Artie Bosh was waiting for them at the hangar. Cardello Industries owned several hangars on the private airstrip – not at the Miami airport, of course, but close. The other hangars were owned by middle-class, middle-aged white dudes who needed to pick up another hobby besides golf. Artie himself Bee had known for years. Charlie had employed him long before they were married. Artie, with his male pattern baldness and affable nature, was a big guy, far too big for the cheap suit he wore, but soft around the middle. He looked like he’d played football in high school then never worked out again a day in his life post-graduation. He had a friendly, wide face and all his teeth.
‘Mrs C,’ he greeted, wrapping her in a hug.
There were only a few Cardello men Bee would ever let hug her, and Artie was one of them.
More often than not, he’d been at the beach house with her when she, pregnant with Oliver, had been deemed by her husband too fragile to work. He was too friendly to be a good bodyguard, an attack dog who would lick an intruder to death, but he never complained about late-night ice cream runs. Or the occasional late-night spaghetti run. She’d sent him on a fair share of those in her third trimester.
‘Hey, Artie. How’s the family?’
‘Rachael just turned eight.’ He let go of her to pull out his wallet, flashed a school picture of a toothless brunette beauty. ‘Looks just like her mom.’
‘Well, small mercies,’ Bee teased. ‘You taking us to the beach house?’
He tucked his wallet away. ‘Yes, ma’am. Jet’s not much, I gotta tell you, but at least it’s clean. How’s it going, Malika?’
‘You know, it’s been worse, honestly,’ Malika said.
Adam had Hogarth’s leash in one hand and the duffle bag in the other. Artie didn’t realize this until after he’d stuck his hand out in greeting.
Adam looked at the other man’s hand, set the duffle bag by his feet and shook it.
Bee grinned at Malika, who rolled her eyes.
‘Artie Bosh,’ Artie said.
‘Adam,’ said Adam.
‘Mr C told me you were coming.’
Oliver said, ‘Hey, Artie. Is Rachael here?’
‘No, sorry, buddy. But maybe you can FaceTime her in the morning.’
Oliver looked down at himself. ‘Only after I change clothes at Dad’s house. I don’t need girls seeing me in my Hulk pajamas.’
‘Girls? What girls?’ Bee ruffled his hair. ‘Let’s keep that singular, huh?’
He ducked away from her hand. ‘Can we go on the plane now? I’m so tired. And there were so many bullets. And so many farts in my face.’
Artie nodded, still smiling, but now it had taken on a confused quality, like he hadn’t totally understood the conversation. ‘Yeah, sure, go on ahead. I’ll take the dog for a walk?’
‘Please and thank you,’ Bee said, and Adam handed the leash over.
He hoisted the bag over his shoulder. ‘You ready?’
Bee yawned. He popped a dimple and she turned to the plane to keep him from seeing her face flush. ‘Let’s go.’
The Eclipse 500 was a small jet, but it was clean, the tan leather of the seats and the dark grey carpet spotless. The jet sat six, including the pilot and co-pilot, with the other four leather chairs facing each other. Two were reclining seats, the other two a bench in the back with a pull-down armrest and cup holder.
Oliver plopped down on one of the recliners and curled up on his side. Malika grabbed every pillow off the bench and plopped on to the empty recliner, buckling up and burying herself underneath the cushions.
The pilot was someone Bee hadn’t seen before. A handsome Black man, about her age, taller than most, with a suit well tailored to his svelte form. He flashed her a pleasant smile and said, ‘Mrs C.’ He gave Adam a once-over but didn’t offer his hand the way Artie had. ‘I’m Jimmy White.’
‘Nice to meet you, Mr White. You gonna get us home safe?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘I’m gonna take your word for that.’ She collapsed on the bench seat across from Oliver and yawned again. ‘I’m fading fast, guys.’
Oliver was already snoring.
Adam put the bag in an overhead compartment and sat with her on the bench. Her stomach did a flip, tightened, and she rested her head next to the window so she could look at the runway and not at the ghost from her past solid at her side.
Artie and Hogarth came in last. The dog tried once to jump on Oliver’s chair, but after failing, he sneezed and lay down on the carpet. Artie and Mr White took their seats at the helm.
Within minutes, they were in the air, flying away from all the forces Alvarez had sent after her and her son.
She watched the lights of the city fade, glimmering like stars beneath her. Maybe they were escaping the mess Charlie had made, but they were going into another mess. The beach house was a sanctuary, sure, locked down like a fort. But it was Charlie’s sanctuary. Filled with Charlie’s men. And the man next to her was one Charlie had sent her way.
