The Perfect Con (A Bad Boy Romance Novel) (Bad Boy Confessions Book 1) (13 page)

“What? Why?”

“That’s a good question.” I raked a hand through my hair and racked my brain. Gabe would’ve been able to answer with a quick lie, but not so much with me. “Look, Sofi, I’m going to tell you the truth.” Not the full truth. Just part of it. That would be easier. “The fact is that I suspected the Castillo house had been jacking some of our campaigns for a long time. And it made me rather…angry.”

“Oh, my god.” Sofi sighed and tore her eyes from mine. Her shoulders rounded with disappointment and she crossed her arms over her breasts, hunching her body as if to hide herself from view. “Madeline was right. You were just trying to start shit with my uncle. You were just—” She dropped onto the foot of the bed. She wouldn’t even look at me. “Trying to ruin me,” she finished.

“Madeline was not right!” I insisted, going to her side and bracing her knee with my hand. I gave it a tight squeeze.

“She was right,” Sofi moaned, her eyes panned downward. “She knew you were just trying to mess with my uncle all along. She knew ever since Rainbow Disco. Your stupid brother outed you, but I still believed everything.” She raked her fingers through her long bangs. “Damn it, I’m so dumb.”

“Hey. Listen to me. Look at me,” I coaxed, gently cupping Sofi’s cheek and panning her face upward. Liquid chestnut eyes peered back, melancholy and pleading without a word. “Sofi.” I swallowed. “I’m not trying to ruin you. I’m just saying that—that the Castillo campaigns have been so inspired, and I thought that you would bring a little magic to the mission. Maybe I did want to poach you, but now, as we get closer to the day, I keep thinking that it’s not worth the risk.”

Sofi exhaled. “Not worth the risk?” she repeated breathlessly. “But I don’t understand. You work in goods relocation. All you do is risk.”

I pursed my lips and went with it. New angle. I couldn’t tell her the truth: that everything had been a ruse, that I had intended to send her to jail. I couldn’t say that with her big puppy eyes gazing up at me. I would lose her forever with the truth: that I was one vindictive son of a bitch. “I don’t want to do risk anymore,” I said instead. “Not where you’re concerned, Sofi.” I stretched out a hand and wrapped one of her soft dark curls around my fingertip. “It’s not worth the risk anymore, now that I have something to lose.”

Her eyes began to shimmer, and her pouty lips slowly turned up into a real smile. She pushed off the mattress, striding away from me. My eyes helplessly traced the silhouette of her body through the sheer negligee—the “dress romper.”

“That’s really sweet, Leo,” Sofi murmured, drawing the drapes closed. “But I’ve had my eye on the Heart of Icarus since the days before I’d ever stolen anything. Now I’m a big girl, and I need you to trust me.”

“What if we…” I stared at her and tried to draw the words out of the air. It was hard to focus. Her hips were swaying rhythmically back and forth, her back still turned from me. I could beat that thing like a drum. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled as if this was all part of some sort of plan. Her plan. And I really didn’t need alternate plans in the works right now. I needed us on the same page—without having to tell her the truth first, if at all possible. “What if we just left this whole thing behind and—”

“Got a little house in the mountains?” she asked, skimming her palms over her thighs and drawing the now rumpled romper further up her legs. It caught between her ass cheeks and I thought about ripping it in half. This wasn’t fair. I was trying to have a real talk here, and what was she doing? Sofi bent at the waist and my heart hammered against my chest; I swallowed thickly. I could see the subtle shape and color of her lower lips pressed to that thin crotch, beckoning me to come inside. “What if we just got respectable jobs?” she went on wistfully, flipping her hair and spinning toward me at the same time. Her palms crept up to her breasts and roved over them. “I could be a part-time cashier. And you could be my little janitor. Have you ever seen me dance?”

“I might positively need to see you dance,” I told her, shifting against the pants that were suddenly way too tight. “Can’t you see us doing this for the rest of our lives? What if we don’t need the—”

“Shhh.” She spun toward me, her hair fanning out around her like a halo, then placed one gentle finger over my lips. “But we do need
the
.”

“The what?” I whispered. I could only think of one thing I needed right now.

Sofi spread her thighs and settled powerfully over my lap.

“Everything.” She grinned and tapped my nose with her finger.

I snatched it and she yelped with surprise. “You’re not listening to me. It’s too dangerous.” I kissed the tip of her finger and gazed deep into her eyes. I didn’t want to scare her—but I needed her attention, and I needed her respect. “Would you be convinced if a federal agent had gotten involved?”

