Taken (Dark Desires 1)

I blinked at him. “Cancer killed him.”

“Ah. How old was he?”

“Twenty-eight.”

He gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Sandy. I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories. I’m just always curious why people do the things they do.”

“That’s okay,” I said, brushing a knuckle beneath my eyes. “So why do you do the things you do?”

His forehead wrinkled at the question. “What do you mean?”

I gave him a knowing look. “I’ve heard of The Wright Brothers. Everybody has. You guys are like a modern-day James Gang. What makes you do the things you do?”

He stared deeply into my eyes as if he were trying to read my mind. “Things like what?”

I raised my eyebrows and let my shoulders go up and down. “Oh, let’s see, suspected of robbing banks and armored cars, hijacking truckloads of cigarettes and alcohol, jaywalking, loitering, pulling the wings off butterflies. That sort of thing.”

He sat back and folded his arms over his chest. “Let me guess, you Googled me while I was asleep.”

“Something like that,” I said. I brought the cup to my lips and held it there for a moment. “I like to know who I’m sleeping with.”

“Well, don’t believe everything you read online,” he said seriously. “I’ve never pulled the wings off a single butterfly.”

“What about all that other stuff?” I asked the question playfully, but he could tell that I was serious.

He gave me a serious look. “What about it?”

“Is it true? Are you a criminal?” I could feel the color draining from my face as he stared at me. I couldn’t tell if he was pissed off or amused.

“Would you have a problem being with me if I was a criminal?” he asked.

I thought about the question for a moment but didn’t answer it because I knew I would be ashamed of the words that left my lips.

I stood up and held out my hand.

He wrapped his fingers around mine.

I pulled him out of the chair and led him into the bedroom.

I’d answer the question there.

RICK

I had never been with a woman like Sandy. It wasn’t just that she was smoking hot and had the attitude to match, or that she would do anything and everything in the bedroom.

No, I’m talking about the way she made me feel. I had never been in love. Hell, I didn’t even know what love felt like. I didn’t think I was in love with Sandy, at least not yet, but when I was around her my heart beat a little faster. The air in my lungs felt a little lighter.

When I was with her, I wanted to be a better man.

Maybe that was it.

She made me want to be a better man.

She had been tending bar at the club for a few nights now. Carl was glad to have the help. He was nearing seventy. I had been trying to get him to retire for years, but he said if he retired he would die of boredom. Still, he was not averse to sitting in the room playing cards with the crew while Sandy did his job.

The plans to hit Crown Jewelers were all set. We would hit the place in two days, on Friday afternoon, while old man Crown was getting the shipment of diamonds ready for the armored car, which typically came at five. I had spent less and less time with Dottie, which she complain

ed about when I pretended to call her from the road. I assured her that I would pick her up on Thursday evening for our weekend getaway.