Aris: A Sexy Romance Novel (Thief of Hearts Series Book 1)

Table of Contents

Chap
ter 1

The chopper landed on the roof of the office building with a slight bump.  Aris checked his watch.   Jerith looked around at who else might be watching, not that it mattered.  Since the helicopter was painted to look like one of the local new station’s choppers, people would pay no attention to it even if they did see it.  Leo sat quietly in the seat with his hands in his lap.  He hated flying.  Just being in the air made him queasy, but he would be ashamed if his brethren knew that.  Instead, he looked at the gear in his lap praying that he was good enough to do the job.

Aris got out of the helicopter, issuing orders to the pilot as he went.  His dark brown curls blew in the helicopter’s down draft framing his icy grey eyes.  A little over six feet tall, with a muscular build that was functional without being imposing, he was deceptively agile for his size.  He was scruffier these days than he liked to be, but shaving had become a luxury he indulged in very rarely as of late.  Aris was a natural leader.  It wasn’t something he thought about, rather it came from having been on the streets a long time.  All of his life, in fact.  He couldn’t remember having had parents.  He just knew that he had always taken care of himself, helping out his other street friends when he could.  There had never been enough to go around, but when there was anything, they shared what they could.  Such was the fight for survival among a few very close friends.

Jerith watched Aris get out of the helicopter.  He slid out the other side, flipping off the safety on his assault rifle.  Leo tossed his bag up on his shoulder, keeping his eyes on Aris.  Aris made his way around to the elevator shafts, flipping the switches in the main control boxes, shutting down the main elevators in the bank lobby.  They took the steps to the landing below, getting into the service elevator.  Jerith reached up, yanking the service elevator camera out of the ceiling, as the elevator began its descent.

“Don’t be afraid Leo.  If you can’t do it, you can’t do it.  There is no shame in this.  This is much bigger than anything you have ever tried before.  You have been trained with theory rather than experience.  The two are not the same.  All you have to do is try.”  Aris had his hand on the other man’s shoulder.

Leo looked at the elevator floor.  “The Holy One says we have need.  I would be ashamed to fail my brothers.”

“The task is dangerous for all of us equally Leo.  You will do fine.”  Aris gripped the younger man’s shoulder for a moment before the service elevator opened.

The other team members were slightly ahead of schedule.  Nerves probably.  After being assured that the front doors were locked, Aris went in search of Noah.  He was in the vault with the frightened tellers who were pushing stacks of bills into the hockey bags on the floor.

“Have they touched off the alarm?” Aris inquired of Noah.

“No, so far everything has been quiet.  The people outside, and on the other floors, have been told it’s a fire drill that has gotten messed up.  We are a little ahead of schedule.”

“Good.  Leo, see if you can open the boxes.”

Leo moved to the safety deposit boxes the Holy One had specified.  There were only two that were of any importance to them.  The holy man had made Leo repeat the numbers until he could say them in his sleep.

Aris walked back out of the vault to find Khar and Misha arguing in the lobby.  Misha was nervously pointing the barrel of his assault rifle at the people on the floor.  A situation was quickly developing that Khar was afraid Misha would mishandle.  Aris put his nine millimeter Beretta in the small of his back taking charge.

“What is the problem Misha?”

“Daffy bitch won’t stay on the floor.”  Misha’s finger was still along the side of his trigger guard, but his nerves were quickly becoming frayed.

“She can’t help it!  She’s pregnant.  It’s morning sickness.  If you really can’t afford to let her go to the bathroom, you might consider moving your ass faster on that trash can behind you before she vomits on your shoes.” 

The woman held on to the pregnant woman’s shoulders trying to comfort her.  The fire in her voice could have been anticipated looking at her milky white skin and pale green eyes.  The freckles across the bridge of her nose reflected the color of the dark copper hair surrounding her face in a short bob.  Aris knew she was going to be too much for Misha to handle, though he wasn’t sure if it was the fire in her hair or the fire in her eyes that told him the most about her.

“Do you have a name?” he felt perhaps politeness might dampen her flame.

“Does it matter?”  her green eyes looked straight into him even though she was frightened. 

He squatted down, bringing himself to her level.  “Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  It just seemed easier than having to call you ‘daffy bitch’.”  Aris smiled at her.

She took a deep breath trying to measure whether his charm was real or masking something worse.  “Saoirse.  Saoirse MacLear.  Can she have water now?”  Saoirse’s glare was unnerving Misha.  She had already captivated Aris.

“SEER sha.”  he repeated her name the way she’d pronounced it.

“It’s Gaelic.”  her glare hadn’t softened at all.