Sofi rotated her hips gently back and forth, and my breath hissed between my teeth. “I’m a Castillo,” she reminded me. “We made friends and family out of the federal government.” She slithered to face the window and that was an intriguing comment, I needed to follow up on that, but— Oh, shit. Her perfect rear, all dressed up in paper-thin pink gauze, twisted over my erection and brought a sharp sensation of near-relief. This wasn’t fair. If she was going to play dirty, she was going to end up getting the Heart of Icarus and anything else she wanted. I’d dredge up the freaking Titanic for her right about now.

“I want to do this, Leo,” Sofi purred, arching her back and grinding against me. My hands wrapped around the curves of her hips and pinned her tightly against me.

“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this,” I growled, guiding her hips in their rhythm over my throbbing cock, “and you know it.”

“I want that heart,” she cooed, and one of the straps from her romper slipped down to bare her shoulder. My palm slid roughly over her naked flesh, and I pulled her back, closer against me. My teeth scraped at the curve of her throat. “I’ve always wanted that heart.” A sigh sailed ragged from her throat and I lost it. At the beginning, maybe I had been in control, but then, that sigh, and my fingers twisted up into her mane of hair and wrenched her neck to one side, biting down with vigor. Everything got kind of blurry after that. My other hand forced away that fallen strap, forced it down her arm to bare that breast. It may have ripped. That would explain the ripping sound, but my fingers were busy rolling and pinching her nipple.

And Sofi reacted strongly, gyrating back and forth on my lap as if we were already going at it. I reached up into her little romper shorts—Jesus, soaked—and massaged her clit vigorously. Sofi whimpered and bit her lower lip. “Give it to me, baby,” she pled, and I didn’t know if she meant the Heart of Icarus or the club in my pants.

I took the hand out of her hair and whipped off my belt, unzipping my pants. “Not baby,” I rasped. “You can call me Sir.” She was moaning about how she was going to come as I looped the belt over her mouth. “Now bite down,” I instructed.

“What—what are you doing?” she asked, muffled by the thick leather.

I pushed the belt into her mouth and pulled her back against my chest with it. “Giving it to you,” I breathed, hammering her clit with my thumb, then with my index and middle fingers, and then with all the fingers on my hand. I started playing her like a goddamn acoustic guitar, and I wasn’t playing a slow song, either. She withered in my embrace and cried out against the gag, her legs curling around mine as she shuddered and unleashed violently. My hand was drenched. I didn’t unwind the belt from her mouth. We weren’t done yet.

I shoved the crotch of her romper to the side and rubbed the head of my cock on her slit. She whimpered and I nipped at her ear. “I’ll be gentle,” I lied, ramming easily and fully into her well-oiled pussy. It gripped me like a machine and I pumped until I was dizzy, fingers digging into her hips as she bobbed up and down hard, gyrating like a cowgirl trying to ride a bucking bronco. She shrieked into the belt and her legs kicked up onto the mattress, her fingers biting into my kneecaps, heels digging into the outside of my thighs. This was her own fault. I’d wanted to talk about the campaign. She’d wanted to get fucked. I grabbed another fistful of hair and pulled her head back, hyper extending her throat. That was better. That felt right. I could go deeper now. Now I wanted her to get fucked too.

I stripped the romper completely from her torso and the hand on her hip surged up to her breast and squeezed tight.

The belt fell from her mouth and I took her down onto the floor, like a lion on top of a gazelle. My cock fell away from her pussy for one second, and it was unbearably cold and lonely. On her hands and knees now, I spread her thighs apart and entered her again. Both of us shuddered and groaned with gratitude, perfectly in unison. I bit her shoulder and wrapped my arms around her, thrusting purposefully.

God damn, I needed this in my life. I dragged my fingernails over her thigh and raised my palm, slamming a nice, tight slap onto that pert cheek. She whimpered and I went again, again, certain that I was going to come my brains out if she didn’t first.

“Don’t stop,” she begged, as if I had a choice.

“Don’t stop, what?”

“Don’t stop, Sir!”

“I didn’t hear a ‘please,’” I added, slapping her ass again.

“Please!”

“Come for me,” I commanded her, spanking firm and hard. Maybe, to her, it seemed like I was methodical and controlled. The truth of the matter was that it took every ounce of my conscious effort to keep from orgasming so hard I’d black out. I was doing long division in my head, and getting all the answers wrong. “Come on, baby,” I demanded gruffly.

