Confidence Tricks by Tamara Morgan Read Free Book Online

her back to them as she raised a hand in farewell. It was a gesture of goodwill, letting them watch her go. Not many people got that privilege.
    And she was so pleased when they didn’t try to stop her that it wasn’t until she’d hiked the two miles back to her car that she realized she never asked why, if Todd’s necklace was so clearly a fake, they’d bothered stealing it at all.
     

Chapter Four
    “Great class,” Poppy said warmly as she handed out towels and bottles of water to her students. They looked like they needed it. Most of the first-timers in her self-defense aerobics class had taken her before for yoga, and they expected the same kind of experience—languid stretches, abdominal tightening holds, the typical om-nom-namaste stuff that bespoke green tea and holistic dentistry.
    What they got today was something a little bit closer to Poppy’s preferred type of activity. Hand-to-hand combat. Elbow torques and roundhouses and scissor kicks. Real exercise.
    “I’m not going to be able to walk for a week,” one woman complained, though she had a sweaty, post-workout sense of satisfaction going on. She took one of the waters gratefully. “That was really intense.”
    “It’s a nice way to work out your aggression,” Poppy agreed.
    Unfortunately for Poppy, a similar sweaty, post-workout sense of satisfaction wasn’t hers to enjoy. Her employment at In the Buff, a twenty-four-hour gym that catered to a suburban crowd, was grueling at best. She still had to make overpriced protein smoothies at the juice bar, looking perky and rested in a pink sports bra and her blonde wig, for another six-hour shift.
    Poppy Donovan was an ex-con legally required to disclose her criminal record and file her place of employment with her parole officer…which was why In the Buff had hired Natalie Hall, whose falsified paperwork made her hesitant to demand better hours. As long as they didn’t ask any questions, neither would she.
    “Aren’t you looking gorgeous today?” a smooth male voice called, pulling Poppy’s attention toward the front desk. She forced herself to smile as she bounced over to greet Todd, clad in gym pants and a tank top as he prepared to sweat buckets on one of the treadmills.
    “Hey, doll,” she cooed, leaning in for a quick peck. “Make sure you stop by after your workout for a shot of wheatgrass, ’kay?” She liked to make him a special cocktail laced with chasteberry. The herbal supplement had been used to subdue the sex drives of monks for centuries—which made it ideally suited for her purposes. She liked keeping Todd interested, but not too interested. The last thing she needed was to drop-kick her cover because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.
    He nodded and puffed up, clearly loving the attention, as she knew he would. She’d gotten the job here solely as a means of tracking him. It didn’t take any master training in Confidence Tricks 101 to know that the best way to gain a man’s interest was to be a yoga instructor at the gym where he exercised. It had taken all of two hours to get him to ask her out on a date.
    Because Todd worked out, his body was fairly trim, if built a little like a pit bull, and there was a firmness to his jaw that denoted power. Other than a slightly bulbous nose signifying his excesses, he wasn’t half bad.
    In another lifetime, she might have called him handsome.
    In another lifetime, however, she would have kept him far away from her grandmother and none of this would be necessary. No lying to Bea. No master criminal plans. Just her and a respectable life, all laid out like a flat plain, each step plotted and planned and perfectly safe.
    She fought a shudder—not because Todd leaned in for another kiss, but because the only thing that scared her more than facing another two years in jail was a lifetime of respectability. It might be a different type of imprisonment, but the bars were there all the same.
    “I’ve been missing you something fierce