*
Reid had just put the boat in neutral, stopping their progression, when Nadia walked into the wheelhouse. She was dressed in a pair of short, cut-off shorts with stylish rips and tears in them, and a turquoise, string bikini top. Her light colored hair fell onto her shoulders in windblown waves. Sunlight coming through the window, glistened in her golden eyes when she pushed her sunglasses up.
“How was your yogurt?” Reid asked with a grin, taking in the beautiful sight in front of her.
“My what?” Nadia asked with a scrunched face.
“Louie thinks you were doing yogurt.”
Nadia smiled and shook her head as she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Reid’s neck. “I really enjoyed last night, but I don’t think I ever want to sleep on the sand again,” she murmured, leaning in for a long, sensual kiss.
Reid put her arms around Nadia’s waist. Running her hands up and down the warm, bare skin of Nadia’s back caused Reid’s blood to race. She broke the kiss and backed away slightly, allowing some air to pass between them. “Louie’s right outside,” she whispered.
“He’s busy with the equipment.”
“Yes and I should be helping him,” Reid said, unable to resist kissing her again.
Nadia put her hands under the dark blue tank top Reid wore, with CAPTAIN written across the front of it. Reid sighed as Nadia squeezed her small breasts through the bikini top she wore as a bra.
“You’re bad,” Reid groaned. “I like it,” she said, pushing Nadia against the helm and sliding her fingers under the bottom of her cut-off shorts.
Nadia put her foot up on the seat, giving her more access as Reid found the wet spot she was looking for. Reid circled her clit a few times, then pushed her fingers inside.
Nadia threw her head back against the window, ignoring the dull ache it caused between her ears as she fought to control her racing body. She was unable to slow her climax as Reid kissed her hard, working her fingers in and out of her until Nadia cried out against her mouth.
“Oh, my god,” Nadia panted, trying to catch her breath. She bit her lower lip and kissed Reid’s soft lips as Reid gently pulled her fingers free.
The click of the door latch grabbed Reid’s attention. She backed up quickly, pulling Nadia away from the helm. They barely straightened themselves out as the door swung open.
“The tow-fish and side scanner are ready when you are,” Louie said, stepping inside. He looked from one woman to the other, then shrugged and went back outside.
“He knows,” Nadia whispered.
Reid grinned. “So what.”
“Reid!” Nadia exclaimed, grabbing her hand. “This isn’t funny.”
Reid sighed. “Nadia, I don’t keep secrets, not from him.”
“Can we at least give it a day or two to sink in?”
“Okay,” Reid agreed, stepping out of the wheelhouse. She wasn’t sure where their fling was going to go. It was pretty much dead in the water from the start with Nadia living in Greece and her in the Caribbean. They’d almost never see each other. Besides, when Guillermo found out, the money she owed him would be the least of her problems. Nevertheless, Nadia was beautiful and she couldn’t help feeling a physical attraction towards her. It was the intellectual draw and genuine connection that had surprised her.
*
Nadia wiped the sweat from her brow as she pulled her eyes from the tow-fish scanning a few feet off the bottom, to the small floatplane flying overhead. The boat had been slowly motoring back and forth, scanning the grid for nearly three hours with virtually no one else in sight. She watched as the plane circled low enough for her to see the Bahamas Sea Tour name printed on the pontoons and the underbelly.
Reid noticed the plane, but her eyes were focused on the tow-fish monitor. It had picked up two metallic fields in forty feet of water that were within fifty yards of each other. She quickly pushed a button on the GPS to mark the waypoints and slowed the boat.
The plane was completely out of sight and out of mind when she opened the door to the wheelhouse, calling for Louie to drop the anchor. He quickly walked around the wheelhouse and up to the bow, powering the windlass unit as it lowered the anchor to the sandy bottom.
When it was locked in place, Reid turned the key to shut the boat’s engine down. Then, she went out to the stern deck to help Louie and Nadia bring the tow-fish and side scanner in.
“Did you find something?” Nadia asked.
“We picked up two magnetic anomalies that are really close together. The side scanner only showed flat bottom and a rocky ledge leading back towards the reef,” Reid answered, stowing the side scanner in its case. She smiled at Nadia before shedding her shirt and slipping into her wetsuit.
Not wanting to stare at the body she couldn’t get off her mind, Nadia turned her head. Louie was standing on the opposite side of the deck wearing nothing but a Speedo. She quickly spun back around to see Reid laughing.
“I told him trunks or even the longer, swimmer shorts are in style these days, but he won’t listen,” Reid chuckled.
“What’s wrong with my bathing suit?” Louie questioned as he pulled his wetsuit on.
“Nothing. The yellow and lime green pattern is sexy. Where can I get one?” Reid teased.
