Page 16 of Sensual Surrender (The Serafina: Sin City 2)
V let out an exasperated sigh and looked at Wyatt, those pale eyes seeming to glow in the dim lighting from the 3D display. “Would you like to do the presentation?”
Wyatt just rolled his eyes. For some reason he allowed V to talk to him—and anyone except Iris—the way he wanted. V was never overtly rude, just…lacked certain social skills. “No, but I’d like to get out of here sometime before midnight and I know Jay wants to get back to Ellie. She’s scared, V.”
At that Vadim’s expression softened. “Yes, of course. Sorry.” He turned back to the hologram. “All these sensors are shown on the building plans.” He pointed to the main ones near the doors and in the vents. “But these were installed afterward and I made sure there is no trace of this final plan anywhere.”
“What’s in the floor directly beneath the display?” Unlike Hayden and V, Jay didn’t work directly at the Serafina except when needed. He was Wyatt’s go-to guy for pretty much everything in addition to his personal guard, but he didn’t have the knowledge of the hotel like them.
“Nothing until the end of the month,” Wyatt said.
“If it’s empty…” Jay trailed off and the others nodded.
“Yes. This will be the only way for Kevin Murrell and his men to take the jewels. The room is also guarded 24/7 in case anyone gets ideas, but they don’t know that and we will remove the guards in the time leading up to their robbery.”
“So Ellie will give him altered plans and unless he’s a complete idiot, he’ll make the choice we want him to make and go through the first floor ceiling. What about a visual?” Jay asked.
“We already have cameras installed in the display room and in the room below,” Hayden said. “And during the time of the robbery we’ll have an extra team standing nearby. Not to mention they’ll be taking replicas anyway.”
Jay nodded, already figuring that was the case. He knew Wyatt had them made as soon as he’d agreed to showcase the real jewels. The replicas were backups for situations just like this. Thank God the man was always prepared. “What happens after they take the replica jewels?” Jay wanted Kevin brought down, and that would be easily done once the idiot took what he thought was the real Dragon Collection, but he wasn’t sure what Wyatt wanted.
“We let him leave. The second he clears the building we sound the alarm, as if our team has just discovered the breach. Then we let him meet with his boss, who I’m assuming will be De Luca,” Wyatt said, all confidence.
“Then?”
“Then…let me worry about that.”
Jay gave him a hard look, annoyed at Wyatt’s lack of disclosure. That wasn’t like him to hold back, not from Jay. “Really?”
Wyatt sighed. “I’m not withholding. I need to make a couple calls before we go any further, but I like this plan. No matter what he’s not getting the real jewels. I’m keeping them locked in one of the vaults from now until he’s arrested. But I want De Luca removed from Vegas permanently and I may have a way to make that happen. For now, we just need Ellie to give these plans to Murrell. It sounds like he’s meeting with De Luca on Monday. Or whoever wants him to do this.”
“It can’t seem too easy. She can give them to him Sunday night. Make the bastard sweat,” Jay muttered.
Wyatt nodded. “Agreed. I’ve got some media thing to deal with tomorrow…” Trailing off, he glanced at his watch. “Today. I want Ellie with us, otherwise it will seem odd. It’s got to seem like everything is normal with all of us.”
Jay gritted his teeth, but nodded. If Ellie suddenly disappeared for a couple days it would be obvious that she was under lockdown or in hiding. And that would bring up too many questions from Murrell. It had to appear like she was still working and living her life like normal. “I’ll beef up our security team.” The only reason he was agreeing was because the event was a low-key Q&A in a private room that no one other than the pre-approved media personnel would have access to. And he’d already vetted everyone coming—and knew most of them from past events.
“I have no doubt you will.” Wyatt stood, looking exhausted and Jay felt a twinge of guilt that his boss was being pulled into this when he had so many other responsibilities. “Now go see Ellie.”
Jay didn’t need to be told twice. If Wyatt said he’d keep him in the loop, Jay had no doubt he would. Even if that meant a call at three in the morning. “Thanks.”
Hayden nodded at the others before walking out with Jay. His brother clapped him lightly on the shoulder. “We’re going to keep your girl safe.”
“Yeah.” That was definitely a concern, but Jay was more worried about their future and what Ellie wanted from him. He’d told her the ball was in her court and that scared the hell out of him. What if she… He mentally shook himself when he realized his brother was saying something else. “What?”
Hayden chuckled as he looked at the screen of his phone. “Our ladies got a little tipsy tonight. Sierra left me some interesting texts.”
Despite his dark mood, Jay grinned. He loved seeing his brother so happy. Unlike him, Hayden had left the Navy because of an injury. His brother hadn’t been ready to leave The Teams and Sierra had brought him out of his year-long surliness. She’d reached him in a way no one else had been able to. “Get home to her. I’m heading upstairs now.”
After a brief hug, his brother left and Jay made his way to the private elevators. They were on the security floor so he’d be able to bypass seeing anyone. Which was good because he didn’t feel up to making small talk. Jay checked his phone and had a couple texts including one from Iris telling him she’d had to leave Ellie, but that the guards on duty were the best.
Once he made it up to their floor he saw that Iris had been serious. She must have called in a different team or maybe they’d had a shift change because Logan and Roman MacNeil were standing guard. The twin brothers were both former Marines, both highly trained and not part of the normal hotel security detail. Like him, they were part of Wyatt’s personal detail. And they were damn good at what they did.
“Hey you fucking jarheads,” he said as he neared them.
They looked
like sentries standing guard. Roman didn’t crack a smile, but Logan did. “Whatever squid.” He glanced at the closed door then back at Jay, his expression turning as serious as his brother’s. “What’s going on? Are you and Ellie in some kind of trouble?”
He ignored the questions because he couldn’t answer them. “Have you talked to her?”
Logan nodded. “Briefly when she said goodbye to Sierra. She told us she was going to bed and she looked…I don’t know, not like her normal self. Just wanted to make sure everything’s cool.”
“I can’t talk about what’s going on just yet, but I’ll fill you in as soon as I can. It goes without saying that knowledge of even our staying here under guard isn’t common knowledge and isn’t to be shared.” Jay figured Iris had already told them that, but wanted to reiterate it. Anything for Ellie’s safety.
Roman snorted, his first reaction since Jay had arrived. He pinned him with that odd stare. It was easy to tell the twins apart because of Roman’s different colored eyes. One brown and one blue-green that reminded Jay of the Pacific. “You know us better than that.”
“Yeah, I do. Thanks for looking out.” After another minute of bullshitting, he headed inside and nearly sagged against the front door before locking it.
Out of habit, he checked the entire suite before he made his way to the bedroom. The thick drapes had been opened about a foot, letting in some of the colorful nightlife. A thick ribbon of outside light streamed through, bathing the big bed and illuminating the top half of Ellie’s very naked breasts.
Jay’s body tightened with undeniable need. Damn it, he wanted her to make up her mind about them, to choose him, to trust him, before he buried himself inside her yet again. But it was impossible to show control around Ellie. The woman was his only drug of choice. Right now, he needed another fix.
Chapter 10
Jay watched the steady rise and fall of Ellie’s chest, wanting nothing more than to wake her up in one of the many erotic ways he’d done over the past year and some odd months they’d been together. His body ached to have her, to hold her, but…she needed sleep.
