Page 69 of Canvas of Lies
You can’t fight fair with someone who has no sense of fairness.
Those words, spoken so long ago by the same man they applied to now, bounced around inside my head like a ping pong ball. By this time tomorrow, our part would be done, and all we’d have left to do was wait. After years of heartache and regret, the course of fate would be well and truly set.
I worried about that future as I brushed my teeth, undressed, and slipped into bed to wait for Nico. It was no fairy tale ending, but we’d never really had a fairy tale beginning, had we? As much as he’d joked about my role of princess in The Castle as children, we both knew that life in the little cottage he and his father shared had been far more idyllic than my own.
A short while later, Nico settled himself behind me, drawing my weary body back against his chest.
“I love you, Kitten,” he whispered against my shoulder blade.
Though I was barely awake, I snuggled into his embrace and twined my fingers with his before drawing his hand from my hip to clasp it between my breasts.
“I love you, Nico,” I murmured.
Within minutes, his comforting warmth washed away the anxiety that had blossomed inside my chest throughout the evening. Like every other hurdle we’d come across in our own separate lives, we would vault our way over this one and move forward.
Together, this time.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nico
Accordingtomyintel,Willoughby’s appointment with Lavigne’s appraiser was scheduled to take place just after noon the next day. Gumby had been assigned to surveillance duty on the street outside the tidy brick office of Perkins-Hallihan, while Kat and I remained at my apartment with an arc of a dozen different packaging options spread before us. All we had to do was wait for word from Gumby about how the painting was packed for shipment.
As soon as it was confirmed, we’d package the velvet Elvis in the closest option we had, deliver him to Erin, and fade back into the woodwork so I could work my magic with the tracking numbers.
I was well aware that the inaction put Kat on edge. None of her numerous skills really correlated with any part of thisparticular plan of attack, unfortunately, and I knew her patience with herself was wearing thin.
While we waited, I cupped the back of her neck and massaged gently. Even without her actively complaining, she’d never been one for sitting around, always buzzing with energy, ready to throw herself into the fray. These past few weeks had been tough for her, probably even more than they’d been for me.
As I checked again for a text from Gumby, I fantasized about taking Kat on an actual vacation—not a research trip or a hideaway, but a proper romantic adventure.
“Heart-shaped jacuzzi tubs, cheesy or enticing?” I asked as my thumb eased a knot of tension from her neck.
With a startled laugh, she tipped her head from side to side as she considered it. “Room for two?”
“Of course. Maybe some bubble bath, champagne. Plush robes, room service.”
“Enticing,” she said firmly. “Very enticing. Making some big plans, Romeo?”
I grinned. “I’m dreaming of a weekend getaway that doesn’t involve kidnapping or attempted murder, that’s all. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
Kat leaned into my hand, but before she could do more than smile in response, my phone vibrated. All her tension returned as the time for action finally arrived. I read the message and nodded to the fireproof box at the end.
“There’s our winner.”
“Let’s get it done, then,” she said. Her tone was light, but the edges of her mouth were tight with anxiety.
The sooner this was all over, the better.
Once packaged, the box was slipped into a canvas duffle and slung over my shoulder. In my sweet new ride, as Kat had taken to calling it, we took a winding path between the apartment and Kat’s Keepers. There, we’d meet up with Erin, but first we needed to make sure no one followed us.
I wondered how long that unnerving sensation would linger, how long we’d keep glancing over our shoulders, whether Kat blamed me for bringing this chaos into her life.
Then her fingers brushed the hair at the back of my neck, a simple gesture filled with tenderness and affection. I let go of those unspoken fears to embrace the here and now. Once we were parked behind the warehouse, I grabbed the duffle from the back seat, but before I opened my door, I leaned over and kissed her, hard and swift.
“What was that for?” she asked, a smile tugging at those rosy lips.
“Because I can.”
