Page 44 of The Prize

“I’m not sure I’ll ever need this.”

“Let’s hope so.” He swung to my left.

With a nod to show I was ready, we swung out together taking a leap back and gliding downward in unison, both of us landing on the wall having lowered a few feet. Daring to go a little farther than before I continued to swing out, mirroring him and relieved he was with me. We found our rhythm.

When my feet finally made it to the ground I peered up at how far I’d come, amazed.

“Well?” He waited for my reaction.

“That’s very high.”

He followed my gaze. “It’s not a bad start.”

“I never imagined I’d ever do something like this.”

He rubbed my back with affection. “I had a feeling you might like it.”

This was so far out of my realm of experience I couldn’t quite grasp I’d even agreed to expose myself to this danger, and yet as I stood here catching my breath and staring up at the dizzying height of how far I’d come, something shifted deep inside and there came a sense that this was a defining moment for me. My courage was awakening and it sparked a sense of independence.

“Wanna do it again?” he said.

“Yes, yes, I do.”

He threw his head back in a laugh and we ran into the foyer, up the stairs, headed for the loft window and edged back onto the roof. This time Tobias went first.

I never knew there was this side to me that had lain dormant all this time. Hanging out in art galleries and snuggled in libraries didn’t exactly inspire anyone to see me as heroic. Yet Tobias did and the way he looked at me now with pride in his gaze stirred my own. I beamed back at him, grateful to have at least tried it. These kinds of moments with him certainly weren’t boring.

We descended five more times like this and the last three times I abseiled on my own.

I rewarded my bravery with a long hot shower and afterward went downstairs to see about fixing us breakfast.

Sitting at the granite countertop sipping tea and watching the sunrise out of the bay window, I smiled when I thought that Tobias had probably gone back to bed.

The memories of the last few days came flooding back and I froze with the realization that all that had happened had literally stunned me into compliance. That vision of Tobias leaping off the tall building shook me to the core. I’d found the courage to abseil down the wall and this felt like a breakthrough—

Sitting here, drinking tea and waiting for Tobias to take the lead wouldn’t do. I had to take my power back. I had to get into his workshop and see what he was really doing in there. Surely I was his biggest threat and maybe this was his way of controlling me and distracting me from what was really going on.

I set my mug in the sink and hurried toward the man cave. I tapped the corner of the secret painting and felt the frame release from the wall. Easing my fingers around the back I pulled. I was in. I didn’t know how much time I’d have or if Tobias would come looking for me.

It was no surprise his five computers needed a code to access them when I tried to get in to them. I concentrated instead on studying his hardware while trying to piece together what I could from his equipment. I searched for alternative motives for us being here or any hint a theft might be going down in New York, care of Icon.

To the left of the main area was a hallway and at the end was a large chrome door. I pressed my palm to the side on the panel but it didn’t open. Ready to head back the way I’d come I turned—

Tobias was standing at the other end of the hallway staring at me with his hands shoved inside his pockets. “Zara?”

“I was just taking a look around.”Damn my honesty.

“I can see that.” He strolled toward me, with that long stride exuding power, and closed the gap between us and towered over me.

Gone were his black sports clothes he’d worn for climbing and instead he’d changed into his casually ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with TechRule’s logo styled with bold sweeps. He scraped his fingers through his already perfectly styled hair as though thinking through how to handle this;handle me.

A waft of his heady cologne hit the spot and I tried to guard against the impending effect of swooning at this early morning vision of danger camouflaged as beauty.

And I was alone in a big old manor with him.

“What did I say to you when you first arrived here?” he said.

“That I could leave?”