Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta (4 page)

He grinned at her. “Same difference.”

Bastard. His smile was contagious. “I
didn’t do it on purpose.” She’d never be able to go in there again. Even
walking past would make her want to die.

She stopped. “We should go back and
explain.”

“Oh no. I know how that would work out.
Call the police first, ask questions later.”

“But if we tell them the whole story—”

“Then they’ll take us down to the station
to make a statement and spend the afternoon laughing at us. Sound good to you?”

“No, but—”

“But nothing. They overcharge in that
restaurant anyway. Call it a blow for consumers.”

“Oh my god. You have no shame whatsoever,
do you?”

He winked at her. “And you’ve got enough
for the both of us.”

Brilliant. Now he sounded like Sean. Did
the whole world think she was too nice? “Well, thanks for the entertainment,
but I’m going home now.” There was still enough of the afternoon left for her
to salvage. She started walking and he kept pace alongside her.

“Home? But we were just starting to have
fun.”

“Sorry, that wasn’t what I call fun.”

“Then you need to broaden your horizons.”

She needed to shake him off. There was no
way she was going to let him walk her to her door.

“I’ve got an idea. Why don’t I take you out
for dinner? I’ll even pay before we leave.”

“Very funny. I’ll have to pass.”

“Spoilsport.”

“I know. I’m very boring.”

“That’s just a front. Boring people don’t
steal from French restaurants.”

God, he was persistent. “I’m going home
now. Goodbye.”

“Can I call you?”

She thought about giving him her number.
Then she’d be waiting by the phone and hating herself for doing it. She shook
her head.

“Okay.” He rummaged in his pockets and
found a pen. Taking her hand, he turned it palm up. “Hold on a minute.”

She stopped walking. Taking his number
didn’t mean anything. Once he’d given it to her, he’d leave her alone and she
could go home.

He wrote his phone number across the middle
of her palm. Then he kissed it for good measure.

“Don’t wait too long. I might get a better
offer.” He folded her hand closed, turned and walked away.

What? Like that blonde?

She watched him go for a moment or two,
telling herself she should leave before he looked back and caught her.

She couldn’t do it.

After a few more seconds, he stopped and
gave her a sweeping bow.

Loretta managed not to wave, but when she
walked away, she couldn’t stop herself looking down at the number written on
her hand.

She wouldn’t call it. She wouldn’t.

––––––––

W
hen Loretta got home, she changed into
jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, threw together a sandwich and headed for the
garage.

Cheese and tomato wasn’t much of a lunch
when she’d been expecting medium rare steak. The sandwich was gone in a few
bites. Oh well, it filled a hole and it didn’t come with all the drama attached
to the steak dinner.

She pulled Edna’s tarpaulin off and thought
about what she should do next. The new gauges she’d ordered had arrived on
Monday. All she’d had time to do was get them out of their boxes and take a
look.

With the rest of the afternoon to herself,
she decided to have a go at the tyre pressure gauge first. She got down to work
and the hours slipped away like they always did. It was only when it got so
dark it was difficult to see what she was doing that she realised how late it
was.

She hadn’t been hungry, but as soon as she
thought about getting something to eat her stomach started to rumble. Better
get cleaned up and search the kitchen.

After putting everything straight and
covering Edna up again, she headed for the shower. She turned on the water and
waited for it to reach the right temperature.

What a day. Armed robbery and lunch with
the most infuriating man she’d ever met. Well, they’d almost had lunch.
Apparently fate hadn’t wanted them to break bread together.

Taking off her clothes, she threw them on
the floor and climbed under the steaming water. Nothing ever felt as good as a
hot shower after a hard day. She squeezed out a good measure of gel and
lathered herself up. It didn’t take long for her to get started on a Jennifer
Hudson medley, her voice bouncing back to her off the walls.

Then she caught sight of the black smudge
on her hand. The phone number. Shit, she’d forgotten all about it.

She held her palm out of the water and
tried to make out the numbers. It was pointless. Not a single digit was
legible.

Good, she told herself. He was a liar and a
womaniser. She should have washed it off as soon as she got in the house.

She started another song, but soon trailed
off. It didn’t matter how much she rationalised it, her good mood was gone.
Whether she liked it or not, there was something about Jordan that she couldn’t
shake off. And now there was no chance she’d see him again.

