Page 28 of Thief (The Scarab Beetle 1)

Maybe the guys were wrong. Maybe he’s just looking at commercial work. And he was offering me a job! He was offering Kate a job, and I had no real experience in science. I don’t know why I was entertaining the idea. Probably because he said job and I’d been looking for one for so long. I wanted to see how much he was serious. “You mean you’d want me to test the brightness levels or something?”

“If you’d like.”

That wasn’t much to go on. Did he expect me to guess? “Is everything you do about weapons?” I asked. “About working with things that kill people?”

He cocked a smile. “Hardly. I’m more interested in solving puzzles rather making it easier for people to create new ones. And the occasional human equation is usually the most stimulating.” His hand went out, and caught the strap on my dress that I hadn’t noticed had slid off my shoulder. His fingers grazed my skin as he adjusted the strap back into place. His touch sent my heart into a dizzying spin. “Are you interested in hearing more? This is probably an inappropriate time, given that we’re at a party. Perhaps we should talk more in depth later.”

My breathing quickened and my heart raced. The golden flecks in his eyes were distracting. His touch and invitation were clouding my judgment. Temptation swept over me, intimidating and precise.

He was testing me, I knew. He wanted to see if I was willing to play his game. Something about him made me want to step up to this shrewd challenge he was putting across to me. I wanted to figure out how far he was going to take this. “Do you mean an interview?” I asked quietly, pretending to be naïve to his seduction.

His sly fox smile broadened. “If you’d like to call it that. Personally, I’m not fond of a hiring process that’s so formal. I like working with people who I connect with, which is hard to do from across a desk.”

I lowered my eyes prettily, hoping to appear modest. Not usually my style, but this game was fun, albeit dangerous. And maybe that was the exciting part. “I just feel a bit underqualified.”

“We all start out underqualified, Miss Kate. I just have a good feeling about you.” He rose from the chair, and stretched out a hand toward me. “I’ll let you return to your date, but you should call me.”

Cat and mouse. He was putting the ball in my court. It was a coy move. That alone was something I didn’t expect. I had believed he’d try to win me over tonight. Most guys wanted to get to the goal right away. I had imagined he’d try to corner me and even try to sweep me up to his bedroom. Instead, he was deepening the challenge by giving me a tease and then sending me on my way like a pet. If I wanted to play with him, I’d have to step it up and show him I was willing to play.

I put my hand in his to allow him to help me to stand and then my heart stopped. He said to call him. He’d give me his card. His card would be in his wallet.

His real wallet wasn’t here.

“I’ll do that,” I said, grasping at his hand to still it before I could think about it. My other hand went up, grasping his second hand. It was very forward, but I needed to immobilize his hands and make him know I didn’t need his card. “I’m sure Brandon has your number,” I said.

The corner of Mr. Coaltar’s mouth twitched up. “I believe so.”

“Then I might call,” I said, although I hoped I sounded as cool as he did. I turned from him, not daring to look back, but the whole way, I felt his eyes on me.

My heart was thudding against my ribs, telling me that despite what I wanted to believe, he may have won that round.

?????

The party after that point was mostly uneventful. The worst part was waiting for Brandon to return with the wallet and the keycard.

I consulted with Corey about my suspicions that Mr. Coaltar had a few bodyguards. He said not to say anything and pretend as if he didn’t. If they were watching us that closely, he didn’t want us making eye contact in an effort to figure out if this was true.

Corey and I held hands and made rounds through the party. We would stop beside another group, pretending to socialize with each other while blending in. We repeated conversations about the weather. Corey reeled off his opinion about restaurants I’d never been to, while I made occasional comments about how interesting they sounded and how I’d like to try them.

I thought it would never end until Corey squeezed my hand hard once to get my attention. “Ready for round two?” he asked.

“I’m ready to leave,” I said.

He chuckled. “There’s still half a buffet of food left.”

“I don’t suppose they give to-go boxes.”

He squeezed my hand again. “Go stuff yourself with some last minute things. Be right back.” He winked and shuffled off.

I was in the middle of trying to swallow the last of one too many fruit tarts when one of the boys angled up beside me. One glance up at his eyes confirmed it was Brandon. “Did you leave me one?” he asked, eying the buffet.

