Gunshots waken Ian Tunbridge, an assistant curator of classical antiquities at the British Museum, on his first day on a dig in California. The only way to save his life is to run for it, but luck is not on his side. At least, not until he meets Lucas Arpini, the brash American photographer who seems to have some sort of clue what’s going on. Together, they’re supposed to be the tools in finding an artifact nobody believes is real -- nobody, that is, except Lucas and the man kidnaps them both.<br><br>Ian doesn’t know what to believe. His colleagues are dead, he’s injured, and he has no choice but to put his faith in a gorgeous stranger. Their escape should lead them straight to the police, but when Lucas shows him pieces of the puzzle they were meant to solve, Ian is too intrigued to walk away. He wants to solve the riddle as badly as Lucas does.<br><br>Unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones ...

Riddle Me Wicked

Lucas’s mode of distraction worked for the duration of the flight. His chin remained on Ian’s shoulder, his voice in his ear, filling Ian’s head with descriptions of all the places across the globe they could shut out the world and get lost in the mindless fucking. Ian was hard, but he didn’t give another thought about bogus passports or indecipherable languages, until the flight attendant glided down the aisle to tell the passengers to fasten their belts and return their seats to an upright position. Even then, though, Lucas kept his hand on Ian’s thigh. The weight was enough to quell the worst of the butterflies, though when the wheels touched down to the tarmac, and Lucas pulled out the cell phone to check messages, there was a decided flutter in his gut.


Chapter 47