He couldn’t help but grin at her.  Maybe it was the way she held her composure so beautifully, even for a woman being held at gun point.  Maybe it was the way her blouse was fitted without being tight.  Or the pearls around her neck peeking out of the top two buttons of her collar.  It could have been the two and a half inch heels below her dark blue pencil skirt that gave her the appearance of having much longer legs than she really needed.

“Misha.  Bring the trashcan over here for Ms...?”Aris looked at Saoirse for the pregnant woman’s name.

She whispered to the pregnant woman, then replied, “Her name’s Kelly.”

“She is not your coworker?”  Aris was a little surprised.

“No.  I’m a paralegal upstairs.”  Saoirse frowned at him.

Misha dragged a tall, heavy trash can over to where the women were kneeling on the floor.

“Throwing up on all fours over the smaller trash can will cause more problems for Ms. Kelly than if she stands up.”  Aris smiled at Saoirse.  She didn’t believe him, but he didn’t mind.

She continued to glare at him as she helped Kelly to her feet.  No sooner was she up than the vomiting began.  Aris came back over to the women with a bottle of water.  Saoirse held the woman’s hair, rubbing her back as she continued losing the contents of her stomach into the trash can.

Aris told Misha to find out what was holding up Noah and Leo.  He stood there watching Saoirse care for a woman she didn’t even know.  In another time, another place, he would have liked very much to have met Saoirse.  She was the whole package: strong, smart, and beautiful.

Aris motioned to Khar to keep an eye on the dozen or so people on the floor.  Something was wrong.  That hateful buzzing in his spine told him it was time to go.  Aris walked quickly back to the vault.  Noah was kneeling on the floor with his hands behind his head.  Misha was anxiously pointing his gun at everyone pushing Leo to hurry up.  Noah saw Aris standing just beyond the vault door but didn’t move.  He waited patiently, confident that Aris would figure out in a second or two that Misha was double crossing them.

The violent explosion triggered by the booby trapped deposit box ripped through the vault.  Aris stepped back instinctively to avoid the debris.  Leo was laying on the floor, his face gone.  Noah was injured.  Misha was digging in the safety deposit box for something.

“Misha what happened?”  Aris already knew.

“I don’t know.  Everything just blew up.  We gotta get out of here.”  Misha shoved the contents of the box in his pocket as he moved to the door.  He paid no attention to Noah on the floor, nor cared one bit that Leo was dead.

“Misha you’re forgetting the money.”  Aris was in no rush.

“Who cares!  We got what we came for.  Let’s go.”  Misha pushed past him in the vault doorway.

Aris turned, knocking Misha out cold with the butt of his Beretta.  Noah was still semi-unconscious on the vault floor.

“Come on.  We have to go.”  Aris pulled Noah to his feet.

Jerith had gotten off the floor a minute or two before.  He was still shaking his head trying to pull it together after the pressure of the blast.  He grabbed the money bags sliding them along the floor as they went.  Back out in the main lobby, police cars were already pulling up outside.

“We need hostages if we are going to keep them off of us.”  Khar looked at Aris.  He shifted Noah’s unconscious body in his arms reaching for the pregnant Kelly standing beside Khar. 

“Are you nuts?” Saoirse stepped between Khar and the trashcan.  “She’s pregnant!  You’re already up for armed robbery and aggravated assault, but if she loses her baby, you’re going down for manslaughter too.”  adrenaline was getting the better of her at the moment.

Aris smiled.  Smart
and
quick on her feet.  “You’re right.  I can’t imagine what I was thinking.”  Grabbing Saoirse’s arm instead, he turned back around to Kelly, “When the police finally get that door open, make sure they know we have hostages.  Tell them we’ve used our weapons an awful lot today!”

Aris pulled Saoirse into the service elevator as he leaned Noah against the wall.  Jerith and Khar pulled their black jumpsuits off exchanging them for white ones from a catering company in the building.  

“Hold him.”  Aris leaned Noah over to Saoirse as the doors opened to the third floor.  Khar and Jerith grabbed the catering carts in front of the elevator, pulling them into the elevator car.  Aris hit the button for the parking garage.  The men loaded the money into the catering carts.  The elevator door opened again, both men pushed the carts out to the caterer’s van on the loading dock.  Aris hit the button for the roof.

“He needs a doctor.”  Saoirse voiced the obvious.

“That is the next thing on my agenda.”  Aris looked at her longer than he should have.

The service elevator opened again presenting the flight of stairs to the roof.  Aris took Noah.  Saoirse was hoping she could just hit the button to go back down, but Aris had already thought of that. 

“You first, Saoirse.”  Aris flashed his most charming smile.

Saoirse scowled climbing the steps.  On the roof, Aris leaned Noah against her, nearly knocking her over.

