“Thank you,” he said as he settled in, his back to my chest.
“For?”
“Finally trusting me with your truth.”
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him even tighter, knowing there was one more truth I needed to give.
“I lied that day I told King I’d found something I want more than you,” I whispered as I kissed his temple. “The truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever want anything more than you. But I also know I can’t keep you.”
Neither of us said anything after that as we stared up at the colorful display above, knowing thatthattruth was now only days away from becoming our reality.
34
BENOIT
ICLAMPED MY hand down on Dimitri’s wrist as he tried to take the wallet in my jacket pocket. “That was so slow I think the cop down the street saw you reach for it.”
“Bullshit. You just knew I was going for it.”
“You have to make me forget.” I smirked as I removed his hold on the wallet, tucked it back into place, and then stepped in closer. “Remember, it’s all about misdirection. You don’t need to be faster than the eye necessarily; you just need to make the eye look somewhere else.” I ran my hand along his waist and lifted my chin to graze my lips over his. He still tasted like the coffee we’d brewed earlier, and it took all my willpower not to fall into the kiss.
When I pulled away suddenly, Dimitri started to protest, and it wasn’t until I held up his watch that he realized what I’d done and cursed.
“How the fuck did you do that?” He examined his now-empty wrist and shook his head. “I didn’t even feel you take it off.”
“Told you I’m good with my fingers,” I said with a wink.
“I already knew that much.”
“Aww, don’t pout,mon monstre. With my help, you’ll be a pro in no time.” I fastened his watch on my wrist and thenmoved the wallet from the outer pocket to the inside one as Dimitri watched with an expression full of doubt. I crooked a finger. “Come here.”
When we were toe to toe, I reached for his hand and brought it up to cup my face. “The hand they’re watching isn’t the one doing the stealing. So if you have me focused here, on your touch”—I leaned into his caress as his fingers brushed my cheek—“then you have the perfect opportunity to keep me distracted so I won’t notice what you’ve taken.”
With my other hand, I guided his to the hidden wallet, our eyes locked on each other. He easily grabbed it this time, and I barely felt it slide out of my pocket.
“See?” I said. “We’re naturally distracted when we’re being touched, so use that to your advantage.”
“I can do that.”
“I know you can. You’ve been distracting me for weeks.” I grinned and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“The problem is, how the hell do I distract someone when it’s not you?”
“Meaning?”
Dimitri narrowed his eyes. “I know you don’t have a problem seducing someone to get your way, but I’m not about to kiss a bunch of assholes to get what I want.”
“Touché. I won’t take offense to that, since I don’t want you kissing a bunch of assholes either, but it doesn’t have to be a sexual distraction. For instance…” With my hands on his shoulders, I guided him to where I wanted him and then brushed by him like a stranger on the street. “There are a lot of ways you touch someone every day without even realizing it. Just moving past them like this on a street can make it an easy grab—or easy to place. Or when you’re making conversation”—I moved to stand in front of him—“maybe they have something on their shoulder you can help them brush off while your other hand isdoing the real work. Maybe you need to place something and you drop your keys?—”
“Like you dropped your ring on the train?”
I smiled proudly, glad he was catching on. “Exactly. You were all so focused on looking for my lost ring that you didn’t notice me planting something in the curtains.”
“The curtains? I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“Another good thing. You don’t want to be predictable. After all, there are a million ways to use distraction to your advantage, so don’t rely on the same trick to get what you want.”
Dimitri stared at me for a long moment, and then rubbed at his jaw. “You’re impressive, I’ll give you that. No one could ever see you coming. Certainly not me.”
