17. Emmett

Chapter 17

Emmett

The shower door closed inside the bathroom. Jenn would be in the shower for at least a half hour, if her morning routine was any indication. Considering how she’d sagged against me when we came in, she’d likely head straight to sleep afterward.

Plenty of time for the op. I retrieved my earpiece and headed for the living area. The team was already in progress.

Jayce and Drew had skipped out early from dinner to follow Jenn and Dante from the restaurant. I’d refused to believe she’d go to his place after—she had a boyfriend at home, and Scarlett insisted that meant something to Jenn.

Then again, Dante had escorted her to the hotel. He’d held her hand and kissed her cheek, when it had only been air kisses yesterday. He’d planned on coming upstairs with her. Fucking slimy Fenix asshole.

And she was eating it up. Maybe she wasn’t as loyal or as good as I’d thought she was.

Even still, she wouldn’t have brought him upstairs, because I might have been here. If not, she would have had to explain the two-bedroom suite. No, she wasn’t planning on bedding him tonight, but just in case, my team had followed them.

I’d been waiting for her arrival to save her from herself.

Jayce and Drew had headed to the gallery after confirming I had Jenn. They were a fantastic team, who almost didn’t become a thing because they’d been too stubborn to realize they were perfect together.

A smile tugged at my mouth. It had taken a lot of work to convince them they were getting in the way of their happiness, but I was a damn fine matchmaker.

I popped the earpiece in, and video feeds fired up on my screens.

“You finally ready, Emmett?” came Scarlett’s voice from HQ. That was unexpected. Monaco was my job, not hers. We needed Brie’s tech skills tonight, but the plan was for Scarlett to sit out. Not surprisingly, my older sister had never been happy on the sidelines.

“I am.” I sat at the table in the living area, where I had more space for my laptop and external screen than in my room. “Everyone in place?”

“Yes,” said Rav, who was broadcasting a video feed from the park catercorner to the gallery.

“No,” came Jayce’s voice in my ear. “You said the truck wasn’t supposed to arrive until midnight, but it’s here now.”

“What?” I was sure Enzo’s guy said midnight.

“That’s why I’ve been trying to reach you.” Scarlett’s voice was calm, but she was using her commanding tone that may as well have been a lecture. Although it explained why my phone had buzzed three times—that was the emergency signal.

“Could be a different truck, if they’re an hour and a half early.” I watched Jayce’s feed, which showed three men loading items from the gallery into the truck. The feed wasn’t clear enough to recognize the men’s faces. “Anyone we know working the truck?”

“No one,” said Jayce.

That eliminated Enzo and Noah, at least. They were the only ones I was worried would come after us. It also meant neither Massimo nor Dante was there. Those two were the money, so they wouldn’t likely dirty their hands with something as tedious as loading boxes.

Dante could certainly manipulate Jenn, though. Maybe I’d have to play the big brother and scare him off instead of scaring her off. I didn’t need to schmooze him anymore since he wouldn’t confess to his father having the scarab.

“—after they’re gone.” Scarlett’s voice snapped me out of my head.

I’d missed something. How much?

Fuck. This is why she’s on the comms. I was ten minutes late, and my sister was covering my ass.

The guys on the video lifted a long crate into the back of the truck—the right size and shape to house a three-by-four-foot painting. Minutes ticked by as they left the truck, returned to the building, and came out with more.

Had they already packed the scarab? It was small enough to have been in a pocket.

My team was patient. They’d go in after the truck left. Or would they? Is that what Scarlett had been talking about? Dante could have removed the scarab when he finished work, planning to drop it off with the auction coordinator. The team had monitored them from the moment they left the gallery, and they’d walked straight to the restaurant, so he hadn’t detoured to Le Rocher.

Unless someone met him at the gallery?

Or he went to the Casino after he dropped Jenn off.

After he’d kissed her. Twice.

C’mon, Em, it was only the cheek. That’s normal.

It wasn’t fucking normal. The way he’d taken her hand and rubbed the statue’s knee. How he’d held her. Touched her face at the restaurant.

“We missed it, didn’t we?” I muttered.

“Missed what?” Jenn’s voice had me practically jumping out of my seat.

Rav grunted over the earpiece, meaning he agreed with me, while Jayce sounded optimistic about breaking in to explore, anyway.

