The Cocky Thief

Chapter 10

Jennifer fell against the wall and watched Austin's retreating form. That was... Bad? Good? She didn't even know anymore. She supposed she should be grateful that he didn't start to interrogate her about what she was doing wandering around the house when she should be eating cheesecake.

She was still reeling from the kiss. Kiss seemed like too simple of a word. They'd been moments away from ripping off the rest of their clothes and finishing what they'd started in the limo.

As soon as the fog in her mind had cleared, she pushed away from the wall and continued down the hall. The boots she wore had soft soles that made no noise on the tile. She was supposed to be memorizing the layout of the house, but she could barely think straight.

This was a prime example of why hooking up on the job was never a good idea. Distractions got you caught and with the people she'd ripped off, getting caught didn't get you arrested. It got you dead.

Especially if the Killion Group was involved.

It had taken her the rest of the day to wrap her head around Isobel's crazy plan and she still didn't know what had gotten into Isobel's head. To take on someone this powerful and then pull Jennifer and Mel in without even asking. Did Isobel need the money? After all the jobs they'd worked together when Jennifer was younger, she thought Isobel would be set for life. So why the gamble?

She glanced in all the rooms and stopped when she reached the window. There was a lock, but it was easy to flick open. A member of the staff could close it again at any moment, but for now it was nice to know it was open.

She wanted to spend more time opening windows and familiarizing herself with the area, but one of the staff members started down the hallway and she knew her time was up. Time she could've put to good use if Austin hadn't interrupted her.

Without thinking, her fingers touched her lips and the memory of the kiss came back to her. He'd seemed totally fine when she'd seen him in the hallway outside her room. What on earth had possessed him to follow her for that?

Maybe Isobel was right. If he was watching her and tracking her movements, he could end up being a problem. But if she told him off, it could come with its own set of issues. What was worse? An infatuated man following her around or an angry man following her around?

Then there was the problem that Austin wasn't a fool. If she told him she wasn't interested, he'd be confused as hell because she hadn't even thought about stopping him a few minutes ago. She liked to think that she had the backbone to keep her hormones in check, but Austin was a different animal than she'd ever encountered. She honestly had no idea what she'd do if he kissed her again.

She made it back to the dinner party and Austin was back in his seat, laughing politely at something Eileen Stranger said to him. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.

She repeated the mantra to herself as she took her seat next to Mel.

"I saved your cheesecake." Mel pushed the plate over to her.

Jennifer smiled. There were some benefits to working in a team. All the other dessert plates were gone, signaling that the servers had cleared everything. Mel had what looked like a fresh cup of coffee in front of her and Jennifer was willing to bet that any minute now all the menfolk would dismiss themselves to go smoke and have their boy talk. Funny how houses like this still seemed to live in the past.

Jennifer somehow managed to keep her eyes firmly focused on her cheesecake until Austin left the room with Stranger and Phillip. As soon as they were gone, Jennifer set her fork down. "I'm not feeling well," she lied to Mel. "I'll see you back upstairs."