ELEVEN
Shit. Peri realized she’d miscalculated by telling Theo about her find. She couldn’t bluff her way out of this. She hadn’t sworn him to secrecy because it hadn’t occurred to her that a- he’d show up out of the blue, or b- he’d blurt out her discovery in front of everyone. And to make matters worse, by revealing that she had a tablet, he had divulged that she had her own dive site. He’d just aimed a blowtorch at a sky-high pile of kindling.
Her instinct to get her tablet away from the Cutters had been spot on.
“What third tablet?” Finn demanded with dangerous softness. A muscle tightened in his jaw. His eyes turned storm-cloud dark as he swiveled to look at her.
She hadn’t even opened her mouth to respond when the oldest Cutter threw in his two cents. “There really is another tablet?” Logan inquired. Damn those deep blue eyes cut like lasers. “Where did it come from?”
No point prevaricating now. She’d never counted to three before diving off a cliff, and she didn’t now. “I found it diving Napolitano.”
“Diving-" Finn bit the word off to demand, "Diving with whom? Case?"
"Yes."
"Is that part of your job description?"
"There’s nothing in my job description that says I can’t salvage in my spare time."
He had nothing to say to that. “So it's onboard Tesoro Mio, and accessible."
"No, it's not."
"Where is it?” It was chilling how a low voice could hold so much threat.
Cleaned, beautiful, and on her kitchen counter at home as of a few hours ago.
Lifting her chin, she responded calmly, despite the pterodactyls swooping en masse in her stomach. “Somewhere safe.” And she didn’t think for a freaking moment that Finn, or the Cutters, would let her end the conversation there. And honestly, in their place, neither would she, damn it.
“That wasn’t the question.” Each word seemed chipped out of granite. "Tell us where it is. Right now.”
His tone put her back up. “You have no right to order me to do anything, Finn."
"Why? Don't you want the preeminent authority on the tablet to take a look at it?"
"Don't put words in my mouth. Of course I do.”
“Why were you working a salvage?”
“Because I’m a diver and salvager, the same as the rest of you,” she told him tartly. “Napolitano has been mine from the start.” Finn was so close she imagined she saw angry little black dots darting around in his irises. “I was the one who discovered the wrecks. Five years ago.”
“Is that so? So, you’ve had the tablet for years. Yet you didn’t mention it the other night when it was the main focus of our conversation at dinner?” Not waiting for her response, he raised a brow. "Napolitano is registered to a shell company under the Koúkos Corporation umbrella.”
She didn't correct the timing of her discovery. Peri shrugged while her heart pounded so hard she was sure it would jump right out of her chest and flee the scene. Holy hell. How had he found out who it was registered to?
Not that it surprised her. A man didn’t get to be in Finn’s position in business without knowing precisely who and what he was up against at the negotiation table.
“You named a corporation cuckoo.” The lethal edge in Finn’s voice could strip paint off a hull. “As in a bird that commandeers another bird’s nest?”
He was too damned quick. “Huh. Is that what Koúkos means? I just liked the sound of the word.” As if any intelligent person would name their company something without knowing what hell the name meant. She was the cuckoo. In the Cutter’s nest.
She did a quick glance around the room to gauge if anyone else was connecting the dots. They were looking her way, but they hadn’t become hostile. That, she knew, could change on a dime. Her entire body braced as if they were about to stone her. Rubbing her damp palm along the nubby arm of the sofa, she wished she had a drink to moisten her dry mouth.
Zane made a rude noise and shot a glare at Theo. “Isn’t that a conflict of damned interest, Minister of Antiquities?”
“Miss Andersen was the one who brought the wrecks to my attention,” Theo told him, voice stiff. He didn’t like being questioned. “She already had her claim and was the logical choice to oversee the salvage. Especially one of this magnitude.”
