Page 3 of Thief

His face was square and raw boned with hollows beneath jutting cheekbones, and he had a slightly hooked, but perfectly straight nose. She kept her gaze locked with his and let her thumb and index finger run up and slowly down the long, perilously thin stem of her glass of Sauvignon Blanc. It was a measured and deliberate gesture she knew would hold his attention and give him a clear idea of her intentions.

It did.

His wide mouth lifted and his pothole black eyes sparkled back across the bar with burning, dangerous intensity.

Kat let the corners of her glossed, scarlet lips rise in response, pulled her attention away and went back to fake texting an imaginary friend. Tonight’s hit was a distinct improvement in the appearance department. In fact, the two men couldn’t have been more different. They were entirely different species from entirely different planets. Unlike Kevin’s thin, weedy, asexual physique, John Taylor was a big, solid hunk of a man who looked as though he’d seriously overdosed on testosterone. His plain black T-shirt stretched over broad, powerful shoulders and a wide, defined chest. His biceps bulged beneath his skin and a snake tattoo coiled around his left forearm. Buzz cut, charcoal hair was cut in a neat, no-nonsense kind of way, yet he had considerably more than a five o’clock shadow spreading around his jaw and running down over his Adam’s apple. Kat wondered why he’d been picked for her to approach. He wasn’t her usual type of client.

She looked back up to catch his gaze and continue her assault. Her heart stuttered.

He was gone.?Shit. Where was he?

She couldn’t lose him. She scanned the other side of the bar.

He wasn’t there either.

“May I?” A deep voice rumbled by her left shoulder.

She spun and looked straight into the intense eyes she’d been searching for. “Sure,” she replied, trying to act nonchalant and forcing herself to appear relaxed.

He placed his drink on the bar, pulled up a vacant stool and sat his bulk down. “John,” he said, holding out a colossal hand.

“Kat.” Kat placed her hand in his and felt it completely enclosed in his warm palm. He held her firmly but gently, as if savouring the softness of her skin. She was used to this. It was how men usually held her, but John lingered even longer than most. She looked down at the grip, noticed the haze of dark hairs sweeping from his corded forearms, over his wide wrists and onto the back of his hand; a hand that could crush her bones in an instant without an iota of effort. For a second, she felt trapped, taken prisoner, but as soon as the feeling bubbled, he released her, reached for his drink and took a deep slug.

“Nice to meet you…Kat,” he said after he’d swallowed. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“Well, I was.” Kat wrinkled her nose. “But my friend just messaged me to say she can’t make it after all. She’s having a family crisis, you know how it is.” She spun her usual line, making it clear she was newly available for the whole evening.

“That’s a shame.” He didn’t sound like he meant it in the slightest. “So, can I buy you another drink?” He indicated her nearly empty glass. “You know, try to salvage your evening since you’re…” he cast his eyes downwards, a loitering, unselfconscious assessment of her entire body, “since you’re done up all nice.”

Kat rewarded his compliment with a dazzling smile and lifted her glass to her mouth. After she’d drained the last drip, she retrieved a spot of moisture from her lip with the tip of her tongue and said in a silky voice, “That would be very kind, John.”

He cleared his throat and called to the barman, who he knew by name, ordered a double whisky and a large white wine. “Would you like to take a more comfortable seat?” He gestured to a corner sofa which had become free in the now busy pub.

Kat nodded and slid from the stool with her replenished drink. It was all going very well. Even if he was enormous, it made no difference. He’d be putty in her hands by the end of the evening. Once she’d played all her usual tricks, turned up the charm and let him fall under her spell.

She lifted her purse and led the way to ensure he got an optimum view of her curvy figure from behind. She arched the base of her spine, set down her shoulders and sashayed her hips. She sensed John’s heated gaze burning through her tight black dress and heard him blow out a slow breath. She hoped he was imagining what it would be like to unzip her dress and roll off her stockings, slowly, one by one. He wouldn’t get that far, but there was no harm in him thinking he would.

She sat, and he squeezed in close, his eyes glazed as if lost in a pool of dirty thoughts. Kat smiled and let her fingers drift to her new diamond necklace, let the moment stretch out in his mind by showing him how lovely she was to touch.

“So, Kat, I haven’t seen you in here before.” His attention was fixed considerably lower than her necklace.

“No, I haven’t been in here before. But it’s halfway between my friend’s house and mine, so we thought it would be good for an evening of girly gossip.”

“Gossip about what?”

“Oh, you know, this and that.” Kat let go of the necklace and brushed long strands of her raven hair over her shoulders.

“This and that being the…er…men in your lives?”

Kat laughed, treating him to a flash of her perfect white teeth. “No, there are no men in either of our lives to gossip about.” She tugged at the side of her bottom lip with her teeth, a gesture she hoped he’d find both erotic and innocent, and to let him know he had a very good chance of scoring, added, “Not at the moment anyway.”

He grinned and leant closer as he lifted his drink. She knew he’d be getting a good hit of her delicate floral perfume because she was getting a nose full of his deeply masculine smell. It wasn’t fancy, expensive aftershave. It was just soap and whisky and a whirl of raw pheromones, a full dose of the power of the opposite sex for any woman who got close enough to appreciate.

“So definitely no husband or boyfriend then,” he checked.

“No, I’ve been single for a while—the last one cheated—and I’m afraid that wasn’t how I wanted to have a relationship. There has to be trust for it to work, don’t you agree, John? There has to be trust, it’s so important,”

“Gotta have trust.” He gave a serious nod before straightening against the back of the seat. “Do you have family in London?”

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