across earlier, a knee shoved hard into her back. Her phone went skidding across the floor to land behind a large potted plant. The air whooshed out of her lungs as something sharp was jabbed into her arm.
The last thought she had was Pete’s teasing that she’d never been a very good cop.
No shit, Sherlock.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“That was a wonderful dinner.”
Maria Gotsi lifted her wineglass and took a sip as she regarded the man seated across from her at Per Se overlooking Central Park West. Candlelight illuminated his round features, pudgy face and dark eyes. Though she wouldn’t consider him a personal friend, the fact a man of his standing had called and invited her dinner had intrigued her. So she’d accepted.
“I do have to say, though,” she said as she set her glass on the white linen tablecloth, “it was a bit of a surprise.”
“As much as a surprise for me,” Omar Kamil said in a thick Middle Eastern accent as he leaned forward in his seat. “Not only was I stunned to find out you were in New York, but also that you were free this evening.”
Maria smiled one of her coy half grins and fiddled with the stem of her wineglass. She’d learned the game early on. Give the men in this industry what they expected. That meant flirt, tease, pay attention to what they did and said around you and never ever let them figure out how smart you really were.
Then strike when they least expected it.
It was how she’d built the Art Institute of Athens from a fledgling scientific laboratory into one of the premier archaeometry centers in the world. It was also how she’d become a major player in a male-dominated field.
“Well,” she said, leaning forward just enough so her black fitted jacket pushed her cleavage together in a move that clearly caught his attention, “as it turns out, I recently had a change in plans. I was due back in Athens this evening, but a situation at my warehouse here in New York forced me to rethink my plans.”
“Situation?” Omar’s gaze flicked from Maria’s exposed breasts up to her face. His beady eyes took on an amused gleam. “What type of situation?”
Oh, yes. She’d been right. There was something going on here. A man like Kalim didn’t simply phone for dinner and show up out of the blue unless he wanted something.
The question was, what could he possibly want from her?
“Nothing more than a personnel issue.” She smiled again, ran her finger around the stem of her wineglass. “And how are your preparations at the Met?”
He waved a hand and eased back in his seat. “Fine, fine. Between you and me, my assistant could have handled the transfer and overseen the setup, but it was a good excuse for me to get out of the heat. And besides, it gave me the opportunity to dine with you.”
“Hm,” Maria said, not buying a line of his bull. “It definitely did.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but her cell phone chiming cut him off.
“I’m sorry,” she said, retrieving the RAZR from her sleek handbag. “With all the commotion at the warehouse, I should take this.” She lifted the phone to her ear. “Dr. Gotsi.”
“It’s Pete.”
Surprise hit her. She hadn’t heard from Peter since the auction and didn’t plan to talk to him anytime soon. She looked across the table at Omar, who was studying her with unreadable eyes. “You are the last person I expected to hear from tonight.”
“I know. Listen, Maria, about what happened at the auction—”
“Forgotten,” she said quickly. She didn’t want to get into a discussion regarding Peter’s auction with Omar watching her so closely, and frankly, she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about what had happened between them. Though she enjoyed Peter’s company, and he had—contrary to her better judgment—become a friend over the years, she wasn’t interested in a relationship in any way, shape or form. Of course, when she was out with a man for the evening, she wasn’t interested in being second fiddle either. If she wasn’t enough to hold his attention, then there was no sense in seeing him again, friend or not.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Peter said in a clearly relieved voice. “Because I need a favor.”
Something in his tone hit her as slightly anxious, and it piqued her interest because Peter Kauffman was never anything but cool and completely composed.
“Just what did you have in mind?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’ll discuss it with you tonight,