Jenn was barefoot, dressed in a long, plush hotel bathrobe, with her hair in a towel. She’d only been in the shower for twenty minutes, tops. Rogue water droplets clung to the side of her neck, one daring to roll down her collarbone, vanishing underneath the robe’s fabric.

Lucky fucking water.

Unbidden, an image flashed through my brain of following the path of that water droplet, and the one following it. With my thumb, then my mouth. Undoing the thick tie at her waist and peeling the robe back slowly. So slowly.

My cock twitched.

“Is that Enzo?” whispered Jayce over the comms.

My gut clenched, and the budding fantasy vanished.

I angled my laptop, so Jenn couldn’t see the video feed. “It’s just work stuff.”

Scarlett asked over the earpiece, “What’s she doing in your room?”

When Rav stayed with me, we both set up in the living area of our hotel suite. If I were trying to hide what I was doing from Jenn—which I should have been—I would have been in my bedroom, behind a locked door.

Now I was facing a bigger question: How did I answer Scarlett without making Jenn suspicious?

“How was the shower?” Shit. I shouldn’t have said that.

In one ear, my sister asked, her voice thick with accusation, “Shower?”

All of my senses absorbed Jenn’s movement toward the balcony door. The scent of her perfume, airy and citrusy, with a hint of jasmine underneath. The light padding of her feet on the hardwood floor, silenced when she stepped onto the thick rug under the sofas. The sway of her hips as she dodged between the coffee table and a sofa.

What would her freshly washed skin feel like? What would every inch of her taste like?

Fuck, man. What’s going on? Why was I suddenly so aware of her?

She bent her head back, letting the towel fall into her hands, then dropped it onto the nearest sofa. “I love that shower.”

“Emmett, tell me she is not in your bedroom after having a fucking shower.” Scarlett’s voice was distant. Not really, but I was doing my best to tune her out. Everyone on the team learned quickly how to distinguish between the conversations in your ear that were meant for you and all the noise in everyone else’s background.

That’s where I was putting Scarlett—in the background. And that was a mistake. I had a job to do that didn’t include eyeing up the woman I’d sworn to protect.

“The view from the sitting room is beautiful, isn’t it?” There. I answered Jenn, while providing the information Scarlett needed. And responding to Jayce, I added, “When Jayce was here after we arrived, she thought she saw someone from the balcony that she knew, but she was mistaken.”

Jenn ran her fingers through her wet hair and turned to face me. “What a strange coincidence.”

I shrugged.

Over the line, Jayce said, “You’re right. This guy isn’t ugly enough.”

Drew asked, “Enzo’s supposed to be here for the truck, right? Was anyone else coming? Did Dante say anything to Jenn?”

I grimaced deep inside. Back to using Jenn for intel. “What was Dante up to this evening?”

Jenn blinked at me a few times, framed by the faint light from the hotel’s exterior. She looked like an angel, albeit a confused one.

“Did he mention any plans? I was surprised he brought you back so early.”

Her shoulders fell, and she returned to the sofa. Sitting down lightly, she said, “Sleep. His father’s working him hard while they’re here.”

Oh, the sacrifices they must be making for their dear Fenix. “He’s doing the same to you. Working until eight, then keeping you out all night at a working dinner? You should get some sleep.”

“I’m kinda wired.” She eased back on the sofa, propping one foot on the coffee table. The robe rose with her leg and slipped, revealing far too much skin. Toned muscle all the way to her upper thigh.

Avert your eyes, Em. She’s taken. Although she didn’t seem to mind Dante’s interest.

“I’m still not adjusted to the time zone.” She yawned, stretching her arms behind herself and bowing her back as though she were working out her muscles. “And my back’s killing me. Too many hours at the worktable.”

Was that true, or was it an excuse? Had the break-in rattled her more than she’d let on, and was she afraid to go to sleep? The way she worried her bottom lip and lowered her eyes—she was uneasy. How could I fix her mood while the team prepared their own break-in?

If she were any other woman, I would have offered to massage her back. Encouraged her out of that robe. Found something in my toiletry bag to pass for massage oil.

Or skip the oil and the pretense.

“I have sleeping pills. Would that help?” Not that I’d use them while she was staying with me.