Did that make him Charlie’s too?
She closed her eyes. She needed to talk to Adam. She knew she needed to talk to Adam. But talking about feelings and communicating and blah blah ick. Bee shuddered, hugged herself.
How do you even start a conversation like that?
Hey, my dude. I know I’ve been married and had a kid and gotten divorced, but I waited for you to call me for, like, a super long time, so where did you go? Why did you drop off the face of the earth?
If she was honest with herself, it wasn’t asking the questions that scared her. It was the answers she might get that kept her from asking. Os had often paired Adam and Bee up on assignments. But once they’d hooked up, that was it – they were never together again. Os had told her that Adam was the type of man who loved ’em and left ’em – as cliche as that was. That he couldn’t have relationships, because those were weaknesses that could be exploited. And then he told her she should try to move on in that way of his that made it clear it wasn’t a suggestion.
She shuddered again.
‘You OK?’ Adam asked, his voice quiet.
Bee opened her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the low lighting. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Just can’t get comfortable.’ She leaned back on the seat, rocking her head side to side against the cushion of the headrest. ‘You know, Adam, and don’t get me wrong here: I’m super happy that it’s you my ex hired. But I was thinking, like, what are the odds that it’d be you my ex would hire?’
His elbow brushed against hers when he leaned against their shared armrest. ‘It ain’t much of a coincidence.’
‘Oh?’ Bee stared at him in the low fluorescent light. ‘How do you mean?’
‘Cardello, he’s definitely your type.’
That didn’t answer her question, so Bee didn’t respond to it.
‘Good-looking, big wallet, too trusting,’ Adam continued despite her silence. ‘He reached out for recommendations, got hold of a mutual contact. When I saw your face in the report, I figured I’d do an old friend a favor.’
‘He sent my face out?’ Horror crawled over her skin. ‘My face?’ She glanced at Oliver and dropped her voice back down to a whisper. ‘To who?’
Adam shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Everybody.’
‘That idiot.’ She held her head in both hands. ‘That big dumb idiot.’
‘Yeah.’
‘So now, it really doesn’t matter what the threat was, does it? Because now some people who think I’m dead realize I’m actually rather alive.’
He said, ‘That’s why I’m here.’
Bee worried her bottom lip. Could this be Os after all? Could Os have sent Adam? Was this really all Charlie’s doing?
But Adam had never hurt her. He’d ghosted her, alone and confused, sure, but never had he hurt her. At least not physically. But she’d been so young and all heart, it hadn’t taken much to shatter it.
Back on Os’s crew, Adam had been in charge of the heavy lifting. More than just the muscle, he cleared the way. He made sure that the people doing the job could get to the goods. It wasn’t in his job description to save her life. And yet he had, again and again.
What choice did she have but to trust him? At least until she and Oliver were safely behind the gates of the beach house and Charlie was dealt with.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You sure you’re OK?’
She undid her topknot, combed her fingers through her hair. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘I’m just … I’m processing.’
‘Yeah, there’s a lot going on. A lot of missing pieces.’
‘A lot of missing pieces,’ Bee agreed. ‘But we’ll be in New Jersey in what, two hours? The only thing then is, how do we keep Charlie from finding out we know each other?’
‘Lie?’
‘Yeah, we’re gonna have to lie. We’re gonna have to lie our butts off. Lie ’em clean off.’
He popped a dimple. ‘You’re revved up right now.’
‘Charlie doesn’t know about my past, Adam.’ She braved a look at Oliver and found him sleeping. Malika’s face was hidden behind pillows, but Bee assumed the nanny was asleep too. And even if she was awake, Malika knew everything anyway. ‘Charlie doesn’t know about Thomas Osbourn, and I’d like to keep it that way. I picked him because Os didn’t have any hold over him or his business. Because if he finds out, he’s liable to freak out. Freak the F out. Freak out on everybody’s faces. And that would be bad for everybody. Especially me. Because I need you around protecting not only my face’ – she circled her face with her finger – ‘but that of my son as well. And Charlie is likely to keep you away from us if he finds out.’
Adam relaxed against his seat, stretched out his long, muscular legs and crossed his ankles. ‘He still doesn’t know? You guys have a ten-year-old kid.’
‘He’s got no idea,’ Bee said. ‘Zero. At some level it’s – it’s like – am I really that good? You know? When I found him, I was fully off the grid, so to speak. I had to use the old tricks to get his attention. Fall into him and have him catch me. Smile every time he lit a cigarette so he’d associate my happiness with his nicotine addiction. Stare into his eyes and really listen while he talked nonstop about himself.’
