Chapter 22 Noah #2
She tilted her head, then gave it a shake, sending her hair spilling over her shoulders. That color of midnight espresso never failed to seduce me. When she glanced up at me from beneath her lashes, she knew exactly what she was doing.
I started drying it. It was freshly washed, thick and fragrant, the kind of hair you could get lost in. God, it was lush. It slipped through my fingers like something I wasn’t supposed to touch.
I could’ve stood there all night, just tending to her. Who needed a bed when touching her felt like this?
Before long, I heard Elia and Claire shifting in their room at the end of the hall. The house was old, and sound carried too easily.
I brushed my hand over her back. “Sorry. Next time, we’ll be in our own place. With a bed.”
She traced a lazy path down my chest, her smile full of promise. “All right. And when that time comes, I’ll do a lot worse to you, Noah Lucas.”
A groan coiled low, my stomach tightening with the threat of it.
But then came the louder movement next door—Elia and Claire, no doubt, wrangling little Dylan.
Just like that, all hope of anything wicked vanished like smoke.
I patted the mattress. If we couldn’t tangle bodies tonight, we could still tangle hearts. And sometimes, that was the riskier kind of naked.
“Tell me everything, Maya.” I reached over, brushing my thumb lightly over her knuckles. “Who’s the little girl?”
“Cleo.”
Just one name. I didn’t know its significance yet, but the way her voice wavered was kind and caring.
“She’s six and battling with a failing liver. Her parents couldn’t afford the transplant that could save her.” Her voice was tight now. With anger and a helplessness I knew she hated. “And I could.”
“I knew you had a good reason,” I said, staring at her as the truth hit square in my chest. “That’s why I needed to hear it from you. If it had been something ugly, I would’ve let you go.”
She continued, “The first time was personal. As you know, my family lost everything because of my uncle, his wife, and Annamaria. I wanted to take back what they stole.” She laughed a bitter laugh.
“Then you risked everything again.”
“Yeah. And I didn’t think twice,” she replied. “My cellmate in prison…Katy. She told me about her sick niece. And I knew, I knew then, exactly what I’d do.”
Thou shalt not steal, the commandments said. But nothing was ever that simple. Was she wrong? I didn’t think so. She was brave, and I was proud of her. That much I knew. She had put everything on the line for a little girl she didn’t even know.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the necklace. It was beautiful, intricate, and unmistakably antique. But a few stones were missing, leaving visible gaps in the setting.
“I took them out, sold them, and then donated the money anonymously to her.”
I reached for her, but she pulled away, shaking her head. “Don’t…don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m some hero.”
Whatever lines she’d crossed, whatever rules she’d broken, none of it touched the way I felt about her now.
I pressed my lips to the top of her head, once, then again, sealing something sacred between us.
She wasn’t a thief to me. She was the woman who’d risked everything for love.
A hero, in my book. In my world. In my heart.
“You’re something, Maya.”
She let out a half-laugh, half-scoff, looking away. “Aren’t you scared of me?”
“A little. But not because of what you think.”
“What?”
“It’s not because of what you’ve done, but because of how I feel about you.”
“The feeling is mutual, Noah. You don’t have to be afraid of that.”
My heart sang. If there were forces out there pulling strings, they’d finally gotten one thing right. Because they’d sent me someone I couldn’t imagine letting go.
“How did you ever pull that off, Blue? The heist? Or should I say heists?”
“You sure you want to know?”
I nodded once. “Tell me.”
“The first time was easier, I’ll admit. There was a tunnel, an old trapper’s tunnel from the 1880s. No one used it. No one even remembered it existed. I used it to cross the field from the edge of the property to the main house, safe from the cameras. No risk of getting caught sprinting.”
I could picture her slipping through the shadows, pulling her ninja moves.
“And this time?” I pressed.
She scoffed. “The tunnel was gone. Sealed up.”
“Bummer! So what did you do?”
Her lips parted like she wanted to resist telling me, but then she sighed and said, “I hacked the system. The alarm and CCTV.”
I tilted my head, not sure I’d heard right. “You what?”
“Don’t tell Sheryn that. She gave me some pocket money, and I spent it on…well, technology I shouldn’t have needed.”
“Unbelievable!”
She chuckled. “A thief’s gotta do what a thief’s gotta do. Anyway, I managed to suspend the feed. Gave myself fifteen minutes.”
