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“As your friend?” I suggested.
He smiled and shook his head. “We both know you’re much more than that. I know it’s been less than two weeks, but this feels right, Ava,” he said. And the name pierced right through my heart.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s still early and I don’t want anyone to know about us, especially because I really need this job.”
He laughed. “No one’s going to fire you. You may get a raise, though.”
“No, no raises,” I chuckled because, besides the fact that I wouldn’t even be here to receive them, my conscience couldn’t take any more.
“Let’s take it slow, Colton,” I said, interlacing my fingers with his.
“This is the first time I’ve heard that line not coming from my mouth,” he said. “But I can do that for you.”
He raised my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. “How about you come to my place for dinner? I’ll invite my brothers and just say you’re someone special. It won’t be a lie.”
This whole arrangement is a lie!
But that wasn’t true either. What I felt for Colton wasn’t fake. I’d never been more open with a man in my life. This felt like the real Frances Netto. Not that invisible person I’d been for the last five years. Do it! The tiny voice in my head shouted.
“No one else, right? Just your two brothers?”
“I promise, just the people that are closest to me in this world, and that includes you.”
How could I say no to that? When he held my hand and stared into my eyes like I was his world, how could any woman say no to that?
“Yes,” I said.
A grin spread across his face and I think a tiny voice in his head must have whooped because he inhaled deeply right before his lips pressed against mine.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at seven,” he said, pulling away.
“Um, I have a ton of work to do. Why don’t you just pick me up from the office?”
“I don’t want you working late.”
“It’s all right. I prefer to get it done.”
“Fine,” he said and kissed me again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I turned to walk out of his office when his voice stopped me. “Oh, Ava?”
I closed my eyes but didn’t turn around. “Yes?”
“Tell your family you’ll be late. I plan to thank you for your surprise this afternoon. I feel very appreciative right now.”
A shiver ran through my body and my legs wobbled as I walked back to my desk.
10
Colton
I performed the same ritual each time I entered my office. I turned on my laptop, checked my stock numbers, and scanned four local auction websites for any new items. Two pieces were still missing from my mother’s jewelry collection and I wouldn’t stop until I found them. I hired a private investigator to look into this as well, but it steadied my nerves to check the sites each morning. It had taken me nearly twenty years to recover fifteen pieces from the collection and cost me close to a million dollars.
I’ve been searching for the last two pieces for more than a year, so I nearly fell off my chair when the eighteen-karat gold alligator bracelet appeared in an upcoming auction search. It had six brilliant-cut diamonds totaling three carats, and the estimated sale price was twenty-five thousand dollars. I zoomed in on the inside of the bracelet. Just like every piece before it, the initials JC were engraved: Jaclynn Crawford—my mother’s name. This was certainly her bracelet and nearly the last piece from her stolen collection.
