Read To Touch a Thief (An Everly Gray Novella) for Free Online

laugh at you, Sunshine.” He flashed his dimple at me.  
    “Right. Anyway, Steele is big guns, and Jayne—”  
    “What about Jayne?”
    “She’s so proper. Do you think she can handle him?”
    “Oh, yeah.” He nuzzled my neck, and my girl parts begged for attention. “And I have the scars to prove it.”
    “Wanna show me?”
    “Anytime,” he whispered, his mouth covering mine.
     
    One week later
     
    I chose my clothes carefully, checking my reflection from all angles. No gypsy costume for the real deal. It had been fun to tweak Jayne’s prim and proper attitude, but not tonight, and not since we needed to work as a team to pull this crazy séance plan off.  
    I’d chosen a deep green suit, almost black, with a flared jacket and an above-the-knee skirt. I paired it with a cream turtleneck that made my skin glow and tamed my hair into a sturdy clip. After slipping my feet into my favorite strappy sandals, I nodded at the mirror and headed downstairs to wait for Mitch.  
    I had asked him to attend the séance, not because I was afraid, certainly not, but because he looked yummy in a dinner jacket.  
    His rakish smile, slightly too long sandy hair, and steady nerves were exactly what I needed to stay calm while I waited to be served up as a tasty decoy for a potential felon. Unlike Jayne and Parker’s common sense, my intuition insisted the thief was going to make an appearance. Not that I’d mentioned it to them. No point. Planners didn’t like to deviate from their prescribed strategy.  
    Mitch flashed his dimple as he ran a finger down the lapel of my suit. “I like.”
    “Thanks. You’re lookin’ good, too. Very good.” My heels made us the same height, so his mouth was right there. So kissable. It was such a waste to only brush his cheek with my lips, but since I wanted to rip his clothes off, I didn’t dare get too close to temptation.  
    I blew out an impatient sigh. “The sooner we do this, the sooner it’ll be over.”
    Traffic was light, so it only took fifteen minutes to arrive at Steele Management. Mitch pulled into a corner slot at the back of the building, leaving the front parking lot open for valet service. Twenty-three spaces had been reserved for the séance participants—a token perk for the thousand-dollar a seat donation required to participate.  
    Mitch handed me out of the car, keeping a reassuring palm at the small of my back as we walked to the elevator.
    Jayne was pacing outside the conference room, her greeting a curt nod. “Are you ready?” she asked, motioning us inside.  
    I squared my shoulders and sucked in a breath, every inch the condemned heroine. “Um-hmm. Are you?”
    “Me?” Jayne asked, surprised.
    “You’re the one who has to vindicate all these people. And what if you’re wrong and the bad guy shows up? I only have to chat with a few harmless dead people.”
    Mitch bit back a grin and shook his head as Parker Steele joined us. “Has it always been like this between them?” Steele asked.
    “Yep.”
    I poked Mitch in the ribs.
    Neither of them realized that Jayne and I had formed an alliance against the scummy individual stealing from Parker. It was tacit and lurked quietly under our bitch facades, but I hoped it was the beginning of a true friendship. I’d learned to trust her. Sort of. And she’d learned to rely on my fingertips when all else failed. Another sort of , but it wasn’t a bad beginning to accepting each other as permanent fixtures in Mitch’s life.
    He tapped my hand. “Where do you want me, Sunshine?”  
    The wingback chairs were comfortably spaced around the table. It had been polished to a satin glow that reflected a wavy image of my face—eyes too big, mouth too tight. I consciously relaxed my muscles.  
    “There.” I pointed to a corner slightly behind and to the right of the end of the table where I planned to sit. “It would be better if you don’t participate, I think. I’m not exactly sure what will happen