“In a fucking pig’s eye,” Jonah snarled. “It’s a major conflict of interest to put the wolf in charge of the hens. I demand that she- “
“She’s doing a fine job,” Nick inserted smoothly. “I don’t have a problem with it – her- at all. Naturally, we all want to see your tablet,” he addressed Peri, his brilliant blue eyes kind. “Is it easily accessible? Can we get to it before Signore Vadini arrives?”
“As I said. I’ll bring it in the morning.”
Nick smiled. “Good enough.”
“No,” Finn said flatly. “We won't wait until tomorrow. Dr. Vadini will want to see all of the tablets when he arrives.” Glancing at his watch, he stood. “We have two hours before then. Let’s go.”
“No need for you to leave your guests.” Theo got to his feet. “It would be my honor to accompany Ariel to the location.”
Peri didn’t look at her ex-lover. Her entire focus was in trying to read Finn’s stoic expression. “You don’t know where that is, Theo.”
“You'll tell me.” Now Theo sounded mildly annoyed. He wasn’t a man who showed his emotions on his sleeve, but boy, did he hate when people he dealt with didn’t give him the deference he believed he was owed. Apparently, he’d taken a dislike to Finn for some reason. She suspected the feeling was mutual.
“It will take at least two hours for the round trip to the mainland wherever it is. At a guess I'd say it's at your glass house,” he said stiffly. “And I think I should go alone. That way you’ll be here when the other tablet arrives. If you’d give me the code to get into the house I’ll leave immedi-“
“No,” Finn repeated, cutting Theo off, his brusqueness verging on rudeness. “You’re welcome to remain here. Or return to – wherever you came from, Dr. Núñez.” His silvery eyes locked on Peri. “This is not a matter that’s up for debate."
“One of you let me know when it’s my turn to offer an opinion.” Peri crossed her arms and legs and planted her butt more firmly on the loveseat.
“We’ll take the chopper and make a quick round trip. I don’t want Dr. Vadini to wait any longer than necessary to have all three tablets to study. Up,” he told her.
She looked at him. “Try again.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he gritted out, “Don’t push me.”
“Don’t bully me.” Stand off. Unfortunately, it was exhilarating sparring with him.
Did his lips twitch? Peri gave him a suspicious look, but he was still glaring, so obviously not. He held out his hand. “Please allow me to take you to your house so we can return with the bloody tablet before the turn of the century.”
Placing her hand in his, she allowed him to pull her up beside him, and said sweetly, “Since you asked so nicely. . .”
In no time they were up on the bridge deck where two of his security people waited beside a sleek, black helicopter.
“Aw, do you need their protection to keep you safe from me?”
“They’re here to prevent me from strangling you and dumping your body over the South Atlantic bloody Ocean. Get in.”
With a snort of laughter, Peri climbed on board without his assistance. Finn went around and got in to sit at the controls. He motioned to the two men to stay onboard. They didn't look happy about it as they stepped away from the spinning rotors, but remained watching them.
Finn turned on the blades, and as they started to slowly rotate, handed her a headset. While she put it on, he leaned over to fasten her seat belt for her.
“I’m not a three-year-old. I can buckle myself in.” She liked his hands on her. His warm breath fanned her mouth. His face was so close she could see individual eyelashes.
"Don't," she warned.
He didn't move. Not his eyes, nor the fingers curled around the webbed seatbelt across her chest. “I like touching you.” His lips barely formed the words, yet the timber of his voice resonated through her bones like the vibrations of a tuning fork.
The heat of his fingers burned through her t-shirt. She didn't move either. But, God, she imagined his fingers stealing up the loose leg of her shorts to stroke her thigh, as he had the other day. She imagined him lifting her shirt to bare her breasts to the afternoon sun flooding the inside of the small space, nuzzling her breasts above the lace of her bra. Holding his gaze she imagined the roughness of his jaw scraping across her skin and the slick smooth heat of his tongue gliding across her nipple.
Squeezing her legs tightly together did the opposite of helping. Peri went hot, then cold, then hot again. “I like being touched by you," she pushed out, breath restricted. "But we have an audience.”
