Page 2 of The Twilight Theft

“I’m in the bathroom. Hit the alarm.” I pulled on a simple pair of headphones from around my neck and turned to the sink. A quick spray from my bottle and I started wiping the vanity. If the alarm didn’t come fast enough, I’d look like a distracted cleaner.

Plan F was a solid one, but it hadn’t accounted for Drew. He was a bigger variable than expected.

“Brace yourself,” said Brie over the earpiece, and the piercing cry of the fire alarm began.

“Tell me when I’m clear.”

A firm hand landed on my arm.

Showtime.

The man behind me said, “Don’t even pretend you’re—”

“What are you doing?” I squealed, spinning to face him while tearing the headphones off. I might have been loud enough for Gideon to hear over the alarm. The corner of my mouth refused to stay down as I lowered my volume. “Well, if it isn’t Drew Down-ovan.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. His annoyingly sexy jaw with the short light-brown beard. The kind of beard that made you want to rake your fingers through it—if it weren’t attached to such a sour, miserable face. Let alone the way it was paired up with his equally annoying, gravelly, low voice. “Donovan.”

Yeah, a voice that settled deep in my stomach. “Right, I keep forgetting.”

“Emmett needs to find a better lookout spot next time.” His rich brown eyes bored into me and he leaned close. So close I got a hit off his cologne. Just as irritating as the rest of him, the heady scent of sandalwood and leather. His hot breath brushed over my ear that sported the earpiece. “And Brie, if you’re listening in—turn off the fire alarm.”

“Jayce?” Brie asked. “You good?”

I slid my hands up his chest—brushing over his lapels that hid rock-solid pecs—and eased him away from me.Phone in your inside breast pocket, Drew?You’re going to make this too easy. “But Downie—”

“Donovan,” he growled.

There was a knock at the door, and a man’s voice said above the din, “We should get outside.”

“One minute,” called Drew, not taking his eyes off mine. “Tell her to turn it off.”

“If we do that, I’ll lose my fire alarm cover and have to sneak out the window before Gideon catches me.”

“We’re on the fifth floor.” He straightened, folding his arms over his ridiculously broad chest. Intimidation pose?Seriously, Drew?“You are not about to scale the building.”

The answer was always to scale things. Climb them or go over them. Walking in a straight line was too predictable. I leaned toward the window and pointed upward. “Five floors down, but only two up. Child’s play.”

The loud wail stopped, and Drew nearly cracked a smile.

Brie said, “I’ll turn it back on if you need it.”

“Now what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Does it matter? Anyone Washington’s best fixer—”

“Crisis manager.”

“—meets with must have secrets someone wants.” I moved into his space, tilting my head back to look up at him. I was only six inches shorter, and he wasn’t about to scare me off. “Is Gideon Tremaine a proud papa of a kleptomaniac?”

Another jaw clench. Had I hit a nerve by bringing up our last job? The one he completely botched? “Is that why you’re here? Are you after his son?”

“As much as I’d love to hang out and chat…” I clapped his upper arms, making a show of sucking in a tiny breath at how solid his biceps were. “I really need to get going.”

He grabbed one of my wrists, removing it from his arm. “Did you take anything?”

“Me?” I batted my eyelashes at him, clasping his wrist with my free hand.Nice watch. “I didn’t take anything.”

“Intel only?”

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