AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She’s fine,” Fletch answered. “You and the boys fend for yourselves. Don’t baby them, make them fix your breakfast. After all, you’re the client.”
“Uh, I don’t know…”
“I do,” said Carter on the other side of the door. “Let’s leave Claire and Fletch to get things settled between them. They don’t need our interference.”
“I wasn’t interfering,” said Mia stubbornly.
Fletch leaned over her and knocked his head against the door before looking down at Claire. “I’m telling you, both of them would be so much better off if they’d just get it over with and fuck.”
“That’s not going to solve anything,” Claire said, clearly trying to keep from laughing.
“I’m telling you it would solve everything. Okay, maybe not everything, but it would relieve Carter’s aching dick and while they’re fucking, we could do the same, which is the absolute best solution to my massive hard-on.”
“Hmm,” she said smiling up at him as his cock throbbed against her belly. “That might not be a bad solution at all.”
“You two do know we can hear you, right?” said Carter.
“Can you make them go away?” she asked Fletch.
“Probably not unless I shoot him, and good hackers are so hard to find these days,” he answered, grinning down at her.
“I could share mine,” she offered, quite reasonably.
“Hey, boss,” said Joe Baxter. “I hate to break the four of you up, but we are seriously hungry out here and Mia says your girl can cook.”
“Mygirl,” said Fletch, “is awomanof infinite skills, not the least of which include being a master jewel thief and the ability to cook like a trained chef.”
Claire tapped on his chest. “I am a trained chef—or sort of. I trained but didn’t quite finish and never took the test.”
“Well, that would explain it.”
“Hey, Mia, did you get all the ingredients for Shakshuka?”
“What is my favorite breakfast?”
Claire laughed and looked up at Fletch. “That would be a yes to my question. Put that thing away and let me go feed everybody.”
Reluctantly he let her go. Sometimes the only time he felt truly connected to her was when he was balls deep in her. “All right, but I mean it, Claire. We need to talk—and sooner rather than later. I’m not going to let you screw up this deal over a necklace that nobody even remembers and a promise to a dead man—a promise I am sure he wouldn’t want you to keep if it meant going to prison or screwing up the rest of your life.”
She turned and opened the door. “You don’t know that. You don’t know that at all.”
She left him standing in the doorway and received a round of applause from his men as she entered the kitchen. He watched her for a few moments and thought she’d be great doing one of those cooking shows. She was beautiful and talented, but not in a way that put people off. Claire was approachable. On the other hand, she already had a thriving business doing restoration work. She had a waiting list that included royalty, heads of state, and major corporations. He just needed to convince her that working with him to help safeguard priceless artifacts and having a life with him was worth giving up the Clarion Necklace.
Fletch finished getting dressed and joined the rest of their group in the other room. The kitchen took up the back of the house with an enormous island separating it from the main living space. His men were crowded around her while she brought together a sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic, and red and yellow peppers in two large cast-iron skillets. Once it was bubbling and the flavors melding, Claire carefully cracked eggs into the pan, nestling them in the sauce before adding crumbled feta cheese and placing the two skillets in the large oven.
Yeah, if she fed his men like that, they were never going to follow his orders to stop her from doing something foolish. They’d be all about following her through the gates of hell and never asking her why she wanted to go—so long as she agreed to feed them.
Shaking his head, he headed toward the front door. When no one seemed to notice, he got in his vehicle and looked up the address of the Hardison family, programmed it into his nav unit, started the engine, and drove down the lane that led to the cottage and out onto the two-lane road.
He’d lived long enough in the UK that driving on the left-hand side of the road didn’t even register anymore. It was just where you drove. The few times he’d had to go back to the States, it had seemed odd to drive on the right-hand side.
Fletch drove south towards East Sussex, where the home of the Hardison family was located. He had no doubt they would be expecting anything. He noticed the tail he picked up just as he crossed out of Kent and into East Sussex. He told himself he was just being paranoid, but just to be safe, he made a couple of wrong turns. On the second one he lost them and relaxed. Being personally involved with Claire had really set his alarms off. He was so busy chiding himself he almost missed it when the sedan settled in two cars behind him.
Shit! Sure he’d noticed the tail, but when had he picked it up? He sure as hell wasn’t going to lead them to the Hardison’s, so he turned north and picked up the main highway headed for London. He used his Bluetooth and called Bax.
“Hey boss, where’d you get off to? This gal of yours can cook like there’s no tomorrow. I don’t know how to pronounce the name of this stuff, but damn, is it good.”
“Heads up. I’ve picked up a tail. I’m not sure where but I thought I’d lost them and now they’re back. I’m headed up to London. I’ll switch out cars and head back to you, but I want everybody on high alert. I won’t come back until I’m sure I’m alone.”