It looked like she was back to being a good
girl.

***

“I
have to admit, there was a small part of
me that thought you might be stupid enough not to show tonight.” Ursino stroked
his beard and gestured for Jordan to sit down.

There wasn’t a safe answer to that, so he
kept his mouth shut.

“Everything go smoothly?”

“You know about Marcolini?”

The boss nodded. Of course he knew, but
there were set steps to this dance and Jordan had to place his feet correctly.

“We managed well enough without him.”

“So I see. Not quite the haul we were
expecting though.”

“Not far off. Everything they had in the
tills.” But Gina would have told Daddy all about the deposit boxes and the bank
manageress.

“Expect a call from Marcolini.”

He kept his expression neutral.

“He’s got one last chance to redeem
himself. I’ve put him in charge of the next job. Give him all the intel you get
about the back room at the bank.” Ursino started tapping away at his computer
keyboard. The audience was over.

Jordan got to his feet. He was halfway to
the door when he changed his mind. “Sir, can I speak freely?”

Ursino looked up, his face unreadable. “Go
ahead.”

“Marcolini’s a hothead. He was this morning
and nothing will have changed since then.” Going back into that bank with him
at the helm was guaranteed to end with one or all of them in the dock. As he
met Ursino’s gaze, he slowly came to the conclusion that was the whole point.
But which one of them did the old bastard want behind bars?

“He knows what’s at stake here. As do you.
Find a way to handle him.”

Trying to keep track of all the different
layers of meaning in the conversation was making his head hurt.

Ursino turned his attention back to the
computer screen and Jordan made his way out.

This was turning into a massive pain in the
ass. How could everything have spun out of control so fast? Gina, Bill, robbery
number two. Even his attempt to get Loretta into bed had gone wrong.

He walked out to the street. The day had
started so well. His phone rang in his back pocket and he pulled it out. It
would be Gina again.

But it was Bill. “Hey.”

“How’s the information gathering going?”

“Been spying on me, Bill?”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting shy.”

Enough of this bullshit.
“What do you want?”

“We’re going in Saturday afternoon. You’ve
got till Wednesday to get us a way in.”

“Or what?”

“Or I tell Ursino you’re a lying piece of
shit who’s cheating on his daughter.”

“I’ll talk to you Wednesday.” He hung up
before Bill could get in another dig.

It could have been worse. It was only Friday
now. But if he wanted to pull this off, he needed to hit the ground running.

Scrolling through his call history, he
found Danny’s number. “Danny? I need to fill you in on a few things. And I need
a favour.”

He’d spent most of the afternoon hoping Loretta
would call. Now he was hoping she wouldn’t. There was a lot to get done before
he saw her again.

––––––––

S
aturday morning found Loretta back at the
bank ignoring Sean’s offer of a day off.

“What are you doing here?”

“Hello to you too, Sean.” She walked past
him and into her office.

He followed her in. “I told you not to
come.”

From a man who saddled her with his work
every chance he got, that was a very worrying thing to hear. “And I said I was
fine to work.” She looked him in the eye, remembering her bluff about the tape.
He was up to something. But then that was nothing new. “Have the police said
anything?”

“No. They took fingerprints and did all
that CSI stuff, but they didn’t sound very hopeful.”

She thought back to the kiss in the safety
deposit room. His smell. His taste. She’d know those things if she ever
experienced them again. But that wasn’t exactly likely. It’s not as if they’d
call her in for a line-up and get her to kiss all the suspects.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” If she wasn’t careful, he’d
make her take some leave. “I’m fine.”

He stared at her and for the first time she
could remember, there wasn’t anything lecherous in it. “Whatever, Loretta. Do
what you want.” He walked out, closing the door behind him.

So now what? On any other Saturday, she’d
be working her way through emails and memos and preparing reports. She switched
on her computer and tried to remember what she’d been working on the day
before.

The faint remnant of black ink on her palm
kept distracting her. She licked her finger and rubbed at it, but it wouldn’t
come off. What was the point of ink that couldn’t stand up to a shower but
wouldn’t wash all the way out?

She caught herself breathing hard and made
an effort to calm down. It was ridiculous.

Every logical fibre of her being kept
repeating the fact she was better off without the temptation of Jordan’s phone
number. But the rest of her just felt flat.

