“Yeah.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out her key fob. The doors unlocked with an electronic chirp. “Funny, I thought it was mine.”
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the steering wheel.Busted. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “I don’t have a choice.” He mumbled the last, sure that she was probably already dialing the cops on her flip phone. He was doomed. Done for. At least he’d be safe from Trojan in prison, if the guy didn’t have someone on the inside who’d land a shiv in his gut at the first turn of the guards’ heads.
“Hey. Hey…,” the woman said softly.
He lifted his head off the steering wheel and looked at her.
“You know, whoever’s making you do this, it won’t be the last time. These people… they have a way of getting their hooks into you. People like this, they don’t let go.”
Nick rubbed his palms on his jeans. “You believe me?”
“Yeah. You look scared. Can you tell me who put you up to this?”
He shook his head. It was too dangerous. The last thing he needed was Trojan threateningherover this. She was too kind. Too beautiful.
And a great liar. A member of NYPD’s finest walked up beside her, his chest straining his blue uniform. So she had called the cops after all. Nick held perfectly still and waited to be arrested.
“Good afternoon,” the woman said, her head tilting flirtatiously to the side as her full lips spread into a sumptuous smile.
The cop glanced at Nick and at the small kit of tools he’d left on the passenger seat. “Everything okay here?”
The woman’s voice made Nick think she was an angel. She had to be supernatural the way her laugh tinkled like wind chimes and her words dripped like honey off her lips. She drew the cop in.
“Everything’s fine, Officer. My nephew’s just helping me get the car started.” She gently rested her hand on his arm.
Nick’s eyes widened at the ruby-red stone shining from the ring on her finger. She had to be the wealthiest person he’d ever met. He’d bet that book in her arms was an antique, probably worth a fortune.Frankenstein.It looked like a first edition, the leather having formed a warm, amber patina on the spine where fingers had pulled it from the shelf over decades of use.
“Okay. Okay. Have a nice day.” The cop continued on his way.
“Thank you,” Nick said.
The woman rested her forearms on the driver’s side window and lowered her head so that she was eye to eye with him, those mirrored shades giving him a good look at himself. He needed a haircut and a shave and a new T-shirt.
“Listen to me very carefully.”
He gave her his full attention.
“If you are smart enough to steal this car, you are smart enough to figure out hownotto steal it. You’ve underestimated yourself. You’re better than this.”
God, her voice was silky smooth. And her lips. That dress. He was staring at her, and he couldn’t look away. “Okay,” he mumbled.
“Now get the fuck out of my car and go figure out something else to do with your life.” Her smile was gone.
Nick hastily collected his tools and exited the vehicle, holding the door open while she climbed in. She tucked the wires back into her steering column and replaced the plastic panel. A turn of her key and the Aston Martin roared to life. With one last crooked smile over her shoulder, she shifted into drive.
“Don’t disappoint me. I hate it when I’m wrong.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rowan couldn’t believe her ears. Her initial relief at Nick not remembering what she’d thought was their first meeting in the Stevensons’ beach house gave way to complete wonder that it hadn’t been their first meeting at all. Nick had been the teen who’d tried to filch her car. She remembered how hopeless he’d seemed back then. The scars on his lip and shoulder when she’d caught him red-handed had told her everything she needed to know.
“I remember,” she said, eyes narrowing. She removed her hand from his stomach to take him in. “I remember you.”
“Last night at your apartment, I was in your library. I recognized a book on your shelf. It’s distinctive. A first edition. Leather-bound. It was the book you were holding when I tried to steal your car.Frankenstein.”
“I’d just bought it from a pawnshop. I couldn’t believe my luck.”
