Chapter 30
30
Magnus reached his hand to the other side of the bed, expecting to touch Celeste’s whisper-soft skin, but only felt air. The space she was supposed to fill was empty and cold. When he opened his eyes, he was disappointed to find her gone. He lifted his head to survey the bedroom, glancing at the bedside clock. 11:00 a.m. He had woken up entirely too late and was a little irritated that Celeste hadn’t given him a nudge before leaving.
His head flopped back against his pillow as he remembered the night before. He may have said some regrettable things. Not the dirty talk that curled Celeste’s toes, but the part where he asked if she needed him. To imply that he needed anything of her made him cringe. Sometimes, he accidentally veered away from playful seduction to something more serious without thinking. Today he wished he had done more thinking. He wished he had kept his placid mask up.
Her plaintive plea of “please fuck me” felt like an avoidance to his ridiculous question. Why on Earth had he asked it? He had survived quite well without needing anyone. Hell, he’d spent five years buried in his teaching and planning his own jobs without anyone. But after one night between Celeste’s legs, he had returned to the same sorry sap who demanded she leave Doris and come away with him.
He pulled himself out of bed and planted his feet on the cold wooden floor to ground himself. Magnus would not ask Celeste any more silly questions related to wants, needs, loyalty or anything adjacent to...love. Fuck that. They were only together to do the job that Doris had requested from the grave. After this was all over, success or failure, Celeste wouldn’t need him. They didn’t have anything keeping them tethered together aside from this one assignment.
After quickly dressing, he brushed, washed his face and swished about some mouthwash before exiting her bedroom. He probably shouldn’t come back. Perhaps she was right when she said they needed a bit of professional distance. Maybe it was a mistake to keep this dance going...
Magnus quickly switched gears as he headed downstairs. Raised voices caught his attention. Beatrice and Celeste sounded like they were arguing.
“I don’t see why it’s a problem,” the young woman said.
“Bea, you’ve never been in the field. Now is not the time to start.”
“And I think I’ve come up with a good plan. Plus, Santi will be with me.”
Magnus headed straight for the coffee machine to pour himself a cup. Santiago stood at the counter looking on at the drama. “The ladies are scuffling?”
“Have been for the last hour,” Santiago whispered out the side of his mouth. “When you two went to...bed, she and I stayed up and came up with a plan to case the joint. I think her idea might work.”
“You’re being a little unreasonable,” Beatrice said, speaking with a mouthful of toast. “I’ve worked with you long enough to know how to handle myself. I’ve been watching you through your glasses, remember?”
Celeste paced the kitchen with her hands planted on her hips. “Be that as it may, you’re too young to be out here...running around and getting into...shenanigans.”
Magnus grimaced at how motherly she sounded. “Celeste, you were how old when you were in the field?”
She whipped around to glare at him. “Did I ask you?”
He raised his hands and backed away from her. “I’m just pointing out the obvious.”
“Fine!” she said. “Fine, go ahead and scout the museum. It sounds like everyone agrees with her?”
Lawrence ruffled his newspaper in agreement, while Santiago and Magnus nodded silently.
“Fine,” she repeated.
“Sounds good to me,” Beatrice said, shrugging her shoulders. She turned to Magnus and rolled her eyes. “Just in case you missed it, Santiago and I will go the Nationalmuseum to place sensors that Lawrence developed on all the inside doors we can find—”
“And I’ll also stick them on outside entrances,” Santiago finished. “We can keep an eye on where people are coming and going based on how often they’re tripped.”
“I’m also dropping off a supply bag in the storage lockers located in the basement. If you’re done with the Freya reproductions, I can take those, too.”
Magnus nodded while sipping his coffee. “Just let me put the finishing touches on the tiara and you should be good to go. You up for all this, Santi?”
“I’m ready to follow Bea’s expertise. I think it’s time to let someone else take the lead, yeah?”
“I really don’t mind,” he agreed.
Celeste’s burning gaze bored into the side of his face as he spoke. Yes, he was concerned about her assistant at first, but if a new person was going to join the crew, they’d need to pull their weight just like anyone else. He wasn’t sure what lay at the base of Celeste’s fears, but she’d have to leave them at the door. Every person counted toward completing the mission and she’d already spent an entire afternoon at the museum yesterday. They didn’t need a continuous record of their comings and goings near the Freya case.
After the group came to an agreement, a flurry of activity and chaos erupted in the safe house. Celeste gave Beatrice a quick preparation for how to move in public while casing a location. Lawrence explained to Magnus and Santiago how the sensors would aid them in filling in the remaining details of a blueprint he found. Apparently, Nationalmuseum underwent some drastic remodeling in the past decade so they’d need to compare old documents to what little new information they possessed.
