That done, I put my phone back away and wade into the piles of jewelry, doubloons, cufflinks, and so on and so forth. Something shiny catches my eye. Ew. Is that an earring with blood still on it? Gross.
When I get to the stunned monkey, he still has my bracelet in his hand. I try to speak in a soothing tone. It's not easy considering I'm on the clock here. "C'mon, Shark. Give that back, okay?"
I hold out my hand. Shark seems calm, almost cute right now with his little hat and a concerned look on his little monkey face.
He chitters and stares up at me and I stretch my hand out closer to him, but not too close. I hear he's a biter and decide that tonight is probably not a great night to test that theory. "Hand it over, little buddy, and I'll leave you alone."
To my utter astonishment, Shark extends his little paw toward me, the one that has my bracelet in it. I can see the blue opal glimmering in the light.
"Yes," I say, able to pull off an even more soothing tone now that the stupid monkey is cooperating. "Just a little more."
Almost there. The heavy wooden door behind me slams open, causing me to jump. It causes Shark to jump too, and he withdraws his little paw and retreats into the corner.
I whirl. "You stupid assholes, he was about to give it back."
"The police have been called, ma'am. You were informed that you were illegally trespassing. Now, come with us."
"Not a chance. You only called the cops because I embarrassed you down there. I'm getting my bracelet back. And then when the cops get here, I'm going to tell them how much stolen contraband is up here."
The security guards give each other worried looks behind the bald guy's back.
I smile, sensing victory.
"The only one going to jail here is you," bald guy says, refusing to give up.
Under different circumstances I might have admired his moxy, but tonight is not that night. "I took pictures of the whole room before you got here. Backed them all up to the cloud. So unless you want to have to catalogue, post, and give all of this shit back to its rightful owners, I urge you to stop threatening me and help me get my bracelet back."
Bald guy sneers at me, but then he turns and nods to the other security guards. "Fine. Where is your stupid bracelet, anyway?"
"It's in his hand, dipshit. If you hadn't spooked him, I'd have it already. And if the cops get here and so much as look at me funny, I'm going to give up your little operation up here."
I have a feeling they were bluffing about calling the cops anyway. The last thing they need on top of having a public monkey theft ring on display is for the cops to come in and possibly find other things to worry about.
I hear footsteps and another figure enters the doorway. It's Jake. Huh, I figured Tristan would get up here first but I figured wrong.
"Nice swim move, by the way," he says to me, as if we're the only two in the room. I kind of love that he’s ignoring all the goons like they don’t exist.
“Thanks.”
"I overheard we're looking for a bracelet. That would be the one Aunt Patty gave you, yes?"
"Yes." I have to admit, it's nice to have a guy in the room on my side who doesn't need ten minutes of coaching to get up to speed.
"Here, Shark. Bring me the shiny." One of the younger guards with spiky, black hair gets down on one knee like he's proposing to the monkey.
But when I look closer, I see that in his hand he has a morsel of some kind. I guess it's a monkey treat. And it's got Shark's attention. "Give me the toy, Shark," he says, this time with a little more added urgency.
Shark skitters across the pile of treasure he has hoarded over the years like a dragon. But he stops short of the guard with the treat. The guard sighs, then digs a hand into his pocket and pulls out a few more treats.
One treat is obviously intriguing to the monkey, but a handful is a deal breaker. Shark tosses my bracelet to the side before running up and snatching the treats out of the guard's hand and then retreating again.
"There," bald guy says. "We good now?"
I stomp my way over to where Shark tossed my bracelet, my heels crunching on God-only-knows-what along the way. I retrieve it and inspect it. It looks okay.
"We're good. But you guys are still assholes."
That’s when I hear another disturbance downstairs. The security guards clear out, leaving Jake and I alone in the room with Shark, who has retreated to a little monkey igloo in the back to eat his treats.
Jake smiles at me. And for a moment, I don't see football star Jake. I see my Jake. That smile is genuine and relaxed and mischievous. All the things about him I have been in love with since I was seven years old. I smile back reflexively.
"I honestly thought I was going to be able to help more," he says, taking a step forward, "but as usual, you saved yourself."
I take a step forward too. "Well, technically, it was the swim move you taught me that got me past the guards."
"That was nicely done, by the way."
His hair's longer. It makes him even sexier. I know well the muscles that are rippling under that suit. After being mad at him all these years now that he's right in front of me he’s all I ever wanted.
His crystal blue eyes stare right through me, and the hungry look is back.
Without thinking, I step forward, onto my tiptoes, and move my lips closer to his. For a second,
