Page 77 of The Prize

He’d asked me if I wanted food while we’d waited in line for our drinks but my appetite was dulled even after our climb. The unpredictability of the day was unsettling.

I glanced around to make sure we had privacy. “Any more surprises?”

“Sure you want me to ruin your fun?”

And then I realized. “You turned the app back on?”

“Yes, us meeting with Eli will be on our terms. Though it won’t look like this to him. He’ll believe he’s breeched my phone’s GPS. The plan to get your paintings back is underway.”

I’d left his side for a few minutes to visit the bathroom and assumed he’d turned it back on then. “But they won’t have time to catch us if we leave now.”

“We’re not leaving.”

My mouth went dry and I tried to swallow past the lump.

“If we get separated, call me.” He nodded toward my handbag.

“Shouldn’t we go?”

“The point is to make Eli believe he has us trapped. He’ll think that coming here personally to deal with us was his idea. His ego will be fed if he takes things into his own hands.” He rose and carried our empty cups over to a trash bin and threw them in, and then gave a confident nod for me to follow.

We walked along the outside of the statue’s pedestal and I crooked my neck to peer up and admire the woman who was at first meant to represent an Egyptian peasant welcoming the refugees to safety. It was hard to focus with the thought we were just waiting around until the threat found us.

“Same man who designed the Eiffel Tower in France,” said Tobias, pointing up at her. “Alexandre Gustave Eiffel designed the structure and Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi designed the statue.”

“She looks like a goddess.”

“They went with a Greco-Roman goddess of liberty in the end.”

I flexed a bicep. “They came to their senses and realized it’s the women who save the day.”

Tobias pounced forward and tickled my ribs, and I laughed and struggled to get away from him. “Yeah, the truth hurts, mate.”

“Mate?” He tipped up my chin. “What are you, a pirate?”

“I’m a warrior.” I beamed at him.

“I’m going to kiss you.”

“I’ll allow it.”

Something in the way he looked at me sent a stab of doubt as his mouth crushed mine, but having his body trapping me between him and the stone sent a shiver of pleasure that was impossible to deny and I weakened in his arms. I’d never be able to resist him like this, the way his tongue stroked mine tenderly, the way his lips forced mine wider and the way his kissing made me feel we were two souls entwined in a timeless embrace.

He broke away and kissed my neck. “Oh, the things I want to do to you.”

“What kind?” I ran my fingers along his shirt collar.

“If we weren’t in a public area I’d kneel at your feet and worship the goddess before me.” He beamed brightly. “You take my breath away, Zara.”

“Maybe I’d insist on kneeling before you—”

“I’m going to have to stop you there.” He pressed a finger to my lips and something in his gaze changed.

A jolt of fear hit me. “Are they here?”

He pulled me along the stone wall and down the steps. “Don’t look back.”

We rounded the corner and we ran down more steps. All the way to a grassy bank.