Loving York (Warwick Dragons #2) - Milly Taiden Page 0,47

Meanwhile, I’ll get some of our security people on Nolan. If he steps a toe out of line, if we can prove he is involved with this, we can be rid of him once and for all.”

“Right,” York agreed. “So we need to make this as believable as possible on all sides. If any Nolan jaguar sees anything, we have to assume they would report to Steiner. Not one Warwick employee can seem complicit to the plan. Or Steiner will know Josie spilled the beans. Then we lose our edge over him and the deal I made with Interpol. They know I know your identity now, and that would seriously complicate our relationship if one of us was jailed.”

Josie bit down on her lip.

“It’s okay,” he assured her, wrapping a hand around her waist. “Here’s what I’m thinking. Jordyn is at the security desk, talking to Vern. They do that often, chat together. Josie shows up to the desk and has to leave her purse behind, like the common procedure. Jordyn gives him a bit of a dressing down for separating a woman from her bag, and Vern relents out of respect and shame to the lovely Jordyn. With her purse in hand, Josie can go into the safes, pretend to work for a bit and leave the bank with the vase.”

“That better be one big purse,” Josie snickered. She did favor small clutches, he had noticed.

“That’s where I come in,” Johanna was smiling broadly. She took one of the many shopping bags she had brought with her. She pulled out a large black leather purse that definitely cost a small fortune.

Josie’s eyes went wide. “That’s…that’s…”

“From next season’s line, yes. It’s not even out in stores yet. But it is big enough to slip the vase into.” Johanna’s sparkling eyes were positively mischievous.

Josie took the bag with reverence. “Then what? I get Steiner to meet with me?”

“We need to make sure this all happens someplace I can shift. His shitty little jaguar guards can shift anywhere, but people are going to notice if a dragon is flying across Manhattan,” he pondered out loud.

“Let’s have him meet us in the Hamptons. We could fake a security breach, and have Josie on the run. She could call Steiner from there.”

“But he knows we have properties there. It could tip our hands.”

Johanna shrugged. “But, where else could you shift?”

York hated to admit it, but she was right. “Fine, but there will be a shit ton of security on Josie. From the second she walks into the bank, as she drives out of the city, and on the drive, and when she’s at the final location.”

“Well, hell,” Josie quipped with good humor. “Why don’t you put a tracker on me?”

York pursed his lips. “Now, that’s not a bad idea.”

Josie rolled her eyes up to the heavens. “I was kidding.”

“But it’s a good idea,” Johanna agreed. “In case Steiner gets his hands on you.”

“That won’t happen,” he growled.

He would never let that happen.

Chapter Twenty-One

Josie

Josie, my girl, you need to get a grip.

She repeated the words, or a variation of them, over and over again in her mind, trying to ease the mounting anxiety inside of her. It didn’t work.

You’ve swum with sharks.

This is different.

You’ve jumped out of airplanes.

This is more dangerous.

You’ve stolen from the rich, never getting caught.

This is more complicated.

And it was.

Two weeks ago, if you would have told Josie that her last heist would be to stop Milo Steiner from blackmailing her? Josie would have laughed right in your face. If you would have added that it would be done with her boyfriend? She might have peed her pants from the giggles. She never would have thought her last heist would be so complicated.

But really, this was going to be her last heist. Never again would she steal a jewel to support her family. She was going to walk the straight and narrow now and focus on her family’s store. And her relationship with York.

And what a relationship it was. A real whirlwind. Josie had always been a little wild, but she had always been very careful about her birth control. The day before, when Johanna had brought up kids, Josie had realized she and York had a lot of sex. All of it unprotected. She was on the pill, but would that even be effective against York’s super shifter sperm?

Did it even matter?

Josie wanted kids. York was her mate, and she knew that they were bound to mate and marry eventually. So