Page 57

“You don’t have to be all judgy about it.I was getting Henry back.”She reached into the rear seat and gave the golden a soft rub on his head.“Either Henry was stashed here, or he was at Ivan’s home.I started here at the bar and got lucky when I found you.”
She thought she’d been lucky?Oh, so wrong.“I’m searching the bar.”While the place was deserted, he’d have the perfect chance to nose around.
“Ohmygosh,yes.Let’s do it.”
Why was he not surprised that she immediately agreed to a B&E?
“I can show you how I got in last night,” Naomi offered.“Easy as pie.”
“Maybe don’t confess to B&Es so quickly.Just for future reference.”
“But my confession is just going to make it easier for you.Come on.”Just like that, she was out of the car, with her dog padding obediently at her side.Given no choice in the matter, Eb followed.Because, sure, why not commit a little felony with a dog in tow?That was his life now, apparently.No more secret spy biz.Just teaming up with a suspected murderess to break into a Russian gang leader’s club.With a grinning Golden Retriever.As you do.
Naomi looked back at him.The sun hit her hair, igniting the highlights hidden in the depths.She smiled.Smiled before committing their B&E.
He caught her arm.“Me first.”
Her gaze trapped him.
Dammit.He had to get his shit together.So she’d been an amazing fuck.Focus.He huffed out a breath.“I go in first.I’m the one with the gun.”
That incredible gaze of hers widened.“You have a gun?Since when?”
“Since five seconds after you jumped out of the car and I took it from the glove box.”She hadn’t bothered to look back.“Now,behind me.You and Henry.”
Henry moved behind him.Gazed soulfully and expectantly at Naomi.
She shuffled behind Eb, too.
Good.They all crept to the back of the bar.
“I came in that door,” Naomi told him as she poked at his spine.“I can pick the lock for you, if you want.”
He glanced back at her, offended.
“What?I’m trying tohelp.” Her voice was a bare whisper.
“I can pick a lock myself.”Did she think he had zero skills?Insulting.He advanced, then immediately stopped.
She bumped into him.“Eb?”
No lock picking was going to be required.He was close enough now that he could see the back door hung slightly ajar.Tension immediately gathered between his shoulders.He gripped the gun in his left hand and slowly pulled the door fully open.
More silence.But…
Henry started to whine.
Immediately, Eb’s head whipped back toward the dog and toward Naomi, wanting to make sure that she was all right.
But Henry’s gaze wasn’t fixed on Naomi.Instead, the Golden Retriever stared hard at the open door.His body had completely tensed.
“This isn’t good,” Naomi whispered.
No, it wasn’t.“Sure I can’t get you and the dog to head back to the car?”
“No,” Naomi said, voice barely above a breath.“You and I are a team.Teams stick together.”
Henry advanced.Bumped against Eb’s leg.