“I don’t think you’re incapable at all. I’m simply offering to help.”
“Because you keep a hammer in your back pocket?”
“No. But because I know how to do things. Like tracking down and retrieving a stolen Stradivarius that was stuffed into a cabinet with dirty laundry in a second-story flat in Pigalle. Like finding a seventeenth-century Medici artifact that was hidden in the flour tins in an Italian bakery,” he said, and she arched an eyebrow as he rattled off some of his jobs. “Like tracking down a Degas drawing that was tucked under a floorboard in a house in Boston.”
“And you used your hammer for that?”
His lips curved up in a mild grin. “Yes. I used a hammer for that, and the owner was thrilled to have it back. I can also open most safes.”
“Is there anything you can’t do?” she asked sarcastically. “Now you’re a safecracker, too, MacGyver?”
“I’m not a safecracker,” he said as his lips twitched in a grin at the nickname. “But five years in the army working in intelligence gave me a lot of insight about how people think, and the best tools to use to solve problems. And I’ve been in this line of work long enough to develop some key skills. Those include but are not limited to picking locks, opening safes, removing floorboards quietly, climbing through windows silently, jumping out of windows without a sound. Running across the roof, shimmying down the trellis, then darting through the bushes, and doing it all without being seen.”
He left out the part about how a squeaky shoe on the wet cobblestones had gotten him stabbed. Besides, he’d escaped with the prize, despite the squeaky sole.
“My, my,” she said, making an O with her lips as he tried to sell her on his skills. But he couldn’t tell if she was truly impressed or still annoyed. “You dart, you shimmy, you dodge. You are a jack-of-all-trades.”
“Why thank you,” he said, though he was well aware she was mocking his best sales effort.
“So you want me to be the front woman, sniffing out information, and you can be Captain Adventure?”
“Sure.” He managed a smile. “I actually think that’s a perfect partnership. One that maximizes what we both bring to the table. Or think of it like this. You’re the sniper; I’m the gun.”
“But what if I just don’t need a gun, Jake? What if all I need are my eyes?” She pointed to her blue eyes. Her gorgeous, pretty-as-a-picture blue eyes that were so damn innocent and sweet-looking, just like the tone she was using now. This woman, she could work him over. He had to stay on his guard.
“Tell you what, Steph. Go to Eli’s on Thursday night. If he does have the diamonds in a bowl on his desk, or on the dining room table, or wherever, then all you have to do is stuff those beauties in your pocket and run back to Miami with them. I am happy to call Andrew and say I failed abysmally at my mission.”
She didn’t answer right away. She simply watched him, like she was studying him. “Hypothetically, if we’re partners and I went to his house to scope out the scene, would you wait quietly in a bush or trellis for me? You know, in case there are dangerous guard dogs you need to rescue me from?”
“I doubt you’d need rescuing from anything. But yes, I could do that. And by the way, I know there aren’t trellises on your stepfather’s property,” he said, his voice cool and casual, as he picked up the fork.
“How do you know that?”
“It’s my job to know that. His house is on the water. He has palm trees, an orchid tree, a rose bush, an infinity pool, and a boat in a private dock. He lives in a two-story stone house, with a stucco roof, purchased a year ago in a condo development called Corey’s Landing.”
She raised her eyebrows. The look in her eyes said she was impressed. “You do your homework.”
“Maybe I’m not just muscle. Maybe I have the brains, too,” he said, tapping his temple. “So what do you say? Are we in? If we find the diamonds, we return them to their rightful owners, the Eli Fund, and presumably that helps your mom, since she helped start the company,” he said, then he zeroed in on her soft spot, since it was his, too—looking out for others. “Look, let’s say he didn’t do it. But someone else did. Let’s pretend someone else took something from the fund. What happens if you dig into this and run into this person,” he said, and though he was convinced of Eli’s guilt, he also knew you could never be too careful, and he couldn’t rule out Eli having accomplices he didn’t know of yet. “What if you find someone else is involved? I’ll be your backup.”
“Like a bodyguard?” she asked, a bit playful.
“I give good backup, Steph,” he said, and she managed a small smile. “And good protection.”
“You know that sounds dirty.”
“I know. But I mean it, too. What do you say? You won’t rat me out and I won’t rat you out, and we help each other get to the bottom of the diamonds.” Stolen diamonds, he added in his head. He picked up the other fork and handed it to her, wanting her yes. This job would be finished a hell of a lot faster with an inside woman. He held a breath as he waited.
She took the fork but didn’t dig into the cake. The fork hovered in midair in her hand. “The diamonds might be in his nightclub.”
“They might.”
“Eli invited me to go tonight. He won’t be there. But they might be in a bank, too. If they’re in a bank vault, I doubt your hammer or lock-picking tricks would work.”