Page 39 of The Twilight Theft

“I’m in town on business. It was spur of the moment. I have a lot of meetings.”

“How much time do you have before you have to go?” Marie placed some shopping bags on the floor and joined us in the living room. “My next appointment’s not for a couple of hours, and I’d love to hear some of Tanner’s stories from someone else’s perspective. You were there when he kissed the Blarney Stone, right?”

I snorted at the memory. Before a competition in Dublin, when we were fifteen, our team had taken a bus to Cork. Normal people lay down and leaned backward, holding onto the railings while someone else held their bodies. Tanner? He’d decided a handstand was more appropriate and gave everyone a heart attack when one of his hands slipped. “I can stay for a bit, I guess?”

I just had to text Scarlett—no, I’d text Emmett and tell him I’d be a few minutes late. He’d understand. He’d encouraged me to come here.

And it would only be a few minutes.

Chapter 16

Drew

IslicedtheManchegocheese into wedges and placed it on the charcuterie board, between the prosciutto and the grapes. I popped a piece into my mouth, savoring its tangy nuttiness with its undercurrent of earthiness. It was the perfect cheese for the spread. I moved on to cutting bread into thin pieces and added them to the board as I went.

It was two o’clock, and the Reynolds team was heading up in the elevator.

I’d prepped the review materials on the dining room table. A blown-up floor plan of the banquet room, showing the four Xs on the floor, plus additional printouts of the information Liana’s assistant had finally sent me. It had taken two requests yesterday and another this morning, but I had the details on the other three items that would be in the VIP showcase. Still no more intel on Liana’s sculpture other than that it was over twenty-five pounds.

I pulled down the sleeves on my black Henley once I’d finished working with the food. No, Vanessa always said it looked better with the sleeves up. And rolling up my sleeves yesterday had exploded Jayce’s pupils. She’d liked it.

Not that she was my focus for this afternoon. I washed all that stress down the shower drain. This was all courtesy. Hospitality.

And it wasn’t as though I’d debated between four different aprons to wear. Vanessa had gifted me one each of our Christmases together—one withKiss the Chefwritten on it from our first Christmas,Mr. Good Lookin’ is Cookin’from our second, and another with the image of a bare-chested barbecuing man on our third. The last one should have gone in the garbage. It was a passive-aggressive suggestion that she wanted a house with a back deck and a barbeque instead of an apartment. She’d made it sound like it was a joke about having her man barefoot and shirtless in the kitchen, another red flag I—yet again—completely missed.

I’d chosen the simple black one. The one I’d bought for myself because it was professional. The boring one, as Vanessa called it.

There was a knock at the door. I put down the knife and made my way out of the kitchen, through the dining room, and passed into the entryway. A quick check through the peephole and I opened the door.

“Scarlett. Emmett.” I looked past them, down the hall. “Just the two of you?”

Scarlett wore a long white wrap dress, carrying a bag like the one I’d thrown out with Vanessa. On the outside, there was a great deal of similarity between the two women. On the inside as well, except Scarlett used her powers for good, while Vanessa was a snake. “Malcolm found something disturbing in the background of one of the security men, so he and Rav are collecting more information before removing him from the team.”

“And Jayce?”

Scarlett made no reaction, but a minor twitch of Emmett’s right eye gave them away. Something wasn’t right.

“She’s running behind. She’ll join us when she can,” said Emmett. As they entered, he added, “Nice place.”

“I was preparing some food. I assumed Jayce wouldn’t be able to focus without a full sideboard.” I led them to the dining room and the documents I’d printed out. “If you’ll excuse me?”

The Reynolds siblings moved the chairs out of the way. Scarlett placed her bag on one of them, and they both leaned over the table.

I finished with the bread, added it to the end of the board, and stood back. Three cheeses, three meats, three starches, three fruits. Everything was balanced aesthetically. Beautiful.

“Where is she?” Scarlett’s voice was the faintest whisper, not for my ears. If she didn’t know, Emmett’s easy reply at the door had been a cover.

He whispered back, “She texted me earlier she was going to visit Tanner.”

“Tanner? That’s good, but she’s supposed to be here.”

I froze, the voices far more interesting than what I was doing. Was it the same Tanner she got into the car accident with? Was I making a fool of myself preparing food and wearing this stupid Henley and apron when she already had a side piece? Or a boyfriend?

If Jayce were normal, she wouldn’t have been flirting with me at Gideon’s if she were in a relationship. Although no one in our line of business was particularly normal. Besides, my last girlfriend had made no bones about the fact she was sleeping around on me.

I moved the knife, making enough noise to seem as though I were oblivious to their discussion.

“Between you and me,” continued Emmett, “I think she’s avoiding Drew. I’m not so sure they can work together.”

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