Black Girls and Bad Boys: Stealing Loretta by Neneh J. Gordon Page B

ride so two minutes would be plenty of
time to gather up a nice haul.
    “Just take the boxes with you. You won’t
have time to do anything while you’re there.”
    It was what he’d been thinking, but it
didn’t hurt to have her confirm it.
    The security arrangements were the easy
part. After that it was going to get a lot more complicated. She seemed to
accept her role in the plan. Pulling it off would be something else.
    “You don’t have to do this. I can still
leave town.” Well, he could try anyway.
    “No. I’ll do it.”
    It was impossible to tell what was going
through her head. She was so closed down. Completely different to how she’d
been before. He held a clear image of her in his mind’s eye. They were back in
that big, empty barn and she was looking at him with dreamy lust in her eyes. He
wanted to see that look on her again.
    Maybe he would, but not that night.
    The optimistic part of him said it would
happen, though. After all, she’d agreed to go through with the plan.
    “But I want to talk to Ursino first.”
    “What? No. You can’t.” Why the hell would
she want to?
    “Then I’ll call the police and tell them
what you’re planning.” She stared him down, her brown eyes hard. “I mean it,
Jordan. Non-negotiable.”
    Shit. He didn’t like this development one
little bit. “Ursino is seriously dangerous. Trust me, you don’t want to get in
a room with him.” The less involved she was, the better.
    “I see Ursino or I call the police.”
    “Why? What are you going to do?”
    “That’s my business. Can you arrange it?”
The set of her jaw didn’t invite an argument.
    It was a crazy idea. But he didn’t have
much choice. “I can talk to him. I can’t promise any more than that.”
    “That’s plenty.”
    His imagination went wild trying to come up
with an explanation for her request. What did she think she could achieve?
    “You have to go in as normal tomorrow.”
    “I know. But I don’t know how normal I’ll
seem when I get in there. I’m not used to this sort of thing.” She got to her
feet.
    He looked at his watch. “I didn’t mean to
keep you up so late.” It seemed likely assistant bank managers would have to
get up earlier than bank robbers. He got up to leave.
    “I appreciate that.” She looked so tired
all of a sudden. He took a step towards her and she edged away.
    The movement was very subtle. And very
wounding. “I’ll be in touch.” He went to the door. Leaving like that – with her
so distant – felt like a mistake, but he had too much other stuff to deal with.
    If he got through the rest of the week
without being shot or arrested he’d sit Loretta down for a serious talk. Not
that she was likely to want anything to do with him after he’d emptied the
safety deposit room.
    She walked him to the front door. Her face
was blank – not angry, not sad, not anything. He hoped she could handle this.
She gave every impression of being a tough cookie, but appearances could be
deceptive.
    “I’m going to talk to Danny – the third guy
on the job. I’ll give you an update tomorrow.”
    “Okay.”
    He wanted to ask her if she was alright. Of
course she wasn’t. Who would be, in her position? He walked down the drive to
the car and got in. By the time he looked up at the door, she’d gone.

CHAPTER 13
    ––––––––
    “M iss Johnson. This is an unexpected
pleasure.”
    Loretta slipped into Sean’s office with a
sinking feeling in her stomach. He’d never felt the need to be formal before.
“Hi Sean.”
    “What can I do for you?” He barely glanced
up from his monitor. This was not a good start.
    “I wanted to take you up on your
invitation.”
    Now he did look up. He studied her as if
she was a potentially dangerous new species that had wondered in from the wild.
“Invitation?”
    She summoned up all the courage she had and
came out with it. “The fundraiser this Saturday.”
    He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to
the side.