“You would not believe the day I’ve had. I think I’d rather pickpocket.”

“Well here’s your chance.” He took my hand and casually drew it to his waist and then slid it down toward his butt.

“How’d it go?” I asked, feeling the outline of the wallet. I gazed around, looking for our target.

“I don’t know. I didn’t go in. Do you want me to hang onto this until we get close?”

I tapped gently at the wallet against his butt. “Actually, just hand it over. I have an idea,” I said. I found a fancy folded napkin, and smoothed it out. “Do you have a pen?”

“What are you doing?”

“Job prospect,” I said. “Maybe.”

“Maybe? What’s going on?”

I held a finger to my lips. I didn’t want to talk about it now. I didn’t really want to talk about it at all except I knew Corey would probably mention the second encounter. They would probably give me a lecture about lying to get a job. It was their fault I had to do it.

And I was totally lying to myself that this was any kind of job offer at all.

I wrote down the phone number of a voicemail box I’d established on the internet for whenever I applied for jobs. I couldn’t resist this game. I started it, I suppose. Maybe it was masochistic of me to find enjoyment in flirting with danger in this way.

I blew out a puff of air. Dropping a wallet was bad enough to think about before. Now that I knew his bodyguards were on the lookout, I needed to get this just right.

I waited, watching Mr. Coaltar from a distance. He was chatting with a couple closer to where the band was playing. Mr. Fitzgerald was standing by, but he was keeping an eye on the younger man in the polo I had spotted earlier who was now leaning toward one of the girls of the party, feeling his way up to her breasts. I shook off that image and focused again on Mr. Coaltar. At least Mr. Fitzgerald had a distraction. I checked back on Brandon, who was standing by and watching. It would have been too awkward if he passed by again in the same routine. Once was excusable. Two times would have been noticeable. This time, I had to do my best to switch the wallets and have Brandon come save me and escort me away. The difference was, if I was caught with a fake wallet after the exchange, I could easily pass it off as Brandon’s. Getting caught with Mr. Coaltar’s wallet was what I had to worry about.

I repositioned myself until I was behind Mr. Fitzgerald and walking toward Mr. Coaltar’s back. At the same time, I crossed in between people, nodding a polite hello on occasion as I passed – even if they weren’t paying attention to me. I tried to appear as if I was heading somewhere specific, not actually for Mr. Coaltar.

I tried not to shake too much. It was the last thing I might ever have to do. Maybe once and for all, I could leave bad girl Kayli behind. I could be someone new. Maybe even Mr. Coaltar would hire me.

Or date me.

I forced myself to take slow breaths and angled my head to make sure Brandon was hanging back. I waited until Mr. Coaltar started to turn and adjust his stance, so it was him moving into me.

Bump.

In a fluid motion, I’d traded the wallets and held the second one behind my back. This time I made sure to do it quickly so I wouldn’t be distracted. I avoided his eyes on purpose.

Through batting eyelashes, I focused on his tie. “Oh, sorry,” I said, being completely dismissive. I even started walking off as if not really looking at who I’d bumped in to.

“Miss Kate,” he said, not allowing me the luxury of simply walking away quickly. “When I said after the party, I meant...”

“Oh, no, I’m sorry,” I said, pretending to just recognize him. However, one look at his eyes, and I knew he assumed I bumped into him on purpose. Time for plan B. “I was just leaving and wanted to say goodbye.”

A smooth eyebrow cocked. “So soon?”

“I had ... um...” I had a lie ready, but thought feigning awkward pauses probably sounded more natural. I floated the napkin with my number in front of him. “I know you said to call you, but I thought...”

The corner of his mouth twitched up. He captured my wrist lightly and with his other hand, gently removed the napkin. “So I have talked you into it?”

“I’d like to learn about it before I commit,” I said. I pressed the fake wallet with my palm at the back of my thigh. I didn’t have to hide it now that I had the fake one back but didn’t want to draw attention to it either.

His head turned, gazing around the crowd once before returning to my face. “Your boyfriend doesn’t seem happy about that.”

I flicked a look, sighting Brandon not too far. His arms were crossed, and his brows furrowed. I was supposed to be walking away by now. He wasn’t happy.

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