“Have you lost your mind showing up like this?” Cash whispered once he reached her. “How am I supposed to work when you look like this?” He scanned thearea,and spotting a nearby hallway, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into its privacy.
“Sable, looking this amazing should be a crime.” He pinned her against the wall and claimed her mouth, kissing her until she was gasping for breath. “You are so fucking beautiful. It isn’t fair. You expect me to function when you’re dressed like this?”
“So, I take it you like the dress?” she asked as her fingers traced the curve of his muscles. Her brunette hair was pulled back and pinned loosely off her neck, and she wore a sleek, black strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline that defied gravity with her cleavage. The bodice clung to her torso before flaring slightly at the thighs, and the entire ensemble left little to the imagination.
“Like it?” he gave her such an exaggerated once-over that she couldn’t stopherself fromlaughing. “Sable, this dress has my mind going a hundred miles an hour, and honestly, I want to blow this whole gala off, find the nearest hotel, and fuck you while you wear it. I need this dress to stay on the entire time I’m inside you.”
“Only if you leave the suit on, too.” She dragged her manicured nails down his chest, and he shuddered at the sensation. “You look good enough to eat, so we would need a hotel room with a full-length mirror because I want to watch. You would look so hot taking me in this suit.”
“You are trouble.” Cash laughed as he kissed her again, and Sable’s stomach clenched. She was trouble. Only not the way he meant.
“Sorry for attacking you the minute you walked through the door,” Cash said against her mouth, not bothering to stop kissing her as he spoke. His body kept her pinned against the wall, and it would take very little encouragement for her to wrap her legs around his waist and let him take her hard and fast in the hallway for everyone to see. This was their last night together, and she knew Cash wouldn’t fuck her. He wanted to do things right and have their first time be romantic. She loved him for that, but it broke her heart that she would never make love to her soulmate. Tonight was their end, but maybe it was for the best. If she went to bed with him, she wouldn’t be able to steal the egg, and if The Ombra put a bullet in his brain because of her failure, she’d never forgive herself.
“It’s just you are so divinely beautiful,” Cash continued, kissing down her neck to place a train of kisses along the swell of her breasts. “You’re not going to make tonight easy for me.” He finally pulled away, staring at her with an expression that was somehow both pure lust and unadulterated love.
“It’s okay,” she said, cupping his jaw in her palm. “If you hadn’t attacked me, I would have mauled you,” she teased, seductively caressing his biceps to memorize the way his body felt. “I’m serious about this suit.It’s like youasked the tailor to make you look like sin, and he over-delivered.”
“We’re worse than a couple of teenagers.” Cash captured her hands and peeled them off him. “And as much as I want tocontinue this, I’m on the clock. I can periodically hang out with you, but Ineed tobe on the floor with my eyes open.”
“Of course.” Sable slipped her hand into his and let him guide her back into the crowd. “I’m just happy to be here with you. Do your thing and don’t worry about me.”
“You’re wearing that dress in a room full of wealthy men, manyof whom are single. Of course, I’m worried about you.”
“You don’t need to be,” she said, squeezing his hand because while she was about to betray him, this was one truth she could offer. No one would ever be Cash. It didn’t matter how rich or famous or handsome they were. No man could ever tempt her to love him now that her heart belonged to the Fae guard.
“I don’t?” he teased.
“Not at all. Like I said on your couch, everyone pales compared to you.”
“And once again,I must sayyou make me feel all-powerful.” Cash kissed her temple. “Do you want champagne? I can’t drink tonight, but you should enjoy yourself.”
“Yes, please.”
“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Cash released her hand. Sable watched him leave, his imposing visage in black commanding both the room and her heart, and she hated The Ombra. She’d been moments away from quitting this heist. She wasn’t ready to hang up her thief’s hatjustyet, but she no longer cared about the egg. She wanted Cash, but The Shadow’s bounty had ruined their future. Sable wished she knew what the famed thief looked like because she wanted to find them and punish them for ruining her chances of happiness.
Sable glanced away from Cash’s towering form to stop the tears, but the instant she took in the guests, a new emotion replaced her mourning. Fear. She recognized the couple across the room…andthe waiter standing on the sidelines…andthe four men in suits…andthe barback… and the woman inred shamelessly flirting with a man old enough to be her grandfather. Sable wasn’t the only thief here.Seemedeveryone had the same idea to strike while the guards were distracted by the gala.
Sable followed the thief in red into the restroom and settled before the gold-framed mirrors. She pretended to touch up her makeup while she waited, and when the woman finally left the bathroom, Sable spun on her stilettos and swiped her palm against the woman’s clutch. The thief had no idea she’d touched her, though, which was a win for Sable’s success. Her brush with the purse had deposited a micro tech disrupter onto the material, meaning that the instant woman in red passed by a guard or a camera, it would disrupt the electronics, and security would realize she wasn’t a guest. They would quietly escort her out of the museum to the waiting police. One thief down. Who knew how manyleftto go?
“There you are.” Cash caught her by the waist and spunherslowly as she emerged from the lady’s room. “I have five minutes. Dance with me?”
“You don’t need to ask because the answer is always yes,” she said as he pulled her onto the floor. The soft orchestra music danced through the art to escape into the domed ceiling. The goddess of love statues stood highlighted at the edge of the room, and Aphrodite’s outstretched hand mocked Sable as Cash spun her through the couples. Many believed if you touched the goddesses, your love life would be blessed, and when Sable first arrived in town, she’d been inches away from taking Aphrodite’s stone hand. She’d reached out, but thegroup offour thieves had distracted her, and now she was paying the price. She was about to betray the man she wascertainshe was supposed to marry one day, and while her treason would save his life, her actions would break his heart and ruin his career. She should’ve takenAphrodite’s hand. Maybe it wasn’t too late, though.Maybeshe still could.
“What are you thinking?” Cash asked as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“Do you believe the superstition?” she asked. “Do you think if you touch one of those goddesses, they’ll bless your love life?”
“Our statues?” Cash twisted until he was facing the sculpted art. “I don’t know. Not really.”
“You don’t think they have any power?”
“The goddesses? Yes. Those statues? No. But I do think that if people believe touching them helps, then they are blessed.”
“So, if people trustthey’llfind love and happiness,that’sthe blessing.There’s no magic, just the power of positivity.”
“Exactly.” Cash slid his hand down her back, resting it seductively on the curve of her ass. “Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe the goddesses bless those who touch their stone hands, butI think thatif you believe you’re blessed, you are. For example, I am incredibly blessed tobe dancingwith the most beautiful woman in this room. I trust we have a bright futureahead of us, and I’m pretty sure she likes me too. I don’t need a statue to tell me I’ve hit the jackpot with her.”
“Cash…” Sable trailed off, trying not to cry.
