The Sapphire Affair (Jewel #1)

Later today, he’d call Andrew and update him on this latest discovery. See if his client had any new intel on those e-mails he was trying to decode. Especially given that the diamonds were watermarked, Jake had no interest in hunting diamonds that were highly traceable. He needed to know that point A led to point B—that the stolen money was used to buy the gems from that mine. The clues added up, but facts were awfully nice, too.

“Once he gets the diamonds from that mine, all he has to do is get on a plane to the Caymans with a pocketful of diamonds,” Jake added.

Steph arched an eyebrow. “A pocketful? I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t have as many as you think. Maybe he’s giving them away as gifts. For his fiancée, for me. We have no idea how many he actually has,” she said, her voice rising as she once again tried to poke holes in the possibility of what her stepfather had done.

It was noble, and sweet, in a way, that she wanted to believe the guy. But she was also dead wrong.

“I guarantee he has more than a few. A lot more. In fact, I know exactly how many he has,” Jake said, his lips twitching in a confident grin.

She knit her brow together as she cranked the AC button, since the car was heating up. “How do you know?”

“Because it adds up,” he said, tapping his temple. “Math.”

“OK, Mr. Math. Tell me how two plus two equals a lot more.”

“The e-mail from the merchant. It said safe transport for a grand.”

Her jaw went slack. “Seriously?”

He nodded. “Two plus two,” he said, his tone gentler, even though excitement was coursing through him as he worked with her to assemble clues. He’d nearly forgotten how fun it could be, now and then, to work in tandem.

She shook her head, a flicker of sadness in her eyes as she spoke. “It does add up. Ten million divided by ten thousand is indeed one thousand,” she said, her tone heavy, as she divided the missing money by the cost of one stone. “Otherwise known as a grand.”

Safe transport for a grand.

“It seems the safe transport reference wasn’t about the cost of the transport, but how many they were making plans to move,” Jake said.

She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I just wish—”

Her eyes snapped away from his. She pointed and slid down in the driver’s seat. He glanced around. A man with salt-and-pepper hair headed down the block.

“What’s wrong?”

“Tristan,” she whispered like a hiss, then peered out the window. “Shit.”

In a blur, she unbuckled her seat belt, slid out of the seat, and climbed on top of him. “Kiss me so he doesn’t notice me.”

No time to think. Just follow orders. Ex-military, Jake knew how to do that, and this was the easiest order ever. He cupped her face and sealed his mouth to hers. He looped his hands in her hair and swept his tongue across the seam of her mouth. She moaned quietly and parted her lips for him.

To hide her more, he grabbed the ball cap from his head, gathered her long blonde hair in his hand, and covered it up with the hat on her head. He could feel her smile as he tucked her hair into the cap while barely breaking the kiss.

“Thank you,” she murmured, then returned her mouth to his.

He was positive the dude had walked past them now. But hell if he was going to stop. Not as she straddled him, angling her body in a perfect position for fucking. Not as she started to slowly rock her hips into him. And not as she kissed back harder and hungrier, her lips greedy for all this contact. She tasted like tropical temptation itself. He explored her mouth thoroughly, tangoing his tongue with hers, tasting her lips, devouring her.

He couldn’t even remember why they’d decided on no funny stuff. This was worth it.

She picked up speed and started riding him harder. As her breaths grew faster, he half wondered if she was going to bring herself to orgasm by humping his erection in his shorts. While he loved that idea and wanted nothing more than to hear her little moans turn into full-blown cries of pleasure, he also didn’t want the two of them to get arrested for public fornication.

Opening one eye as she kissed him, he scanned the street. Coast was clear.

Gently, he pushed her off him. But this was not going to be the end. “I’m driving,” he said. “And I’m finishing what you just started. If that’s a problem, you need to tell me now.”

“It’s not a problem,” she whispered, and the look in her eyes was full of lust, and said yes.

He turned on the engine and drove away from the diamond district. Five minutes later, he pulled into a parking garage in a nearby shopping center and found the quietest floor. He grabbed a spot next to the wall and pulled her into the backseat.

“So much for no funny stuff,” he said, sliding her sexy body alongside his. Right now, he didn’t care about rules. He was driven with need for her.

“You mean this won’t make me laugh?”

“If I’m doing it right, you won’t be chuckling at all. You’ll be screaming my name,” he said, running his fingertip along her mouth as he tugged her next to him. His hand traveled along the bare skin of her legs. So damn soft. As she stretched out beside him, her eyes locked with his. The look in hers was vulnerable and hungry at the same time. She wanted this and she wanted to give her body to him.

“Make me . . . ,” she whispered, taking a beat, “scream your name.”