the I-10. He gave her silence, he gave her space, but it couldn’t last forever.
“I don’t think you should go to the art gallery,” he said, exiting the freeway. “We should go back to the apartment, talk, sort through how you must be feeling.”
“I have work to do. I need to finish organizing the auction for my...” The breath caught in her throat. “For Emilio. It’s easier to do it from the office.”
“We need to talk. I know this isn’t easy for you.”
“How will it work in San Diego? The ins and outs. What should I expect?”
“The database is on a hard drive in Emilio’s safe. I need to find it.”
“The safe is in his office. I know where, but it requires his fingerprint to access it.”
He nodded. “We need to get the hard drive or erase it with a degausser.”
“What’s that?”
“It emits a high-intensity magnetic field that’ll erase the data. We need to do it before the auction during a time when the guards will be distracted, then we get out.”
“What happens to me? He’ll know I helped you, that I was a part of it.”
“You’ll have a choice. I can make it look like you didn’t know, leave you tied up, gagged.”
For a second, when he’d said he wouldn’t leave her behind, she’d believed him.
“Once the FBI is able to arrest him later,” Dutch continued, “then we could be together if you wanted.”
Her vision hazed. “Later when?”
“I don’t know how much longer the FBI needs to build their case. It could be weeks, months. This isn’t my first choice.”
“Then what is?” she asked, looking at him.
The creases in his forehead were deeper, his eyes wider. “You leave with me. But that means walking away from everything. The gallery. Brenda. This lifestyle. The FBI will eventually seize all of your uncle’s assets anyway.”
“You’re saying that no matter what, I’ll lose the gallery?” The art gallery she’d poured her heart and soul into, built up from nothing and created a reputation that others envied. And lose her best friend.
She had the unsettling realization that her whole life was slipping through her fingers and she was powerless to stop it.
“Yes, you’ll lose the gallery, and if they can tie the money your father left you to any RICO charges on your uncle, they’ll freeze that, too,” Dutch said. “We could go away together. I’ll use my vacation days. We can take a long trip to give you time to decide if you still want to be with me.”
She shook off the apprehension slithering through her. “And vice versa, I suppose.”
“No, beautiful.” He took her hand. “I love you. I want you. I’ve almost been fired twice in the last twenty-four hours because of it. For knocking the daylights out of Ellis and then for telling you the truth. Isabel, what we share is real. Realer than anything I’ve had before. Last night, I chose you over everything else because I don’t want to lose you. We’re just getting started.”
It would’ve been the path of least resistance for Dutch to continue to lie, to sleep with her when she was throwing herself at him, but he hadn’t. He’d turned down sex and chosen honesty.
Chosen her.
Dutch stopped in front of the gallery. “Don’t you want to see what’s possible for us as a couple? I do. We can find out, no matter how you want to play it in San Diego with your uncle. And if you decide that you want me to disappear, where you never see or hear from me again, it’ll break my heart, but I’ll respect your wishes. Just think about it. Okay?”
“You lied to me,” she said, pulling her hand away. It was a hard thing to get over. Like climbing Mount Everest with no training, no gear, struggling through the change in altitude and lower oxygen pressure.
A wounded expression crossed his face. “Our chemistry is undeniable. My body reacts to yours, your touch, your kisses, hell, your voice. I love the way you taste, the way you smell. I think about you all the time. How to bring a smile to your face, to ease your troubles. And it’s not just attraction. Think about those two days we spent together in your apartment. We mesh, sweetheart. You and I—it’s kismet.”
She looked out the window at the sign on her art gallery. Kismet.
There was no better word to describe how she felt about Dutch, destiny, fate, but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder if he was