Loving York (Warwick Dragons #2) - Milly Taiden Page 0,50

She walked to a side street, where there was a car waiting for her. She got into the driver’s seat, gently placing her large purse on the passenger’s side. It took a few minutes to sync her phone to the car’s hands-free system, before she could start the drive out of the city.

The drive would take nearly two hours with traffic, but that was fine. They had calculated that much time when coming up with the plan. Josie wanted to text or call York to let him know that it had gone well so far, but she had to curb the desire to hear her man’s voice. They would be together soon enough. When she was about an hour away from her destination, she dialed Steiner’s number.

“I have something for you,” she said to him, putting in as much frustration as she could into her tone. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Steiner chuckled before hissing out his words. “Good, good. Where are you?”

Josie rattled off an address. “Meet me on the far side of the private beach in an hour. I’ll give you what you asked for.”

“No, bring it to me. I’ll text you a location.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? No way, Steiner. You’re coming to me, or the vase gets shattered.”

He hissed at her, but he had to agree if he wanted the vase. He began to argue, stating that he could easily have one of his cronies maim Mia.

“You know I don’t do second locations,” she interrupted. “I’m the pro here, and you know I don’t trust your slithering ass.”

“Fine. But you should know, any funny business, and your precious grandmother and best friend are going to get it. It’ll only take one push of a button from me, and they’ll both die.”

“I wouldn’t put them in danger,” she growled. She wasn’t lying.

There was no way she would have left her family and friends without security. Steiner might have thought he had the upper hand, but York had his own security people. They were surrounding her Gammy and Mia, and her family’s store. Even if something did go wrong, and Josie got hurt, she was confident that her family would be safe.

“Fine,” Steiner said, after some more pointless arguing.

The rest of the drive was less than pleasant. Josie was convinced she was being followed. Well, she was being followed, but that did nothing to ease her stress. Usually, during heists, she was stressed out, but it was a calm sort of pressure. The kind that brought clarity to each action.

That wasn’t it at all in this moment.

There was no clarity, only incessant doubts and fears playing through her mind. She had too much riding on this going well. Too much to lose.

The pressure didn’t ease as Josie was pulling into the parking lot for one of the resort spas. It had a pretentious name that made her snort. She parked her car and grabbed the bag, before making her way to the other side of the resort, where there was a private beach.

Three guesses as to who owned the property…

The Warwicks, of course.

They didn’t need an audience for what was about to take place, should things go sideways.

They wouldn’t. They couldn’t.

So, of course, that’s precisely what happened.

Chapter Twenty-Two

York

From his vantage point up the beach, York watched as Josie made her way down to the water’s edge. He, along with Armstrong, was hidden in a small line of trees, downwind from where Josie stood. It was the only position they could hide in to keep from being spotted and smelled by the shifter guards Steiner always had with him.

Just under the surface of his mind, York’s dragon was pacing at a dangerous speed. The beast wanted out, and he was furious their mate was being used as bait. No matter how many times York tried to tell himself it was the only way, that Josie would have thrown a fit if she wasn’t involved in this, it did nothing to ease the dragon’s fury with the plan.

Especially not when he could see the hard set of Josie’s shoulders as she waited on the beach. She looked paler, and York was pretty sure he could see her shaking from his hiding spot in the trees that lined the beach, just beyond a large swatch of high golden grass. He looked down at this phone to check the time for the twentieth time in a minute.

“He’ll be here,” Armstrong assured him. “We just need a bit of patience.”

Right. He