“Dad.” Sable playfully swatted her father.
“I’m all for seeing my baby girl and her baby too,” Holland added. “As well as Cash. Sorry, buddy, but I can’t add baby to your name.”
“Please don’t,” the entire group blurted in unison.
“All joking aside, this grandpa is tired and jetlagged. And it’s past this one’s bedtime.” Holland scooped Clover up as if he weighed nothing. “What do you say, Angora?” he asked his wife. “Shall we put this cute bunny to bed and then retire?”
“I’m not a bunny,” Clover teased as both sets of grandparents escorted him up the stairs. “I’m Fae.”
“You’re an honorary bunny,” Holland said, as they disappeared upstairs. “You’re my grandson, after all.”
“Thanks for this.” Cash slipped an arm around Sable’s waist. “Having them here for the last few days of our trip will be great, but I can’t believe you let me fuck you on the carpet knowing our parents were on their way.”
“In my defense, all reason and rationality flee my brain when you take off your shirt,” she teased. “Plus, their flight got in early. They weren’t supposed to be here so soon.”
“Oh well,” Cash shrugged. “Knowing us, I would’ve still made love to you even if I knew they were coming.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Sable patted his bare abs. “Come on, let’s get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
“This jump looked smaller from the ground,” Cash said as his toes hung over the roof’s edge.
“They always do.” Sable slipped her hand into his, and for a moment, they enjoyed the view. The grandparents had taken Clover swimming that afternoon while Cash and Sable prepared for the job, and they’d taken him out for dinner, promising to have him in bed at a somewhat reasonable hour.
“You can’t be nervous, though?” Sable squeezed his hand before backing up. “Big, tough special forces soldier like yourself afraid of a jump?”
“Please,” he teased. “It’s a piece of cake, even if I don’t have your skills.”
“Well then, I guess you don’t need me to wait for you.” And with that, she took off running. With graceful agility, she launched herself into the air and landed with barely a sound on the opposite roof.
“That was beautiful,” he called, knowing her rabbit’s ears would pick up his voice even from this distance. Sable smiled and curtsied before beckoning him to follow her.
Cash backed up, fully aware that he would be nowhere near as elegant, and then he raced for the edge. He leaped across thedivide with all his might, landing beside his beautiful thief with a thump and a stumble.
“Not bad for your first try.” Sable rubbed his back. “You’ll be an expert in no time.”
“Have a lot of roof jumping planned for our future?” he asked.
“I suspect that after the rush of this job, you’ll want to accompany me on others. I’ll make a thief of you yet.” She kissed his cheek before moving to the side of the building. “There’s a window about six feet below us that leads to an empty guest room. I’ll climb down first and pick the lock.”
“Be careful,” Cash said as she lowered herself over the edge.
“I never am.” She winked before she vanished into the darkness, and he stepped to the ledge to watch her. She climbed down, and balancing on the sill, she picked the lock in record time. Throwing a self-important smile up at him, she jumped into the dark guest room, and the minute the windowsill was free, Cash followed her.
“So far, so good,” he said. “Where to now?”
“Our client said their relative has a room in the middle of the second floor where he keeps his art. We’re on the third, so we need to go down a level,” she said. “The bedrooms are on this floor, though, so we’ll need to be quiet.”
“I’m pretty good at sneaking around the house without waking Clover.”
“Except our son sleeps like a log, which is fortunate for us.” Sable smirked. “He hears nothing, so that doesn’t prove your confidence. You tend to be loud in the middle of the night.”
“Says the queen of screams, over here.” Cash swatted her ass lovingly. “Come on, little thief. I think I can manage a flight of stairs.”
Sable squeezed his hand, and together they crept out of the bedroom. The main hallways were dark and silent, the vintagefloorboard squeaking below their boots, but thankfully the house’s residents were oblivious. They took their time with the staircase so as to not trip and alert anyone to their presence, and they finally arrived at the art gallery room without incident.
“Locked,” Cash mouthed as he tested the door. “That’s not a problem for you, but do you think there’s an alarm?”
“I would be disappointed if there wasn’t.” Sable reached for her belt and withdrew a small device. “Mini Electromagnetic Pulse,” she explained. “Their range is tiny, usually the size of a single room. Peter knows a guy who knows a guy who sells these to anyone who has the connections to find him. It’ll knock out the alarm system in this room, but leave the rest of the house untouched. No one will realize we’re here.”
