Page 98 of Stolen By the Billionaire
She huffed, “Yeah, I’ll bet.” She paused, thinking. “And were you uncomfortable at Protestant services?”
A roundabout way of asking about his religion, but all right. “I grew up holiday Catholic.”
“Roman Catholic?”
“Yes, the liberal breakaway radical kind.” He paused for her to smile and was rewarded with a shy curve of her lips and brightening in her eyes. “Were the Orthodox services you attended in Russian?”
“Not in Iowa. All those were in English.”
That made sense.
Blaze’s inner clock was ticking.
He pried his fingers away from hers and let her go, then rolled back on his hips to stare at the marble shower on the other side of the bathroom. “If those clothes will be adequate, I should check on preparations for leaving.”
“Yes, they’ll be fine,” Sarah said. “When do you think we’re going to leave?”
“Soon.”
The wheels-up wasn’t soon, but Magnus finally set the time for two o’clock.
Which meant they would be at the house over lunch, so Blaze ordered pizza from his favorite place for the whole gang. Aaron Savoie ordered from a nearby deli.
The pies arrived in extra-deep boxes, as befit Chicago.
Blaze got to watch Sarah eat pizza for the first time, and the tentativeness and confusion and then revelation in her eyes as she ate a slice of cheese and then one of Veggie Max was intoxicating.
He would show her the whole world if he could, just to see the delight in her eyes.
At one-thirty, preparations swung into full gear. Three black SUVs arrived, carrying a change of personnel. Coordinating the additional vehicles and a new shift of mercenaries had been the sticking point.
Blaze was in the kitchen breaking down pizza boxes for recycling when Magnus sought him out. “Everything’s ready. I’m handing you off to Romain Belmont for the evacuation. He’s good.”
Blaze shot him a look. “Why are you handing us off? You don’t need to sleep.”
A mild sneer tweaked Magnus’s lip. “Schwarz runs Rogue Security by Swiss and US regulations. If there are enough people in-country, we clock eight-hour shifts. I’ve sent a link for the evac route.”
Blaze raised one eyebrow at him. “I thought we’d be evac’d by speedboat offshore to a submarine.”
“Rogue Security’s submarine is currently off the coast of France near Monaco and thus unavailable.”
Magnus’s expression didn’t change, which was how Blaze knew he was joking. Magnus wouldn’t have divulged any operational specifics, no matter how amusing the intent. And Rogue Sec probably didn’t have a submarine.
Probably.
Romain Belmont was another tall man near Blaze’s height with dark eyes and a darker sense of humor, and he shook Blaze’s hand properly when Magnus handed them off.
He squinted at Blaze. “Were you on the Monaco rescue about a year and a half ago?”
Blaze nodded. “I was on the decoy team setting charges at the base of the wall.”
Romain grinned. “Navy SEAL, right? We tapped you for that because of the underwater leg before the climb.”
“How is Flicka?”
“Well. She’s doing really well. She had the baby, a boy named Maximilian. As a matter of fact, she’ll be in the chase van this afternoon.”
“Wait,” Blaze said, shock pounding in his temples. “She was a client and royalty. Flicka is an actual princess.”
