Prologue
Stealing was like heroin. It lit the night on fire.
The fact that he was stealing from Haseya Colton…that made it even hotter.
The cuff sat on her gallery desk, the sterling silver shining in a beam of moonlight from the transom windows. Ten turquoise stones were encased along its slender length, coupled with detailed stamping.
The piece felt warm to his touch, as if Haseya had just taken it off. It was small. Someone on the nearby reservation had customized it to fit the delicate circle of her wrist.
The craftsmanship was stunning, much like its owner. It was a one-of-a-kind piece, the type that went for hundreds of dollars. People paid in excess just to say they’d bought their window dressing from an authentic Navajo artist.
However, it wasn’t the monetary value of the piece that called to him. It was the thrill of the break-in, an illicit frisson along his spine. It was knowing that Haseya had worn it—that she would miss it.
It was a tacit connection to her. He could no more resist pocketing the cuff than he could stop himself from smelling the air, gathering one last sip of the scent she carried on her skin. “Good night, Haseya,” he murmured before slipping out of that pool of moonlight and merging into the shadows.
Chapter 1
“No,” Haseya “Sassy” Colton mumbled when the piercing shriek of an alarm interrupted a perfectly good dream. She’d been dreaming of the warmth of the sun. It had felt glorious after a long winter.
She desperately held on to that feeling.
The alarm grew louder, rending the dream in two.
“Nope,” Sassy said, trying to shake her head…and failing because the warmth on her face felt…heavy?
Sleep slid through her fingers. It was desert sand disappearing through a grate.
She realized she couldn’t breathe. Her mouth felt furry.
Reaching for her face, her palms confronted the soft, warm form of her sleeping cat.
“Rogue,” she said, muffled. “Get off my face!”
The full-grown Maine coon growled low in her throat as Sassy nudged her. The growl turned into an aggrievedmewas Sassy sat up in bed.
Sassy gulped air. She gaped at the cat-shaped lump on the bed next to her. “Trying to smother me in my sleep again?”
Rogue lifted a dignified paw to her mouth and regally began to cleanse herself.
The volume of the music increased so loudly Rogue retreated from the bed. The racket made Sassy’s eyes water.
“What the actualhell?” she demanded, rolling over to squint at the phone on her nightstand. Fumbling blearily for the display, she rapped her knuckles on the corner then accidentally swiped the clock off the nightstand altogether—not before she caught sight of the numbers on its face.
3:23 a.m.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned. She shoved the hair back from her cheeks, realized half of it was pasted there, and winced. Picking up the phone, she tapped the screen several times before the alarm fell silent.
She sighed, using her thumbprint to unlock the phone.
A black-and-white security feed instantly popped up. Words flashed across the screen.
There is a person at your back door.
“What?” Sassy asked, bewildered. She brought the screen closer to her face.
The display showed a back alley. She recognized the vacant three-space parking lot.
It was showing her the back of her art gallery in town.
