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Turning back to the front door, he opened it with a yank. Ari was still waiting on the other side, an eyebrow popped. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Your watch is missing?” Leo prompted.
Ari nodded. “Yeah. And…yeah, the watch.”
“We didn’t see anyone.”
The other man sighed, his gaze meeting Leo’s. Leo met it head-on, knowing it was only a matter of time before Ari began to suspect them. If they were the only ones alone in the hallway, it was only logical.
“What about you?” Ari asked, jerking his chin over Leo’s shoulder.
Amelia had slipped into a white sundress with a red-and-pink floral print. The straps were thin, holding up a crisscrossed bodice and a flouncy skirt. Leo wanted her to slip right out of it again, preferably somewhere he could watch.
Scrunching a towel into her wet hair, Amelia shook her head. “Didn’t see anyone. What did you say they took?”
“My watch.” Ari narrowed his gaze at her, then shifted to look at Leo. “Strange that Amelia wouldn’t know what a Patek Philippe is, though. Surely she would have heard of the brand before now. Isn’t your watch collection worth a couple hundred k?”
A strangled noise came from Amelia, and she covered it up by coughing.
“She was just trying to be funny,” Leo lied.
“Uh-huh!” Amelia said, voice muffled by the towel she’d shoved over her face.
Ari, looking troubled, said goodbye to the couple and walked toward his room. Leo closed the door and turned the lock. He met Amelia’s wide-eyed gaze.
“You think he was telling the truth? His watch is really missing?”
Leo let out a sigh. “Either that, or he was trying to cover for the missing papers.”
Amelia bit her lip. “We should go down to breakfast soon. Maybe we can corner Vanessa and ask her why she was up here with Ari instead of with her boyfriend doing the scavenger hunt.”
Leo nodded. “Good plan. I’ll shower, and we’ll head down.”
But when Leo emerged from the steamy bathroom, he saw Amelia sitting on the couch, frowning at her phone. She glanced up at him, brows still drawn low over her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled.
“Did something happen?” Leo approached, trying to ignore the banging of his heart. If Amelia had to leave the retreat, it’d only raise the suspicion on them. He’d have to come clean to Fred—and then what? As he came closer, his worry grew. What if something was wrong with Amelia’s family? Her work? If something was truly wrong, he’d face Fred, come clean, do whatever he had to do if Amelia was in trouble. “What’s going on?” Leo demanded. He needed to fix this. Immediately.
Amelia let out a sigh and shook her head. “Sorry. It’s nothing. I’m just kind of shocked.” She turned her phone to face him. “I got a message from Ben.”
Leo’s first instinct was to grab Amelia’s phone and fling it into the blazing depths of an active volcano. But he wasn’t a savage, so he wiped the scowl off his face and sat down beside her. “Ah. Congrats.”
“Don’t sound too excited,” she mock-grumbled, elbowing him.
“This is what you wanted, right?” Leo asked, his voice sounding thin through the tightness of his throat.
Amelia bunched her lips to the side. “I guess.”
Silence dropped between them like a lead weight. Leo forced himself to be civil. Wasn’t he supposed to be helping her get a boyfriend? “What did he say?”
“He said, ‘Hey.’”
Leo’s eye roll proved he’d spent a past life as a fourteen-year-old girl. “What a fucking charmer.”
Amelia clicked her tongue, frowning at him. “Be nice. I said ‘Hey,’ back, but with a smiley face added.” She stared at her phone screen and cringed.
