He eased the door shut behind them and they both paused, listening for movement. The warehouse stretched out before them, filled to the brim with metal racks set up neatly in aisles. No alarm had gone off, but she knew the place had one. Unfortunately there was no visible panel on the wall. However, she could make out crates containing various pieces of furniture and random vases and trunks along each aisle. Genesis had been right. This was definitely another smuggler’s warehouse.
As Ivy pulled out a low-lumen flashlight, she flicked it on and swept it over the nearest row. Hell. She wasn’t sure how they were ever going to find the painting in this place. It was too huge and there was no guarantee it was here. She gritted her teeth, stepping forward with Nash toward a row of what looked to be antique furniture.
She kept her flashlight low to the ground, even though she knew it would alert anyone watching a potential security camera. But there was nothing to be done about that now. She couldn’t see in the dark.
At a shuffling sound, she froze while Nash grabbed her and shoved her down the nearest aisle as lights suddenly flickered on. He plucked the flashlight from her hand and flipped it off.
Ice crawled along her spine as she heard…voices.
Oh no. They carried in the distance, maybe a few rows over. A man and…was that a woman? She frowned at the female voice even as she scanned their immediate area, getting a better view of their surroundings. No one had come in or out of here since she’d planted those cameras, so whoever these two were, they’d been working with the Green brothers and been inside this building since last night. Right now, however, her only concern was getting the heck out of here. She’d have to try to steal the painting when it went up for auction. This place was simply too big for her to search with no understanding of the organization. Maybe she could get it during transport.
“I don’t understand why they didn’t let me go with them,” the woman said, her voice growing louder.
Nash grabbed Ivy’s hand as they hurried down the nearest aisle. He stopped at the very end and pointed upward.
It took a second to realize what he wanted. They were too far away to escape out the door they’d come from—so they would have to hide on one of the oversized shelves. She didn’t see any cameras, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Very quietly, she started climbing up one of the big racks. It went up six levels, and considering all the furniture and oversized pieces on it, the thing was definitely sturdy. It didn’t even shake as she climbed. On the second shelf, she crawled in between unmarked crates and some kind of antique-looking chest.
This was like those massive shelves at the big-box stores. But instead of flooring and tile, the shelves were lined with most likely stolen stuff. She felt as if her movements were overloud even as Nash climbed in next to her.
She tried to steady her breathing as he slid next to her, but her heart was out of control, an erratic beat thrumming in her ears.
She knew they were up high enough that no one could see them from the ground, but they were basically trapped. Ivy looked around, trying to focus on the things around them. When she landed on a stack of cheap-looking Russian-style dolls, she pushed out a breath and started visually tracing the various lines of color as she tried to steady her breathing and heart rate. Focusing on something benign like this helped her calm down and assess the situation.
“Come on baby, don’t be like that.” A male voice.
Okay, so she and Nash hadn’t been caught. And it sounded like the couple was arguing. Who was this woman? And who was the man? It had looked as if all three brothers had left earlier. Gah, Ivy hated unknowns. She’d known that coming here was a risk, but had thought the place would be unoccupied.
Next to her, Nash placed a hand on her hip and his touch grounded her. She met his gaze as she listened to the man and woman continue talking.
“You always do that, Luka. You always defend them!” the female shouted. “Why did you even ask me to be a part of this job?”
Luka? Oh, this was the youngest Green brother. Either she’d mistaken what she’d seen in the SUV or there was someone else who’d been with them in the vehicle. Sweat pooled at the bottom of her spine. As if he read her stress, Nash squeezed her hip once. She let out another quiet breath, her heartbeat evening out as they lay there. Luka and the woman didn’t seem to have a clue they were here at least.
And…Ivy was very aware of how close Nash was to her. Sex was the last thing on her mind, but it was still impossible to ignore what the presence of his huge, muscled body did to her senses.
They were so close, inches apart, and even with the uncomfortable film on their faces, she could smell his cologne—or shampoo or whatever it was. Good God, she could drown in him.
“Come on, Delilah, it’s not like that,” Luka said, his voice bordering on a whine. “They just wanted to talk to him alone. Besides, we promised we’d keep an eye on the warehouse. It’s part of Noah’s deal.”
Deal? Hmmm. Ivy couldn’t believe the Green brothers appeared to be working with a woman. Their MO over the last couple decades was just the three of them. Family only. Maybe she was a cousin or something? And maybe the owner of the warehouse had been with the two who’d left. Damn it, there were way too many unknowns right now.
There was a rustling sound and then… Oh. Ivy remained immobile, but her gaze flicked up to Nash’s when she heard a low moaning. She really hoped that wasn’t Luka’s cousin as the woman let out another sensual-sounding moan.
The shelving shook slightly as more moaning followed. “Yeah, right there,” Delilah groaned.
Luka growled something that Ivy couldn’t understand. Probably because his mouth was full. And at that thought, she closed her eyes, which only made it worse.
The entire rack shook now.
“Yeah, squeeze me tighter. Harder.” This time it was Luka giving the orders.
Ivy felt her cheeks heat up underneath the mask, and had no idea if Nash could tell. But when she looked up at him, he was staring right at her. And the look in his eyes? Oh that was…heat. Was he getting turned on by this?
This was so weird, so awkward and—
“In me now!”
Then there was a whole lot of thrusting and some dirty talk that made Ivy glance away from Nash. Because hearing people having sex, combined with the dirty talk? Yeah, her brain was completely going haywire at this point. They needed to get the hell out of there. Not to mention she was worried about getting caught. Even with all the things running through her mind, the fear of being found, it was really hard not to be aware of the two people nearby going at it like bunnies.
“Harder, harder!” Delilah demanded.
That brought on a wave of more bangs and shakes.
At this point, Ivy had to stifle a little bit of a giggle because the whole situation was ridiculous. Of all the jobs she’d done, nothing like this had ever happened. She’d been on some weird stakeouts but… Nash grinned slightly now too at the woman’s theatrics—because come on, who sounded like this during sex? Adult film stars, maybe.
His reaction eased some of the tension inside her. At least this would be one heck of a story to tell later—they just had to make it out alive.
A few minutes later the amorous couple finally stopped, though Delilah was still pouting about not being involved in wherever the two older brothers had gone to earlier. There had been no mention of a third partner so maybe it had just been the two of them. Ivy planned to look at the video recording as soon as possible.