He pulled me close and kissed me deep. “It’s going to go fine. Remember, you’re working with a very experienced team.”
“Which makes me the weak link.”
“Which makes you the energetic new blood.” His phone dinged, and he glanced at it. “They’re in front of the building,” he said. “Let’s go.”
We met Cole and Tyler in the BAS Security van, and drove together to Victor Neely’s Winnetka house. He greeted us at the door, gushed in a too-polite, too-obsequious way over what a wonderful man my uncle was, and led us up to the gallery.
I caught Evan’s eye as we climbed the stairs and saw that his reaction was the same as mine—neither one of us liked the guy, and for a second I wished we could just blow this whole thing off. After all, if this thing went as planned, he’d end up with the real Creature Notebook and we’d have a fake.
It hardly seemed fair.
We reached the gallery and stepped inside once Neely disengaged the security system. “It’s a wonderful space,” I said, as Evan detached himself to go with the lanky security captain who’d accompanied us to the gallery. Cole and Tyler stepped inside and started scoping out the area, asking Neely questions about size and security and claiming that all the information was for insurance purposes.
Neely answered everything without hesitating, and when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket as per our plan, I told Neely that I’d like to discuss the placement of the food and drinks in relation to the movement of the guests. “I was thinking we could set up a cocktail station over here,” I said, pulling him around toward a wall lined with framed pages from various historical manuscripts. My back was to the wall so that I was facing the interior of the gallery, and Neely was facing me, his back to Cole.
“We can keep the food and drink around the edge of the room,” I said. “That should help traffic flow.”
“Whatever you want,” he said easily—and quickly. Too quick, actually, because it had only been twenty seconds. He was about to turn around, and if he did, he’d see Cole with his hand inside the supposedly locked case, and then we would all be screwed.
Tyler met my eyes, and in that split second, I knew that it was all on me—and even though I had no conscious thought about how to get us the hell out of this mess, I was still in motion. I took a step forward, pretended to trip, and grabbed hold of Neely’s arm as I went down to the ground, losing my shoe in the process and scraping my knee on the rough wooden floor.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, as he stopped his turn and immediately bent down to fuss over me. “The heels on these shoes, they’re—”
“Not at all,” he said. “Don’t apologize, please. Are you okay?” His back was to Cole again, and I winced a little, keeping his attention on me even though more than thirty seconds had passed, but from my on-the-floor vantage point, I could no longer see what was going on.
Then Cole and Tyler were behind Neely, and Neely was helping me up, and Cole and Tyler were asking if I was okay, and everyone was heading out of the gallery, with me and Cole and Tyler thanking Neely for his time, and Neely apologizing profusely and promising to make sure that the floors weren’t waxed the night of the gala so as to make it easier for women to navigate in heels.
“Oh my god,” I said when we returned to the van. I threw myself into Evan’s arms. “Holy shit, holy fuck, oh my god.”
I was about to start the rant all over again when Evan soundly and firmly closed his mouth over mine.
The kiss was long and deep and if he was trying to calm me, he missed the mark entirely. “That was insane,” I said.
“You did great,” Evan said.
“Seriously,” Cole said. “You saved my ass.”
“Well, it’s an ass worth saving,” I said, and Tyler laughed.
“I’m so wired,” I said, feeling jumpy and bouncy and certain I would explode if I couldn’t do something to release all this nervous energy. “This is crazy,” I said. “It’s like I’m hopped up on gallons of caffeine. Is it always such a high, or is this extra kick from our close call?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Evan said. “Because this is the last time you’re doing anything like this.”
I laughed aloud. “True enough,” I said. “I don’t need to steal ancient notebooks to feel this way.” I grabbed his collar and pulled him close. “I have you for that.”
“Oh, hell,” Tyler said. “They’re at it again. Just shoot me now.”
Evan flipped him the bird, then caught me in a long, slow kiss that illustrated my point. Yeah, I thought. Who needed larceny when I had this man?
“Do we want to grab some lunch?” Tyler asked, and I wanted to scream in frustration and disbelief. I mean, honestly, how could he be so calm?
“Sure,” Cole said.
“No,” I said. I turned and stared Evan down. “And you don’t either.”
“Apparently I have a prior engagement,” Evan said, his voice filled with humor.
I saw Cole and Tyler’s knowing smirks and I really didn’t care. I intended to jump Evan Black the moment we were out of this van—and I really didn’t care who knew it.
“You’re sure you don’t want lunch,” Evan said as soon as we were alone on his boat. “I think I have a frozen pizza I could heat up.”
“Don’t you even tease me,” I said. “I don’t want pizza. I don’t want food. I just want you. Right here. Right now.”