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They took two more pictures inside and moved outside, the cool air a balm on Amelia’s skin. She took a deep breath, and finally, her brain came back online. “What do you think they were doing up there? It sounded like they were arguing about something. Ari said something about clients being lined up?”
Leo was still holding her hand. She wondered if he liked doing it, but she wasn’t going to ask in case he stopped. Glancing down at her, Leo shrugged. “Not sure.”
“Vanessa called Ari an idiot. You think he took the ring, and she was calling him an idiot for doing it? And the clients were buyers?”
“Maybe,” Leo said, following another team into the trees. They found a treehouse, took a picture, and crossed it off the list, painting bright smiles on their faces when they came upon the other team there.
“Heard you two took a detour,” the middle-aged woman said, eyes glimmering. Amelia’s cheeks smarted, which made the couple laugh. “I remember when we got engaged,” the other woman said, glancing at her husband. “He was insatiable.”
“It wasn’t all me, darling,” the man replied, and the couple took off toward the next item on their list.
When they were out of earshot, Leo met Amelia’s gaze. “At least our cover story is still working.”
A little too well, Amelia thought. At least on her end.
If she was going to survive all the way to Sunday, she’d have to remember that Leo didn’t actually have feelings for her. I was just the deal they’d struck. Once the retreat was over—and they made sure their names were never sullied by accusations of theft—they’d go their separate ways.
TWELVE
The prize was an all-expensespaid trip to Vienna. When Amelia heard that, she regretted her brief (failed) foray as an amateur detective, even if it had ended with her in a position she’d remember for the rest of her life. She gaped at Fred as he shook Robert Lafontaine’s hand, then whirled to face Leo. “I thought the prize was going to be a slow cooker or a twenty-dollar gift card to Starbucks,” she hissed. “The prize is atwo-week vacation? What the hell!”
Leo winced. “Yeah. Sorry. The prizes are always pretty good.”
She blew out a breath. That was an understatement.
Amelia picked up the discarded golden envelope that had held Robert’s and his wife Trudy’s prize. It was beautiful stationery, embossed with gold lettering.
“There’ll be more games,” Leo promised. “It’s a whole thing with this retreat. It’s why people love being invited.”
“No kidding,” Amelia grumbled. She gave the envelope to a passing staff member, scowling. They’d gone snooping for nothing.
The whole group was herded to lunch, where a generous buffet of sandwiches and a few hot dishes were laid out. Everyone exchanged notes about the scavenger hunt and checked out each other’s pictures. As she munched on an absolutely delicious falafel wrap, Amelia realized she was enjoying herself.
Leo’s arm brushed hers as he angled his phone toward Cora.
“Look at your face!” Cora laughed as she looked at the picture of Amelia under the powder room painting. “You look like you’ve just done the hundred-meter dash.”
“Something like that,” Amelia mumbled, then took another bite of her food.
Leo laughed beside her, which made Amelia scowl at him, which made Leo laugh harder. She elbowed him in the ribs.
Cora’s brown eyes twinkled. “Young love,” she mused. “Are you enjoying yourself, dear?”
Amelia chewed while she thought of her answer. “Yes,” she finally answered. “I am.”
As far as team-building went, this retreat was actually really effective. That nagging feeling of loneliness had almost totally fled, and Amelia found herself wrapped up in the easy companionship of Leo and his coworkers and their families.
She loved her friends and her family, but for the past couple of years, Amelia had felt space growing between them. Here, in the presence of relative strangers and with Leo by her side, it was like her soul let out a deep sigh, and she could relax.
There were no expectations. People didn’t ask her when she’d start dating again (“Hasn’t it been over six years since Josh broke up with you?”), or wince at her tales of romantic woe (“You’ll find someone. You just have to keep trying!”). She wasn’t some loveless freak; she was Leo’s fiancée. It was accepted without question that she belonged by his side.
Amelia glanced at the man beside her, whose eyes crinkled. He winked, then slung an arm across her shoulders and pulled her closer. These were easy looks and touches, like they’d done it a thousand times.
Maybe if Amelia got out of her own way, she could have this for real. The problem was, whenever she thought about a man slinging his arm around her shoulders or squeezing her hand, she couldn’t picture anyone but Leo. And that was a problem, because she barely knew the man, and also because this was all supposed to be fake.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Fred chided, coming up to Amelia, Cora, and Leo. “Leo did tell you this retreat would be fun, didn’t he?”
“Of course!” Amelia smiled. “It’s just that—” She stopped herself right before she said,It’s just that my idea of fun is figuring out a thorny problem with various sets of data. It’s just that this was all some silly deal we worked out, and I didn’t expect to actually enjoy it.
