Lisa’s eyes widened, and understanding ran across her delicate features as she glanced between the two. Was it jealousy causing that startled look? Some juvenile feeling inside made him hope so.
“Look.” Lisa held up her hands. “Can we just skip all this domestic squabbling and get down to business?”
Rafe held out the third beer to her. She swatted at him. “I don’t want a goddamn beer, you ass. I want my rock.”
Hailey lifted her bottle. “I like her.”
He did, too. And that was going to be a real problem. Especially when she found out just what he wanted from her.
Rafe set her unwanted beer on the only undamaged end table in the room. “She’s got a mouth on her.”
Hailey grinned. “I thought you liked that in a woman.”
That tempting mouth of Lisa’s dropped open again,
reigniting the arousal in his gut. “Hello? I’m standing right here.”
Hailey glanced at Rafe. “I
really
like her. She’d keep you on your toes. Gonna keep her?”
Lisa dropped onto the window seat and rubbed her temples. “I’ve stumbled into a bad version of
To Catch a Thief.
”
Hailey laughed and leaned back in her chair. The beer in her hand spilled over onto the carpet.
“Hey,” Rafe exclaimed. “I know the house is trashed and you don’t live here anymore, but show some respect.” He flipped over another chair and sat.
“Sorry.” Hailey tried to choke back the laughter. “I didn’t realize she was
the one.
Damn, she’s fast.”
“The one?” Lisa’s fiery gaze snapped to Rafe. “She knows?”
Rafe tipped the beer up to his lips and took a long swallow, eyes locked on Lisa’s over the bottle. A tingling ran through his stomach as she watched him. It didn’t matter that it was hatred making those emeralds shine, they were still just as piercing as they’d been when she’d wanted to screw the hell out of him in Italy.
“Yep. She’s the one,” he said, ignoring Lisa’s question.
“Well.” Hailey smiled. “You could have done worse.”
He still could. Knowing his damn luck, he probably would. He was running out of time to find the Furies, and if Lisa Maxwell couldn’t get Tisiphone for him, he was going to have to break his promise. And that wasn’t an option.
Rafe rose. Being trapped between his ex-wife and the woman he’d been fantasizing about for the past week wasn’t a place he wanted to be. “I need dry clothes. Keep an eye on her, would you? Make sure she doesn’t trash anything else.”
Lisa scowled as Rafe headed for the hall. The longer she sat there, the higher her blood pressure soared. Her gaze flicked to the blonde police officer seated across from her, the woman who was clearly more than just Rafe Sullivan’s friend.
Why did she care so much? He could screw whomever the hell he wanted. It wasn’t her business or her problem, and she sure wasn’t going to let it be either.
She straightened. “I don’t care what the heck he said, I didn’t break in here.”
Hailey’s smile faded. “He says you did.”
“Don’t believe that. He’s a liar and an ass.”
Hailey laughed. “No argument there. But he’s a damn good thief. You have to give him credit. He got by you, didn’t he?”
Unable to believe they were even having this conversation, Lisa grimaced. “You know he’s a criminal? And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Of course I know. That’s how we met. I busted him for B and E.”
“I got off for lack of evidence,” Rafe called from the other room.
“I
let
you off, pretty boy,” Hailey tossed back.
Lisa dropped her head into her hands and groaned. There were some things a woman shouldn’t have to suffer
through. Listening to a man she’d almost had a wild one-night stand with—and one who still heated her veins—flirt with his girlfriend or lover or what ever the hell this woman was to him was one.
Fantasizing about kicking the girlfriend out so she could have her way with that man was two.
“And his record does bother me,” Hailey added, “which is one of the reasons we’re not married anymore.”
Married? Lisa glanced up sharply. Oh, this was getting better and better.
Hailey winked. “The other is that we just weren’t right for each other. Underneath this little hobby of his, though, he’s a pretty good guy.”
“And I thought you didn’t love me anymore,” Rafe teased from the doorway.