“Please don’t stop, Sir,” she whispered, low and rapid, stretching her hands forward like this was doing a yoga pose. Her fingernails curled and she clutched a handful of carpet desperately. “Don’t stop…oh, please, Sir…don’t stoooop!”

I felt her come in a hot deluge on my staff, and I rammed into her like a piston, furious, mindless, forgetting the spanking, forgetting her needs, because I was too hot, too full, and on the brink. I growled and shuddered and a spasm overtook me; I felt like a werewolf under the full moon. Every muscle and vein bulged and my legs seized up and something completely animal drowned out all my adult thoughts. I lunged forward and wrapped my sweating arms around Sofi. Pleasure flooded my every nerve ending and everything went black for a second.

When I opened my eyes again, Sofi’s legs were wrapped around me, and I was on top of her. She was on her back on the carpet, blinking up at me sleepily.

She giggled. “You kind of fell over.”

I buried my face in her warm neck. I never wanted to leave this world. “You mean we fell over,” I murmured into her hair.

“Because you’re a heavy son of a bitch.” Sofi’s fingers roved my forehead, cool and affectionate, scooping sweaty errant hairs from my brow. “You were saying something about the feds being involved with Icarus before I, erm, seduced you.”

“Mm. Really? I don’t remember.” Everything was so heavy and dark. I must have come my entire skeleton out, because right now, all I wanted to do was sink into a puddle and sleep. Then my eyes bulged back open. Right! Right. Cyrus de Silva. Shit. The set-up. The whole thing. “Yes,” I said, still so drowsy. “Yes—there is a federal agent who’s been placed on…one of us. I don’t know which of us is being followed, but I’ve seen him. I know why he’s there.”

Sofi slung a dewy thigh over my midsection. God, we were wet. I sighed deeply and let my eyes close. My fingers curled softly and scraped in an affectionate rhythm on the small of her back.

“I’ve got some connections,” Sofi told me. “You don’t need to worry about it, babe. I’ll call in a favor.”

I shook my head. I had to stay awake. We only had two days left before the set-up would come crumbling down. I had to talk her out of it—without telling her the truth. Anything but that.

“Please, baby,” I murmured. “It’s just one more chunk of stone. Let’s forget about it this time. Let’s just…let’s just go on a road trip, or take a pottery class, or get married. We don’t have to steal anything right now. Icarus isn’t going anywhere.”

I ran my hand up and down her bare back, relishing the curve of her muscles. Her back rose and fell in a soft rhythm, almost like—shit—like snoring.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

I slid my arm from under her head and scooped her up gently, lulling in my arms, then spread her out on the bed and tugged a sheet over her naked body.

I
wasn’t supposed
to go back to The Fountains, but where else can a girl get some reasonable shoes for slipping undetected past mobile lasers? I was thinking of something with a soft sole. Pointe shoes weren’t going to do it—though that would have been cool.

“And I get that,” Leo said, glaring around the shopping center in his snazzy little sunglasses. They looked like something you’d only wear to a yacht party. We were such a mismatched pair—me, in a gauzy skirt, t-shirt, and sandals, and him, in his sharp suit with its little silky black pocket square and black loafers. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, clearly disenchanted and kind of bored. “But why am I here?”

“One, to tell me how cute I look, and two, in case good old Igor lays his filthy little eyes on me and feels the urge to exercise his teeny modicum of power one more time.” I wiggled my eyebrows at the looming rock hard pecs in front of me, then poked at his iron stomach, grinning. “If he remembers me, he will sure as hell remember you.” Leo screwed his mouth into a twist like he was smelling something rancid.

And I needed those shoes, anyway. We only had one day left.

“Sofi,” Leo hissed, suddenly grabbing my arm tight and pulling me close. “Sofi. Wait. I want to show you something.”

I grinned, somehow positive that he was about to show me a set of earrings. I can’t help it. I love jewels, jewels of all sizes.

“Show me something?” I beamed. “Like what?”

Leo pivoted toward me and braced my shoulders. “Okay. There he is.” He slid the sunglasses off his nose and onto mine. “Be subtle,” he whispered, “but take a look at that guy sitting next to the fountain.”

I glanced over his shoulder and saw—no way—the creeper from both Garrison’s and Rainbow Disco? Actually—he was also from Belly of the Whale and maybe even the museum. Tubby, and scruffy, and always in his own pair of shades. He wore a cheap suit that didn’t quite fit his body right. Tragic, but not exactly newsworthy.

I glared up at Leo. “What, do you know that guy or something?” I whispered. “He’s everywhere.”

