stand corrected.” Cash waved down the waiter as he tightened his grip on her hips to keep her from leaving his lap. “Would you like dessert while we’re at it? An excuse to stay longer?”
“Sounds great. I want something with chocolate. Or the Tres Leches Cake.”
“How about both?” He kissed her cheek and then turned his attention to their server to order. Sable grabbed her margarita and took another icy sip, loving the sweet burn on her tongue, but as she set her glass down, her eyes locked with a stranger across the restaurant. Every cell in her body went cold with alarm. She could tell by the stranger’s gaze that he didn’t recognize her. He didn’t seem to care about her in the least. It was her date that had captured his obsession. He obviously assumed Sable was just Cash’s random companion and not a player in this competition, but she wasn’t so mistaken. She recognized who sat across the room, stalking the Merveille De L’art head of security. Corvid. He claimed the name in honor of thieving crows, and while Sable hadn’t known the four thieves arrested last night, she knew of Corvid. If he was here, then every competitor had finally made their way to town, and it seemed she wasn’t the only thief following Cash. The only difference between her and her opponents was she suspected the Fae guard might be her destiny, while everyone else viewed him as enemy prey to be taken out.
“Have you even tried getting into the museum yet?” Peter asked.
“No, because every time I think I’ve come close to mapping out all the security features, I find another layer,” Sable said into the cell phone pinched between her ear and shoulder.Over the past week, three more thieves had attempted to steal the Precieux Egg. The first group hadn’t even made it past the front door. They hadn’t expected the entrance sensors to be so sensitive, and their increased weight set off the internal alarms. The Fae had programmed the scales concealed below the thresholds to connect with the surveillance. The cameras scanned every guest and measured their height, girth, and mass, which allowed them to predict the average weight of each body type. The mathematics were remarkably accurate, which helped alert the guards to possible concealed hardware. If anyone was too heavy for their predicted frame—or too light—the guards would investigate, and when the group walked through the entrance, the computers estimated each team member was fifty pounds heavier than they should be. Security apprehended them and found portable EMPs, as well as other electronics of the trade, hidden below their clothes. Magic runes had been engraved into each item. They’d hoped to knock the museum off the grid with an Electric Magnetic Pulse, but not even magic-inscribed tech was a match for Cash.
A solo female thief tried next by pretending to take a tour during business hours. The temperature sensors surrounding the egg registered when body heat stood too close, though, and Cash had been alerted when she leaned over the barrier. At first, he’d assumed she was simply being nosy… until he found a horde of supplies in her purse.
The third male thief tried entering from above. The museum didn’t allow aircraft to fly overhead, so he’d jumped off Skyline Towers with a hang glider. The second his feet hit the roof, pressure sensors alerted Cash to an unauthorized presence, and an army of towering Fae males confronted him when he attempted to slip down the stairs.
“More and more thieves keep showing up, and I’ve been watching them as well as the museum,” Sable continued. “Corvidis in town, which makes me nervous, but he hasn’t made a move yet.”
“He’s smart like you. He wants to watch the others fail, so he knows how to succeed.”
“That’s my plan. I’m either going to learn enough to steal the egg myself, or I’ll let someone else take it and then rob them,” Sable said, glancing up from where she sat on the park bench. For the past week, she’d been glued to her work, and she needed to escape the dark computer room and see actual sunlight before she went mad. “Right now, I’m building a three-dimensional model of the museum with that program you designed. Every time I learn about a new line of defense, I add it to the simulator, hoping that with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view, I’ll spot a hole I can slip through, but the more time that passes, the more I doubt it. The Merveille De L’art defenses are insane.”
“I was worried that would be the case after they hired a new head of security,” Peter said. “Cupid doesn’t just recommend people for fun. This man is going to give the competitors a run for their money. Poor guy. It could get him killed.”
“Killed?” Sable couldn’t control the alarm in her voice. “Why killed?”
“The rules said there are no rules, so killing the guards is technically allowed. Thieves like you honor the art of the theft. You plan and wait and watch until you can flawlessly execute the heist. When artists like you go to work, most don’t even realize they’ve been robbed, but a lot of zeros are attached to this prize. Some despise patience. They want the money, and they will charge the museum guns blazing to get it.”
“No, they can’t kill him.” Sable’s pitch escalated, giving her emotions away. She hadn’t told Peter she was seeing Cash, but her panic made it obvious she cared.
“I don’t want to see anyone dead, but why the concern?” Peter asked, and Sable heard the wariness in her friend’s voice.
“Um…” She scrambled for a plausible explanation, and spotting a group of kids playing soccer, she blurted, “He has a kid. The new head of security is a single dad, and he brings his son to the museum often. He’s all that boy has. This competition can’t get him killed.”
“I hope it doesn’t, but when he took this job, he understood the risks.”
“Risks of theft, yes, but not the risk of a tactical assault.”
“He’s ex-special forces, Sable. That’s exactly why they hired him.”
“No… this contest can’t murder him.”
