“But you’d rather not see it with me?”
“It’s not that.”
“You’re concerned about what I could possibly want from you? I told you, it’s nothing major or dangerous. There’s no reason to be so skeptical.”
She shrugged. “You didn’t give me much to go on, Raf.”
Rafael’s mouth hung slightly ajar. She’d given him a nickname. It was something Alma called him sometimes as kind of a joke since people had often shortened his name that way in America. He’d never cared for it much, but the way Grace said it—with some level of familiarity and intimacy, like she’d been calling him that for ages—was something he found himself liking very much.
He didn’t want to lay out his plan and the entirety of his request for her right away, though. After all, they’d both already resisted the idea of working together when Alma brought it up. He wanted to give her some time to mull it over. If she was walking the halls of one of the most extraordinary buildings in the region, then perhaps it would only whet her appetite for more. More of the culture—the caves, the paintings, the views of Granada. One taste of the Alhambra, and she would be hooked.
“Let’s go inside,” he said, placing a hand on the small of her back and then quickly drawing it away again. “I have all afternoon. Plenty of time to discuss the details.”
She sighed. “I kind of feel like I’m being kidnapped and held hostage in a gorgeous castle.”
“I’ll remind you that you came here freely.”
“I’ll remind you that I still don’t know what you want from me.”
Rafael huffed. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so difficult. It was rather uncommon for a woman tonotwant to spend time with him. He needed to turn up the charm a bit.
“It was good of you to take the time out of your day to meet with me,” he said, lowering his voice ever so slightly. “I’m sure an intelligent art professor such as yourself is very busy, but it’s nice to have you here.”
Grace frowned and turned away from him, but Rafael thought he caught her rolling her eyes. She started marching toward the Alhambra as if to say “let’s get this over with.”
Rafael followed, trying to work out his next move. Maybe this was going to be much harder than he’d anticipated.
Luckily, even if Grace wasn’t entirely impressed with him, she was awestruck by the palace. After they’d gotten inside, she spun around while staring up at the ceiling, mouth agape, fingertips gliding against the cool mosaic tiles. It was a busy day but not horribly crowded, and they had plenty of room to wander down the long hallways and gaze out at the view of the whole city.
She tried to be aloof, but Grace was enamored with all of it, just as he knew she would be. By the time they reached the giant reflecting pool and the gardens, Rafael thought she may have forgotten that he’d had to coerce her into this.
“You know,” Rafael said, hoping that offering even more knowledge about the place would only improve his position, “many of the walls have inscriptions. Quotes and poems from the Qur’an. They praise and glorify God but offer blessings as well.”
“It’s lovely.” She’d been taking pictures of everything while they walked through the palace, but eventually she leaned against one of the columns and turned her phone camera toward him. He pretended not to notice, pushing his sunglasses onto his face and sliding his hands in his pockets, trying to be nonchalant. He leaned against the column next to hers.
Finally, he looked over and shook his head, lifting a hand to try to guard himself like he was a celebrity caught by the paparazzi.
“Come on. Don’t waste your camera space on me.”
“But I can’t leave out the coolest guy at the Alhambra. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so relaxed.”
“Then you better not show anyone the photo. For the sake of my reputation.”
She paused. “You like to be unapproachable then?”
“Unapproachable? That’s what you think?” A little uptight, sure, but he never thought he was downright unapproachable. There was the charm, after all. He was sure he made people feel like they could talk to him.
Grace stared at him, as if considering.
“Have you ever had any problem approaching me?” he asked, and he leaned toward her, just a little, without thinking about it.
Grace opened her mouth and then shut it before she finally said, “I can’t even get you to tell me what I’m doing here, Raf.”
“Right. Worth the trip though?”
“I’m inclined to think so, granted you won’t be trying to harvest my organs or anything like that.”
Rafael smirked. “All kidneys will remain intact.”
