hear the swinging door, I call out, “Hey, go walk near the safe and by the back door so I can follow your movements and see how they look in here.”
“Sure.”
He appears by the safe cabinet first, looking up and waving.
When he arrives at the back door, his face peers up into the camera. “So, who’s going to review this footage?”
“Just me, I guess,” I call.
He grasps the bottom of his shirt and pulls it off.
“Jason!”
“You said it was just you!”
“For now!”
He starts unbuckling his belt.
“Hey! I might have to turn it over to the police!”
Jason hesitates. “I guess I shouldn’t give some random cop a show.”
I head to the door of my office. “I don’t think so.”
He walks slowly toward the office. “What about here?”
I turned to look at the screen on my desk. “I can still see you.”
He takes a few more steps forward. “Here?”
“That seems to be a dead spot.”
He holds out his arms. “All of this?”
I shake my head. “I can see your fingertips.”
He comes to the door. “The camera gets your entire office.”
“Yep.”
“Can we turn off a single camera?”
“Probably. But I would have to figure out how.”
He frowns. “Well, I guess that’s it. Our sex lives are over.”
I shove at his chest. “Am I not as interesting in your bed as I am in the office?”
“Oh, I like you both places. But asking me to wait an entire workday might be too much.”
I lean back against the door frame. “So, what are you going to do about it?”
He glances around the kitchen. “Did we get a delivery of flour today?”
“We did.”
“So, there’s lots of big cloth bags in the pantry?”
I don’t know where he’s going with this. “I guess so. I haven’t been there.”
“Good enough for me.” He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.
The world tilts as I’m turned upside down. I pummel his backside as he holds onto my legs. “Hey. Caveman! What are you doing?”
“Me find dark cave. Me take woman to cave with no security cameras.”
He carries me the short distance to the door of Bertha and reaches up to flip on the light.
“In here?” I ask.
“In here.” He sets me down on a pile of flour sacks and turns to look out into the kitchen. “Goodbye cameras!” he says and shuts the door.
He grabs the hem of my shirt and whips it over my head.
I realize when it comes to Jason and his interest in me, if there is a will, there’s a way.
27
Jace
April starts out pretty sweet.
Nova and I stay late every day, checking the cash in the safe and reviewing the footage from the cameras from the previous night.
But for two weeks, nothing happens. It’s if they somehow know we’re on to them.
I don’t care. I can’t get enough of Nova. She’s always willing and eager. Sometimes we’re playful in our roles as lowly intern and boss.
Sometimes it gets more serious, and we lie together for hours, talking about inconsequential things.
Sometimes she stays over. Sometimes she goes home to spend time with her sister. We’ve made an unspoken rule about staying apart on Sundays when the deli is closed. Since we work together all week, it makes sense to find time for other things.
Today’s a Monday, and with the cameras everywhere, we’ve had to be good all day.
Nova sits back in her chair, Army boots up on the desk, ankles crossed. I run my finger along the bit of skin between her rolled-up pant leg and the sock peeking out over the top of the boot. Touching her skin anywhere sets off a hum in my body.
Our eyes meet, and I know she’s thinking what I’m thinking—time to go.
“Should I check the safe?” she asks. “We don’t have to stay while the girls finish cleaning. They have a key.”
I continue the slow easy caress on her leg. “Sure. If there isn’t any money missing, there’s no point checking the footage.”
So far, there hasn’t been a point in any of it. I’m surprised. If whoever was pilfering cash was going to unexpectedly stop, they would have quit when Susan left. And if not then, at least when Nova got the keys and took over.
But it went on, in sporadic amounts, every few days.
Right until we installed the cameras.
I don’t get it. We’ve been careful not to make any mention of the missing money to anyone. No one should know we’re watching. We’ve kept the cash routine exactly the same.
Nova sets her boots on the floor. “I’ll go