To Have and to Heist(117)

You have a good feeling about this one. After you repatriate the bronze to Italy, you make two calls. First, you call your cousin and tell him you’re coming for your truck. Then you call your girl.

Unfortunately, your girl isn’t interested in hearing about your exciting new job. You regret leading with the ambush, the blown-up car, the shooting, and the fight. You have to send her a “proof of life” picture and then fly all the way to Chicago to show her you haven’t been seriously hurt. Gage comes along for the ride. There’s someone he wants to see.

You drive up to a fancy condo building in Evanston and pick the lock on the back door. Old habits die hard. Ten stories of stair climbing later, you knock on her door. And there she is. Now your heart aches. Now your pulse beats strong and fast. You wrap your arms around her and kick the door closed. You are home. You lift her to your hips and carry her to bed. You don’t talk because you need her lips on your lips. You don’t breathe because you need her breath in your lungs. You rip off her clothes because you need her skin on your skin. She has awakened something inside you—something wild and forever.

When it is over—and it is many hours before you both collapse from exhaustion, because you are a stallion in bed—you lie under the sheets and hold her in your arms. You tell her you’ve got a job that could be your way out. A treasure trove in a secret gallery owned by a billionaire whose daughter just got engaged. But you can’t do it alone. You need a team, people you trust, a leader to plan.

You need the Wedding Crew.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every author needs a crew. In this case, instead of a heist, they helped to bring my story to life. Thank you to my editor, Kristine Swartz, for her keen eye, amazing insight, and belief in my crazy story from the start. Thank you also to my agent, Laura Bradford, for her support and patience and mad diplomatic skills. Thank you to the incredible design team at Penguin, and in particular Lila Selle, who made a cover that made me scream in delight, and a huge thank-you to Mary Baker, Stephanie Felty, and Daniela Riedlová and the rest of the Penguin team for helping to send my story into the world with a bang.

I’d like to give special thanks to all my plushies and stuffies for their sacrifice and bravery. It wasn’t easy being dropped from a balcony with only a skipping rope to hold you, but now we’re all prepared if we have to steal a diamond from a room filled with laser beams or if Tom Cruise needs a stand-in for his next Mission Impossible. You guys rock!

To Jamie, Sapphira, and Alysa for being my reason for everything. To John for being there, holding my hand, and carrying the load. And to Mom and Dad, who always have time to listen.

And finally, thank you, dear readers, for coming on this adventure with me and being the best crew an author could ever imagine.