Hailey’s smile faded as she rose and set her beer on the counter. “I don’t. You’re also controlling, obnoxious and a royal pain in my ass. And if you aren’t planning on pressing charges, I’m going to head home, soak my aching feet, and fantasize about a long torrid love affair with Brad Pitt. Call me if you need anything.”
She cast Lisa a quick and speculative glance, then slipped out the front door.
Lisa’s pulse kicked up a notch at the thought of being alone with Rafe again. She was
not
relieved the man was no longer married, dammit. That thought was just too stupid to even entertain.
But she sure as hell didn’t miss the fact the ‘pretty boy’ in front of her put Brad Pitt to shame. Mayan god came to mind as she studied him from head to toe. His hair was combed back, wet curls teasing the nape of his neck. He’d ditched the dripping clothes and was now wearing a white cotton T-shirt that advertised a bar somewhere in the Keys, and fresh faded blue jeans slung low on his hips. His bare feet peeked out from beneath the cuffs of his jeans; his strong arms and broad chest filled out the snug shirt. And when he flashed that crooked smile her way, her insides went all liquid.
Thief, liar, jerk. Why couldn’t she remember those simple facts when he looked at her with those roving eyes?
“So, the relief,” she said, rising and clearing her throat, hoping that would refocus her on the real reason she’d tracked him down. Hoping it would at least get her mind out of the gutter. “Where is it?”
His smile faded. He slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned against the doorjamb. “It’s safe.”
“I want it.”
“I think I realize that,” he said, glancing around the room.
“I didn’t do this,” she said again.
“Well, someone did. And all the signs point to you,
querida.
”
Her eyes narrowed with understanding. “You’re not going to give it to me, are you?”
He studied her for a long moment, dark, piercing eyes locked on hers. “Not yet.”
Yet.
Teasing, but no guarantee one way or the other. She crossed her arms over her chest and fought back the obscenities lingering on her tongue. “What do you want, Sullivan?”
He pushed away from the door, crossed and stood right in front of her. Some leathery scent mixed with sage and citrus washed over her, making her aware of his raw masculinity, making her forget what she’d even asked in the first place. “I want Tisiphone.”
He was easily a foot taller than she was, close to six-two. Her size had never really been an issue before—in her line of work it was actually an asset. She could get into nooks and crannies her colleagues couldn’t, and she used that fact to her advantage whenever she could. But standing in front of him now, feeling the warmth radiating from his body, looking up at his chiseled features and square jaw with a hint of five o’clock shadow, his size made her feel small and feminine and just the slightest bit…intimidated.
“Do you think I have Tisiphone?”
“No. But I think you know where she is. And I think together, you and I can find her.”
You and I.
The words echoed through her mind. Clearly a compromise. She’d never been good at compromise. It was one of the reasons she was still single at thirty-eight.
One of the reasons.
“Why on earth would I know where to find Tisiphone?” she asked.
He shot her an incredulous look. “Your grad school mentor was hot on Tisiphone’s trail some fifteen years ago. I know how to do research too, Dr. Maxwell. And I know you’ve been working that cute little ass off trying to track down the second relief all by yourself.”
Lisa’s blood chilled at the mention of Douglas Stone. Just the thought of the man who’d all but broken her sent emotions she’d kept buried for years roiling through her. She’d lost everything because of him. Everything except herself. His death might have altered her life forever, but she’d learned one very valuable lesson because of him:
she
was the only person she could ever believe in.
And that was the second reason she was still single at her age.
She fought to keep her emotions guarded. The last thing she needed was to leave herself vulnerable to someone like Rafe Sullivan. Her relationship with Doug was long gone, but this thief had obviously dug up enough dirt to know just whom and what she’d been researching the last few months.
She set her jaw. “And why would I help you?”
“Because we each have something the other wants. I want Tisiphone. You want Alecto.”
“Alecto’s already mine, Slick. I don’t need you.”
That smile returned, white teeth flashing against full, tempting lips. “Possession’s nine-tenths of the law,
querida.
And just for the record, you don’t have her anymore.”
Anger simmered just under Lisa’s skin. “So you want to make a deal.”
