Now I’m back to square one.
It’s getting increasingly frustrating that none of my plans are working when it comes to the females in this building.
The next time the opportunity arises, I’ll have to be quicker.
I unlock my backpack and carry my clothes into the bathroom. There’s a jacuzzi, a shower to fit at least seven people, and a vanity and closet stocked with everything one could need.
There’s a full-body dryer, because apparently these people are too good for towels, and I drape my clothes over it and turn it on high.
I take a quick shower, scrubbing my still faintly red skin. It’s stuck in the creases of my fingers and select spots on my body, but I’m no longer a walking neon sign. My clothes are still damp, but I put them on anyway. I’ll be home soon, and then I can change.
It’s quiet as I wind my way through the halls and to the first floor. Perfect. Don’t mind me; I’ll take my painting and stash it while I figure out a way around the cameras. But…
The painting is gone.
In its place is none other than the woman who got away.
Chapter 13
Soren
“Lookingforsomething?”Mayagrins, puffing out a breath and wiping her sweaty pink forehead. She looks like she just got back from a run.
“You didn’t shower.”
She glances at her red-streaked legs. “I look good in red.”
I eye her legs as well. “Your fourth best color.”
She quirks a brow. “Fourth?”
I hold up a hand, numbering them with my fingers. “Ivory, baby blue, black,thenred.” I remember her outfits. I remember everything.
She narrows her eyes and stalks forward with a confidence that is not entirely unattractive. “You’re not going to charm me into giving you this painting.” She pokes me in the chest.
I snatch her finger, keeping it right above my heart. “I seem to remember you falling for it the first time.”
I immediately want to take the words back. It was never meant to trick her. I was gone for her long before she fell for me.
She yanks her hand out of mine. “You fooled me once. Not again.” She stomps past me, calling over her shoulder, “When I get out of the shower, you better be gone.”
“I’ll be right here.”
I’m in so much trouble—in more ways than one. My heart is beating harder, trying to remember all the reasons I left the first time, trying to make them seem believable again. I still have feelings for her, even after I did my best to expel them. Eight years later, and it’s like the distance was never there. I’m a teenage boy, annoying her just to get her attention.
I scrub a hand over my face, bringing myself to the current crisis. What matters now is the painting.
She outplayed me, which I respect on many levels. But I still have access to the security feeds. I pull it up, skipping back over the last ten minutes to see where she went… but it goes black. She turned it off. Sneaky little thing.
I might have to accept defeat and leave.
Liam willprobablyforgive me for not coming through this one time. But what about those girls, counting on this to keep them from a life in the gutters? They need the money. The Hartwells can buy it back after it’s been rightfully sold.
I can’t let Maya win this round, and some piece of me isn’t quite ready to leave her again.
Decision made, I begin my search the old-fashioned way.
I’ve always hated hide-and-seek. It’s a rude game meant to make the finder cry when they’ve wandered around the house for nearly an hour and still can’t find their only friend. Yes, I may have been such a finder. Maya, on the other hand, has always enjoyed a hunt, which is how I know it’s going to be next to impossible to find the painting in this giant place. I know the layout, but Maya knows the nooks and crannies and secret rooms. Those weren’t listed inthe blueprints, only mentioned in an article in the Times. Dennis Hartwell made his millions with one of the most intriguing video games. It’s essentially a layered maze where the player has to make his or her way from the bottom floor to the top to save the world, all while fighting the zombies, of course. There are new hidden passageways on each level that completely change the game layout when found.
