Too Close by Sasha White Page A

glance. It really was a nice one, too bad the guy was such an asshole or she might’ve given him the ride before she went for the safe. “Don’t worry, Handsome. I won’t tell anyone how easy it was to get you to ask me to tie you up if you don’t tell anyone I was here, period.”
    She sauntered from the room, leaving him with a wilting hard-on and a variety of lame threats flying fast and furious from his thin lips.

CHAPTER TWO

    Forty minutes later Vanessa strolled into the small thirty-year-old cottage style house she called home. Signing the mortgage papers on it six months earlier had been one of the proudest moments in her life. Not many twenty-six year olds owned their own house. Then again, she wasn’t your normal twenty-something.  
    The house needed a bit of work, but it was clean and stable, and it was hers . That was what all that mattered.  
    She tossed the leather backpack that held the stolen goods, her wig, and the makeup kit with her three pairs of colored contacts on the floor, and sank down on the faded futon she used as a couch. With a small sigh she unbuckled her heels then reached for the phone on the side table. Flexing her feet and stretching her toes, she punched in the familiar number and waited for her friend to pick up.  
    “I’m back,” she said after a cultured female voice answered on the third ring.  
    “Was there any trouble?”
    “Nope. In fact, it was ridiculously easy.” Vanessa took a deep breath and spoke her next words clearly. “But that doesn’t change what I said before. That was the last time, Ophelia.”
    “Of course, Nessa. This last time was strictly a favor to me. I’m aware of that and I thank you.”  
    Except the first one, they were all favors .  
    She wanted to remind Ophelia of that, but she couldn’t bring herself to be snippy with the woman she owed so much to.  
    What could she do? Friends did favors for each other, and Ophelia was the only person Vanessa considered a true friend. So when she asked for something, it was damn hard to say no. But, instead of dwelling on the topic, she made plans to drop off the goods the next day and said good night to her friend.
    Vanessa pulled herself up off the futon and headed for the bathroom, stripping the slinky dress off as she went. As she undid her bra, she shoved all hints of loneliness aside and focused on the distraction that always worked. Sex.
    The image of Yardley panting as he peeked down her dress came to mind. The fact that she’d gotten a bit of a thrill from his obvious desire reminded her it was time to find another lover. It was almost two months since she’d set John loose to find another, and while she didn’t miss him and his neediness, she did miss the sex.  
    She really missed the sex.

    “The Risqué Robber strikes again.” Detective Kane Michaels threw a folded newspaper on his friend’s desk. “Fucking reporters are gonna screw everything up.”
    Jackson Barrows was a good cop, and a good friend. And that was the only thing that kept Kane from smacking him upside the head when he looked up from the file in his hands with a gleeful smirk. “It’s time to put on a collar and go hunting in the clubs, my friend.”
    “The only collar in my house belongs to Mystery.” Kane ignored the smirk and dropped into the chair behind his own desk. He reached into his trouser pocket for a hard candy and popped it into his mouth, balling up the cellophane wrapper and flicking at his friend while savoring the rich flavor.
    “You still got that mangy cat?” Jack dodged the shot and picked up the newspaper.
    “She’s not mangy anymore. In fact, now that she’s been in my loving care for a while instead of on the streets, she’s got a shiny coat and a sweet disposition.”
    Jackson snorted. “Too bad you didn’t have the same effect on woman as you do on cats.”
    “If I ever found a woman I wanted to keep around she’d purr happily in my lap the same way Mystery does.”  
    The