Chapter 1 Not-So-Accidental Encounter #4
“Good idea.” Without dropping her gaze, he reached around her to open the door, longing to share everything that was in his heart.
However, the confidentiality agreement he’d signed with the Jewelers Security Alliance wouldn’t let him.
If word reached the public about hiring him to investigate internal corruption, it could destroy their reputation.
With over nineteen thousand members depending on their services, they couldn’t afford to take a PR hit like that.
“Glad I thought of it.” Aurora finished tugging him inside and shut the door.
He glanced around the living room, reasonably certain that the sage green throw blanket and decorative pillows on the otherwise plain leather sofa were her doing.
He was very sure that the tabby cat stretched out in front of the fireplace was her doing.
She’d caught him digging through a dumpster in search of food a few days ago.
The two of them had bonded over the few scraps of ham she’d fed him on the kitchen floor after coaxing him inside. They were now the best of friends.
Bending over, A.J. held out a hand to the scrawny former stray that his girlfriend was working to plump up. “Remember me, Mr. Cat?”
Aurora’s expression softened as the kitten scampered right up to him, pushing its furry head eagerly against A.J.’s hand. “I finally decided on a name for him.”
A.J. arched an eyebrow at her. “Let me guess. Rambo? He’s got the makings of a real troublemaker. All I did was walk through the door, and look how he attacked me!” He was kidding, of course. The cat was merely starved for affection.
“I know, right?” Her answering laugh filled the room, caressing the loneliest places in his heart. “Bandit is turning out to be quite a handful.”
“Bandit!” A.J. shook his head at the feline, who was practically climbing his arm to get more attention. “What made you choose a name like that?”
“Because he’s a shameless thief. A very clever one, too.” She crooked a finger at A.J., beckoning him to follow her to the fireplace.
As he stood, the cat protested the end of their petting fest so loudly that A.J. bent over to scoop him up. Bandit affectionately head-butted his chin before settling against his shoulder.
A.J. reached up to scratch him beneath his chin, making him purr as loud as a Mack truck.
Cats were fun. Now that A.J. was no longer getting deployed overseas, he ought to look into adopting one himself.
Eh, maybe not. On second thought, it probably wouldn’t work, considering how much time he still spent on the road.
Aurora pointed to the right of the hearth, where a fluffy blue cat bed was pushed against the wall. “Bandit hides his contraband under his bed.” To make her point, she lifted one end of it.
The stash she uncovered made A.J.’s jaw drop. “Whoa! Looks like you’ve earned your name about a dozen times over, little buddy.”
His collection included a clear plastic resealable bag with teeth marks, a blue-and-white striped sock, a few twist ties from bread bags, a metallic-red gift bow, a silver button, and a decorative magnet—the kind used to pin notes to the refrigerator.
Bandit meowed and head-butted A.J.’s chin again, unabashed at being caught in his crimes.
There was also a beaded bracelet on the floor that must’ve belonged to Aurora, because she retrieved it and slid it over her wrist. “If it’s shiny or sparkly, you’d better hide it from him,” she warned. “He has the makings of a jewel thief.”
A.J.’s shoulders tensed at the mention of stealing jewels. It was a topic that struck a little too close to home for him.
“Oh. My. Goodness.” Aurora abruptly squatted down and reached for something in the shadowy recesses of Bandit’s cat bed.
She displayed it on her palm, gaping in astonishment at it. It glinted in the sunlight pouring through the living room windows.
A.J. stepped to her side to take a closer look. “It’s a ring.” An expensive-looking one.
“Not just any ring.” She sounded a tad panicky. “A diamond solitaire.” She blinked at it for a moment before glancing over her shoulder at the hallway leading to her and Aaron’s bedrooms. “I didn’t realize my brother was even dating anyone.”
That explained why she was so upset. She assumed her brother was dating someone without telling her, which A.J. didn’t believe for a second. If only it were true! But he knew it was more likely her rescue cat had stumbled across one of the stolen gems in Aaron’s possession.
This was bad. Very bad. While she was distracted, he used his cell phone to snap a photo of it.
He was torn between hoping it would and would not be a match to any of the rings on record that had been reported as stolen. He was nowhere near ready to rip her family down the middle by helping the police place her brother in handcuffs.
Pocketing his phone, he drawled, “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Maybe someone who used to live here lost it.”
“Or my brother is secretly planning on proposing to a woman I’ve never met.” She made a face. “If it’s true, I have to wonder how many other secrets he’s been keeping from me.”
You don’t know the half of it, darling. Thankful she remained in the dark about the nefarious side of her brother’s dealings, A.J. steered the conversation back to safer ground. “About the good news you said you wanted to tell me…”
“Right!” She closed her fingers around the diamond ring, drawing a deep, cleansing breath. “Modello’s has signed a contract for me to create an exclusive line of perfume for them.” She did a little happy dance in the corner of the living room.
Modello’s! The tension in A.J.’s shoulders escalated to a painful level. It didn’t feel like a coincidence that his girlfriend would be working closely with the wife of the man who’d gone out of his way to track A.J. down earlier.
“And the best part of all,” she trilled excitedly, “is it’ll give me an excuse to extend my stay in Heart Lake where my two favorite guys are.” She watched him expectantly. “To be honest, I was already looking for every excuse to visit here as often as I could.”
A normal man would’ve been ecstatic to find out the woman of his dreams would be staying in town indefinitely, but there was nothing normal about A.J.
’s life. On the contrary, everything that had happened today felt alarmingly connected to his case.
Like the silken threads of a spiderweb, each new detail felt like it was weaving with the other details to form a picture.
A picture he greatly feared would soon become a problem for him and Aurora.