“That’s the fed.” He cleared his throat. “The one I told you about the other night. He’s been onto our every move for days now. That’s why I want to just forget the Heart. I don’t know what he’s got for sure—but I know he’s got something on at least one of us.” His eyes went soft as they trailed over my face. “Maybe on you,” he added.

“Forget it?” I pouted. “But I was so excited. I’ve wanted to touch that topaz since I was a little kid.”

Leo nodded and squeezed his lips. “Come on. Let’s walk. I don’t want to talk about this right in front of him.” He took my hand and tugged me in the direction of another row of fountains.

“I told you that my uncle has a guy on the inside,” I reminded him, keeping my voice low. “He’s a family friend. They go back, like, twenty years. At least, he used to. I’m pretty sure he still does. Let me ask Luna.”

“The chef?” Leo said. “The one who made me that flan?”

“Eh, she’s a part-time chef,” I answered, leaning my head from one side to the other. “She’s also an old friend of Ronaldo’s, and old friends of Ronaldo—well--you know the saying. They’re birds of a feather. Now, if his other friend, his fed friend, is still working with the bureau, and he still loves Ronaldo, then all I need to do is let him know. He’ll make sure the guy gets transferred. That’s probably how he’s made it so long without ever being caught.”

“Didn’t help out your parents too much,” Leo retorted.

I froze and stared at him in total shock. “Is that the cautionary tale you’re going with?” I had to ask him. “My parents?” I pulled off his sunglasses so I could glare at him and he could tell. “The lesson that I took from my parents was to not trust your wife. That it’s too hard to be married to a hardcore alpha male, especially one who had refused any help from his brother. Oh, and that love is bullshit half the time.” I shook my head at him. “So, which of these lessons are you wanting to invoke here?”

Leo opened and closed his mouth. “All I’m saying—”

“I know what you’re saying! I heard you the first time! You want to call it off because you’re afraid for me. You don’t think I can do it.” I flared my eyes wider, shoving the word in his face. I knew it would kill him to hear me say it like that. “And you’ll say whatever you need to say to get me to see things your way.”

“We don’t have to make any decisions now that we’ll regret later! That’s all!” He flung his hands into the air and gestured around us, as if he was indicating a tangible decision in the ether.

I shook my head. “We’re two different types.” I crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged. I couldn’t help how disappointed I felt. I had been hoping that he would bring that surge of adventure I had been craving, paired with the stability and sobriety—but now he was backing down. “You steal because it makes sense. Because everything is figured out, because the risk is low enough, because the reward is high enough. But I don’t, Leo. I steal because I want. That’s the only reason. Logic has nothing to do with it. It’s desire. Excitement. And a little bit of faith in the universe.” I took a step closer to him and unlaced my arms, bringing them up to trail over his neck and shoulders. “You have to believe in me. We can do this.”

Leo shook his head ruefully. “You’re wrong. You can’t do this.”

I bristled. “Are you firing me?”

His jaw tightened. “I am if it’s the only way to get you to listen to me.”

I dropped my hands immediately. “You’re just like Dad and Uncle Ronaldo,” I snarled at him. “Everyone wants to handle me. Everyone wants to help me pick my path. But I’m not your little ballerina. You can’t just keep me quiet with dating and parties and shopping.”

“I don’t want to keep you quiet! It was your idea to go shopping, and I kind of hope you don’t start dating!”

“I’m not just a dancer; I’m observant, I’m calm during a crisis, and I’m a serious tactician,” I said. My voice was shaking, but my eyes were steady. “I can infiltrate any system with enough data.”

“And I’m the manager,” Leo countered. “I did the research, and I brought all the necessary talents together. It’s not independent. I did it, and I can stop it. You might be mad, but I don’t care. Sofi, it’s not worth it.”

“Maybe to you it’s not,” I seethed, shoving past him. “We could have done it. I could have done it.” The next words out of my mouth were crazy and emotional. “I’m getting the hell out of this wasteland.”

“Where are you going to go?” he called after me. “Sofi!”

“Home!”

There was a pause, and then: “But I drove!”

On my way to the parking lot, I almost slammed directly into the frumpy guy Leo had pointed as being “our” fed. “Excuse me,” I sneered at him.

I couldn’t believe Leo was actually intimidated by that cheap gumshoe imitation. Argh!

* * *

“
S
ooo
, what happened?” Madeline called from the doorway, her tone monotonous and bland, even though she was asking me this question of her own volition.

“I’m going home,” I told her, plucking my ruined dress romper from the floor and cramming it back into my suitcase. “Do you want to come?”

