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Thank God for her trademark composure. Because hearing her name in his voice made her knees feel shaky.
“But yes,” he continued, more seriously. “At the point we determine that Knoll has the diamonds, our partnership dissolves. You do your thing, I’ll do mine. We’ll see where those diamonds end up.”
Jess broke their eye contact and looked out at the water without seeing it. The word “yes” was already on the tip of her tongue, but her brain told her to bite it back. This was madness. Why would she partner with a man she knew she couldn’t trust? Or a man that she, at this very moment, wanted to climb on top of? He was probably planning on seducing information out of her without sharing anything of his own. Then he’d waltz away with the diamonds and she’d be right where she was six months ago: jobless, humiliated, and nearly broke.
But what other choice did she have? She had no idea what to do with the information in her possession. No one else seemed to believe in her innocence. Her father and brothers barely wanted to talk to her, and she didn’t want to skulk away to Sarasota again.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He just watched the water, waiting, a serene expression on his chiseled face. Maybe a limited partnership could work. They each had enough leverage on the other to even the playing field. For now. Once they started moving forward, he would undoubtedly have the advantage. She knew nothing about the players in the world of diamond smuggling. Or how to connect the dots between Knoll’s illegal activities and his very legal role as Trustee of the University. Yeah, she’d definitely be the junior partner. This was Adam’s world, not hers. But that’s why I need him.
“Let’s do it,” she said, holding out her hand to shake.
“Excellent.”
He looked down at her hand. Then, before she could even take a breath, he put his hand on the nape of her neck, and pulled his lips to hers. Soft, warm, and utterly delicious, the kiss was over in seconds. Criminy.
Determined to remain unfazed, she ignored the instinct to put his lips right back where they were, open her mouth, and scratch her nails down his back. Instead she stood and stretched her left quad muscle. “What’s next?” she asked blandly.
He gave one his barking laughs. The kind t
hat seemed to burst from his chest without him knowing it was coming. “We’re going somewhere you can put that poker face to use. We’re going to Vegas.”
* * *
Jess walked ahead of him on the gangway to the 747. He’d purchased first-class tickets for them both. For a moment it looked like she was going to protest, but then he’d mentioned the price and she closed her mouth.
He wished he’d thought up this partnership weeks ago so that he could have gotten her a solid false identity to travel under. Technically, she didn’t need one. As a fully law-abiding citizen, she was free to fly to Vegas whenever she wanted. And it wasn’t like he was going to allow her into any dangerous situations where her actual identity should be hidden. But it just chafed against every undercover instinct that he had. Today, for the flight, he was Thomas Paine again. By the time they checked into the Wynn Resort, he’d be someone else.
They took their seats in the third row. He was surprised when Jess accepted a mimosa from the flight attendant. She’d been so quiet ever since he’d met her at the terminal. He felt certain she would be stiff and guarded around him during the trip. Maybe to discourage any more impromptu kisses.
That had been a truly stupid move on his part. She’d pulled the rug out from underneath him when she knew his true name. When she stuck out her hand to shake on the partnership, he had wanted to take her down a peg. To unsettle her. Hence, the kiss.
Now he was the one unsettled. Now he had the tiniest idea of what she felt like, tasted like. Heaven. How the hell was he supposed to resist going for more?
As the plane taxied down the runway and lifted into the air, he tapped her glass with his own. “Here’s to new partnerships.”
She accepted the toast and took another sip. Glancing around, her face broke into an unexpected, childlike smile. “I’ve never flown first class before.”
That dimple in her right cheek was damn appealing. “It’s a treat,” he agreed.
He waited until she’d finished her drink before he said, “Shall we start sharing information? It is a three-hour flight.”
“You first.”
He inclined his head. “As you wish. Two years ago, Knoll found himself in severe financial difficulty. The last company he started didn’t do as well as expected, and he sold it at a terrible loss. Then he went through a very expensive divorce. Instead of taking time to recover and properly research a new venture, he borrowed a large sum of money to start a new company—which also failed.”
“I know that already,” Jess said. Adam raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t have come by that information very easily—or legally. Hmmm. Either she must have decided that hacking into Knoll’s bank was worth the considerable risk—or she was so good at it, it wasn’t very risky. He’d love to know which it was.
She cocked her head at him. “I couldn’t find where he borrowed the money for the new company though. One day his accounts were almost empty and the next, he was absolutely flush again. The money came from shell companies that I couldn’t trace.”
“That makes sense,” Adam said. “Because he borrowed the money from Arnie Sedarno.” Finally, finally, Knoll had made the perfect mistake. Adam had been waiting for years for such an exquisite blunder. The error that would open the door to ruin and retribution.
Jess shook her head. “That name doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Arnie Sedarno is the head of one of the largest organized crime families in the country,” he stated. “Allegedly.”
She blanched. “Oh. So he lost a bunch of the mob’s money. That’s why he turned to diamond smuggling?”
“Exactly. Knoll needs a quiet and untraceable way to pay back Sedarno. Diamonds can be used almost like cash,” he explained. “The smugglers I spoke to suspect Knoll has connections to some unregulated diamond mines in a West African country, but they didn’t know much beyond that.”
