She sucked in air. “What?”
“Oh yeah. When I came back from deployment and saw you in a bathing suit—what you claim was a bathing suit—it was over for me.” His tone was light but he wasn’t joking. “I was too messed up and dealing with a lot of internal stuff. Plus you were way too young for me then. But yeah, I was aware. Anyway, we’ve been texting for…what, a year? Whenever you’re in town we get together, and whenever I’m in the same area you’re working, we also get together. You’re one of my closest friends. So what’s moving too fast for you? Is it the toe-curling sex?”
Her cheeks were flushed slightly. “Toe-curling?”
“I’ve seen your toes curl a couple times.”
A grin teased her lips. “Okay, I guess I’m just nervous. I’ve been into you for a while too. And then we moved from friends to fake relationship to the real thing in a matter of days. I’ve gotten a bit of whiplash. Not to mention there’s my family dynamic.”
“What about your family?”
“Well, if things don’t work out—”
“Why wouldn’t they work out? We just started and you’re already writing our ending?” He reached across the center console, linked her fingers with his and squeezed. There wasn’t going to be an ending—at least he didn’t want one.
“No. Not exactly. But…I don’t know, I’m nervous.”
“I am too. But I’m not walking away. You’re mine, Ivy. I don’t want anyone else.” He loved her, but with the way this conversation was going, it was clear that if he told her that now, it would spook her. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. “So I’m in this all the way. You and me, dating—but not dating other people,” he practically growled out the words.
Her expression softened. “You don’t like sharing?”
“Do you?”
“No,” she snapped out, whiplash fast.
He leaned across the center console then, brushing his lips over hers. “We are in an exclusive relationship, so stop overthinking this,” he murmured as he pulled back.
Her breathing was erratic as she nodded. “Definitely. You know my mom is going to be insufferable later. She’s going to think you’re the reason I moved back to Miami and probably build you a statue.”
An invisible band that had been cinched around his chest eased as reality settled in. He now had the right to call Ivy his. “I am more than happy to pose if she wants to have a statue built for me.”
“Oh my God, you are going to be insufferable.”
“Probably. But I promise I’m worth it.”
She eyed him for a long moment. “You really are worth it… Can I ask you something?”
He nodded.
She tucked a dark strand of hair behind her ear. “What if I’d decided to keep working at my current job? What if this wasn’t my last contract?”
He didn’t have to think about it. “It wouldn’t change anything. It certainly wouldn’t change the way I feel about you. We would have to worry about logistics but we would make it work. If you get a job where you travel, we’ll make it work.”
Those must have been the right words because the tension in her shoulders seemed to drain away as she leaned forward and kissed him.
He deepened the kiss almost immediately, cupping her cheek and sliding his hand through the curtain of her thick hair. When she moaned into his mouth, he used superhuman strength to pull back. Because he’d promised Juan he’d stop by and he owed his friend at this point. He couldn’t just bail.
“Do we really have to go inside?” Ivy murmured as she shifted in her seat, her eyes heavy-lidded with need.
He bit back a groan. “Yes. I promised. Besides, we’ve got to take the desserts in.” They’d picked up a couple cakes and assorted pastries from Publix.
“As soon as we can, we’re heading straight back to your place and getting naked.”
Hell yeah. “We’ll stay an hour max.”
She laughed and opened her door. “You’re such a liar.”
She was probably right. He opened the back hatch and grabbed everything, and as they headed up the driveway, making their way through the plethora of vehicles, he turned at a screeching sound.
A dark two-door car slammed to a halt behind his own SUV, inches from hitting it. What the hell?
A woman jumped from the vehicle and he dropped the desserts—but she had a pistol trained on them in seconds, moving around the vehicle in quick, fluid motions.
“I want that fucking painting,” Delilah snapped out, if that was even her real name.
Nash kept Ivy behind him. “We don’t have the painting.”
“Bullshit. And come out where I can see you,” the woman ordered. She held the pistol in her hands like a pro and sounded nothing like the woman they’d heard on the audio feeds.
“Stay where you are.” He kept his hand on Ivy’s hip, holding her in place. This woman would have to get through him first.
“Step out or I’ll put a bullet in your boyfriend. Tell me where the painting is, then we can all go our separate ways.”
“I don’t have it,” Ivy said, a tremor lacing her words.
“Don’t lie to me,” she snapped out. “It hasn’t been processed yet. I know for a fact that the company you work for doesn’t have it. And the Miami PD hasn’t logged it as evidence. Which tells me you’re holding on to it. I know how these things work.” She took a step forward, her boots clicking against the driveway. “You want your finder’s fee so you didn’t turn it over to the cops. I’m not stupid and this isn’t my first fucking rodeo.”
They actually had turned it over, so whatever information she had, it was wrong.
“Fine, I can take you to where it is,” Nash said. “But only if you let her go.”
The woman laughed lightly, the sound grating. “You’re out of your mind.” She stepped forward, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed them.
Nash could hear voices from the backyard, female laughter and children splashing around. He needed to get Delilah out of here before she really hurt someone. If he could just get close enough, he could disarm her.
He took a step forward and she shook her head. “Stay where you are.” From where they stood, the vehicles provided cover, making it almost impossible for anyone to see that the woman had a weapon.
But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Juan stepping out of the front door. He held his hands up slightly, hoping Juan realized something was off. “Look, you don’t want to do this.”
“Don’t tell me what I want,” she snapped, all her focus on him. “You don’t know me. I infiltrated that crew and would have made off with the painting long ago but Noah made it impossible. So I had to keep screwing that moron Luka. I was so damn close to cashing in when the cops busted them. Give me what I want and I’ll let you live.”
Nash knew that she’d only drugged Luka, she hadn’t killed him, but he didn’t have any faith that she’d actually let them go. “Fine. How do you want to do this? Take your vehicle or mine?”
She motioned with her pistol. “You’re going to get in yours. Both of you in the front seat, unstrapped. So don’t get any ideas about crashing. I’ll be sitting right behind your girlfriend. All you have to do is take me to the painting. If you try to screw with me, I’ll shoot your girlfriend in the spine. Got it?”