“I can’t, baby.” He cups my face and stares down at me. “Take the train to work tomorrow, and keep your phone on you at all times.”

“Okay.” My voice breaks a little bit. I’m being a baby, not wanting him to leave. How could I have become so attached to someone so quickly?

“Promise me.” The words hold an edge of desperation to them.

“Promise.”

He leans down, placing his forehead against mine. “Dream about me, because all I’ll be thinking about is you until I see you again.”

His words make some of my unease slip away. “And when will that be?”

“I’ll pick you up from work tomorrow. Take you home with me.”

“Then we can have that sick day?”

“We can have anything you want.” His lips meet mine, and the kiss seems desperate, just like his words moments ago. I wrap my arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. We seem to get lost in the kiss, almost making love with our lips.

When he finally pulls away, we’re both breathless. He presses his forehead to mine again, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Know that I’d never hurt you.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” I let my hands drop from his neck and run my fingers through his beard. He leans back a little to look into my eyes.

“I love that about you. How trusting you are. God, I don’t want you to lose that. You just let me right in, and I want to protect that innocence.”

“Love?” It’s the only word he said that I heard, and it makes him smile.

“Yeah, little fox. Love.”

“I—” My words are cut off by the sound of the door to my apartment opening. I don’t have to turn around to know it’s Harper. I can smell her overpowering perfume already.

“Just remember I’d never hurt you.” He kisses me again, this time hard and fast. His lips are gone before they were even there. Then he’s gone, too, leaving me to think about what he said.

Chapter 16

Sean

“You got the key?”

“Yeah.”

Nick looks over at me and gives me a creepy smile. “I wasn’t sure after Friday night. The way you walked in and took her out of Coco’s, I thought for sure you’d pussy out.”

I look over at him, not answering, and turn my attention back to the road. We’re in my car, driving across town to Tessa’s bank. It’s Sunday night, and I’ve just dropped her off at her place, leaving to pick Nick up.

Heavy texted me last night wanting a meeting. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he’d been sending me messages all day about needing to check in on some details. I think more than likely he was just wanting to check on me. The motherfucker loves to micromanage.

I was in bed with Tessa sleeping soundly in my arms when I got the last text. I needed to be there for another fucking meeting. One of his guys had gotten himself shot in some kind of bar fight and wouldn't be able to pull the job on Monday.

Slipping of bed quietly, I left for a few hours to meet up with Heavy and rework the positions. It was a fucking pain in the ass to lose a man this close to the date. But we think we have it worked out.

As much as it killed me to have to drop Tessa off at her apartment, I didn’t have a choice. While I was out last night, I got a copy made of the bank keys I stole from her purse. I felt like an asshole doing it, but I keep telling myself it’s for the best. When this is over, everything I’ve done will have been to give us a better life. I’ll make her see that. Then I will never be pulled from her side again. Every night I’ll go to bed with her in my arms.

Once I had her keys printed and Nick lifted the combinations from Harper, we had our way in.

It’s Sunday night, so we aren’t getting in the vault yet. There are too many vaults to crack, and we won’t have the time. I can shut off the notification of the alarms to the police but only for so long. There’s a back-up system in place for something like this, but even that has a time limit for a shut off. Tonight, we are setting everything up for tomorrow. Our window is small, but we know what we’ve got to do.

Nick is only coming with because Heavy insisted I needed backup tonight. And since Nick came through with the combinations, he’s the one who gets the job.

I’m making as little conversation as possible and just getting this shit done. I’m already on edge being in the same car as this dumbass, and I’m trying my best not to put a bullet in his fucking head.

“We all took bets on if you’d be able to fuck that fat chick and still be able to do the job. Me? I thought you’d fall in love the way you were looking at her. Guess I was wrong.”

I pull up a block away, gripping the wheel, my knuckles turning white. “Let’s finish this and get out of here.”

Getting out of my car, I go around and make my way towards the bank. I feel Nick close behind me, and I take long strides, wanting to get this done as fast as possible.

The bank is situated between two buildings downtown and has a back service entrance for bank vendors and armored vehicles. This is where most of everything will go down tomorrow. There’s a door with a keypad and a lock for access. There’s also an alarm on the other side of the door that requires a ten-digit combination.

Beside the door is a big bay that opens up for deliveries. That door requires two scanned passes, two keypad codes, and disarming two separate alarms. Every code to get into the bay door has to be input simultaneously. One of the reasons we’re waiting until Monday is because by the time we arrive, the armored car will already be here and waiting on the early employees to let them in before the bank opens. We want the back door and the bay open when we go inside. We need the easiest access in and out, and this is it.