“No thanks. Can we talk instead?” She settled back, grabbing a cream-colored throw pillow from the end of the sofa, which she hugged to her chest. “Dante said some things this evening that got me thinking…”

“Truck’s packing up,” said Jayce.

My gaze flicked to the video feed on my monitor, then back to Jenn. Sure enough, the men closed and locked the gallery’s back door. The next stop would be Massimo’s yacht or the auction site.

Jenn looked up at the intricate chandelier over the table. “If Wheatfield turns out to be a fake, what do I do?”

“Call the authorities?” Which wouldn’t do anything unless the police acted before the painting went to the auction.

“That was my original plan.” She looked out the window into the darkness.

“Truck’s leaving,” said Jayce. “What’s your call, Em?”

If I’d been paying attention earlier, I might have been able to answer her. Scarlett had likely given some options. The original plan was to use the jammer to take down their cameras. After that, Jayce and Drew would bypass their security system. With the truck potentially whisking the scarab away, following it would have been options two and three.

“Look for the money, then follow it,” I said.

“Good call,” said Scarlett over my earpiece. “Jayce, plant a tracker on the truck, then head into the gallery.”

“Exactly.” Jenn sighed. “If they knew the painting was a fake, why pay a stranger to clean it? They couldn’t have vetted me that closely. If I discovered the truth, I could be shady and extort money from them or immediately call the police. Why take that risk? I doubt they know.”

“Or that’s why Dante’s attempting to distract you.”

“What?” snapped Scarlett, no doubt at me. After she’d warned me not to touch Jenn, Jenn had gone off and found someone else to test her loyalty.

“Distracting me?” Her brow furrowed. “You think that’s all he’s doing?”

“I don’t trust him. I know people, Jenn, and he’s got an agenda.”

“He’s a good man. Surprisingly honest.”

“Tracker’s in place,” said Jayce.

Thanks for the reminder. I had to sneak one into Jenn’s purse before she left in the morning, until Will brought me something more reliable to always be on her. “People don’t become as wealthy as the De Rosas without more than a few skeletons in their closets, not to mention a string of broken hearts behind them.”

She let out a quiet laugh, as though my words had hurt. “Something you know a lot about, right?”

I had more skeletons than she could understand.

“Watch yourself, Em,” said Scarlett. Yet again, my sister didn’t trust me to make wise choices. At work, she trusted me implicitly. But in the real world?

“I’m sorry.” Jenn stood abruptly, dropping the pillow and letting the robe’s hem fall so it covered her again. “I’m interrupting your work. I should leave.”

Drew and Jayce bickered in my earpiece about her lingering too close to the truck. She’d seen the lock on the back and wanted to sneak inside while it was moving. Drew called her reckless and the rest of the team got involved.

Jenn hadn’t made a move to her room yet.

I tapped a button on my keyboard, breaking rule number one: Never turn off your earpiece. Although that mostly applied to people in the field who were in danger. I was supposed to lead the crew, so I had more latitude, but Scarlett could coordinate them. Brie was on the line with her, so they’d be fine without me for a few minutes.

“Yes, I have work to do.” I rose from my chair, pinning her in place with my eyes. “But if I couldn’t handle the interruption, I would have locked myself in my room.”

“You promised to leave your door open.”

“I did.” I started walking toward her. “More importantly, I need you to understand what’s going on here.”

Her lips tightened. What was going through her head? She’d come out in a playful, teasing mood, and now she seemed on the brink of tears. Or of yelling at me.

“We suspect they asked you to clean a forgery.” I stopped so close to her that she had to tilt her head back. “We also suspect they have the scarab we’re looking for.”

“Suspect? You didn’t ask Jean-Philippe?”

“I did. He told me they’d already sold it, but it was a lie.” At least I could thank Enzo for that tidbit. “They’re sending it to the auction, too.”

“I don’t understand.” She scrunched her nose. “If they have it and you want to buy it, why lie? Why not just sell it to you? Or what if he was telling the truth and the new owner?—”

“It’s worth millions. They believe I’m an antiquities broker who’ll do his due diligence before buying such an expensive piece.” Mental note: The scarab wasn’t in the inventory because it was a stolen piece. Instead of comparing their inventory against stolen art databases, I’d need Jayce to take photos of the storage area and compare those to the databases. “If they can list it at an underground auction, with some level of anonymity, they wouldn’t be attached to its original theft.”

