The Viking Adonis should have released me then, but he trailed his nose up the column of my throat again until he hit the shell of my ear, and then his lips whispered, “Very well done, princess.”
He released me suddenly. But his jacket caught on my pin as he shoved open the door, and I squeaked. “No, no, no.” But I heard the soft ping as my pin hit the floor, and the sound made tears well in my eyes. “Shit.”
“Are you okay?” His voice was brusque, distracted.
I fell to the ground, trying to find it. “No, I am not okay. You broke my p—”
He tapped his ear as he gave me a hard look. “I’m really sorry. But I’ve got to go.” And then he was gone, leaving me completely alone with my mother’s broken pin in the palm of my hand. I wobbled in place, unable to get a sense of my bearings as tears welled in my eyes
What the hell had just happened?
Ben
I’d never been one to run from trouble, but there was a first time for everything. Once I escaped the closet into the outer office with the Picasso on the wall, I hurried down the hall and into the stairwell then leaned against the cold concrete of the wall.
I hadn’t expected to find anyone else in that office, let alone a woman whose body imprint I could still feel along mine like she’d left a thermal heat signature beneath my skin.
I forced air into my lungs with a series of slow inhalations. I needed to get my shit together. People were fucking counting on me. Now was not the time to get distracted.
I knew my sins.
Greed. Pride. And my two personal favorites, wrath and lust.
I knew them all. I had cataloged them appropriately.
I was a rogue. A rebel. I didn’t believe the rules applied to me, or rather, I was tired of playing by them.
It was a night for revenge, not for getting tangled up with a beautiful woman.
It didn’t matter if my palms still itched from the feel of her arse in my hand. And that fucking scent… coconut and lime, all light and citrusy. I could still smell her even though she wasn’t near me any longer.
East Hale, my tech support and best mate, broke the silence on the com unit in my ear. “If you’re done snogging the random woman in the closet, we have a plan to carry out.” Luckily, he was only mildly irritated.
“I’m already on the move, East,” I muttered as I hurried down the stairs. This was the problem when you were working with your mates on different activities.
“You’d bloody well better be.”
“Only fucking Ben Covington would get sent in to copy files and meet a woman,” said Bridge Edgerton. His goddamn voice was always distinctive. The years at Eton had smoothed out his East End accent, but a light edge always slid back in when he was giving me shit.
“Swear to God if you two don’t shut it, you’re in for an arse kicking.”
The deeper laugh was all Bridge, and I could only shake my head. Twat.
East spoke again. “Move your arse. Cameras will only be down another thirty seconds.”
“On it.” I didn’t want to have to explain what I was doing anywhere near Bram Van Linsted’s office when those cameras came back online. If I fucked up, we were back to square one. None of us wanted that, so I had to make this work.
“Don’t forget, drop the flash drive into the potted plant by the main exit. We have someone on the cleaning crew who will pick it up.”
The Van Linsted family was security crazy, which happened when you owned a diamond empire. Every guest at this little party would be searched before leaving. I didn’t want to get caught with the files.
The stairwell dumped me out in a hallway downstairs. My shoes made a soft click-click sound on the marble floors. I glanced around. Fortunately, there was no security in sight.
I could hear the harp music clearly from down the hall when East said, “Incoming, Ben. Turn left.”
I took the door immediately to my left, slipping in and closing it behind me.
A woman shrieked, and the man pumping his hips between her thighs turned with a snarl. “You fucking mind, mate?”
I bit back my chuckle. “Sorry. Didn’t know this room was taken.”
In my ear, around a laugh, East told me the hallway was clear, and I grinned at the couple I’d interrupted. “I do have to say… running off to shag in an empty conference room is not really that inventive, is it?” I ducked back out when the bloke glared like he wanted to hit me.
I managed to make it down the hall and into the main foyer. “Okay, I’m in position.”
“Ahh, pretty boy has remembered he has a job to do.”
“Shut it, Bridge. Don’t be mad at me because you’re about to tie yourself to a ball and chain.” I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “Don’t be jealous because the ladies love me. You too could have all the pussy in the world, but you’re giving that up.”
East sounded bored when he said, “If you two are done acting like children, we still have another device to copy.”
The first part of my assignment had been to sneak into Bram Van Linsted’s office and copy the data on his laptop. I was familiar enough with the Van Linsted estate to make that happen. After all, I’d spent enough time there as a child and then later when we were classmates at Eton.
Van Linsted Senior hadn’t been much of a fan of me or my mates. Having to be in charge of our instruction for the Elite had been a chore he clearly loathed. And he’d made his disdain known. He’d made it clear he didn’t want any of us anywhere near his son. But his hands had been tied, so he’d had to tolerate us, and we’d had to tolerate him.
But the time for tolerance was almost over.
2
Ben
I sipped my champagne, doing my level best to blend into the crowd. Easier said than done when my face was so damn recognizable.
As James Covington’s son, it was difficult to be inconspicuous. After all, this was a fundraiser. Marcus Van Linsted had supported my father as Prime Minister, so I was expected to attend. And there were more than a few people who wanted to speak with me, or, at the very least, be seen speaking to me.
I knew how to do approachable but aloof. After all, I’d been doing it for years. It was just a matter of slipping on the mask. My gaze scanned the crowd and found our host easily enough.
“I’ve got him.”
“Okay. Remember, you have to get close to him. It’s going to take a full two minutes, maybe three. But once you have it, get the fuck out.”
“Nothing more specific than that?” As plans went, sometimes East was lacking in detail.
“It’s not an exact science. Remember we don’t want anyone to know what you’re doing.”
“Right. Remind me the next time we steal sensitive information from our own secret society to put one of you in the field.”
East chuckled. “Then who would be on tech? You? That’s a recipe for disaster.”
Technology and I got along fine as long as I didn’t have to rely on it for anything. I liked relying on myself. It was safer.
Relax. Don’t rush. Take your time. Play the part.