Still leaning over her, he didn’t straighten back into his own seat. “Do you give a damn?” Their mouths were barely touching, just enough that she could taste his coffee scented breath.
Peri licked the taste from her lips. “No. Yes,” she amended, mouth dry, heart trip-hammering as his eyes dilated into two black pools. “W-we’re in a hurry, remember?”
The loud whop-whop-whop of the blades blocked out any other sound as he kissed her. Not a marauding pirate's kiss, but a soft, somehow more intimate brush of his lips against hers. Peri’s insides melted into a puddle of mixed emotions too intense to describe.
She was in so, so much freaking trouble.
Lifting his head, he left her lips damp and bereft. Finn murmured, “To be continued.”
"I'll be ready. Bring your A game, Gallagher."
The gold tablet was propped on the center island counter at her glass house. Finn cast it a cursory glance as they walked past it to look at the jaw-dropping view, a spectacular, panoramic view of water and sky. As important as the artifact was, he was more interested in what he could learn about her. Here in her personal space, and in this truly private moment away from his ship, and the myriad people vying for his attention.
Her house, a five-sided-glass box, perched precariously on a wind-ravaged bluff. The mind-bending-275 degree-panoramic-view through fifteen-foot-high windows, was jaw-dropping, even for a man who'd seen spectacular architecture around the world. Miles of sparkling ocean and cloudless grey-blue sky stretched endlessly around him. Through the glass floor, waves thrashed soundlessly against the jagged gray rocks ten stories below his feet. Even the galley kitchen's floor was glass.
The open concept was approximately three thousand square feet. A white, Carrara marble, two-sided fireplace soared from glass floor to glass ceiling, bisecting the room, flanked by long, low, white bookcases, holding a display of ancient blue and white Chinese porcelain. Her large bed, covered in some soft fabric that mimicked the color of the palest blush found inside of a conch shell, appeared to float in space. A large, fluffy white area rug—an island—defining the L-shaped living room furniture, left plenty of room to walk across the gravity-defying floor.
She accompanied him diagonally across the room to the vast expanse of windows facing the ocean. “Incredible.” Sunlight bounced off the water as far as the naked eye could see. The anchored ships from here were mere specks on the vast blue. “You really are fearless, aren’t you?”
“Sometimes that’s not such a good thing. Being afraid, and doing something anyway, isn’t always the smartest choice.”
She remained face forward, staring at the view. Finn took in the delicacy of her profile and the sweep of her dark lashes. He wondered what she was referring to, and how he could fix it. Damn. They had to hurry back. They needed time- he needed time. To learn everything about her. To discover what gave her joy and what made her beautiful eyes cloudy. “Being afraid, and doing it anyway is called bravery.”
She smiled. “Some call it stupidity."
"I built my fortune on taking risks other people thought stupid. I did alright."
Her smile enchanted him as she turned up her face to look at him. "That you did."
Turning her in his arms, Finn kissed her. She immediately wound her arms around his neck, lifting up on her toes to position her mouth exactly right. She consumed him, filled his thoughts every fucking waking minute of every hour. Everything about her was music to him. A symphony of sounds and scents. The arousing play of her hands in his hair, the taste of the slick inside of her mouth, the assertive give and take of her tongue, were enough to drive him out of his mind. Lust on steroids.
His fingers dug into the taut muscles of her ass, pulling her firmly against his erection.
Tightening her arms around him, she moaned. Then pulled her mouth away from his. Her lips were kiss-swollen and pink, her cheeks flushed, her pupils huge. "Do you think we're unwittingly being given some sort of aphrodisiac?"
Finn laughed. "Whatever it is, let's package it and sell it. I think we'd make a fortune."
"Have you ever. . .?"
"Felt like this before? Never."
"Thank God, I'd hate to be alone in this. Whatever this is."
"Lust. Pheromones. Hunger."
