Thief of Hearts (18 page)

“I miss him, too,” I replied quietly, lifting the glass and taking a sip.

Mum studied me, her wise old eyes too perceptive for their own good. Before she could say more, voices sounded from the hallway and a second later Dad and Stu came into the kitchen. I sat by the island, eyes downcast as I tried to think up an excuse to leave. If only Alfie could call me right now with some emergency, I’d love him forever.

“Come in, you two,” said Mum. “I hope everybody’s in the mood for shepherd’s pie.”

“Ah, my favourite,” Dad exclaimed happily while Stu took the stool beside mine. I didn’t have the courage to meet his gaze.

“Would you like a lager, son?” Dad asked. He was big into trying out fancy European brews.

“That’d be great, thanks,” said Stu, his voice making my stomach flutter. The memory of him going down on me was still too fresh in my mind.

“How’d the lesson go?” Mum questioned, one leg crossed over the other as she perched on a stool and delicately sipped her wine. My mother was a tiny woman. I’d taken more after my dad’s side of the family in that sense.

“Wonderfully,” said Dad. “He’s coming on in leaps and bounds. Andrea, I’ve actually been speaking to Stu about applying to one of the undergrad courses at the university. Do you think he’ll be able to qualify as a mature student?”

“Sure. There’ll be a mountain of forms, and he’ll have to pass all his end-of-year exams first, but I don’t see why not,” I answered, chancing a peek in Stu’s direction to find him watching. Yep, still as brooding and darkly handsome as ever.

“You see,” Dad went on, spirited, “we’ll make a mathematician out of you yet.”

“Jim just wants you in the club so you can teach and attract more women into the field,” said Mum, and I shot her a look. Seemingly my mother got flirtatious with a glass of wine in her. Stu grinned.

“Hey now. I’m the only hunk in your life,” Dad complained jokingly as he went to wrap his arm around Mum’s petite shoulders and kiss her cheek. Normally, I found their love for one another endearing, but today I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Especially with Stu sitting next to me. My phone continued to burn a hole in my pocket. I was still avoiding checking to see if he’d answered my question.

“Okay, you all go sit down and I’ll dish up the food,” said Mum, waving us over to the dinner table.

“Can we talk later?” Stu whispered while Dad was out of earshot.

I pretended I hadn’t heard him. Probably not my finest hour, but it had been yet another in a long line of weird days. Mum carried the plates over, providing me with something else to focus on. Stu and I stayed relatively quiet while my parents chatted away throughout the meal, completely oblivious to the growing tension.

When we finished eating I immediately offered to wash up. Stu looked irritated that I was still avoiding him. And yes, I was being immature, but I was mortified for Christ’s sake. I felt like a teenager, wishing I could erase an embarrassing drunken text. The only difference was I’d been stone-cold sober when I sent those messages.

I noticed Stu checking the time before agitatedly running a hand over his jaw. It was clear he had somewhere he needed to be, and I was relieved. He likely had to go soon. To my dismay he stood and followed me to the sink.

“You wash, I’ll dry,” he grunted, his shoulders knit with tension.

Since Mum and Dad were still in the room he couldn’t confront me for avoiding him. Unfortunately, that saving grace was lost when they both retreated to the living room to watch TV.

“What’s up with you?” Stu asked once they were gone, his voice all growly.

I turned on the tap, plastering on a neutral expression. “Nothing.”

“Are you upset about today? Do you . . . regret it?” he questioned further, his brows furrowed. I turned off the tap, bracing my hands on the edge of the sink.

“Of course not.”

“Then why are you being such an ice queen? You barely looked at me in class and even now you’re acting strange. Was it the messages? Because I promise, nobody will ever see them. In fact, I’ll delete them right now if it’ll make you happy.”

He started pulling his phone from his pocket. I let out an exasperated breath and twisted to face him. “You don’t have to do that. I’m just embarrassed, okay? That’s why I’m being weird.”

He slid his phone back in his jeans as he frowned at me, then his features softened when my meaning sank in. “Luv,” he murmured, coming to cup my cheek, “you’ve absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. You’ve got a gorgeous little pussy. I loved every second of having my mouth on it.”

“Stu,” I gasped. His dirty words made me blush and I glanced shyly at the door, worried Mum or Dad might overhear. The volume was loud on the TV though, so I knew it was unlikely.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s, um, let’s get these dishes sorted and then we’ll talk, okay?”

“Sure, Andrea, whatever you want,” Stu replied, dipping down to capture my lips in his. His kiss was brief and I turned back around to focus on the task, my lips tingling the entire time. When we were done we went and said goodbye to Mum and Dad, and I promised them I’d try to convince Alfie to come visit with me next time.

As soon as we were outside Stu grabbed my hand, interlacing our fingers and leading me over to his Toyota. I had no choice but to follow.

“Let’s take my car. I’ll drive you back in a little bit.”

“If you’re busy we can do this another time.”

Stu’s grip tightened. “Nah, we’re good. I can multi-task.”

