Page 24 of The Twilight Theft

I hated Washington.

“Did she get hurt?” he asked, pulling me out of my moment.

I popped open the center console and grabbed another piece of gum. “Not even a bottle of water?”

“We’re almost there. The parking garage is close to the restaurant where the event’s being held, but we can make a quick detour into the coffee shop in the building complex.”

“That’s more like it!” I swatted his chest—his rock-hard, broad chest—I had to stop doing that—and stowed the gum away again.

He glanced down at where I’d hit him and frowned. How often did he work out? His suit jacket hid the details, but it wasn’t disguising arms as thick as Rav’s. Was he lean underneath all that? Or was he chiseled?

And why was I thinking about this?

Why did such a ridiculously sexy man have to be such a downer?

The better question was: Why did I care? Not like anything would ever happen between us.

Or that I everwantedsomething to.

My phone buzzed in my lap, and I pulled it out of my small crossbody bag. It was a text from Scarlett.

“Interesting,” said Drew.

I immediately tilted the phone away from him so he couldn’t see it. Not that he could have, because our gadget guy had designed the surface of our custom Reynolds phones so you could only see them head-on. “What’s interesting?”

“Did Will design that?”

“Design what?” Of course he had. Will built everything for us. And with Brie’s programming to back him up, we had the best tech available.

He slowed with the traffic as we passed into a more commercial area. “We have screen protectors on our work phones, but they’re nowhere near that effective.”

I knew that. I’d turned his phone on a few times after I’d taken it. Not sure why, since my goal wasn’t to hack it. The lock screen image was—like Drew—boring. Standard, out-of-the-box view of the planet. No widgets, no personal photos, no schedule. Just a globe, a clock, and the date.

“Will’s designs are the best.” With the phone tilted, I checked the message.

Scarlett had sent:Trojan failed. See if you can get close to G’s phone.Don’t take it, just stand near it.

Great. “Do you think Gideon will recognize me?”

Drew shook his head. “I took his attention off you while you made your escape.”

My first instinct was to snark at him about our altercation in the bathroom, but he’d made me a promise and kept it. Part of me had trusted he’d follow through. “His assistant might, though.”

“The man who works in the office wouldn’t be with him. He stays at the desk.” Drew made a turn onto a narrow street with two single lanes, so tight oncoming traffic would have to crawl past to be certain they didn’t collide. “He may have one of his other assistants there or possibly a team to discuss the event, but no one who’d normally be at his office.”

I texted Scarlett back:I’ll do my best.

“And I don’t need to worry about you stealing anything from him?”

Note to self: Don’t let him see you getting close to Gideon’s phone.“Only if they’re displaying something on our list of stolen items.”

Chapter 10

Jayce

Ibitintothecroissant, its buttery, flaky layers practically melting on my tongue. “So. Good.”

“You can make it through the meeting?”

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