Stepping out of his hold, she tugged down her t-shirt which had ridden up. "All of that. Do you think we'll burn out at some point?"
Wrapping his arm around her waist, Finn pulled her against his body and with his free hand gently pushed her hair over her shoulder so he had a clear view of her earnest face. "Not in the foreseeable future. You okay with that?"
She shot him a sassy smile. "As long as you can keep up with me, sure. As much as I'd like to take my bed for a test drive, we really can't stay here too long. But I'd like to take a rain check on that."
"A test drive should be slow and methodical, not taken in haste, I agree," he told her seriously, loving the way her eyes lit up, and lips curved. Turning around, he noticed some of her beautifully displayed pieces. "Are these artifacts you’ve salvaged over the years?" Sliding his palm against hers, Finn linked fingers with her as they walked.
"Yes, I keep the ones I can't bear to part with, the rest I sell. As you see, I don't like clutter, and having an ancient relic locked in some storeroom unseen would be a criminal waste. People need to see and enjoy them."
She motioned to the binoculars on a stand nearby, but he shook his head. He'd rather look at her. He’d like to come back and look through her telescope at the stars with her from her vantage point. But another time, "How did you get into salvaging?"
"My father had an interest, so it was a way to feel close to him. I worked as a freelance diver for a percentage of the salvage with various salvage crews for years. But I was looking for something to call my own. There's a small museum in the South of Spain that I've sold quite a few of my finds to over the years. They allowed me access to their underground storage facility, which contained storage drawers filled with, and was piled high with ship's manifests and log books from as far back as... "
She shook her head. "Probably the Crusades. Although I didn't get that far back. Every spare moment I had, if it was at all feasible- I went back there and continued my search, hoping to find that nugget. . . I must've combed through hundreds of thousands of documents before I discovered word of Napolitano, Nuestra Señora del Marco, Santa Ana and El Crucifijo. Then I followed that thread, reading hundreds and hundreds of other documents looking for another reference. It was a long and dusty road.
I finally found what I needed to locate the ships. Hundreds of miles from where they should've been. Then I did dive after dive until I had my hands on each one of them. Five years ago I moved here. Invested some of my earlier profits into the house, and the rest is history."
"You've done well with Napolitano. Is Rydell Case your partner?" Your lover?
"I've had several years to devote to salvaging her alone- or rather with the help of professional local divers. But it far exceeded my wildest expectations. I brought Case in a few years ago when I realized the scope of Napolitano. He was working another salvage, so it's only now he can devote his time to her. He brought his family with him. He's here for the long haul. With my job with the Ministry, and keeping track of everything you and the Cutters bring to the surface, I'm glad of his help and that of his divers. I'm pretty much sitting back, and will rake in the money while he and his team do all the work."
"There's no way you'd ever sit back, and I suspect you feel the same way about money as I do. It's just to keep score for achieving your personal best. But I know you love to dive."
"I do, and I will. But I'm just as fascinated at the history of everything that's being found. I'll dive Napolitano as I can. My priority right now is my job for the Ministry. It's a big responsibility, and one I take very seriously."
He looked around. “We must have the same decorator.” Spare. Lots of white. Pops of color. Intriguing artifacts. Air and space. He could move in right now.
The idea, for a confirmed bachelor, wasn’t repugnant.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she spoke against his ear, "I noticed."
Finn slid his arms around her narrow waist, drawing her tightly against him. Her warm breath fanned his skin, setting up a domino effect of need.
Her smile barely curved her lips. “Everyone’s waiting for us.” She uncoupled herself from his light hold before he could steal a kiss. “Bria’s expert is arriving any minute. We really should go,” her voice was brisk as she headed to the all-white galley kitchen.
When he paused to admire a forty-inch-tall, intact, bronze statue of Aphrodite on a white marble plinth, she offered, “I found that on a small wreck off Cape San Vito, Taranto, in Southern Italy, six years ago. There wasn't much there, but she's one of my favorites.”