He had me strapped into the passenger seat before I had the chance to ask, “Where exactly do you need to be?”

Stu started the engine and pulled away from the kerb, his jaw firm. He actually seemed a little stressed. “I need to do some recon. This is the only time this week I know Renfield’s going to be out of his house.”

“You’re taking me to scope out the house of the man you plan to steal from?” I exclaimed, not happy in the slightest. “Stu, let me out of this car right now. I’m not helping you break into someone’s home.”

“Relax,” he urged, bringing his hand to rest on my thigh. “I’m not breaking in anywhere. I just need to get a feel for the place, see what I’m dealing with. And I want to do it while he’s out so there’s no chance of anyone spotting me. There’s no danger, Andrea. We won’t even be getting out of the car.”

“How do you know he won’t be there?”

“There’s some big charity hoopla going on tonight. The Duke told me about it. Said Renfield never misses an event.”

“Oh,” I breathed, my nerves subsiding a little. If Stu said there was no danger, then I trusted him. In a way it was completely unearned, but it was just how I felt in the moment. I couldn’t explain it. “Well, where does he live anyway?”

Stu shot me a grin. “Hampstead ‘I’m too rich for my own good’ Heath.”

I laughed because it was true. I was pretty sure half the celebrities in London lived in Hampstead Heath. A little while later Stu parked his car down the street from a moderately sized Georgian house, though given the location it probably cost as much as a mansion anywhere else. He’d picked a spot shrouded by trees, to avoid security cameras capturing the licence plate on the car.

Killing the engine, he turned to face me. “So, are we gonna talk this out, or what?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t you have some scoping to do?”

“The scoping can wait. I want to know what’s bothering you.”

“I’m fine, honestly. I was just being weird earlier. If you knew me, you’d realise I’m prone to bouts of weirdness.”

Stu squeezed my thigh, his voice warm yet commanding when he said my name. “Andrea.”

He wasn’t buying my bullshit, I guess. I needed a new tactic. “So, the painting is right in there, huh? Feels weird that we’re so close yet so far.”

“Luv, stop being an oddball and just talk to me,” Stu urged, his patience wearing thin.

“I’m not being an oddball. I’m just marvelling at the fact that we’re mere yards away from countless stolen antiquities. I wonder if he has any Ancient Egyptian artefacts in there. I’ve always been fascinated by hieroglyphics.”

“Right, that’s it,” said Stu, reaching over and unclipping my seatbelt. I yelped when he gripped me by the waist, lifted me up and placed me firmly on his lap. I scrambled to escape but it was no use. He was far stronger. The only exercise my muscles ever got was lifting coffee mugs and holding up paperbacks for prolonged periods as I read.

Before I knew it he had me straddling him, his warm hands gripping each of my thighs to hold me in place. “Now, let’s talk,” he said, his tone commanding.

I swallowed when his hands started moving slowly back and forth, caressing me. A tendril of desire coiled tight in my belly at the simple motion.

“This isn’t the best position for a casual chat.”

“Nothing casual about us. Now talk.”

“I told you, I’m embarrassed,” I said, eyes downcast.

“Because of what we did at the college.”

I shook my head. “Not just that.”

“Then what?”

“The message,” I mumbled shyly.

Stu let out a breath and lifted a hand to snag my chin. He pulled me forward and pressed a soft kiss on my lips. “Now why the fuck would you be embarrassed about that? Never be embarrassed about telling your man how you feel, Andrea. I fucking love that shit.”

I gaped at him, his words making my chest ache.

Your man.

“What?”

“I said,” he enunciated, “I fucking
love
that shit. I love that you have feelings for me. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is? I have to sit feet away from you every day, listen to you speak, witness you be patient and caring to every single person in that class, even though if you ask me, there are some who don’t deserve it. Every day you’re deeper under my skin, and I have no clue how deep I am under yours.”

His thumb came up to brush my lips, and I trembled at both his touch and his declaration. “You’re under my skin, Stu. I think you have been since the first day you stepped foot in my class.”

He stared up at me, his thumb still whispering back and forth over my lips, his other hand inching closer and closer to my inner thigh. His features were softer now, almost like my words were a relief to hear.

“Can I tell you something?” he asked, his voice low. I nodded and his thumb briefly skimmed the inside of my mouth. I wanted to sigh, because it made me think of other acts, things I wanted to do to him.

“When I got out my brothers took me to a strip club. In the past I would’ve been over the fucking moon,” he admitted and I smiled a little. “But that night I felt so numb. Everything about the place depressed me. I felt like I was broken, that there must’ve been something about my experience in prison that killed that part of me. Aside from being with my family and the need to take care of them, everything else seemed empty. I was determined to get this job done for the Duke so I could finally be free of my past and just focus on what mattered. But women? Yeah, I could take or leave them.”

“It’s no surprise that prison changed you,” I whispered. “I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like.”

“It was shit, but I’m used to shit,” said Stu. “It wasn’t the harshness; I could deal with that. In fact, being behind bars is probably more real than life outside. We’re stripped down to our baser natures—dog eat dog. It’s a lot more honest that the shifty bullshit that goes on in the outside world, people hiding behind their money, behind computers, behind the façade of decency. I hated everyone, hated the cowardice.