Even the idea of working on Edna when she
got home didn’t appeal to her and that never happened.

That was the trouble when you let work
become your life – when work wasn’t there, you had nothing to fill the gap.

Which was another reason she was in the
office on a Saturday when she didn’t have to be there. Her presence at the bank
didn’t make it any more likely Sean would behave himself. The truth was, she
couldn’t face the idea of staying in the house on her own all day.

It was so long since she’d spoken to her
friends she was afraid to get in touch. Her parents were away visiting family
back home. In fact, she should have gone too, but she hadn’t wanted to ask for
the time off work and she was sick of all the aunts and uncles asking when she
was getting married.

Not for the first time, she wished she
could be a fly on the wall in Sean’s office. Her ears were burning and she was
pretty sure it wasn’t because he was singing her praises.

Well, there was nothing to be done about
that. The target analyses needed updating for the week, so she got stuck into
the figures and soon got lost in the process.

The morning passed pretty quickly after
that. It was surprising how easily everyone had slotted back into their
routines after what had happened. The only exception was Melanie who’d decided
to take a few days off. Loretta was amazed more people hadn’t reacted in the
same way. Perhaps they were all in denial, herself included.

At one o’clock, she shut down her computer,
grabbed her bag and left her office. If Sean didn’t want her there, he could
close up without her. The sun was still shining brightly – she really ought to
make good use of the weather.

Stepping outside, she considered going for
a walk along the canal. She’d have to go home and change first. Maybe find a
book to take with her.

“Loretta, I was hoping you’d be at work
today.”

Her heart leapt before she actively recognised
the voice. She turned to see Jordan holding a big box tied up with a red bow.
“Jordan?”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be in, but I didn’t
have any other way of finding you.”

“What...?” Her brain was struggling to follow
what he was telling her.

“Look, I’m really, really sorry about
yesterday, but I wanted to see you again.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“Oh shit. I’m coming on too strong again,
aren’t I?” He shoved the box at her and backed off. “Just take this. I’m
sorry.” He walked away.

She watched him go, then looked down at the
gift in her hands. It was too large for chocolates. Curiosity got the better of
her and she tore open the wrapping.

“Oh my god.” Her hand went to her mouth.
She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t thought he’d been listening, but now she
could see he must have been.

He’d found the front grille she needed for
Edna. It was exactly the right one.

“Wait, Jordan.” She ran up the street.
Where the hell was he? “Jordan.” She’d already lost his phone number. She
couldn’t let a second chance slip through her fingers.

“Jordan.”

He worked to keep the smile from his face
as he heard her calling out for him.

“Jordan, wait.”

With his best attempt at a surprised
expression, he turned around and let her catch up with him. “Loretta.”

“Where did you get this?”

“I’ve got a friend who owns a garage. He
made a few calls for me.”

“I can’t believe you remembered.” She
looked so pretty with her eyes all wide and impressed. It made driving all over
town that morning more than worth it.

“I got the impression you weren’t going to
call me.”

Her full lips tightened and he knew he’d
hit the nail on the head.

“I needed something to get your attention.”

“You’ve certainly done that.” She looked
down at the box. “But I can’t accept it. Not as a gift. Let me pay you back.”

“The only payment I want is a date.”

Their eyes met and he was happy to feel a
kick of electricity. He wasn’t losing his touch.

“I... I don’t know.”

“One date. Weren’t you enjoying yourself
before we got interrupted yesterday?” He had to tread more lightly with this
girl – she needed more space than the likes of Gina. It went against his
instincts, but he bit down on his tendency to let his mouth run away with him.

“Where did you have in mind?”

He’d spent a long time thinking about that.
“As someone who absconded from a restaurant without paying the bill—”

“Hey, that was a mistake.” A smile played
at the corners of her mouth.

“I thought you might appreciate something a
bit naughty.”

She went very still and very quiet. So
quiet he thought he’d blown it.

“But not too naughty?”

He shook his head. There was a hidden side
to this assistant bank manager. It didn’t surprise him all that much.
Preachers’ daughters were always the wildest ones underneath it all. “I’ll pick
you up tonight. About eight?”

“Okay.”

“Where?”

“Where are we going?”

“Just outside town. How about I meet you in
front of the bank.” He couldn’t resist.

“Okay. Eight o’clock outside the bank.”

He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“Until then.” And so the game began.