Page 77 of Wicked Intention

Zo swept her braid behind her shoulder. “It’s because of the work I do. They have a hard time finding people with the right credentials, temperament, and willingness. That’s why I’m paid as well as I am and get perks like this suite.”

Finn puzzled through that and decided to ask. “Why would there be a problem? Aren’t there plenty of archaeologists out there?”

“Yes, plenty of archaeologists, but they have to be able to travel on short notice, be willing to go to places like Puerto Jardin, tell if an artifact is the real deal or not, and meet with illegal antiquities brokers.” She shook her head. “Not only meet with them but not get sanctimonious about what those men do. That reduces the numbers a lot.”

She sounded normal, and the tightness in his chest eased a small amount. “Sanctimonious? Don’t they want to recover the stolen pieces?”

Zo finally looked at him, a lopsided grin on her face. “We talked about this, remember? Most archaeologists would be absolutely appalled by the very idea of buying from a broker. They believe it only encourages more looting. If my parents knew what I really did for the Paladin League…” She let her voice fade off.

“I remember. What is their plan to protect the artifacts then?”

Her sigh was loud. “Good question. So far, the only answer has been to tell people not to buy antiquities. As if that’s stopped anyone.”

“Yeah, I don’t imagine that slows it down.”

Zo shook her head. “The Paladin League can’t save everything, but we try to buy the important pieces, the ones we can’t risk disappearing into a private collector’s vault.” Zo nudged his foot with hers. “Do you really want to hear me go off about the looting issue for an hour or more? Because I can.”

“No, I think I’ll skip that.” Although he didn’t mind seeing Zo get passionate about a topic, he had a more important discussion on the agenda for the night.

“Wise choice. I don’t want to get wound up at two in the morning.”

The knot in his chest grew again. What he wanted to talk about was likely to get her keyed up anyway. “Yeah,” he said, but let the quiet linger for a few moments before jumping in with both feet. “Am I going to need to find another place to live when we get back to LA?”

Zo’s head turned sharply, her gaze locking onto his. “Why? Did you want to move?”

“No, but I thought you might want me out of your condo.”

Her expression morphed from intent to puzzled. “Why would I want you to leave?”

“We’ve had a few arguments this week.”

“And?” Her voice held as much confusion as her face did.

Finn took a deep breath and admitted, “When I was in a foster home and had arguments with someone in the family, I always found myself back in the system until they could find another place for me to live.”

She stared at him for a moment before saying, “Maybe that’s how it worked for you when you were in foster care, but it’s not how it works with us.” Zo nudged his foot harder. “Youand I are both strong-willed, and we’ve lived on our own for a while. We’re used to doing what we want. Now we have each other to consider. Of course, there are going to be disagreements. It doesn’t mean we’re going to break up every time we quarrel.”

The tightness in his chest exploded, the pieces shooting out like shrapnel, but instead of tearing him up, they healed wounds he didn’t realize he had. For the first time in a while, Finn was able to take a deep breath. “You were really pissed off at me this afternoon.”

“So what? You were really pissed off at me, too. Do you want to cut and run?”

“Hell, no.”

Zo nodded. “There you go. I don’t run either.” A small pause, then she continued, “I grew up differently than you did. My parents disagreed with each other intensely at times, but they were always partners. They always reached an understanding. It’s how I was raised.”

“And this is how you’re going to handle our arguments?” He needed to be sure.

“That’s my plan.” Zo put her feet on the ground, turned her chair toward his, and leaned forward. “I believe in fighting fair. I believe in not keeping score. I believe that if something is important to you, and I don’t care very much, I’ll let you make the call. I expect you to do likewise. And I believe that when something is important to both of us, we’ll argue until we reach some kind of consensus, even if there’s no good compromise. Do you have a problem with any of this?”

“No.” His voice was thick, and Finn cleared his throat. “It sounds about perfect to me.”

Some of Zo’s intensity faded. “You won’t think so when we’re nose-to-nose over something we both feel strongly about.”

She was wrong. As long as he knew she wasn’t going to tell him to get the fuck out of her life, the fights wouldn’t botherhim. Now to finish the argument they’d been having earlier. “Speaking of something I care about, let’s talk about how many chances you take with your safety.” Finn leveled a glare at her.

Standing, Zo moved to the edge of the balcony. For a moment, she looked out at the lights of Lima and then turned to face him, her elbows resting on the top of the railing behind her. “I care about my safety.” She raised a hand, stopping him from refuting that statement. “This is the first time we’ve worked together, the first time you’ve met any of the brokers involved. You overestimated the risk several times, especially this afternoon.”

Finn got to his feet and squared off with her. They were about to put her beliefs on disagreements to the test. “Zofia, I saw you in action in Trujillo when you were searching for your friend. I’m not overestimating your willingness to put yourself in danger.”

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