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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Baz froze, immediately retracing every stupid thing to come out of his mouth for the point that flipped off a switch in her. She'd been so responsive. She'd dared him to kiss her.
Rei's lips brushed his cheekbone. She whispered. "I have this fantastic image of a view out across the Côte d'Azur, something out of a painting. Curtains wide open. The smell of the Mediterranean in the air, accommodations that hopefully do not involve a pull-out couch..."
If Rei pitched France to him like that the first time, he might not have felt so guilty about leaving Temperance.
The description only made Baz ache for her more because it meant she wanted him back. Just not necessarily then and there, but back nonetheless.
"And if you kiss my neck again... I won't stop myself," Rei's voice came breathy and Baz believed her.
She kissed him again, her hand cupping his cheek. Softly, to keep Baz's blood from pumping faster and faster. Or maybe it was for her own benefit. It didn't stop Baz from wanting her.
Rei didn't pull away, toeing a line before the point of no return. Touching, hungry but not ravenous, like kissing him was the appetizer for a meal she planned to take in France.
"That's a lot of power to give me," Baz said between the fleeting kisses.
"Use it well," Rei replied.
At the very least, it was good information to hold onto for a later date. Baz knew which dials to twist to turn her on.
She settled against his chest. Of all the impossible things encompassed within the span of a little over a week, it was hardest to wrap his head around Rei, there, in his arms.
***
Rei woke first, becoming aware of herself in space gradually. A dream faded, a warm sun and a sparkling ocean lapsing into the pull-out couch reality.
She was in deep.
Sébastien's arms were wrapped around her, her back to him. His breathing was too deep, too rhythmic for him to be awake. Rei let herself stay there. She couldn't forever. The thought of Diego's face—she would get up before that, just not yet.
Sébastien was giving up his life in Temperance because of Cheng's greed. It wasn't fair. It was exploitative poisoning oozing out of Jasper and infecting Rei's brother. It wouldn't surprise Rei at all if her father's success, if the entire foundation of their fortune, was based on white lies and white-collar crimes, but Cheng leapt straight over fraud and copyright infringement into burglary, extortion, blackmail...
It wasn't just Sébastien. Jasper made that clear when he threatened her. Rei needed Sundial. The things she loved relied on big donors. She needed Sundial's sway to bank those $25,000 a year diamond donor offerings from family friends.
