Read The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) for Free Online Page A

hidden them in his wallet and claimed he’d uncovered none.
    But the leather fold contained only credit cards and greenbacks.
    Next, she dipped her hand into the back pocket of his shorts, checking there, too, as the clock ticked. Her heart beat furiously, pounding in her ears, as he lay calmly on the bed. Happily waiting for her as she raced through his clothes.
    “Tick tock, Steph. You should be about naked now or wearing the red lacy thong I’m picturing you in,” he said in a playful tone, parking his hands behind his head.
    So trusting. So happy to be here.
    Her shoulders tensed. “Almost there,” she said from her spot kneeling on the floor as she reached into the front pocket and wrapped her hands around a . . . jar of honey?
    She took it out, and then burst into a wide smile. He had a jar of the honey she loved. That was too cute. Too adorable. And she was too confused.
    Something just didn’t add up.
    Something made no sense at all.
    All the evidence pointed to Jake Harlowe telling the truth about today’s visit to the gallery—that he’d come up empty-handed.
    If he had, that meant he wasn’t hiding any of Isla’s diamonds from Steph.
    She also knew he hadn’t pilfered Isla’s stone last night. He had an alibi—Steph herself.
    That also meant someone else took her stone.
    That was bad.
    She dragged a hand through her hair, then shrugged. Fuck it. Time to come clean with the hot, sexy man in her bed. But as she dropped one knee to the bed and crawled over to him, she sat up straight.
    A loud rapping echoed in the room.
    Someone was knocking on the door.
    Several times. Over and over.
    “This is the hotel manager.”
    Shit.
    In seconds, Jake had untied his blindfold.
    “I’d better answer that,” she said, and Jake scrambled to pull on his shorts while she headed to the door.
    She opened it to find a tall, red-haired man with a mustache. He was dressed in gray slacks, a white shirt, a tie, and a suit jacket. A brass name tag on the jacket revealed his name: A LFREDO .
    He bowed his head slightly. “Hello, Ms. Anderson,” he said in a friendly but apologetic voice. “So sorry to disturb you this afternoon, but I wanted to check and make sure you had received the paperwork for your meeting.”
    She knit her eyebrows together. A small kernel of worry took hold inside her. “I’m sorry, but what meeting are you referring to?”
    “The meeting you had this morning, I believe?”
    Jake walked over to the door, joined her in the entryway, and draped an arm across her waist. The gesture felt strangely comforting, and she both wanted it and was sure she didn’t deserve it. Not after doubting him the way she had.
    “I didn’t have a meeting today,” she said to the hotel manager, tilting her head to the side. “And I didn’t receive any paperwork.”
    “Oh dear,” the manager said, scratching his chin.
    “Which means I have no clue what you’re talking about. Care to enlighten me?”
    The manager pressed his hands together, steepling his fingers as if in prayer. “Yesterday evening, around six o’clock p.m., a man came to the front desk and said you had a meeting with him today. He informed us he needed to drop off some paperwork in advance. He asked if he could bring it to your room, but of course we said no.”
    The hair on her neck stood on end.
    Jake flinched. “Good. No one needs to be in her room,” he said, his tone thoroughly protective.
    “Absolutely. We do not give out our guests’ information. That’s why my clerk took the envelope and brought it to your room himself. He marked in the delivery log that he left it here yesterday evening, around six fifteen. He left it on the desk in the room, and I came by to make sure you had received it.” He paused and gestured to the desk, bereft of envelopes. “But it seems you don’t have it.”
    Steph gulped and shook her head, nerves swimming wildly through her now. “No. I don’t have it. But maybe I missed it,” she said.