Page 70 of The Twilight Theft

“Subject matter expert, remember?” I let go of his hand, not needing to be in that level of contact anymore, and frankly not wanting to be.

He’d been so handsy since Blondie revealed his dirty little secret.Feeling guilty, Drew?Was I really nothing more than someone to jump into bed with, so he could move to another woman the next day?

Or was I just conveniently there Thursday?

And then he’d kissed me again. Right on the temple like an intimate moment between two lovers.What the hell, Drew?

I snagged a piece of nigiri sushi from a server as she walked by. If I wasn’t carrying the little clutch, I would have been double-fisting.

Drew gestured toward the far end of the restaurant, where tall stools were available at the bar. “You need to sit down.”

Sitting was the last thing I needed. “This job is driving me batty. All this standing around and watching and waiting. I should be doing something. Accomplishing something.”

Drew kept pace with me, an easy feat with his long legs. He leaned close to whisper, “You’re keeping an eye out for the thief. That’s accomplishing a lot.”

“No, that’s what Scarlett and Malcolm are doing right now. I’m wandering around pretending to be a clumsy woman who almost knocked over a ten-foot sculpture.”

“So we should sit down.”

“I need to move.”

“Do you want to look over the auction items?”

A long table stretched through this end of the restaurant. Covered in a white tablecloth, a couple dozen smaller pieces of art sat atop it. Next to each, a small sign proclaimed the title, medium, and artist. Underneath, each card had a QR code for the auction. Bids were entered by scanning the code and punching in a value that exceeded the current one. I hadn’t installed the app, so couldn’t even guess at the going prices.

Probably more than my car, every one of them.

“You know, Drew…” I swiped a glass of champagne from the ridiculous skirt of one of the servers. “Your body language suggests you’re listening to me, and yet your words make it obvious you aren’t.”

“You need to keep a clear head.” He took the glass from me. “There are only so many options available to you at an event like this. You can socialize, which includes standing still during a conversation. You can browse the auction items, which requires moving slowly.”

“We could do a pass of the lower and upper floors. Make sure the security guys didn’t miss anything.”

Drew took one long step and stopped in front of me. “Ask Rav if he thinks his guy who did the preliminary survey missed anything.”

Over my earpiece, Rav grunted. That meant Drew was right.

“And then ask Brie if she’s noticed anyone going into the areas they’re not supposed to.”

“He’s not wrong,” said Brie. “We’re watching all the comings and goings and no one has left the boundaries we set. I’d have alarms going off here if they did.”

Drew had only worked with my team twice. And somehow he knew exactly how long to wait for each of my team members to not only recognize he was talking about them, but to respond.

I folded my arms.

“And we’re not debating how well Scarlett and Malcolm are handling the banquet room, or that Emmett and Zaria will be in there next. That was your team’s plan. And we’re going through with it.”

Beyond the auction tables, the long bar with at least twenty seats sat off to the right. To the left, where there had been tables the first time we came in, there was the dance floor and the raised platform where the five-man band played. Dressed in burgundy tuxedos, they’d been playing an eclectic mix of oldies, smooth jazz, with a few R&B standards.

Drew placed the champagne flute he’d stolen from me on an auction table nearby. “The only option if you want to move is—”

I held my hands out to stop him. “Don’t even go there.”

The corner of his irritatingly sexy mouth quirked up. He held out a hand and bowed slightly. “May I have the honor of this dance?”

“I don’t dance.” Literally. I’d missed out on every high school dance because I’d been too busy training. Tanner and I had never done something like that, because we were... too busy training. In my dark days after the accident, I hadn’t gotten into relationships where we went out to clubs together, let alone any sort of couples dancing.

And since then?

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