Adam nodded. ‘Classics.’
‘I made sure to show him I was good at math and puzzles. And he really took that to heart and believes to this day that’s why I was a natural at, you know …’
‘Theft. Grifting. General disregard for law, order and authority?’
‘Yeah, all of the above.’
He laughed, quiet and carefree, and Bee watched the way his throat moved.
‘Speaking of which,’ she said, ‘how is your lifting?’
‘Hm?’
‘You were easily the worst pickpocket I’ve ever seen in my life,’ Bee teased. ‘Just zero finesse. No subtlety. Using your thumb all willy-nilly.’
His face brightened in amusement obvious even in the low light of the plane. ‘I’m not that bad.’
‘No?’ She raked her hair over one shoulder. ‘Take my necklace.’
‘That’s not fair,’ he said. ‘First of all, you know it’s coming?’
‘Mhmm,’ she agreed, waiting anyway.
‘Second of all, I’m one-handed.’
‘You think most women will let you put two hands around their necks?’ Bee guffawed. ‘I think not.’
He lifted up the armrest between them and moved closer. ‘Why would I need to be stealing women’s necklaces in the first place?’
Their knees bumped. ‘If you’re gonna be around my kid, you should be able to lift. It’s a necessary skill as far as I’m concerned.’
‘Your requirements for employees,’ he began, stretching his arm out behind her, ‘are far from standard.’
His fingertips ghosted across the nape of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. ‘Tickles.’ She grinned. ‘And I’m not a standard employer.’
He pulled his arm away, and she smiled brighter to hide the weird disappointment that filled her stomach.
‘I could teach you.’
‘To steal necklaces?’
‘First of all, it’s more than stealing. Anybody can steal with the right equipment.’ She turned her body to him on the bench seat and rubbed her palm over his forearm. ‘It’s sleight of hand. It’s distraction. It’s almost magic.’
Bee slid her teeth over her bottom lip and leaned further into his personal space. She watched him from underneath her lashes, seeking out his hazel eyes. A comforting wave of familiarity and nostalgia rushed over her when she realized he still wore the same cologne he’d favored over a decade ago. The musky citrus scent had filled the cab of the truck transporting a million dollars’ worth of diamonds they’d driven right out of the airport in Amsterdam. Only her fourth job with Os, and her first with Adam. What an introduction that heist had been. He’d taken out three armed guards without ever brandishing a weapon, and her heart had sparkled like their stolen goods.
He let her into his space without any resistance, the corners of his lips twitching up.
She raised her free hand and toyed with the collar of his shirt. ‘I’m an excellent teacher.’
He ducked his head, his stubble grazing the tip of her ear, and whispered, ‘I don’t doubt that.’
Bee’s smile was quickly overtaken by a yawn.
Adam chuckled.
‘I guess all that adrenaline is wearing off,’ she said, stretching her arms above her head. ‘I’m tired now. What time is it anyway?’
Adam checked his watch. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’m impressed.’
Bee dangled his silver Rolex from her index finger. ‘This is a really nice watch, Adam. You have great taste.’ She put it on. ‘It’s a little big for me, but I think I can make it work.’
He tried to look annoyed. ‘You’re not going to give it back?’
‘I earned this fair and square.’
‘You cheated, and you know it.’
‘Cheated?’ Bee put a hand over her heart, his watch glinting in the moonlight. ‘However do you mean?’
‘You used your, you know’ – he bobbed his head back and forth as he searched for the right phrase – ‘feminine wiles.’
‘Uh-uh.’ She shook a finger. ‘I used distraction. The fact that I’m a female with wiles is irrelevant.’
His flimsy annoyance broke with a wide grin. ‘You know you’re going to have to give that back.’
Bee yawned again, but this time for real. ‘Oh jeez.’ She knuckled her eyes. ‘I really am tired.’
Adam sighed, held out an arm. ‘Come here.’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked but did it anyway, her back against his side and her legs stretched across her seat. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she held his hand over her stomach.
‘Oh, you’re warm.’ She yawned and buried her head into his bicep. Underneath his trademark cologne was the smell of deodorant trying its damnedest and nearly succeeding.
It wasn’t the most pleasant scent she’d ever smelled. But she was pretty sure she didn’t smell like a bouquet of flowers either.
He squeezed her fingers. ‘Get some sleep.’
She smiled. ‘You should too.’
‘Yeah. I’ll try.’ Adam inexpertly reached for his watch.
She grabbed his wrist and murmured, ‘Too slow.’
He chuckled, and her head bobbed on his chest.