“And this?” He indicated a deeply embossed gold box on a glass shelf nearby.
“I found that little tobacco box in an 1804- picked clean- Spanish galleon off the coast of Peru. One of my first salvages. All the treasure had been sold off by another salvager years earlier, and the wreck abandoned. But I hoped they’d missed a few things. And they did.”
“How long did it take you to find this?”
“Five months. It was good practice. Ready?”
Finn picked up the small duffel bag, containing her tablet, off the Carrara marble countertop. “Brave and dogged. Admirable qualities.”
The tip of her nose turned pink. “Some people don’t think so.”
“Who?” Finn asked, following her to the enormous swivel front door, set into the only wall in the place. The heavy metal door swung open with a touch of her finger. “Dr. Núñez?”
"Theo?" She huffed out a laugh as they walked outside into the sunshine. “He never knew me.” She locked the door with her palm print on a nearby biometric pad. “I doubt he had an opinion either way.”
Good to know.
The flight back was mercifully short, Finn held her hand from the helipad to the salon downstairs. They were all there waiting- an entire freaking room filled to the brim with Cutters. Taciturn Logan, boisterous Zane and his mechanic wife, Jonah looking distracted as he talked on the phone, and Nick and his Princess Bria, smiling, welcoming. The last two made Peri more nervous than Logan's non-verbal dislike. Of what she wasn't sure, but she steered a wide berth.
Finn handed the backpack to Nick, without releasing her hand. He made no bones about their relationship. Which both pleased and terrified her.
Urging her ahead of him, Finn drew her down beside him on the loveseat. The heat radiating from his body enveloped her as his arm brushed hers. Peri inhaled the sea-air/citrus smell of his skin and almost whimpered as it intensified the constant ache of awareness that electrified the fine hairs on her arms.
His eyes promised things that made her heart race even faster, and it was damn hard to catch her breath. What weird alchemy did they have that drew them together like two magnets? What was it about Finn that caused this reaction in her? Every. Single. Time. He was like fire, blazing hot, searing everything to ash that couldn’t withstand the heat. She liked his brand of heat. Liked it a lot.
Liked it enough to love it.
In comparison to how wrong things were in the world she’d created, when they had sex everything felt so right. She didn’t see how those two worlds could ever be reconciled.
Love would never be enough for the long term. That realization caused a fierce ache to fill her heart.
Does he know my connection to the Cutters?
He seems to know everything.
He can't.
"Behave." She gave him a little poke with her elbow. "I'm already on a razor's edge. Want me to come right here in front of your friends?"
"No, that's for my eyes only," Finn answered, not in the least repentant as she removed her hand and leaned forward away from him. Yeah, it was fine if she controlled the pace, the intensity, the seduction. To give him the power over her emotions was too freaking scary. Hah. Imagine that. She'd found the one thing that scared the shit out of her.
“You made good time,” Nick smiled as he placed her tablet on the easel beside Finn's. Trying to convince herself that Nick Cutter was on her side in any of this was dangerous. No matter that she reluctantly liked them. These were the Cutters. Undeniably sneaky, underhanded, unprincipled. Always out for their own gain.
“Look at that. Same size, same shape.” Nick said. “Thanks for sharing this with us, Ariel.”
Damn it, Nick was so freaking. . .nice. And Finn was determined to embarrass her. He could try, but she was a hard woman to embarrass. “No matter who discovered the tablets, they’re a remarkable find, and worth sharing. I’m grateful Finn was able to get me there and back so quickly.” Wow, she was impressed by the even, casualness of her own voice.
“Was yours found beside what could’ve been a chest?” Zane looked over at her. Damn those Cutter-blue eyes were penetrating. Unnervingly so. “Bronze lock? Fist-sized emeralds?”
