information, sudden hotel rooms, and all things electronic, I’ll be helping to look at the—” He bit his lip and looked at Felix shyly. “—ripples. Whatever ripples these people have left in their wake beforehand, and the ripples they’re probably going to throw afterwards.”
Danny nodded. “Precisely. And if you like, I can put you in touch with Torrance Grayson to help. He’s a top-notch journalist, and he might have contacts you don’t. Now, if it’s at all possible—and the ripples are far reaching or could hurt a lot of people—we may want to stop that rock from splashing down. But we won’t know if we don’t get our homework done. Stirling can’t be the only one doing the research here. Hunter, you have contacts. Chuck, you too. Josh, you’re good with research, and you’re excellent at bothering people to get what you want. You all have got to be working in the background. Grace, I know you’re brilliant, boyo, but I want this item out, photographed, analyzed, and back before anybody knows it’s missing. You need to study the layout of all the places you’re going to be so you know the sixty-dozen ways you can steal and replace it, do you understand? Start quizzing Tabitha as soon as she’s awake and get her to make her grandfather write out a schedule.”
Everybody nodded, and Danny scowled at Felix.
“I can’t believe we’re not going to Vancouver,” he told Felix. “It’s one of the few cities I’m not familiar with, and I would love to explore.” He smiled prettily. “Can we do a short reconnaissance trip this weekend?”
Felix grimaced. “I have to work—”
Danny grinned. “I don’t! Julia, you want to come with me to set up shop?”
“Yes!” she crowed, and now it was Felix’s turn to pout.
“That’s not fair!”
She gave him an arch look. “Well, neither is promising you’d work less and leaving us hanging in the breeze.” She turned to Molly without compunction. “Come along, dearest. We need to plan before we drive to the city. Let’s take Tabitha while we’re at it. I have the feeling she’ll need something to distract her when she wakes up from her nap.”
And with that, Julia led Molly away, and the rest began to disperse.
Hunter waited until the room had cleared of everybody but Josh, Danny, and Felix, whom, he assumed, had business to talk about since Josh was running point, before following Grace up the stairs. Grace was about halfway up when he turned around and gave Hunter an evil little smile.
“You know,” he said, “I wouldn’t mind if you watched my ass, as long as you thought it was a good ass.”
“It’s a great ass,” Hunter told him, not responding to his smile. “But I’m not going to watch it if it’s not mine.”
Grace’s eyes widened, and he stopped, practically stumbling into Hunter’s arms. Hunter caught him smoothly and set him on his feet, trying to keep his breathing in check at their touch.
It was hard. Dylan Li was one of the most beautiful men he’d ever seen, and right now there wasn’t a touch of playfulness on his full mouth and no glint of humor in his amber eyes.
“My ass is my own,” Dylan said, as though this had just occurred to him.
“To do with as you wish,” Hunter told him gallantly, but inside, his hammering heart started to ache, which was unheard of.
“Then why would you say something like that?” Grace asked, and for a moment, Hunter could almost believe he was hurt.
“Because I don’t want to joke about it,” Hunter said gruffly. “I’m not staring at your ass during a job, and I’m not flirting with you before a job. I only do that with people who want to be mine.”
Grace’s mouth opened and closed for a moment, and he looked truly out of his element. Hunter steeled himself, though. He was pretty sure it wouldn’t last long, and he wanted to be ready for whatever retort Grace had ready.
It came out weak at best.
“Caveman,” Grace huffed, pulling out of Hunter’s grasp.
And that was it. With a little shudder, Grace went running up the stairs, not even looking behind him.
Hunter breathed deeply, the cedarwood and vetiver smell that always reminded him of Grace lingering in the air as he ascended a little more slowly.
He watched Grace’s ass the entire way up, his own word echoing in his head in spite of the foolishness of even thinking it.
Mine.
Tension
“SEE?” GRACE hissed at Josh. “He’s staring at me!”
Josh took off his earbuds