24. Diamond Goodies
24
DIAMOND GOODIES
Ruby
“Come see all the goodies,” Willow said, clasping my arm and whisking me toward the back of the house, where the party noise originated. “Have you heard of Just For Her?”
I blushed. Of course I’d heard of the premiere sex-toy company. I owned a few of their products too.
“Yes. I’m familiar with them,” I said dryly.
We reached the living room, where a dozen or so women were laughing and drinking and checking out sex toys of every style and color. This was not what I’d imagined when Jake had said coming here could be dangerous. It was a risk…to my psyche.
I took a deep breath, remembering that I was behind enemy lines and I needed to make the most of it. This was my chance to learn everything I could. Keep my eyes and ears open.
“Willow, look! This one has ten speeds, and it simulates a tongue,” a bleached blonde shouted to the hostess. Her forehead had been Botoxed so smooth that it appeared to have been ironed on.
“That’s one of the best-selling models,” said an authoritative-sounding brunette with cat-eye glasses. She must have been the sex-toy representative. “It will last up to ten hours before recharging.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing,” Willow purred in that sultry voice. “I should try that with my sweetie.”
Sweetie?
AKA Eli?
Ew.
“Is that champagne?” I pointed to a random bottle on the coffee table, desperate for a change of topic. “I’m parched.”
“Someone get this woman a champagne,” shouted the blonde, pointing at me.
The next second I had a glass of bubbly in my hand, and the one after that, I’d downed the beverage. I hadn’t planned to drink, but my stepfather had inadvertently—I hoped—invited me to a sex-toy party, so down the hatch.
“I’m Bianca,” said the bleached blonde, patting the seat beside her. “You’re Eli’s daughter, right?”
“Stepdaughter,” I corrected as I took the seat.
The server swooped in and deposited a fresh tray of appetizers on the coffee table. Willow went straight for the olives, with fingers like a pelican’s beak, and popped one into her mouth.
“Tell us everything,” Bianca said to me, cooing. “He talks about you all the time.”
A chorus of women agreed, and Willow nodded. “He was so excited to see you earlier this week at Tristan’s.”
So excited that he invited me to dinner then didn’t show? But I didn’t say that. It wouldn’t garner any trust or info from this group, and I needed both. While the rest of the women oohed and aahed as they stroked pearl-filled rabbits and dual-action toys, I played my part. “I was so happy to see him too.” I sounded believably euphoric thanks to the champagne on an empty stomach. I turned to Willow and smiled like we were best of friends. “It sounds like you’re both having the time of your lives here.”
Willow placed her hand on her heart. “Oh, we are.”
I imitated her happy sigh. “I can only imagine. You have the club, and Eli told me about all your charitable work.” Then, I took a leap. Champagne courage and all. “And of course, the property you’re investing in too.”
Eli had said nothing of the sort. But I wanted to prove I was a worthy partner. To dig up some details all on my own.
Willow’s eyes lit up and she crossed her fingers. “I’m praying the deal goes through. When it does, I’ll be able to expand my gallery and showcase even more world-class art.”
“That sounds fantastic!” I declared. Imitating her was easier with some champagne in my system. Jake would be impressed. Sexy, smart, hands-off Jake.
“Yes. I do hope so. I’ve sold several paintings recently from an artist named Lynx. He has such a brilliant concept of what the world can be.”
“How so?” I asked.
“He believes in simplicity. That the world and its challenges can be reduced to geometric shapes. Eli and I so agree with him. He’s on a retreat in California to meditate on his newest series.”
Ah, so that explained the art in the club. “Is that where Eli is tonight?” I asked. “At the gallery?”
Willow waved away my leading question. “Oh, he got called away to the club. Had to check on a security issue there. You can never be too careful, you know.”
A security issue, hmm? Willow was a blessed fount of information. Pull the string and she talked. “Of course. Better safe than sorry,” I said.
Willow patted my knee. “He’ll be back soon. He won’t want to stay away long when he knows I’m shopping for new friends .” At my blank look, she wiggled her well-groomed eyebrows at the array of vibrators.
No. Just no. I needed air. And maybe a way to rewind my night to a time when I didn’t know about the battery-operated friends invited to Eli’s bedroom. “Excuse me for a minute. I need the ladies’ room.”
“Just head through there and down the hall.” Willow gestured, the ring on her left hand sparkling.
Following her instructions, I passed through the kitchen and turned down a long hallway. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear. It was, but that cat was following me. At least, it felt that way. As I walked she, or he, stayed several feet behind, stopping when I stopped. Cats were so weird.
I glanced in a few doorways, noting the layout of the house. If I were a safe, where would I be? “Do you know?” I whispered to the cat.
The pretty animal stretched its front legs, downward dogging it. The collar jingled, then shone in the light. Jade was her name. The jewel theme ran strong in Eli. What a coincidence that he’d found my mother, a woman who’d named her daughter after a jewel too.
“Any idea where it could be, Jade?” I asked again.
