AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mickey was so wrapped up in the video system she’d put up that Strap didn’t think she noticed he was in the room. He remembered the high of planning a heist and how single-minded he and Mick got the nights before everything went down.
Strap prepared the rabbit and cooked it on an open fire outside. He remembered seeing some canned vegetables in the pantry, and when he checked the expiration date, they were still good. So, he opened one, threw them into a pot, and finished making dinner.
When he’d placed everything on two plates. Strap turned off the laptop screen Mickey was staring at. She whipped her head up at him. Before she said anything, he pointed to dinner.
“Time to eat. If you’re going through with this, you need rest and food in your stomach.” Strap took Mickey’s hand and pulled her outside with very little resistance, although she still had a bit of irritation flashing in her eyes. “You need a clear head, and the only way you get that is by feeding your body and mind with more things than just the work you do.”
“That’s a good point,” Mickey said, looking at the plate Strap had prepared for her.
“That is something your father taught me.” A lump in Strap’s throat choked him up. He’d spent so much time thinking about how their relationship ended that he’d forgotten all the good lessons that Mick had imparted to him.
While it was always connected to stealing and thievery, it did come from a place of caring and compassion … at least between Strap and Mick. Strap looked away from Mickey and swallowed down the memory with the charbroiled rabbit meat. It tasted good, warm, and a little bitter from the memories.
Mickey watched him. He was reluctant to look at her when he was emotional, but something about the mating connection made him share his vulnerability. He looked up and met her eyes. “What?” he asked.
“This is really good.” Mickey took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “All parents have good points and bad points. My mom was better than others, but relationships with family are always complicated.”
Strap shrugged. “I didn’t know my parents.”
“But you talk about Michel as if he were your father.”
Strap searched Mickey’s face. Her features were soft, and she held compassion in her eyes. He was having a difficult time figuring her out, but he squeezed her hand back.
“He was until he wasn’t,” Strap said.
“That’s usually the way it goes.” Mickey picked up a green bean with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. She smiled at him. “So, what else are we going to do tonight?”
NINETEEN
MICKEY
Pouring over footage on the laptop on the kitchen table after dinner, Mickey thought about how little girl Mickey couldn’t have imagined seeing anything like this except in a movie.
The camera arrays, the monitoring equipment, the wood furnishings of the Airbnb, and the state-of-the-art laptop. The drone technology that gave them a bird’s-eye view … or catbirdbrain’s eye view, given her partner in crime.Or partner in bed… sogood it should be criminal.
A year ago, the only way she could have gotten a glimpse into a mansion like the one they were inspecting was as a maid. But that would be a big if … who knows if she’d even get the job.
And then there was the gorgeous man beside her, who literally fell out of the sky, saying he was meant to be with her. A man with literal superpowers. Including the ability to cook.
His leg touching hers, sitting side-by-side on the leather chairs, sent her heart racing as they scrutinized the black-and-white videos.
She stole glances at him every once in a while. Looking down at the perfect shape of his thick thighs, she imagined being on top of him. She remembered how good he felt inside her.
But there was the task at hand. They had a job to do.
“There are just so many places inside the house where the baseballs could be and so many ways to enter,” Mickey said.
“It’s huge. It’s going to be really hard to tell from surveillance footage alone where to begin,” Strap said.
“I mean, even in our little one-bedroom in Riverside, I could only ever find one shoe of any pair when I needed to get out the door. But this place isn’t even a mansion … it’s a maze. This could take weeks to figure out,” Mickey said.
The thought of spending weeks with him bunked together in a bungalow on the coast of paradise sent a warmth down her panties. He made it impossible to concentrate. She hoped she had the same effect.
“I can’t picture you ever being in high school,” Strap said.
“Do I look that old to you, catbirdbrain?”
“No. Just hard to picture you failing at anything. I feel like you came out of the womb with your shit together.”
