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“It’s just that…?” Fred prompted.
Horrified that she’d almost just outed herself as a fraud and a liar, Amelia’s face went hot. “It’s just that I don’t associate ‘company retreat’ and ‘team building’ with fun. But that’s more a reflection on me than you, Fred.”
His eyes were sharp as he nodded. The older man studied her for a beat, his lips flattening ever so slightly.
He knew she was lying. A man like Fred, who’d built a huge company and steered it to success year after year after year was good at reading people. That was a given. His eyes were too shrewd.
“Amelia isn’t exactly a paragon of Corporate America,” Leo inserted smoothly. He grinned at her, but his eyes were a bit desperate, and Amelia thought he was trying to communicate something along the lines of,Get it the hell together, girl.
“No,” Fred replied, still watching her, probably noting the redness sweeping across her cheeks. “I suppose touring with a band doesn’t involve company retreats and scavenger hunts.”
Seized with the fear that they were about to be discovered, accused, and locked up, Amelia could only manage an awkward laugh.
They needed to find that ring—and fast.
Before they could go upto their room and study Ari’s papers, Leo was disappointed to discover they had to play giant Jenga with the rest of the guests. The huge pieces were stacked on the back patio. There were ten sets, which meant the game was to be played in teams of four.
Leo and Amelia were paired with Robert and his wife. Ari, the guy he’d done the scavenger hunt with, Vanessa, and her boyfriend Mark were working on the set to their left.
While Leo set up the pieces, Amelia glanced at the other team, then schooled her features and smiled at Robert. “Are you sure you want to play? Maybe you should leave some of the prizes for the rest of us.”
Robert winked. “Maybe I want a clean sweep this year.”
“Have you been to Vienna before?”
“No,” he admitted and glanced at his wife, “but Trudy already has our itinerary planned out.”
“Schönbrunn Palace on Day One.” Trudy ticked off on one of her fingers. “Then we’ll hit up a couple of Mozart concerts, maybe tour some churches…”
Robert pretended to grumble, but Leo could tell he loved his wife and looked forward to the trip. Amelia smiled at the two of them, then glanced at Leo. He couldn’t read her gaze.
For a brief moment—a mere handful of seconds—Leo allowed himself to imagine taking Amelia on a trip like that. He wanted to see her face brighten. He wanted to watch her lean over to read placards in museums. He wanted to slip his hand into hers and tug her toward an ice cream shop at ten in the morning, just to see the bliss take over her features when the sweet treat touched her tongue.
He wanted all that and a whole lot more.
But she didn’t want him. Even though she’d kissed him today, it was only to save them from uncomfortable explanations.
A sour taste coated his tongue as the thought settled into his mind.
Reeling himself back in, Leo turned his attention to the Jengablocks. “What’s the strategy here?”
“Well, we have fifteen minutes to make the tallest possible tower. If it falls over, we’re disqualified.” Amelia’s brows tugged together as she considered the problem. He could almost see the calculations going on behind her eyes, and he discovered that he loved this expression on her face almost as much as all the others.
Amelia nodded, like she was a human computer that had just completed a complicated computation. She glanced at Leo, Trudy, then Robert. “We should play it safe for the bottom half, only taking out the middle blocks. Then when we get closer to the top, we can start taking out edge pieces. That way we have a good balance between stability and height.”
Trudy whistled. “Not only can she sing, but she can also Jenga. You’d better hold onto her, Leo.”
If only. Leo smiled at Trudy, just in time to hear Fred’s voice count down the start of the competition. As soon as the buzzer went off, every team started working to build their towers.
With no chance to slip away to do more snooping, Leo was stuck here. He might as well mine the company fixer for information.
“What do you think about Nadia’s ring going missing?” Leo asked quietly, leaning toward Robert to make sure they couldn’t be overheard.
The surprise on Robert’s face looked genuine. “They haven’t found it yet?”
Leo shook his head. “I heard they think someone took it.”
A frown tugged the other man’s brows. “Off her finger? How?”
