View this author's other titles

LENGTH: Short Story
SENSUALITY: Carnal

Cover art (c) Jenny Dixon
Download $2.50

Unlike her father, True's escapades are strictly for the thrill of it, but she's running on borrowed time. When she tries to return the necklace she successfully lifted from her boss' safe, she runs out of luck.

Or into it, because the man she's been fantasizing about has designs of his own, and when, instead of calling the police he suggests a game of Hide and Seek, she discovers there's a far safer way to enjoy an adrenaline rush.

Rating: Contains explicit sex and graphic language.

HIDE AND SEEK

By

Sydney Somers

© copyright October 2006, Sydney Somers

Cover art by Jenny Dixon, © copyright October 2006

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s

imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or

events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

Slipping into the third floor home office, True Foster let her eyes adjust to the dark as she slid a small penlight from her pocket. She scanned the shadowed interior to confirm what she already suspected. It was empty. She knew Noah Mitchell had a late dinner meeting tonight, which worked out rather well. True couldn’t steal from him if he was home--unless she was willing to take the extra risk.

Tonight she wasn’t.

True crossed to the wall behind the large oak desk that held only a closed laptop, an oversized day planner, phone and brass lamp. She knelt in front of the long cabinet and skimmed her gloved fingers along the edge until she hit the button that released the door hiding the safe. For a mansion of this size and with the wealth behind the Mitchell name, she was surprised she had gotten in undetected as easily as she had. It certainly wasn’t a job for an amateur, but there had been far more complex security systems to bypass on other jobs.

She set the small backpack down, unzipped it, and removed her tools. The seconds stretched into minutes as she relied on skills fine-tuned by her father and the genius of technology that made cracking a safe more digital than even a few years ago. There would be no need to drag the thing behind a truck until it broke open, something her father swore he’d been pressed to do a couple of times in the early years of his career.

True couldn’t contain her smile. A heady mix of adrenaline and anticipation coursed through her blood as she opened the safe. She scanned the contents, slightly surprised not to find money inside. Not that it mattered, she thought, as she reached towards the back and withdrew a long jewelry case. She wasn’t looking for money.

The five carat emerald pendant was square cut and surrounded by dozens of small round diamonds. More diamonds were intricately set in the links of the platinum chain. Worth a couple hundred thousand easy. Still grinning, True removed the pendant and dropped it into a velvet lined pouch and tucked it into her backpack, replacing the jewelry case in the same spot in the back of the safe.

She closed the safe and glanced at her watch. Not too bad at all. With no problems getting in, thanks to the keycard for the security gate that she had lifted off Noah after an accidental encounter with him that morning, she didn’t anticipate a problem getting out. It almost took the fun out of it when it was this easy.

The moment that thought crossed her mind, she cursed. The last thing she needed to be right now was cocky. Cocky thieves made mistakes, and she prided herself on the fact that she never made any. If her father was still alive, he’d be livid with her for the chances she took.

Her chest squeezed as the old hurt left by her father’s unexpected death surfaced. She eased it by telling herself that while her father would call her foolish, he would have admired her talents. Of that she had no doubt. But the knowledge was bittersweet knowing her father had been a victim of the very thing he excelled at. The police labeled his death an interrupted home robbery. There was no reason to believe it to be more than that, but she couldn’t shake the feeling in her gut that it wasn’t a coincidence her father’s home had been broken into in the first place. But her brother, and her reluctance to risk exposing her father’s past, silenced her doubts.

Careful to leave no sign that she’d been there, she crossed to the door and let herself back into the hall. There was at least two live-in household staff, forcing her to remain aware of her surroundings until she escaped back out through the rear door, near the six-car garage.

True stuck close to the shadows as she made her way down the driveway and through the gate. She pulled off the black baseball cap and grinned to herself as she patted the bag before slinging it over her shoulder.

Not a bad night’s work.

* * * *

Two weeks later

“You haven’t given it back, have you?”

True pushed her glasses onto the top of her head and leaned away from her computer screen. She glanced up at her best friend Lexi, who stood with her arms crossed, practicing the pointed moral look True was convinced she picked up from her nun-taught boarding school days.

“I will,” True answered vaguely.

“When?”

She glanced at the computer screen, focusing on the graphic design for a new ad campaign she was working on. “Soon.”

Lexi snorted.

“Fine.” True rolled her eyes. “Tonight. I’m putting it back tonight. I doubt he even noticed it was missing.” They hardly ever did.