“Underground?” Her eyes widened slightly, and she shook her head. “Dante wouldn’t…”

She was so na?ve.

I dealt with people like Dante and Massimo all the time. Thieves and criminals who thought the world owed them something. Thought their money and their polished exteriors put them above everyone else.

That’s why my team existed. We reminded them that all their money didn’t keep them safe from the truth.

Money and the truth. My stomach twisted in a knot.

How much did the Russians pay you, Dad?

That information hadn’t been in any report from his brief trial. My mother must have known—she was too smart to have missed the signs. Still, an investigation into a CSIS officer selling secrets must have included his wife, let alone everyone he knew. They must have gone after Mum, although she shielded us at the time. We were too young.

She never told us the details.

Discovering she was with MI6 once upon a time, though? Of course, she knew how to keep secrets. Had she been in on Dad’s crimes? Did he know she was an intelligence officer, too?

Whatever the truth was behind my parents, Mum made her own version of lemonade from those lemons. She rebuilt her entire life after they locked him up. Now she ran a company that helped the victims of charlatans and thieves like her husband.

I took Jenn by the shoulders. Her perfume filled my senses, and it was all I could do not to breathe her in. Imprint the moment on my brain.

Fuck, she was beautiful. Her hair was drying, and she didn’t wear a stitch of makeup. It was just her, plus her intoxicating scent.

“Promise me you’ll be careful. Don’t let him sweet-talk you into anything. Men like him are dangerous.”

She moistened her lips, and I almost lost it. But she nodded and whispered, “I need to get into bed.”

I pulled her closer, wrapping her up in my arms. The tension in her shoulders evaporated, and she sank against me the same way she had when we first came in. If the team hadn’t been waiting for me, I could have stayed in that moment forever.

But my team was waiting. Prepping for another crime.

I’d last visited my father in September. Next month, Mum would force us all there for our annual visit. Every year, he asked if I’d met anyone special. And every year, I avoided the question.

A one-night stand didn’t care who my father was. They didn’t have time to learn my secrets. And they definitely weren’t around long enough for me to start crafting lies about my career.

You’re no different from your father.

I squeezed Jenn closer, then released her. This cozy sweetness was better than I deserved. “Get some sleep. I’m sure your back needs the rest.”

She gave me a weak smile. “Don’t stay up too late.”

My hand found its way to her cheek, against my brain’s orders. “Will you have time for breakfast on the balcony tomorrow morning?”

“You said you were sleeping in.”

I barely shrugged, unable to let her go. “I don’t sleep very much.”

She touched my hand, holding it against her face, and her eyes fluttered closed. “Breakfast would be nice.”

So beautiful. My thumb swept across her cheek, which grew redder the longer we stood there. My cock twitched again, reminding me it hadn’t gotten its way in four months.

That was my cue.

I pulled my hand back and headed for the table. “I’ll let you know before I call room service, so you can put in your order.”

“Thanks.” She padded out of the room as I sat.

I waited for her door to click closed before turning my earpiece back on. “Sorry, folks.”

In full command mode, Scarlett said, “We’re going to have a chat when you get home.”

“More than one, no doubt.” Don’t piss her off too much . “Rav, I’m going to toss a tracker into Jenn’s bag in the morning. I won’t be able to stick around the gallery again, so I’d like you to stay close to her. Keep an eye out.”

Rav was tireless. The military trained him to function on little sleep, so asking him to forgo a night wasn’t unusual. “Text me when she leaves.”

“What’s going on?” asked Scarlett.

“I’m not sure yet.” I wasn’t overreacting. It wasn’t jealousy, despite what Rav said at dinner. It wasn’t even just Dante. Something wasn’t adding up.

Jenn was right about them hiring her. They’d given her their own conservator’s notes about the painting, which had turned out to be wrong. If they’d known it was a fake, why give her the notes? Why not have her figure out the right steps for the cleaning on her own? That would have avoided questions.

There was something else going on, but what?

“Jammer’s engaged,” said Drew.

A graph on my screen dipped, showing we’d disrupted the Wi-Fi signal at the De Rosa Gallery, taking their security feed down with it.

Time for me to sit back, monitor the team, and hope Jayce found what we were looking for.

The sooner we finished, the sooner we could get everyone out of Monaco.

Including Jenn.