Fifteen minutes? I’d wasted more time standing in line for bad coffee.
She must’ve seen the doubt on my face because she smirked. “Relax, it wasn’t some Hollywood-style code injection. I overloaded their system with a controlled voltage spike. Enough to trip the circuit and freeze the feeds without frying the whole security network.”
I rubbed a hand down my face. “You’re telling me you shut down a mansion’s security system?”
“Something like that,” she said, flashing an unapologetic grin. “It’s an RF weapon. A little thing called a HERF gun. It produces short, targeted bursts of high-energy radio frequencies that mess with unshielded electronics, just enough to cause a temporary disruption.”
I stared at her. “And where the hell does one even buy that?”
She shrugged. “A girl has her ways.”
“Maya?” I pressed.
“You won’t find it on the market, but I had a contact. I couldn’t afford to buy it, but knowing what I’d be using it for, they let me lease it.”
I shook my head, half in disbelief and half impressed despite myself. “So what, you just blasted the cameras, and they conveniently stopped working?”
“Not exactly. The trick was timing. I had to hit the main control panel’s relay point, which meant getting close enough to send the surge through the wiring.
Once it spiked, the cameras froze in place, and the alarm system stalled, like a glitch in the matrix.
The security team would’ve assumed it was a momentary freeze-up, unless they tried a manual reset. Which, lucky for me, none of them did.”
I stared at her. “And you knew this…how?”
She shrugged. “Prison.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “That’s comforting.”
She grinned. “Told you I was good.”
Good? The woman had taken out an entire surveillance system with a repurposed gadget and nerves of steel.
I raked a hand through my hair. “So once you were inside?”
Her throat bobbed. “The necklace wasn’t where it used to be. I nearly panicked.” She paused, her fingers drifting across her collarbone. “There’s something I haven’t told you. About Annamaria.”
“What did she do?”
“She’s the one who really wanted the necklace right from the start, despite my mother begging, begging, for it to be returned.
When the necklace wasn’t in the vault where it was supposed to be, I shifted gears and started thinking like her.
That’s when I searched her massive closet.
Not the obvious places. Not the jewelry drawer.
It was on the top shelf, tucked behind everything, like even she’d forgotten about it.
But I hadn’t. I found it. And I got out. ”
I sat back, letting it all sink in.
The sheer skill. The planning. The risk.
“Tell me you’re done,” I said. “Tell me you don’t have another job waiting.”
Her throat worked.
A beat passed.
“I’m done,” she said.
Then another beat.
“For good.”
I believed her.
“And what about that Napoleon guy? What was his deal?” I asked.
She sighed, and I felt something coil inside me.
“When he found me on that cliff, I honestly thought he was just scouting venues. Harmless. And maybe a little pissed that I threw his phone down the ravine.”
I stared.
She met my stare head-on. “He was taking pictures of me!”
“Okay. Then he earned it.”
“Anyway, turns out, he’s Annamaria’s wedding planner.”
“What?”
“She sent him to Buffaloberry, or Bitterroot Valley in general, but I don’t think it was about the necklace. He didn’t recognize me. I’m sure of that. My theory? Annamaria’s a hawk on socials. She probably saw Sheryn’s wedding posts and decided she could top it.”
“Okay. So for now, you’re in the clear?”
She shrugged. “Looks that way. If Annamaria realizes it’s missing, she’s not the type to stay quiet.”
“I’m on your side, Maya. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.” I shifted closer to her, putting my arm around her. “And that’s enough confession for tonight.”
She held my gaze. “There’s nothing else, Noah. That’s all of me.”
And I kissed her like I already knew. I’d already forgiven her, trusted her, wanted her. Her hand gripped my shirt like she didn’t expect softness, but I gave it anyway. Because what she gave me? That was real.
Silence settled between us, our lips quavering against each other.
I could’ve left it at that. Could’ve let her words linger and fade, and called it a night.
But instead, I felt something shift inside me.
This woman—this impossible, stubborn, and brilliant woman—had trusted me with a part of her that she hadn’t given to anyone else.
And maybe it was time I did the same.
The words almost slipped out.
The things I never talked about. The past I kept locked up tight.
I wanted to tell her.
I wanted to let her in.
But just as I opened my mouth—
She eased back into the pillows, exhaustion finally catching up to her.
I watched as her eyes fluttered shut, her guard slipping away completely for the first time.
And I told myself…soon.
Very soon, I’d tell her.