Guilty Pleasures (42 page)

She took her food and found an empty table near the rear of the restaurant and began to dig in. Her stomach sighed in delight.

She should have told Jake that she'd stopped taking her birth control two months earlier. Why hadn't she
She lifted a forkful of eggs to her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Because she knew what he would say.

Still, there was that part of her that was willing to take the risk, a part of her that hoped that Jake would be as excited as she was.

But he wasn't.

Her stomach suddenly heaved in protest. A cold sweat broke out across her forehead, and her mind felt like mush. The room moved in and out of focus. She was going to be sick.

“Eva! I knew that was you.”

Eva lifted her eyes. She was definitely going to be sick.

 

25

Jake called Jinx on his cell phone. There always had to be a Plan B in the event that Plan A fell apart, he thought as he listened to the phone ring on the other end.

Finally Jinx picked up.

“You sound like you're just waking up, my brother,” Jake said.

Jinx glanced over his shoulder. Rita was still asleep. They'd had one helluva night, and his body was still humming. He gently lifted the sheet from his body and sneaked out of the room so as not to disturb her.

“Hey, what's up
” he said, his voice still sleepy.

“I need Rita to make a visit to the safe today. We need to get in there and get a good look around. I've hooked up a microcamera that she can use undetected while she's in there.”

Jinx yawned loudly and stretched. “I'll let her know. When do you want to do this
”

“Sooner rather than later. I want to have a chance to examine the pictures.” He brought him up to speed regarding the sketch of the suitcase and his calculations.

Jinx chuckled. “That Eva is a master,” he said.

“Hmmm. Anyway, give me a holla when she's ready.”

“Hey, hold it a sec. What's going on
I hear something in your voice. Everything cool
” He scratched his head.

“Nothing. I'll work it out.”

“Good, but work what out Is it Eva
And the baby thing
”

“Something like that. Look, I really don't want to get into it right now.”

“All right. Whatever you say. We'll give you a shout when Rita is ready.”

“Cool.” Jake disconnected the call. Slowly he put down the phone.

Generally he wouldn't have a problem kicking it with Jinx. He may not always have the best advice in the world, but he was always willing to listen—and sometimes that's all you needed.

But this was different. He couldn't even rationalize with himself why he'd acted like such an asshole. And he certainly didn't need Jinx to tell him what he already knew.

Sighing heavily, he returned his attention to the problem at hand, cracking the combination for the suitcase.

*   *   *

Eva hoped that the spinning in her head and stomach would slow down to a manageable level.

“Are you okay
You look perfectly ill,” Traci enunciated in that annoying New England accent—even though she was born and bred trailer trash.

Eva gulped back down the bile that had risen to her throat and washed it away with several swallows of orange juice.

Traci invited herself to sit down as if they were old friends instead of two women who secretly hated each other—at least it was a secret to everyone else.

“I was so sure that was you I saw the other day getting on the elevator.” She snapped a white linen napkin open and spread it on her lap. “But then thinking about it, I decided I must be wrong. No way would our Eva be caught dead in a servant's uniform.”

Our Eva.
Who in the fuck was she talking about

Traci's trilling laugh was like nails on a blackboard.

Eva cringed. “You got me there,” she muttered.

Traci frowned momentarily in confusion. Then shook it off with a toss of her strawberry blond hair. “So tell me, what
are
you doing on the ship
Vacation
Business
And where is that gorgeous husband of yours
” She looked around as if expecting all the answers to her numerous questions to line up beside her.