“The thing about having experienced prison is that you come out and you start thinking everyone else should have to experience it, too, and not because they need to be punished, but because they’re all so soft it’s scary. If society ever broke down they’d be the first ones to go. But then, I walked into your class, totally focused and prepared to use you, and you changed my mind.”

“How?” I whispered, my eyes flickering back and forth between his. I got the feeling Stu wasn’t ever this open, not even with his brothers. He was always so self-contained that I didn’t think being vulnerable before someone else would even be on his radar.

“You made me realise that softness is necessary. That we need both. People who are kind and who help others are needed, but so are people who are hard, toughened by experience. If everyone was like me, the world would be a shitty place. We’d all just be starting fights and kicking the crap out of one another. People like you give people like me a soft place to fall. Otherwise we’d just be cold and hard. That’s how I was before I met you.”

My heart clenched, the honesty and emotion in his words hitting me right in the chest.

Leaning forward, I kissed him, because I couldn’t find the right thing to say.

“Nobody’s ever seen me like you do,” Stu went on, whispering now. “Not even my brothers.”

“You see me, too,” I replied, my voice shaky. “Like no one else does. What you just said means everything.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, my need for him building by the second. The front seat of his car was too small a space to contain us and I felt just about ready to burst.

Stu shifted his body, reaching down and pulling his phone from his pocket. The movement caused a friction between us that made my breath whoosh out. He smirked knowingly and swiped his thumb across the screen. A second later he held it up to me.

“Here.”

I took the phone and glanced down, seeing our conversation from earlier, only this time there was a response to my question.

Stu Cross: Yeah. 2 many feelings, luv.

The simple answer made my chest ache. I felt so raw and exposed, yet relieved and overjoyed at the same time. Slipping the phone back to him, I pressed my lips to his, kissing him with a renewed hunger. This situation was far from perfect, but it was real.

Stu Cross made me feel alive. So much so that it took him coming into my life to make me realise I hadn’t been living. I’d been imprisoned in the past, hiding behind a future that was lost to me.

The kiss grew hungrier, our lips seeking, tongues colliding. Then a loud noise made me jump back and bang my head on the roof of the car. Stu chuckled and pulled me to him, rubbing the top of my head as I grimaced. The noise had been two cats having a fight, hissing and mewling at one another behind the trees.

“Come here,” Stu murmured, pulling me back to him and pressing his mouth to my temple. We stayed like that for a few minutes, quiet. Stu ran his hands up and down my back, dipping lower and lower each time. It was odd, but I felt at peace. Here we were, more or less on a stakeout. It was the least likely place to feel comforted, but he just made me feel safe.

I could tell he was still alert, still watching the house even as he held me. I wondered what he saw, if there was anything that suggested this job wasn’t worth taking the risk. In my heart of hearts, I really wished for him to back out, to tell the Duke he couldn’t be blackmailed. But I knew he wouldn’t. There were more people at stake here than just us. And for better or worse, we were in this together now.

“I won’t be in class on Wednesday,” said Stu, breaking me from my thoughts.

I pulled back to look at him. “Why not?”

“Got a meeting with Renfield at his place,” he answered, nodding to the house. “I’ll have to convince him I’m the real deal.”

I frowned, not liking the sound of that. “On your own?”

He nodded, his expression deceptively blank. I’d come to recognise it as a sign he was uneasy.

Stu stroked a hand down my hair. “No other choice, Andrea.”

I studied him a moment, taking in his features and feeling a sudden burst of protectiveness. “I’ll come with you,” I blurted.

Now Stu was the one frowning. “You will not.”

I stroked his dark hair away from his forehead. “I’m not letting you go alone.”

“Oh yes, you are. And anyway, he’s only expecting me. If I show up with some bird on my arm it’s only going to look suspicious.”

“Hey,” I said, suppressing a smile, “I’d prefer it if you didn’t refer to me as ‘some bird’, thank you very much.”

Stu gave me a sexy smirk. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re too classy for that.”

“My point exactly. My fine breeding will see you well when you meet with Renfield. I’ll bring an air of sophistication to the dealings,” I said, only half joking.

He studied me now, and I could tell he was considering it. “You know what, you’ve actually got a point there.”

“So you’ll let me come?” I asked, hopeful. I knew it wasn’t a good idea putting myself in harm’s way, but I cared too much for Stu now. I needed to be there to make sure nothing bad happened. Just because this Renfield lived in a fancy house in a wealthy neighbourhood, didn’t make him a good person. And I couldn’t help hearing Stu’s earlier words.
People like you give people like me a soft place to fall. Otherwise we’d just be cold and hard.
I wanted to be his soft place, his
safe
place, more than I wanted anything else.

Amid all my attempts to the contrary, my heart had latched on to Stu and I cared about him too much to let him go it alone.

He let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Yeah, Andrea, even though I know I’m probably going to regret it, you can come.”