The thought occurred to her that maybe they knew exactly who she was and what she'd done. That they were toying with her like giant, devil-eyed cats, waiting to slam a heavy paw on her back and devour her in one gulp. Bring it on. You have no idea what kind of trump cards I'm holding behind my back. "Yes," she answered Zane. "The same circumstances as Finn’s. I recorded everything, and of course, took pictures of the location before I brought it to the surface.”
“Excellent." Zane hunkered down beside the enormous stone slab of the coffee table to get a better look. “Holy shit, look at them together. This is really something special.”
Finn's hand brushed Peri’s shoulder as he rested his arm along the seat cushion behind her head and played with her hair.
Theo whispered something, presumably to himself, in rapid Spanish so low Peri couldn’t hear the words. Then said more loudly, “They are the same author, no doubt. But not identical as you see. A similar size and shape, comparable script and number of lines. But not identical.”
Peri's heart skipped several beats. Was this an optimal time to tell them what she needed to tell them? They were all upbeat about the tablets. Distracted. . .
This confession would be much harder now with Finn in the mix. Once she told the Cutters who she was, and what she’d been doing all these years, she’d never see him again. They were his friends, they were the ones who had his loyalty.
It was a given that he wouldn’t like what she'd done if he discovered even a small part of the truth. The thought hurt her heart. A physical pain.
But what if she didn't tell them?
Clearly, they still didn't recognize her. If they didn't recognize her as the thieving Sea Witch by now, there was no reason they ever would.
Or, when she least expected it, when she was defenseless, and even more deeply attached to Finn, would they pounce? That would be worse than this, surely? When she was lulled into a false sense of security and happiness?
"What's going on in this beautiful brain of yours?" Finn asked softly, stroking his thumb across the rapid pulse at her temple.
Peri turned her head. His face was inches from hers, a furrow of concern between his quick-silver eyes.
Euphoric happiness flooded every cell in her body, the joy bordering on pain.
Dear God. She was in love with him.
Back away.
No way was she in love with him.
She was in lust with him.
Yes. Of course. That was it. What red-blooded woman wouldn't be in lust with him?
Big difference between love and lust. She'd recover from lack of lust. The absence of lust wouldn't rip out her heart when he walked away as he inevitably would.
She'd never had a relationship that lasted longer than five months. She always made sure it didn't get emotional. And damn it, she was always the one who walked away first.
Stop. She dared not go there now. Not when her cover was about to be blown to shit. The first tender bloom unfurling in her heart was soon going to be stomped into oblivion. Unless she kept her mouth shut. .
Just a little longer, her aching heart begged. Just a little longer to feel like this. To hoard the memories to indulge in - afterwards.
She blinked back the foolish sting behind her lids.
Get over yourself. This isn't a freaking surprise. You knew- have always known that this would end. Sooner than later.
Not telling them really wasn't a viable option. Because come hell or high water, that other shoe would drop. They'd been in too close a proximity, for too many years, for that not to happen. Something or other would trigger a memory. No ands, ifs or buts. Back to Plan A.
But just a little longer. . .
"I was thinking about seeing all three tablets together, and what that means historically."
"We don't have long to wait," Finn told her, the slight frown between his brow smoothing. "The chopper is heading in. The curator will be here any minute now. "
"I always wanted to open my Christmas presents the moment they were placed under the tree. Waiting isn't my long suit."
His voice became low and smoky, "I've known you to be just fine with anticipation."
He touched her as if he couldn’t keep his hands off her. Peri wasn’t sure he realized how intimate it must look to the others seeing his hand resting on the back of her neck, absently winding a loose strand of her hair around his finger. "Everything with you is foreplay," she murmured softly, holding his gaze as if they were alone in the room. "I anticipate what's next with you, with every beat of my heart."
Don't tell them, her heart cried. Leave things as they are.
"Macushla, if you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to swoop you up, and carry you out of here like a Neanderthal," Finn whispered. "I don't give a damn what anyone thinks."
"And miss the arrival of Bria's tablet?"