“You might have given me notice you were going to do that, thanks.  I nearly twisted my ankle.”  Saoirse reprimanded Aris’s back as he shut down the service elevator.

“You hadn’t thought about the elevators?  I am surprised.  I thought you were more clever than that.  You have already concluded that you are going to get into the helicopter haven’t you?”  Aris smiled at her.  Her feistiness was making him regret he didn’t have more time with her.

“What happened to Noah?  Where’s Leo and Jerith?  Who’s she?”  the pilot asked as Noah was strapped into one of the seats.

“It’s a long story.  Saoirse, get in please.”  Aris pointed to the front seat beside the pilot.

“I can’t.  You’ll have to go without me before the police make it to the roof.”  her pencil skirt was hiked slightly above her knee but she still couldn’t get her leg high enough to get in. 

“Let me help you.”  Aris knelt down beside her.  Grabbing the fabric of her linen skirt, he yanked in opposite directions.  The seam split easier than expected, tearing halfway up her hip instead of halfway up her thigh as he had intended.

Saoirse stood where she was, scowling at him, but didn’t say anything.

Aris cupped his hand slapping her backside.  “Now Ms. MacLear!”

Saoirse yelped in surprise.

Aris’s smart aleck grin ran from ear to ear, “...before the police get up here.”

She grabbed the handle on the side of the helicopter as Aris lifted her the rest of the way.  The pilot watched her trying to get her skirt situated enough to cover her bare leg.

“Get to the drop point.  We’re already behind schedule!”  Aris shouted.  Saoirse sat quietly in the front seat thinking about what to do next.  In the back seat, Aris tended to Noah.

Saoirse had a vague idea of where they were when the pilot set the chopper down in an empty lot at the end of a new subdivision still under construction.  The construction crews paid little attention to the helicopter figuring that the news crew was there to do an environmental story since the construction company had torn out trees, then filled in a wetland, before construction began.

“Stay seated please, Saoirse.”  Aris turned his attention to the pilot.   “Take Noah.  I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes.”  the pilot nodded at Aris, taking Noah into what was left of the trees. 

Aris went around the helicopter to Saoirse’s side.  He was caught off guard by the shapely legs the torn skirt exposed when he opened the door.  Saoirse turned herself sideways in the seat pulling her legs together.

“As for you, Ms. Saoirse MacLear, this is where we must part.”  even the sound of her name rolled off his tongue like a French kiss.

Aris reached behind his back.  Saoirse took a deep breath hoping she wouldn’t feel the gun shot.

“Roll your sleeves down, please.  Grab that handle.”  Aris pulled a section of duct tape off the roll.  The breeze kicked up as he went to tape her arms together catching her hair instead.

“I’m sorry.  Take a deep breath.” 

He grabbed her hair near the roots yanking the tape out.  Saoirse wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of her screaming.  He pushed the wasted piece of tape into his pocket before wrapping a new piece over her sleeves then around the handle itself.  Her blouse parted outward in front exposing the crease between her breasts.  Aris worked fast trying to ignore the temptation.

“You’re not wearing stockings.”  he held her ankle in his hand.

“Nobody wears nylons in the summer.”  Saoirse rolled her eyes as if he should have known better.   His hand on her leg was making her thighs clench tight sending shivers running up her spine.

Aris smirked, doubling a large piece of tape back on itself.  “Put your ankles together.” 

The shape of her platform pumps made putting her ankles close together nearly impossible.  Aris sighed, pulling them off of her feet, he dropped them in the dirt.

“Those are Jimmy Choo!”  they were her favorite shoes even though they were a consignment store purchase.

“A small price to pay for saving your skin when they tear the duct tape off.”  Aris wrapped the doubled back piece around her ankles.

Saoirse sat still watching him tape her ankles.  He straightened up pulling another piece of tape off the roll.  “Don’t bother.  There’s no one to hear me scream but the construction crew.  I doubt even they’ll hear me.”

“You can scream all you like.  I won’t be here to hear it.”  he put his hand to her face kissing her deeply before she knew what had hit her. 

Without thinking about it, she kissed him back.  Their tongues curling around each other discovering one another.  She tasted rich with the edge of fire in her kiss.  Aris discovered she was something that couldn’t be experienced quickly, as his body demanded more of her.

“Goodbye, Saoirse.”  he headed off to the tree line thinking about the way she tasted. 

Her body quivered as that last shiver finished making its way up her spine.  His hot kiss flipped her stomach. 
‘Goodbye, Aris.’
she thought to herself.  Part of her was revolted that she was hot for a bank robber, even if he was ludicrously sexy. 

*****