She took a pic of the pic with her phone’s camera and then used her finger and thumb to enlarge the back, getting a close-up look before shaking her head. “I really don’t think this is his at all. It’s nowhere as good as the table.”
“You can tell from just a photo?”
“I can. But I don’t know if anyone else could. It’s not his, Joe.”
“Actually,” he said slowly, “I think that’s probably the point.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m guessing as Michael Masters’s granddaughter, someone who’s in the field as well, you’re probably one of the only people who could authenticate his work. And if you do, this person makes bank.”
“But how does he have something of my grandpa’s at all?”
“That’s what we have to find out,” he said. “But I can guess the reason for the bench. If you authenticate it along with the table, he makes potentially a lot of money on something he either made himself or had made. This could be just the beginning of a very profitable scam.”
She stared at him in horror and anger. “This isn’t Rowena. She’d never do this.”
“Agreed. I already ruled her out.”
“How?”
“Back at the pier, she cleansed my aura and told me that money is the root of all evil and that if I believe, the universe would fill my cup with love.”
That broke through her temper and she had to smile. “Aw. Is the universe going to fill your cup?”
“Jury’s still out,” he said. “But I asked for her autograph.” He pulled a piece of paper from another of his million pockets and held it up next to the back of the photo. “Her handwriting doesn’t match this or what’s on the envelopes.”
Kylie pulled out her phone and Googled the auction details. “The auction he’s talking about is in two weeks’ time,” she said. “Which means . . .”
He met her gaze. “We’ve got less than that to find this asshat so you don’t have to do something you don’t want to do.”
“But that won’t get me my penguin back.”
“I’m going to get the penguin back for you,” he said with such confidence that she wanted to believe.
“Maybe I should call the auction house and find out who the seller is or try to see the items,” she said.
“We can try,” he said. “But I’m betting you’ll get stonewalled on the seller details. Auction houses protect their sellers and buyers with everything they have. If one of them wants anonymity, never the two shall meet.”
“But I don’t get it,” she said. “Surely there’s an easier way to make money.”
“Not if this guy is just getting started,” Joe said. “With your grandpa gone, his work is only going to continue to go up in value. So I’d bet whoever this is, they’re out there making or commissioning other pieces. The bench is probably just the beginning. Once you authenticate it, everything else he makes could be authenticated as your grandpa’s stuff as well—without you.” He turned and headed toward her front door. “Lock up tight behind me.”
“Wait—Where are you going?”
He looked back at her. “There’re seven other apprentices out there.”
“No, not seven. I told you, one’s old, one’s passed away, two are out of the country, and Gib isn’t a viable suspect. With Rowena out, that leaves only three.”
He shook his head. “I haven’t cleared any of the others yet, including Gib.”
“It’s not Gib!”
Their gazes met, his as stubborn as hers probably was. “Look,” she said. “You’re going to have to trust me on this. He’s not a thief.”
Joe studied her. “I asked you once before, but now I’m going to ask you again. Is there something going on between you two?”
She tossed up her hands. “Why do you both keep asking me that about each other?”
His eyes narrowed. “I thought nothing was going on.”
“And before today, I could’ve passed a lie detector test on that,” she said.
“What happened today?”
She paused. Not because she had anything to be ashamed of, but because she wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
“Kylie.”
She sighed. “It’s nothing.”
“Try again,” Joe said and gave her the very male universal go on gesture.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. He . . . finally made a move on me.”
Joe didn’t budge. Not a blink, not a muscle twitch, nothing, but she could’ve popped corn off the electric tension coming off him.
“Describe ‘made a move,’” he finally said.
She crossed her arms. “And again, how is this relevant to my case?”
He just gave her that careful stare again and she thought wow, those eyes of his should be registered as a lethal weapon, because she found herself opening her mouth and spilling her guts. “He kissed me.”
“He kissed you.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Do you know that you often repeat what I say?”
“What kind of a kiss?” he asked.
She was momentarily bewildered. “I don’t know. It was a kiss. A normal kiss. A nice kiss.” She cocked her head at him. “How many kinds of kisses are there?”
He just looked at her for a long moment before coming toward her. He backed her to the wall and pressed his big hands on either side of her head. “There are many kinds of kisses,” he said.
Her breath had backed up in her throat, where her heart had lodged, pounding wildly. “S-s-such as?”
“Such as this one.” And then he leaned in and covered her mouth with his.
Chapter 7
#TheresNoPlaceLikeHome
At the touch of Joe’s mouth, Kylie’s brain stopped being capable of rational thought. His tongue gave a knee-weakening stroke against hers and she let out a shockingly needy moan as she clutched at him, fisting her hands in the material of his shirt at his chest.
Only when he’d thoroughly plundered and pillaged and left her boneless did he lift his head and look into her eyes.
“Wow,” she whispered, fully aware she was still holding on to him like he was a lifeline, but the bones in her legs had liquefied. “I mean . . .” She shook her head. “Wow.”
He nodded. “Yeah. So to be clear, that wasn’t ‘a normal kiss’ or even ‘a nice kiss.’ It was a ‘wow’ kiss. Any questions?”
“Just one,” she said softly. “Can I have another?”
Joe didn’t have to be asked twice. His mouth immediately descended again, his fingers sliding into her hair to change the angle of the kiss to suit him. It was a controlled, alpha thing to do, but she had only one thought—nothing about the usually carefully, purposely leashed Joe was in control at the moment.
And she liked it.
She had no idea how long they went at it because she was in absolute heaven. Who knew that the man could use his preferred silent mode to communicate in a way that she finally approved of?
Only when she was completely breathless and about to strip him down to his birthday suit did she manage to pull back.
“Any more questions?” he asked, also a little bit breathless, which was more than slightly gratifying.