"And miss anything and everything that keeps us fully clothed and upright."
"Anticipation," she teased, loving the flare of his pupils, and the feel of his breath on her lips.
He closed his eyes as if in pain. "Killing me."
"Me, too." She'd live in the now. And worry about the sense of dread growing inside her -later. "Want to see some pictures?" A change of subject should cool them off some. Lifting her butt off the cushion, she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her shorts and entered in her password, then handed it to him.
"Naked selfies?" he asked hopefully.
"’Fraid not."
With a sigh, he took the phone from her and started to thumb through the images. “These are all your finds?” he asked as the sound of the rotors overhead suddenly became noticeable.
“So far. Those are of some of the more interesting pieces.” Not many, because she’d been too occupied to dive her own site since they’d all shown up. "But it would be a good idea to compare the locations of the finds, don't you think?"
“Yeah. I do.” He connected to his Bluetooth earpiece. “Walker, send these images to print. Yeah. Now please.”
Before handing her back the phone he forwarded the images to his own phone.
Nick got up to pour his wife a cup of tea. Logan rose and strolled over to the window, tilting the blinds for a better view, letting in a flood of hot sunlight. It struck the tablets on the coffee table and made the gold glow.
“It’s going to be awesome seeing all of them side-by-side.” Teal, legs curled under her, leaned against Zane. “I can’t wait to see if they’re the same, or different.”
“It would be presumed the tablets will show the exact same text,” Theo told them with authority. “Surely that’s why they have been found on different ships? To ensure at least one reached its destination? This would make sense since it was a long trip to Spain, and the waters along the coast of Patagonia can be treacherous. It would be a natural assumption that one or more of the ships would not make it back.”
“Napolitano was Italian, not Spanish like the other three ships,” Finn pointed out. “That raises more questions, doesn't it?”
Peri could tell it was a rhetorical question. But a question Finn would figure out like a dog with a bone. His hand tunneled under her hair, then his fingers closed on her nape. "You're very sensitive right here," he whispered wickedly, stroked his thumb up her nape, into her hairline, and then down again. "One of my favorite places to kiss you."
Peri elbowed him in the side. With a smile, he straightened, but kept his hand - now still - on the back of her neck.
“I will patiently drink another cup of this excellent tea.” Bria took the fresh cup from her husband, her eyes smiling at him over the rim. “And wait to see what Signore Vadini, in his expert opinion, has to say.”
Finn's warm breath fanned the hair at her temple, causing goosebumps to prickle her skin. He stroked his thumb gently behind Peri's left ear.
His unveiled affection made her skin grow hot with desire, while her breath caught with anxiety over the mountain of worries she’d created for herself. Not the least of which was his obvious decision to make their relationship, for want of a better word, public. Very public. Anyone looking at the two of them, his fingers on her nape, pushing her hair aside, certainly knew there was something between them.
He was in business with the Cutters, it wouldn't be fair to ask him to choose.
Scared he'll choose his friends over you?
Yes.
The heavy tread of booted feet moving down the corridor toward the salon had everyone turning to the doorway in anticipation.
Damn it. Falling in love with Finn was not in her freaking plans. In fact, it was the anti-plan.
“There’s your curator.”
“This is good news.” Bria placed her cup on a nearby side table.
“Sorry about your floors.” Nick got to his feet, holding out his hand to his wife. Bria rose gracefully to join him. They all stood as three men entered. The cause of the heavy treads on Finn's highly polished teak floor. They did nothing to hide the full arsenal of weapons strapped about their persons. It wasn’t so much that the men were large and intimidating, pretty much every man in the room was of a similar height, and disposition, it was that they all looked. . .menacing. Not in a barroom brawl kinda way, but in an I-will-kill-you-with-my-bare-hands-if-you-make-a-wrong-move kinda way.
They stepped aside to reveal a slight, balding man with black, horn-rimmed glasses.