He rocked back on his heels as if they were having an everyday, friendly conversation. “You could say that. But I like to think of it as a partnership. Your brains and connections, my resources and funds. I’m fairly certain together, we can find her. Hell, I know we can.”
“And then what?”
“And then we split the payoff at the end.”
He was lying through his pearly whites—she could tell by the glint in his dark eyes.
“It’s all about the money with you, isn’t it?” Her gaze narrowed when he only stared back at her, a blank look in his eye. “Without Magaera, the Furies aren’t complete. You won’t get half what they’re really worth.”
His lips curled. “Don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours about Magaera.”
What the hell did that mean?
As if sensing her question, he shrugged. “I’ve already got a lead on the third Fury. And I always get what I want. Always,” he added with just a hint of lust in his eyes that told her the Furies weren’t the only things he wanted. “Right now we just need to focus on Tisiphone.”
She couldn’t trust this guy as far as she could throw him. He’d proven that in Italy. But without him, she was screwed. His “partnership” made a sick sort of sense, if she really thought about it.
She was short on funds as it was, and he obviously wasn’t. That pretty boat down at the marina was clear proof he had cash. And he was right: she had a fairly good idea where Tisiphone was hiding.
Although she wasn’t ready to tell him that. It meant having to dig through Doug’s old papers, and so far, she just hadn’t been able to do that yet.
She didn’t for one minute believe Rafe Sullivan would split the find with her fifty-fifty, but maybe, if she played her cards right, she could walk away with all three Furies before they were through. Maybe she could beat him at his own game.
Because she
knew
the Furies didn’t mean nearly as much to him as they did to her.
They couldn’t.
“If I say no?” she asked, acting as if it didn’t matter to her in the least.
“You’re not going to,” he tossed back with confidence.
She turned and stared out the window as she ran through her options. After she’d found Alecto, she’d put in for a sabbatical from the university so she could go after the others. She was planning on focusing on Magaera next, but if he already had that one as well, Tisiphone was her only hope. She was risking her career on three pieces of stone, taking risks where, if she got caught, she could lose everything she’d worked for over the past fifteen years. But something in her gut said this was her time. If she didn’t try now, she’d spend the rest of her life wondering if this might have been her chance. Finding the reliefs wouldn’t change the past, but they might give her the validation she’d been seeking her whole life.
After everything that had happened to her because of the Furies, she needed them. And dammit, she
deserved
them.
There was her answer. Like it or not, she was about to go along with this outrageous idea.
She shifted toward him and fought back the excitement racing through her veins. If nothing else, he wouldn’t turn her in. And if things got hot, she could always flip the blame right back on him. After all, he was the thief. “Okay.”
“You’re in?” His dark brows lifted with a touch of surprise. And she knew then the guy wasn’t quite as sure as he’d looked before. Smoke and mirrors, she reminded herself. That’s all he was.
She dropped her arms. “I’m out of my freakin’ mind. But yeah, I’m in.”
The victory that flashed in his eyes made her stomach tighten and her thighs tingle without warning.
He was a liar and a cheat. And if she let him, he’d screw her in more ways than one.
Lord help her, she was in way over her head.
“You didn’t have to tag along.” Lisa tossed her suitcase into the trunk of the rental car. “This isn’t going to be a long trip.”
“Green on grass, white on rice. For the next few weeks, I’m stuck to you like glue,
querida.
” Rafe threw his duffle on top of her case and slammed the trunk. “Get used to it.” The cocky grin slanting across his face screamed
I don’t trust you anymore than you trust me
, and it sent Lisa’s blood pressure skyrocketing.
A plane rumbled overhead. The October chill cooled Lisa’s skin but did little to settle the smoldering temper she’d been fighting since the morning she’d awoken alone in Italy.
Muttering curses, she stalked around the car and jerked the driver side door open.
“I’ll drive,” he said, stepping up behind her and grasping the open door. “In your mood, you’ll probably plow headfirst into a pylon, just to make a point.”
She whipped around and bumped into his solid chest. Clenching her jaw at his closeness, at his attempt to dive in and take over, she brushed her hair back and looked up. “You know the mean streets of Chicago, Slick?”