She yawned.
Well, then. The cat wasn’t going to turn over. Not a surprise.
Opening one of the doors that lined the hall, I leaned in and scanned the shadowed room.
When I straightened and closed the door, footsteps sounded behind me.
I jumped, like a teen camp counselor in a horror movie. My pulse did too, and I put my hand flat over my chest. It was the sex-toy mistress, who’d been coming down the hall from the living room. The cat was gone.
“Hi, Ruby,” she said.
“Hi…” I fished in my memory for her name.
“Monica,” she supplied with a smile. “I was just getting some more goodies from my car. I didn’t expect them to sell so quickly.”
“I guess you can never have too many pearl-encrusted dildos,” I said, somehow keeping a straight face.
Monica smiled. “If you decide to buy something, I’ll happily give you a discount, as you’re the daughter of the house.”
“Stepdaughter,” I said reflexively. “But thank you. I’m good though.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, each clearly waiting for the other to move.
“Were you looking for the bathroom?” Monica pointed to the door across from where I stood. “It’s that door there.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t have a reason to delay, so I ducked into the half-bath, taking my time, giving the saleswoman an opportunity to get to her car and back to the living room.
But when I opened the bathroom door, Monica was there in the hall, waiting to walk with me back to the party but this time, she was holding a large white box in her hands.
Did she think I couldn’t find it on my own?
“Here,” the woman said, reaching into the box and taking out a black velvet bag. “A party favor for you.”
I shook my head. “Oh, no. I can’t.”
“Please,” she urged, staring at me intently over her glasses. “Willow wants everyone to have a gift.”
Like her fiancé. They were both big gift givers, evidently. And it seemed easier to accept than to protest. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. Enjoy,” she said. “Ready to go back to the living room?”
“As ever,” I replied faux cheerily, because what else could I do? Together we returned to the throng of women.
Bianca stood up when Monica came in and asked excitedly, “Did you bring it?”
“I did,” Monica said in a sex-kitten voice. Setting the cardboard box on the table, she took out a smaller one that looked distinctly like the box that had held my diamond when Eli had given it to me. I perked up with interest when she popped open the velvet jeweler’s box.
All the guests gasped. Was Willow giving out diamonds as party favors? What kind of world did Eli inhabit?
“Oh, it’s gorgeous,” one of the women said.
Blinding was another word that worked. The stone glittered in the overhead light. And it was bigger than the jewel around Willow’s neck.
But it looked fake.
Because it was fake—rhinestone studded and shaped like…
Willow pulled the item out of the box, squealing happily. “Oh, I’ve had my eye on this one.”
Ugh. Three over-shares and you are out.
Or rather, I was out.
I smacked my head as if remembering something. “I forgot I have a late-night dive. Must go.” Not waiting on anyone to tell me goodbye, I rushed out of there like my tail was on fire.
* * *
I marched down the stone path and around the front of the house, and walked smack-bang into a firmly muscled chest.
Jake steadied me before I stumbled backward. “Did you find the jelly beans?” he asked with a teasing smirk.
“No,” I huffed. “Willow hijacked me into a TMI party with a gaggle of women in bandage dresses shopping for dolphins, rabbits, and butt plugs. When I managed to get away, I was stymied by a sex-toy mistress, who followed me to the ladies’ room?—”
“She didn’t join you in there, did she?”
“No, but she waited outside to give me the most awkward incentive gift ever.”
Jake raised his eyebrows. “Tell me more.”
I shoved the velvet pouch at him. “Go ahead. Look inside.”
He opened the drawstring, took out the item, and held it up to the light spilling from the house. “That’s what we call sneaking in through the back door.”
Despite my frustration, I laughed. “For a minute there, I thought we’d uncovered where the diamonds were. On…butt plugs. But this gem is fake.”
“I’m fascinated to know that someone is making gold-plated dildos and jewel-encrusted vibrators.”
I headed for the car, running a hand through my hair, like that could erase my frustration over the whole damn night. The party had been a total bust. The dinner invite had amounted to nothing. “And I’m aggravated to think we’ll have to return to search another day. Plus, my champagne buzz is nearly gone, so I could really use a Cherry Popsicle.”
“Is that code for a ruby-encrusted?—”
I was not in the mood for innuendo. “No. There’s a bar along the beach that serves frozen cherry margaritas with a block of cherry ice that you can suck like a popsicle when you’re done. I need one to erase the image of my stepfather’s fiancée holding that thing .” I gestured at the black pouch.
“Fair enough. Let’s go.” We resumed the walk to the car, and he asked, “What’s a bandage dress?”
“It’s a dress that’s very clingy and tight.”
“Sounds uncomfortable.”
“So does a diamond-encrusted dildo.”
He laughed and opened the car door. When he got in on the other side, he smiled, like a cat who’d caught the tastiest mouse in the universe.
“What’s that grin for?” I asked.
“I have good news.” Mischief lit his eyes and brightened his handsome face. “We don’t have to go back. The diamonds aren’t in the house.”