Madeline shrugged. “Not really. Home is boring.” She stepped into the room and scooped up the duster coat I’d worn a few days ago, discarded across the vanity. Her lip curled up in a smirk as she absently folded the duster. “Was I right about What’s his face?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” I grumbled, snatching the duster from Madeline and cramming it into the suitcase. “He wants to quit.” I shook my head and struggled to zip the bag shut, then tugged the suitcase off the mattress. “No. No. He wants ME to quit. The other night, he said that he had too much to lose. It’s just like my family. They love to tell me what to do.” I dragged the suitcase to the door, glaring at Madeline as I shuffled past. “You coming or not? I’m leaving really soon.”

Madeline tilted her head back and forth, thinking. “Pass,” she answered. “Can I just hang out until your uncle gets back?”

“He probably won’t notice even after he does get back,” I said, dragging my suitcase down the stairs. “You can stay and let him know what happened. He’ll lend you his plane to come home if you want.”

“The
plane?
” Madeline shrilled. “A plane has been here the whole goddamn time?”

“Of course not,” I said, shouldering the front door open. My so-called bestie didn’t bother trying to help. Awesome. “It’s in the hangar.” I hobbled to my car and opened one of the doors, hoisting my bags inside. I was circling to the driver’s seat when I paused and looked at her more closely. Maybe I was just being overemotional. That had always been an area I meant to improve upon. “I might come back,” I allowed uncertainly, ducking into the car and adding, “I don’t know,” through the open window.

“Mm.” Madeline shrugged and leaned on one of the columns which supported the first floor veranda. “I have a feeling that Leo might come storming by here, looking for you.” She raised one of her perfectly penciled brows. “What should I tell him?”

I sighed deeply and bowed my head against the steering wheel. Leo. I pictured him stalking up to the front door and pounding on it, demanding to know where I had gone—and the crestfallen expression when he was told that I’d left Aurora Beach to return home early. No. No. I cast the fantasy out of my mind. It would only weaken my resolve.

“Tell him the truth,” I said. “Tell him I’m on the highway, heading home.” I hesitated, then added, “Tell him I’m sorry,” and twisted the key in the ignition.

* * *

A
s the highway
rolled away beneath my wheels, I thought about going home. It would be so quiet, so lonely there—and if I hadn’t exploded like that, maybe Leo and I could have worked something out. Losing the Heart of Icarus wasn’t the worst thing in the world that could’ve happened to me. And I knew I shouldn’t have been mad at him for trying to protect me—it wasn’t him I was mad at, really. It was everyone else in my life. My entire family had treated me the same way Leo wanted to treat me now, and I just couldn’t stand it, no matter how good his intentions were.

But it was too late to go back now. I’d already been driving for almost an hour, and the indifferent wilderness was rolling past me on either side of the road. I was the only car out here. I couldn’t go back without making a fool out of myself. I couldn’t.

I was heading into a storm now—or a storm was coming my way, depending on how you wanted to look at it. The sky ahead was a dusty, soupy lavender. I was kind of excited for another wild rainstorm. It would fit.

Behind me, someone laid on their horn, and I jolted. This road was always deserted.

I tilted the rearview mirror. A pair of headlights approached at what had to be at least 90 miles per hour. I let the car drift to a slower pace and match my own, expecting the headlights to come rushing alongside me and disappear, but then I saw the vehicle approaching in clearer detail. A powder blue 1963 Porsche 911.

I swallowed. How many of those could there possibly be in this small town?

The Porsche driver laid on his horn and came rocketing up beside me, his windows down.

“PULL OVER!” Leo yelled. “Sofi! PULL! OVER!”

I didn’t want to disagree with him. Hell, I wanted to see him. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to hear whatever he wanted to say, because I had regretted running ever since the lights of Aurora Beach had faded to shadow in my rearview mirror. I overreacted. I didn’t deserve any kind of apology. This was all my fault.

I slowly pressed the brakes and floated to the side of the road, coming to a complete stop before climbing out. I leaned on my driver’s side door and waited for him to join me.

He climbed out of his car and slammed the door, face tense and serious, then marched toward me with heavy steps.

“Leo,” I breathed before he even reached me. I felt as if his name was coming out of my very pores. “Listen, I’m sorry. You’re—”

I couldn’t say anything more before being swept up and ravaged by a deep, all-consuming kiss. I let my jaw relax and his tongue had its way with mine and I whimpered in welcome to his advance. His touch was like balm on a wound, and we’d only been apart for a few hours.