By the time Santiago and Beatrice were out of the house, Magnus and Celeste collapsed onto the sofa in the living room to take over the command center while Lawrence took a nap.
She sighed as she slipped a pair of headphones over her ears. “It’s weird being on this side of a mission, huh?”
“Yes, we’re not used to observing others,” he said.
Both thieves were wearing camera glasses in the field so that he and Celeste could watch their environment. With their earpieces, they could also hear Santiago’s jovial chatter while Beatrice focused on their journey. They opted to walk the distance since the museum was only across the harbor from Gamla Stan.
“How does it feel to be back in your homeland?” Celeste asked as she muted their microphones.
The question caught him completely off guard. Magnus hadn’t realized such an innocent inquiry would make his body react with such anxiety. He rubbed his hand over his mouth as he stared at Santiago’s monitor. “It feels fine. Bea isn’t interested in Santi’s overtures, is she?” he asked, changing the subject. “I think he might be barking up the wrong tree.”
“She is interested, she’s just letting him wear himself out,” Celeste said. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about your feelings regarding Sweden, just say so. I watched your face when the yacht docked in the harbor, and your face did the same thing when I asked you yesterday.”
The concern on her face made him feel guilty as hell, yet he wasn’t jumping to openly share the emotions that nagged at him.
“When we have free time to ourselves, it can’t just be about fucking, Magnus. Sometimes we have to talk to each other.”
He snorted a laugh. “I’m surprised to hear that from a woman who’s more closed off than Fort Knox... What’s changed since we last saw each other?”
“When we were in Tallinn, you made me feel safe enough to talk to you about Doris. God knows I didn’t want to...”
He turned the idea over in his mind a few times before speaking. Sharing shit had never been a part of their relationship, and the fact that she was starting to make it that made him wonder what else their relationship could be. Perhaps not just fucking? That part was thoroughly enjoyable, but it hadn’t sustained them in the past and he doubted it could now.
“My family used to live here, just outside of the city,” he finally said. “I was fourteen when I lost my parents and I had to live with my uncle in ?rebro. I’ve never really wanted to come back to Stockholm, and it seems every time I’m here, something awful happens.”
Celeste propped her chin on her fist and stared at him. “It was a car accident, right? They were coming back from a ski trip.”
He nodded. “I was supposed to go with them, but I thought I was growing out of those trips. I begged them to let me stay for a hockey camp.”
Celeste inhaled sharply. “Oh, no...”
The idea of escaping death had always followed Magnus. It gave him the strange, contradictive habit of being reckless about his own safety but staying hypervigilant about everyone else’s. “I had been staying at my friend’s house when his mother broke the news to me. She said that there had been an accident on their way back from ?re. My uncle came to collect me later that night and I didn’t see this city until I left for America.”
As he spoke, he stared at Santiago’s camera feed. Some of the views were pristine cityscapes, but most of it was Beatrice. So when he felt Celeste’s warm hand on top of his, he flinched involuntarily. Neither of them had been good for a tender touch. “I’m sorry that this place has haunted you,” she said softly.
“Thank you.”
“Your parents are looking out for you, though. And if they could see you now, they’d be proudish.”
Magnus cracked a smile. “Thanks, Celeste. I think that’s probably accurate. Proud of the professor part, not so much the international jewel thief part.”
“They’re at the museum,” she said, pointing at Beatrice’s camera feed. “Microphone on?”
“Before we do,” Magnus said, “tell me what’s making you so nervous about Bea being in the field.”
“She’s a kid and I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Like you’ve been hurt?” he countered lightly.
Celeste flicked her gaze to him long enough to roll her eyes. “Something like that.”
“The best way to teach her how to be cautious is probably being cautious yourself.”
“Ugh, let’s go back to being emotionally closed off from one another.”
“Fair enough,” he chuckled. “Sex tonight?”
“Yeah, probably.”
As tart as Celeste was acting, he couldn’t stop grinning. He spoke about his feelings so rarely that it took her blunt force to move him out of his stoicism. It was fun to tease her, but he felt even better talking to her plainly. God, he could kiss her in that moment... “Why can’t I find a woman who both frustrates and arouses me like you, wife?”
Celeste surprised him by resting her hand on his knee while she laughed. “I often feel the same way. Does that mean we’re just meant for one another?”
Fuck it. He leaned over, took her by the chin and kissed her without considering the consequences. That morning he’d wanted to avoid tangling with her like this, and now? Magnus had to recognize that they were two different people after half a decade. He found himself desperate to get to know this new woman, just as he was tempted to show her a new man.