I gaped at him. “How do you know?”
“Because you did an excellent job on your recon of the first floor.”
What the hell was he talking about? I furrowed my brow. The man could be seriously cagey at times. “What do you mean? Just tell me, Jake,” I said, eager to know.
He shrugged happily, a little smugly too. But damn, he wore smug well. “What I mean is while you were scouting the ground level, I took care of the second floor.”
My jaw dropped. I needed details, stat. “What? When?”
Hooking a thumb toward the moonlit house, he said, “I climbed in through the second-story window and checked out Eli’s office while you kept everyone busy downstairs.”
Damn him. I knew it. He didn’t trust me.
“You were in there the whole time I was downstairs? Did you know you were going to do that? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted you to act natural,” he said, all casual and cool.
“You tricked me again!” I protested, my voice pitching higher. I was grateful we were in the car, parked at the end of the block, and no one could hear me. This man riled me up.
“I like to think of it as protecting you,” he said, and his tone was so confident, so in control, and it pissed me off.
He really thought I couldn’t handle this investigation. Folding my arms, I stared him down. “Protecting me from what exactly? From myself?”
“From inadvertently letting on that your partner was sneaking around upstairs and cracking open your stepdad’s safe,” he said.
I huffed. “This was exactly my concern earlier. That you don’t trust me. That you think I can’t do this,” I said, flapping my hand at the house down the street. “You’re the expert and I’m the amateur, and you don’t even tell me what’s going on.”
He grabbed my wrist, curled his hand around it, and gently squeezed. “Ruby, I didn’t tell you because I do trust you.”
Huh? What? That made no sense. “Do you hear yourself, Jake?”
“Yes. And ask yourself this—do you honestly think I would break into a home, sneak around, and crack a safe if I didn’t trust my partner? Trust her implicitly, and with my fucking life? I couldn’t tell you because I needed it to work flawlessly. But I also couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t trusted you to do your part. To provide cover . Do you have any idea how hard it is to provide cover?”
He stared at me with such intensity that I was kind of turned on. A shiver ran down my legs. “No. How hard?”
“It’s one of the toughest things. To go about your business, like you did, and protect someone else. You did that for me .”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it,” I whispered, suddenly feeling disarmed. Maybe even swayed by his point.
“I know,” he said, his tone softening, like he was imploring me to see his full heart and mind. “Because I knew you would do your thing. You would chat with the ladies. You would scope out the situation. I trusted you’d do everything so I could canvas the top floor. And you did. Thank you .”
I was quiet for a beat, absorbing his points. “You’re welcome,” I said, unsure if I meant it at first, then thinking I mostly did. I was also wildly intrigued. “So you broke in? You were sneaking around?”
“I did. I climbed a tree. Then jumped on the roof. Opened the window.”
Why was that sexy? I didn’t even know, but the images were surprisingly hot. Jake sneaking into the home, Jake surveying the upstairs, Jake being all subterfuge-y and daring.
The man was a risk-taker by nature, and I suppose by duty.
I was dying for every detail, even though I was jealous he got to do that while I was trapped with the sex-toy ladies. “What did you find? You’re looking too pleased with yourself not to have found something,” I said, and I couldn’t suppress my smile.
He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar with a wrapper from Ecuador. “He has a few dozen of these in his safe, along with his passport. I grabbed one from the top. Didn’t want to take more and risk him noticing their absence.”
I groaned, are you kidding me style. “For real? He had chocolate bars in his safe?”
He furrowed his brow, perhaps picking up on my exasperation. “Is that because of the cocoa farm he invested in or does your reaction mean something else?”
I shook my head. I had to hand it to Eli. “It’s a”—I sighed—“a running joke. A family joke. Cole and I used to take his chocolate bars when we were kids. We’d sneak bites from the cupboard and try to wrap them back up, and he busted us.”
Jake chuckled, covering his mouth like he knew he shouldn’t laugh. “You did?”
“Well, yeah. They were good. He has good taste.”
“And you thought he wouldn’t notice?”
I rolled my eyes. “We were kids. And he said he’d need to start hiding chocolate in a safe. And eventually he did. But he would then get other bars for us,” I said, and I both hated and loved this memory. It was sweet, how he’d given us our own chocolate stash, and funny too, how he’d locked up his special ones in a safe. Now it was just tainted.
And it felt a little like a slap in the face.
But what was it he’d said about his chocolates? He’d called them his special bars .
I studied the chocolate, tapping the bar. “I think this is the cocoa farm that went belly-up. I bet they were his most special bars.”
I breathed out a long sigh. We didn’t go to Eli’s tonight to find chocolate, so that was frustrating. But on the bright side, while we hadn’t found the diamonds, we’d narrowed down the search. “At least we know where the diamonds aren’t,” I said, hopeful.
“And that’s just part of the job,” he said, then squeezed my hand. “Especially if you have a good partner.”
I smiled, believing him at last.
He was a pretty damn good partner too.