Page 89 of Wicked Intentions (Wicked Games 3)
“So just to recap,” I say into a lull in the conversation, “I’ll arrange to meet Capo at the Palace. I’ll come in wearing a wire and an earpiece, which will receive and transmit from an FBI van set up close by. I’ll show Capo the diamond, making sure to mention how he ordered me to take it, like he did with the other jobs. I’ll ask him what my next job will be, make small talk about his business, lead him into discussing our history together or whatever specifics I can to get him to disclose about his criminal activities. If he’s got girls with him, as he usually does, that will be easy. How will I know when you’ve got enough?”
“You’ll hear the agent in charge give the signal to go over your earpiece,” Connor says. “And then all the lights will go out. You need to hit the ground and stay there until we’ve got Moreno in handcuffs.”
“She’ll be a sitting duck!” Ryan interjects hotly. “When the lights go out, he’ll know something’s hinky—and who’s gonna be right there for him to blame it on?”
“I doubt if he’d suspect me, but if he does, I can defend myself. Last time I met with Capo, I walked in wearing half a dozen knives. The main problem is his men. They’re never more than a few feet away from him, and they’re heavily armed.”
“Can you get him alone somehow?” asks Tabby.
Ryan stops pacing, stiffens, and curls his hands to fists.
Glimpsing his murderous expression and nuclear body language, Tabby says, “Whoa. You just went full transformer-mutant mode, dude. Chill for a second. We’re only parsing the possibilities.”
Livid, he answers with a tight jaw. “Parse other possibilities.”
“Sweetie,” I say softly.
Ryan cuts his freezing gaze to me.
Ignoring the fact that there are two other people in the room, I say, “You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”
He blinks, and his iceberg eyes go all melty.
“Thank you for being so protective. I know this is very hard for you.”
His hands slowly unclench. He takes a big breath.
“And I know you’d rather have this go any other way than the way it’s going, and that it’s killing you to think I’ll be in danger.”
He swallows, folds his arms over his chest, and glares at the floor. “Killing is too soft a word,” he says gruffly.
“I know. Look at me.”
He lifts his eyes, but not his head, so he’s standing there glowering at me from under lowered brows.
God, he’s adorable.
“When this is over, we’re going to have that dinner at L’Ami Louis in Paris and gorge ourselves on champagne and oysters and confit canard while we hold hands and watch the sun go down over the Seine. Then we’ll discuss how much of the year we want to live in Morocco versus Manhattan. Then we’ll go back to our hotel and make love. For days. Weeks, maybe. We’ll see how it goes, depending on how many oysters you eat. Deal?”
He toes the floor with his boot and pretends to think about it. He also pretends to scowl to cover the smile that threatens to consume his face. Eventually, he says grudgingly, “Fine. But only because you called me sweetie.”
The astonishment on Connor’s face is epic. Tabby, meanwhile, has little hearts for eyes.
“You guys are too cute!” she exclaims.
“I am not cute,” grumbles Ryan. “Don’t push it.”
He takes my face in his hand and gives me an angry kiss, then goes back to pacing.
I’m considering it a success.
Tabby snaps back into planning mode as if there was no interruption. “Are you sure we have to show Moreno the diamond? What if he hands it off to someone before Mariana gets the information we need? I know Karpov won’t be happy if he doesn’t get that rock back.”
I slowly swivel in my chair and look at Ryan. “So that’s where you got it.”
Ryan nods. “Yeah. Noticed it on display in his mansion when we brought h
is daughter back to St. Petersburg from her kidnappers. His father was the one who originally coordinated the theft from the Smithsonian back in the seventies. Now it’s like a family heirloom. I told him it might lift the curse if he lent it out for a good deed.”
