Reluctant thief Baz Barret is tasked with stealing from the formidable archaeologist Rei Collingwood--who happens to also be his college crush and rival--but when Rei goes missing after the burglary, Baz must find her before he's blamed for her disa...
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Rei's Mercedes looked as out of place in front of Diego's as it had in the back alley. Rei looked out of place in the neighborhood, trailing behind Baz, cradling a wriggling Cali in her arms. Baz was practically a mainstay.
Rei's nervousness struck him. Her shoulders curled in and it wasn't just because Cali's claws threatened to sink into her arm. Baz knew Rei on her terms. He knew her in the lecture hall, in her apartment. The Rei Collingwood that appeared in magazine spreads, adventurous academic and well-traveled heiress... she wasn't the woman who trailed behind him around to Diego's door.
Baz rapped on the door before letting himself in. Diego desperately deserved a better friend; one who wouldn't drop in bearing a cat and more bad excuses.
"I'm alive!" he announced, as if that good news might take the edge off bringing a cat, a woman, and a gym bag full of contraband into Diego's house.
Diego looked up from his work, tablet and notebook laid out in front of him at the island. The initial flash on his face was relief, but confusion swiftly replaced it.
"I guess you don't need me to swing by your place anymore," Diego said. Baz shut the door behind him and Cali pulled free of Rei's grasp.
"Not so much," Baz replied. Diego's gaze shifted wordlessly to Rei and Baz flushed, his face betraying him. "This is Rei Collingwood."
She looked up, a switch in her flicking on to smile warmly and offer a hand. Cali took the opportunity to escape and Diego politely shook hands with Rei.
"Not missing anymore, I see," Diego said.
"I think it's still up for debate whether or not I ever was," Rei replied. Baz certainly did not miss the look Diego flashed him, or the raise of his eyebrows. The best Baz could give him in return was to purposefully dodge eye contact.
"You moving in now?" Diego asked, tilting his head toward Baz's load of duffle bag and backpack.
"Funny story," Baz said, "as it turns out, those guys in suits you saw at my place were stocking my closet full of stolen artifacts."
Diego leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms. The last few days reshaped every conversation they ever had. What exactly was fact and what was fiction? Which of Baz's easy jokes were just the twist of things that actually happened?
"It's true," Rei offered her eyewitness account, as if her presence alone wasn't proof of so many of Baz's trouble. Baz turned to her, trying to envision Rei Collingwood the way Diego did on a first impression.
Did Diego see all the things Baz saw the first moment she walked into the lecture hall? Bravado and prestige and those dancing eyes? She was striking in the ways that Gwen wasn't: a model couldn't pretend she didn't care what people thought of her. Rei could. It was either a grand illusion or genuine oversight how Rei could look so carelessly feminine, loose and alive.