Given his deeply wrinkled skin, sunken dark eyes, and thin gray combover, Peri guesstimated the linguist/curator was a hundred and thirty years old. His shirt, even after the long flight, was neatly pressed, and blinding white. He wore it with a lizard green tie, a worn-shiny, three-piece brown suit circa 1950, and polished black dress shoes. His gaze went directly to the gold tablets propped up in pride of place on the coffee table.
Hands outstretched, Bria glided over to greet her curator, who’d managed to rip his gaze from the tablets to make nice with his benefactress. “Signore Vadini-" the two spoke in rapid, animated, Italian, accompanied by the requisite flourishing hand gestures. Bria asked if he needed to rest after his long trip. He said no, he wanted to study the tablets first.
Peri lost count of how many times the poor man gazed longingly at the tablets instead of Bria. Clearly, he was dying to get his hands on them.
Finn shifted. His bare arm brushed hers. Would it always be like this with Finn?
The sensation made her heart pound and her blood sing through her veins as if she’d just gulped down a giant glass of brandy.
When she moved, his fingers on her nape gently tightened, and the steely strength of his forearm pressed against her spine, from waist to shoulder blade.
Finn was a toucher, and Peri wasn't used to being touched, and certainly not so casually. And in public, no less. She'd become accustomed to being alone, doing without the physical contact most people took for granted.
There were several decisive moves she could make to put some space between them, but, damn it, she liked his hand on her. She liked the weight of his arm draped around her. To her, his possessiveness symbolized her control over him - a man whose reach extended beyond the solar system.
“You know you can only touch me like this in public because I allow it, don’t you?” She knew her whispered words would be like a red, hot seduction to Finn.
He gave her a lazy smile, as he wrapped an arm about her waist and pulled her in more tightly. “Game on, Persephone. I see challenges where most people see problems. Looking forward to further discussion. In private.”
Anticipation. She shivered with longing.
The princess clapped her hands. “Everyone,” Bria said with an engaging smile. “This is my dear Ale Vadini. Signore Vadini not only secures the safety of our el tavoletta d'oro Merrezo and our other treasures as well, he is an expert linguist, and has managed to translate many of the words on our tablet.”
“Madre di Dio. A t-third tablet has been discovered?” the curator’s voice broke, as he addressed Bria in Italian. It was several moments before he was capable of speech again. His eyes glistened as he looked around at everyone gathered in the room. “This is truly-" his voice shook. “Profound. It is profound. And Divine providence to have three such tablets converge here where they began their arduous journey.”
Theo, standing closest to the tablets, perked up, face flushed with excitement. Voice breathless, he demanded, “You are capable of reading the ancient text on Tableta d oro, señor?”
“Sí. Yes. Some. I, and many scholars, have had many decades to work on this project. May I sit?”
Nick went to talk in low tones to the men who’d brought the curator, then returned with a straight-backed chair for Dr. Vadini, which he placed next to the coffee table holding the tablet.
After several minutes, during which the curator was seated, served coffee, and given a slice of torta galesa cake, everyone returned to their respective seats. Without taking his eyes off the tablets, he said, “I will preface everything I say today with some caution. Yes, I have managed over a lifetime of work and study, to read a handful of the words on the tablet of Merrezo.” Signore Vadini removed a pair of white cotton gloves from his breast pocket and drew them on like a surgeon before performing a heart transplant.
“May I?” He reached for Peri's tablet closest to him.
“Allow me.” Zane stood, grabbed a throw pillow, then lifted the heavy tablet from the stand and set both on the old man’s lap.
Eyes closed as if in prayer, the curator breathed in deeply, then looked down. With great reverence, his fingers hovered millimeters above the raised text. “It is the same author, and as hoped, the text is different.” He pointed at Finn's tablet. "I wish to see all three together."
"Bring a small table," Bria ordered Jonah, who stood nearby. He went to find a small side table, and returned with it, placing it directly in front of the curator.
Peri leaned forward. She didn’t want to miss a thing.