keep. But in the intervening seconds between the mark’s pockets, my fingers, and my parents’ hands, I’d steal what I could from the pile and return it.”
Abe’s brow furrowed, and I couldn’t read the look in his eye. “That sounds very dangerous given what your parents’ reaction could have been.”
I smiled, a little sad. “I didn’t have anything else to do as a kid besides practice. And it made me feel good. It was small change, literally, what I could return to them. But in our quest to balance the scales of justice, every act shifts the weight.”
His hand idly stroked up and down my spine. “If we don’t catch him tonight, we tip the scales the wrong way.”
“If we don’t catch him tonight,” I countered. “It’s only because we’ve caught someone else in his chain of criminals. Maybe it’s a smaller shift. It’s still a shift.” I leaned in, kissed the tip of his nose. “And given the extraordinary circumstances that have put you and I on this path, together, twelve hours away from going after what we want the most…” I shook my head. “I’m not a person who believes in fate. But something big is going to happen tonight. Can’t you feel it?”
His gray eyes searched mine. “I feel it,” he murmured. He leaned in to steal a kiss, fingers sliding through my hair to hold me still. My lips parted, my tongue met his, I inhaled the scent of his skin and the roughness of his rare stubble. “I feel it,” he repeated, this time with lips caressing mine.
“Well, good fucking morning,” Delilah said from the doorway, startling us both. I jumped and laughed when Freya appeared next to her, both of them clapping.
“Good thing you got that shared hotel room for you and Sloane, boss,” Freya smirked. “You know, for safety purposes or whatever.”
“Am I to be accosted by my agents on my own vacation?” Abe asked.
Delilah snorted. “A hundred pots of coffee are on their way to our room. And breakfast.”
Freya tapped her chin with a scowl. “And I don’t mean to be the Abe of the group, but my colleagues are out here necking when we only have the biggest case of our lives to solve.”
Abe’s valiant effort not to laugh dissolved—and his husky morning laughter curled my toes.
I stood, dragging Abe with me. “Come now, Mr. Royal. It’s a beautiful day to right the scales of justice.”
42
Abe
7:01 p.m., and I was out of the shower, slicking my hair back and studying the face of a man whose criminal obsession was finally—maybe—coming true tonight.
The auction began at 8:00, and the six of us were set to leave for our various positions in twenty-nine minutes. Henry, in disguise, would stake out Mycroft’s Pub, which allowed him to watch Adler’s. Sloane and I were playing a fancy couple out on the town, strolling past 221B Baker Street. Delilah was attending the auction tonight—at this point, she was the only Codex member who didn’t have the potential to be recognized.
Freya and Sam would be hiding out in the parking lot at the Kensley Auction House, waiting to grab people or call the cops or chase down suspects. It wasn’t a perfect plan by any means, but the six of us would be covering as many hot spots as we could to cast the biggest net we were able.
I knew now that Sloane and I would have never pulled this off on our own. The team was necessary. Always.
As usual, Codex had sprung into quick action after we’d gorged ourselves on breakfast and coffee. The relaxed laughter and conversation as we ate was a necessary balm to my spiky nerves. As was seeing Sloane open for them the way she had for me. I behaved and kept my hands off of her all day. I still took enormous pleasure and strength from the smiles she’d flash me like bolts of heat lightning. The euphoric rush was the same.
Call me when you get him.
I scrubbed my face down the towel, accepting I was going to be a nervous goddamn wreck the entire night. Heart hammering, chest tight, I tied the towel around my waist and walked out of the bathroom—only to be killed dead on the spot by the goddess.
“You’ll certainly stand out in that,” I managed.
Sloane turned slowly, lipstick raised, and smiled like a pin-up model. “You told me to dress nicely. This is nice.”
“You and I must have varying definitions of nice.”