“One of these days you’re going to get caught.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say she was too good to be caught then she thought better of it. While Lexi didn’t approve of her extracurricular activities, that didn’t stop her childhood friend from asking the details after every job. True liked to tease her that she’d take Lexi along the next time boredom from the straight and narrow crept in. She blamed that recurring urge on her father’s genes. But unlike her father, she didn’t believe in keeping what she stole. Lexi said that was because she liked the extra challenge of seeing if she could get in a second time to replace it.

Stupid, is what her father would have called that.

“Wait a second.” Lexi straightened. “Tonight is the big charity to-do at the Mitchell house. You can’t do it tonight.”

True grinned.

“You cannot tell me you’re even considering doing it tonight.”

Grabbing her mug off her desk, she strode passed Lexi and headed for the break room. “Of course not.”

Lexi nearly ran into the back of True in her effort to keep up. “I know that tone. You’re seriously going to do it tonight.”

True refilled her mug, dumping three teaspoons of sugar into the coffee before stirring it. “It’s the perfect time. The place will be crawling with people. No one is going to notice me slip in and out.”

Lexi slapped her hand across True’s forehead. “Please tell me you’ve got a fever.”

“I feel fine. And the best part is that I even get to dress up.” Rarely one for social engagements, she figured a change of pace couldn’t hurt. Her serviceable black boots, pants and shirt wouldn’t mind staying behind this one time.

“That function is invitation only. And they’re damn hard to come by from what I understand.”

True winked at Lexi.

Her friend sighed and lowered her voice to a frustrated whisper. “Who did you steal it from?”

“Noah’s cousin in accounting. She left it right on her desk. Can you imagine?” True mocked.

She maneuvered around her friend, sailing out of the graphic department’s break room and straight into Noah Mitchell.

By some fluke she managed to avoid dumping the contents of her coffee down his front. She couldn’t say the same about the carpet, which was where her gaze dropped the second they collided and his hands automatically gripped her waist.

He didn’t immediately let go and move back as she expected, forcing her to raise her head to meet his eyes.

True sucked in a breath as his impossibly green eyes raked over her face in a long, hot pass. Normally she wasn’t this close when she saw the same playful gaze he shot back and forth to a dozen different women in the building on a regular basis. That knowledge didn’t stop her from enjoying the feel of his hands on her, the firm grip of his fingers that tightened on her skin before he slowly released her and backed up a respectable distance.

Only a few inches taller than her five-foot-nine height, with short black hair, eyes capable of melting or freezing a person on the spot, and an athletic frame her hands itched to explore more fully, Noah Mitchell was the model for every bad dream she ever had.

A hint of a smile teased the corners of the full mouth she regularly imagined indulging in. What was oxygen compared to what she guessed those lips of his were capable of?

“In a rush, Ms. Foster?” Amusement played across the face that now represented the advertising firm she worked for, a company built and established by Noah’s father before his passing a year ago.

True cocked her head. “You don’t pay me to take my time.”

“Good point.” His gaze drifted to her mouth.

The heartbeat it lingered there was just enough time to spike True’s internal temperature.

Noah stepped to the side. “Don’t let me keep you from whatever you’re working on.”

“Right.” She strode past him, conscious of his eyes burning into her for the short walk back to her cubicle.

Her butt barely hit her chair before Lexi poked her head around the corner. “Don’t you even feel a little bit guilty?”

“Should I?” Stealing from him--which was really more like borrowing since she intended to put it back--and being attracted to him were two very different things. If she actually thought things between them would get personal, then maybe that would be different.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful tonight.”

“I’m always careful. Sure you don’t want to come? You can watch the door for me,” True whispered.

Lexi looked equal parts intrigued and horrified at the suggestion. “I’ll pretend you didn’t say that,” she hissed before departing.

Standing up, True crossed to the doorway of her cubicle and glanced past Lexi’s retreating form to the man she thought was entirely too good looking for her peace of mind. As if sensing her gaze, Noah glanced away from the man opposite him, his eyes locking onto her.

Her stomach gave a warm tug as she held that magnetic gaze until he turned back to the man she’d heard was a new part time consultant, Victor Hughes. For the last few weeks Victor had looked familiar to her, but she couldn’t place him. On top of the certainty that she knew him from somewhere, there was something about him that gave her the creeps.

Forcing her thoughts away from Noah, True dragged herself back to her chair and tried to concentrate on her work.