Page 31 of The Love Bandits

JAKE

One second she’s walking away from me, the next she practically flings herself at me.

Fuck me.

This woman is a menace.

A sexy menace. A hellcat.

But I’m not about to listen to the appreciative voice in my head—my dumb impulses are what got me here to begin with.

If I hadn’t gotten loaded and brought Chloe—Cleohome, then she wouldn’t have seen the necklace. If she hadn’t seen the necklace, she wouldn’t have hired someone to steal it. If she hadn’t called up Elaine and asked to be part of her sour grapes project, then I wouldn’t be in this fix.

I don’t even know why I’m so intent on getting the real replica back. She knows about it now, so I couldn’t leave it in the display case even if I had it. And all the lies that have spilled out of me over the last five minutes have given Jake Jeffries an even shorter shelf life. How long will it be before she tells someone else about the replica necklace?

All it would take is a word to Anthony…

Then there’s another consideration: when the necklace disappears now, Elaine will know exactly who took it. Noamount of playing with baby goats is going to make me above suspicion.

This needs to end tonight. You need to scrub Jake Jeffries from existence and lie low for a while. Ryan too, once he’s released.

Everything in me is focused on that goal. Well, almost everything…

Because I still notice Elaine, huddled up next to me, her soft arm brushing mine as she uses the bushes for concealment, her eyes bright as she watches for whoever might be beyond them—catching the patches of color and making a person out of them.

Hellcat, my mind repeats.

Shameless about it too. She knows I know she’s spying, yet it’s not stopping her.

A voice speaks up, announcing that one of the flashes of white beyond the bushes is Nina. “This wasn’t part of our agreement,” she says, sounding pissed. It’s nothing like the saccharine sweet voice she used earlier. This, I’m guessing, is the real Nina.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Anthony asks, identifying himself as the other blur.

Both of them pause a few feet beyond us, on the other side of that wall of green. I feel Elaine’s skin against me—soft, hot—I hear her breathing hitch. I’m guessing she’s excited to be listening in. From what I’ve gathered, she enjoys being naughty—pretending to be someone she’s not, listening in on people who don’t know she’s there. Taking things that aren’t hers, so long as she thinks she’s doing it for justice. Getting pinned to walls…

My dick enjoys the thought.

“Areyou?” Nina presses.

There’s a thirty second pause, which is probably longer than a man in love would wait. Then he says, “Of course not.” He swears under his breath and takes her hand—or at least that’show I interpret the glimpses I get between the leaves. “Of course not. Let’s get everyone inside so we can get this fucking nightmare over with. But I’m telling you right now, I’m flipping a few breakers before the slideshow. Give us an early night. No way do I want to pretend to reminisce over my childhood.”

My heart starts racing, and I fight the urge to grin.

This is a lucky break. Beyond lucky. Not lucky enough to erase the whole mess with Elaine, but success is the only thing that matters.

If Anthony shuts the electricity off, then I won’t have to assume the risk of doing it myself. I just have to be ready to react when it happens—to take the necklace and get out, and then go scorched earth on my Jake Jeffries identity.

Nina laughs and then says, “I asked for this ridiculous engagement party foryou, you know. It’s important for you to be seen as the heir to this estate. You can’t let your mother run the show forever. That’s why we need to have the wedding here too.”

“Sure, yeah,” Anthony says. “I know. My friend Jake’s going to talk to her.”

“You expect him to resolve this? You’ve only known him for three weeks.”

“He’s a good guy,” he replies, defensive.

“We’ll see about that.”

If I were really his buddy, I’d tell him to run.

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