Toni eyed him warily. “Are you sure? You seemed like you didn’t want a lot to do with her last night.”
Tristan could tell everyone in the room was looking at him a little bit differently after that, but he didn’t owe them an explanation for anything. “I’m sure. I’m half the reason she’s in this mess. I’ll take care of her.”
Toni shrugged. “She’s all yours, buddy. But fair warning, I just locked her in the green room, so she might be a little feisty when you see her.”
Tristan made his way to the green room. It wasn’t called the green room because it was filled with plants. Instead, it was because the outside of the door was, for whatever reason, painted green. Nothing inside the room was green, and no other doors in the house were any color besides wood grain brown, but this door happened to be green. They all had different theories for the painted door. Gage thought something was hidden in it. Something special that had to be signaled out somehow. Tristan, however, figured it was a kid who used to live here. Some kid who lived in the stark, sterile existence of the rich and wanted to stand out in some way.
Whatever happened, they might never know. He undid the lock and opened the door to see Shae sitting innocently on the sheet-covered sofa. She raised a brow at him as he entered. She didn’t seem upset like he thought she’d be, but she sure as hell seemed calculating.
“So you’re the one they sent to collect me?”
“At least I’m collecting you. If it were up to me, you’d stay locked in this room until the whole thing is over.”
“That’s an interesting insight into your personality, Tristan.”
“Careful there. That’s a scary place to be.”
“Your personality?”
“Inside my mind,” he clarified. “Are you ready?”
Her lips tightened just the slightest bit. “Not really. I think I have the microphone right, but I’ve never exactly used anything like this before.” She fiddled with the lapel on her suit jacket to give him a better view of what she was working with. The problem was, she barely had to move it before he saw the mic.
Tristan shook his head. “Here, let me.” Before he even knew what he was doing, he was reaching for her jacket and flicking the two buttons open. He heard her catch her breath as he parted the fabric, revealing the silky white blouse beneath. Even before he touched her, he could feel the heat of her body. He tried to keep his cool, but took a quick swallow as he plucked the microphone from the lapel. “Ummm, the trick is to hide it as much as possible. You see, in movies and police operations, they might tape the wire to the skin so it’s less conspicuous. We’re going to keep you as far away for as long as possible, so we’re not going to go through all that.”
As he spoke, he moved the microphone down until he reached the hem of that silk blouse and tucked the head under the fabric. “We do want to try to hide it, though....” As he pushed the microphone up with one hand, he reached between the valley of her breasts to meet the microphone on the other end before he lifted it up and connected it to one of the sleeves on the blouse. “I think that’s good enough. Don’t you?”
Shae was noticeably breathing deeper as she looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “I don’t think that was necessary, Tristan,” she whispered.
“Then next time you should stop me,” he said without offering her an apology. He barely ever apologized for things he actually felt bad for. He wasn’t about to apologize for touching her. “Let’s get going. There’s a bit of a drive still.”
Tristan had not been kidding about the drive. It was almost an hour and a half until they got to the posh garden district just outside of Tampa. In the car with her and Tristan were Gage and Hunter. Shae had remained largely silent as Gage and Hunter had taken up most of the conversation. She had to admit, they were both oddly talented at small talk. They went back and forth about the latest movies and pop culture news. For a while, they went on about 3D printers and how they were revolutionizing the thieving industry. Tristan was silent most of the time. She wasn’t sure whether he was normally this quiet, or whether she was making him uncomfortable. Well, he was sure as hell making her uncomfortable. As much as she tried to forget about it, she kept imagining his hands on her shirt. Hell, in her shirt. How small she looked compared to those hands. Long, strong fingers that she wanted to wrap around her....
Nope. She was not thinking about this again. She had self-control, and she was adult enough to move on from this lying thief.
Apparently they were going to some sort of day party. The reception was being held at Wixom Gardens. Shae had never heard of it, but the exterior was decorated by lush greenery and various exotic flowers. The border of the place was surrounded by a wrought-iron gate that was filled with an intricate network of vines sprouting out lush green leaves. Definitely seemed like a fancy place to have a party. She looked over her outfit once more. The black suit with a delicate pink pinstripe and the barely there white blouse beneath it all seemed so... structured. Nothing like her normal outfit of jeans and whatever shirt she had laying around. It seemed too much like her old life. Who she was supposed to be. She rolled her shoulders to get herself in the game. Hunter parked the car and turned around to look at them. “All right, you’re up. Shae, Tristan, you’re going to go in first. If you get eyes on Damask, let us know as soon as possible.”
“What do you do once I let you know? Aren’t I questioning him?”
“You are, but we want to make sure we’re in place for backup.”
“We got it,” assured Tristan. “Let’s get this over with.” He got out of the car, and she followed. For a moment, she froze. Did she just head inside? Did she follow Tristan’s lead? This had to be an invitation-only thing, right? Why had no one talked about how they were going to get in?
She didn’t have to think too long about it. Tristan appeared in front of the car and motioned with a jerk of his neck for her to follow. He headed confidently toward the front entrance, and she tried to match that confidence but had her doubts that she was pulling it off. When they walked inside, the hostess gave them a polite smile. “Hello, how can I help you?”
“We’re here for the Blackthorne party.”
“All right. Just follow me,” the hostess said cheerfully.
Shae couldn’t believe it. How did they just get in that easily? She hung back a few steps, making sure she and Tristan were out of earshot, before she softly said, “How did you do that?”
“It’s a party, Shae. Relax.”