Page 70 of Heist in Paradise

“Screw…you.”

“I’d have to get in line.” I could hear his smirk, even though I couldn’t see it through the fireworks exploding behind my eyes.

Madoc removed a pair of night vision goggles from his pack. I watched him slot them over his forehead before I did the same. Instantly, my vision flashed white, then settled on neon green, the shapes distorted and alien.

“Trippy.”

When I looked at Madoc, he was looking back at me, his mouth quirked beneath his own goggles.

“Something to add?” I demanded.

“Rich girl does cosplay.”

I crossed my arms, then regretted it when I started to slide. “Don’t sound so shocked. I happen to dress up every year.” Mainly for Halloween and themed sorority parties, but Madoc didn’t need to know that.

Besides, his condescending laugh said enough.

I ignored the blush on my cheeks as I twisted the lens, trying to get better acquainted with my surroundings. Instead, I caught myself watching Madoc as he shifted into a crouch with his back to me, facing the horizon. My eyes dipped low against my will—he was ridiculously agile, his legs tensed and strong, his back rippling with muscle.

“Basement set.” Ryle’s voice in my ear made me jump. They’d been oddly quiet in their tasks, focused and intense. Now and then, I’d hear the odd chuckle, gasp, or muttered curse, and it comforted me in a way that I didn’t want to explore too deeply. Like I hadn’t known just how lonely my head was until it was full of them.

The ocean was a dark green lip on the horizon, broken by white streaks of waves. I turned carefully, finding the mansion easily in the distance, the bright pricks of light that almost hurt to look at.

I settled myself better on the branch, deliberately not looking down. I told myself it was only because Madoc happened to be in front of me, not that I was staring at him intently, that I noticed him tensing. I followed his eyeline and saw it—the flare of a boat approaching the shore.

“Five minutes,” Nate warned in my ear.

Madoc’s head snapped over at me. “Eyes up.”

“What? Why?”

“They could have a bird.” The unspoken idiot was heard, loud and clear. Gritting my teeth, I looked up, scouring the neon green sky.

“Two minutes,” Nate said urgently.

Zola’s voice followed sharply: “We’ve finished with the fuse box. Going dark in three…two…one.”

Behind us, the mansion blinked out.

There was a moment of profound silence, like right before a storm.

Then…

“Sparrow?” Jax’s voice was both a blessing and a curse.

Madoc, typically, bit back. “What?”

“What was the code for the safe?”

Madoc remained silent, focused intently on the approaching vessel, until I thought he was going to ignore Jax entirely. Then he murmured: “six, one, seven, nine, two, six.”

Jax inhaled sharply. Madoc’s shoulders tightened at the sound, his head dipping low.

“Why?” Madoc asked carefully.

“Just checking,” Jax replied quickly—too quickly. Judging by Madoc’s continued tension, he knew it, too. “It might come in handy later. Princess?”

I jolted, my thighs automatically clenching around the branch so I didn’t topple off like an idiot. “Yeah?”