I scan the room. “I think we need to open that door,” I say, pointing to a closed door with another keypad lock. “Look for something that could be a puzzle.”
Tanner walks over to the desk and starts shuffling through the papers that cover the top.
“Anything?” I ask, checking out one of the canvases.
“Just a bunch of museum blueprints, information on different pieces of art, and instructions for a fake art finder.” He shrugs, setting the papers back where he found them. “Nothing is popping out at me like the letters did.”
“It’s another four digit number code, so maybe another date,” I suggest, looking through a stack of books on top of a side table. Time continues to tick down and, despite our trying, we’re not making any progress.
Forty minutes remaining.
Thirty-five minutes remaining.
Thirty minutes remaining.
“Goodness, this is stressful,” I say. “We need to focus and find the code.”
Tanner chuckles.
“What?”
“I thought we were just here having fun.”
“We are, but now I want to win.”
“Then let’s win. We can do this. Do you think it’s the books? Are there numbers on the spines?”
We both walk over, and start scanning the white, black, and gray books lining each shelf. “Wait, they’re in a pattern,” I note. “Gray, black, white, gray, black, white.” I continue tosay the pattern out loud moving down each shelf. “Gray, black, black.”
“That’s not the pattern,” Tanner says. “It’s out of place.”
I slowly pull the book from the shelf, and the whole wall begins to move. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tanner says. “We’ve been looking for a four digit number, and we could have just found the hidden lever.” Laughter bubbles out of both of us as he grabs my hand and pulls me into the secret room.
“Kiss me,” he says, spinning me toward the wall.
“We can’t do anything in here. That guy’s watching,” I whisper, my cheeks heating. “Plus, we have less than thirty minutes.”
“Kiss me,” he says, pushing his hands into my hair. “You’re so fucking sexy when you solve the puzzles, and I’m dying to kiss you.” I shiver under his touch, and his lips find mine. He kisses me hard, gently tugging on my hair. My lips part, and his tongue dips into my mouth. It feels forbidden, and need builds between my legs. My hips rock forward against him, and for a moment I forget where we are.
“There’s no PDA allowed in the game rooms,” Ted says flatly over a speaker, ruining our moment.
Tanner pulls away and he pushes a piece of my hair behind my ear.
“Consider that your one warning,” Ted says.
“Got it!” we both yell, laughing.
“You ready to win this?”
“Yes,” I say, still a little breathless from the kiss. “Let’s win it.”
Moving apart, we take in our surroundings. There are five Mona Lisas on one wall, and a small black box with a key lock hangs on the wall opposite the door.
“I think we need to figure out which one is the real one,” Tanner says.
“But they look exactly the same.”
“Maybe we have to get closer. You start on your end, and I’ll start over here.”