Louie shot her a bird.
“We’ve been having this conversation for a few years now,” Reid said to Nadia as she zipped her suit up and tested her regulator, before putting the tank on her back.
“I see,” Nadia laughed. “Be careful down there,” she whispered.
“I always am.” Reid smiled. “Let’s go old man,” she called to Louie as she stepped over to the swim platform.
“You’re older than me,” he chided.
Reid shrugged and pulled her mask down as she jumped in. Louie shook his head and followed.
*
The water was clear with a turquoise blue tint and the sandy bottom was white. A school of tropical fish swam by Reid as she scanned her handheld metal detector over the bottom. She and Louie had split up, trying to pinpoint both metallic anomalies.
Within minutes, Louie appeared at her side shaking his head side to side, indicating he’d found the metal that the tow-fish had picked up and it wasn’t what they were looking for. Reid pointed down and Louie began scanning the same area she was working in.
Reid thought about the woman waiting for her up in the boat. She hadn’t meant to act on her attraction, but when Nadia openly showed interest, she felt something stir inside of her that she hadn’t encountered in a long time. Thinking back to their night on the beach and their morning tryst in the wheelhouse, Reid wondered where this journey was going to take them. They still had days or potentially weeks at sea ahead until they found what she was looking for or exhausted all of the search areas. She tried telling herself not to get too involved because eventually, Nadia would be gone—back to her life in Greece. Not to mention she was Guillermo’s daughter. Despite all of that, Reid couldn’t help feeling drawn to her.
Reid barely had time for her cloudy mind to register her device picking up a signal, when Louie grabbed her arm and pointed back behind them. She turned around to see a five foot, black tip shark roughly twenty feet away, swimming directly towards them. She kept still and watched in awe as the beautiful creature swam right beside them.
The shark was harmless, but it gave her the adrenaline jolt she needed to get her head on straight. When it was out of site, she pointed the device back over the same area of sand and it lit up again. She and Louie began using their handheld paddles to dig into the sandy bottom and sift around.
*
Nadia was nearly asleep in the deck chair wearing only her bikini and sunglasses, with her feet propped up on the side of the boat. The cloudless sky offered no shade from the hot rays of the early afternoon sun, so she’d decided to work on her tan while she waited for the divers to surface. She kicked herself for forgetting her iPod. The only music on the boat was the mixture of Bob Marley and Harry Belafo
nte that Reid kept playing in the CD player.
A splash in the water caught her attention and Nadia lifted her head to see Reid and Louie bobbing in the water behind the swim platform.
“Did you find anything?” she asked as they climbed aboard.
“A big shark,” Louie replied, holding his arms as far apart as they would go.
“Oh, it wasn’t that big, maybe five feet,” Reid added.
Nadia looked over the side of the boat.
“It’s long gone by now,” Reid laughed.
Nadia gave her a stern look. “No gold treasure?”
“Not yet,” Reid stated. “What did you find off the bow?” she asked Louie, referring to their other location from the tow-fish.
“It looked like an airplane wheel covered in barnacles. When I searched around it, there were no other readings,” he answered.
“Okay. Well, we need to move that deeper sand around on the spot we’re working in,” she said as she removed the suction pump from the storage compartment.
Nadia watched her connect the hoses while Louie filled the fuel tank with gas and primed the engine. As soon as the pump was ready to go, Reid tossed the nozzle over the side into the water and pulled the cord to start the pump motor. It had a dull hum like a generator.
“Lovely,” Nadia said, realizing she’d have to listen to the loud pump for the rest of the day. I should’ve turned that damn island music on, she thought as she watched Reid and Louie put on their equipment, and head back into the water.
SEVENTEEN
“Are you sure that was the boat?” Juan asked, walking away from the floatplane.
“It matched the picture. You saw the same thing I did,” Berto replied, putting the handwritten coordinates the pilot gave him, into his pocket. “Come on. I see our ticket out of here.”
Juan followed his line of sight to a yellow, older model Donzi speedboat, tied up at the adjacent dock.
*
“I don’t give tours. Sorry,” the boat captain said, noticing the men walking towards his boat. They looked a little out of place in the marina, wearing dark jeans and short-sleeved, linen shirts.
Juan and Berto turned around to see a man with short, bushy hair and a thick mustache, following them.
“We aren’t looking for a tour. Our boat was stolen. We found it, but we need a quick ride out to it,” Juan replied.
Not wanting to get caught up in something illegal, the captain shook his head. “Wish I could help you guys, but I don’t really want to get involved in anything.”
“We’ll give you five thousand dollars,” Berto countered.
“Why don’t you call the local authorities? They can probably help you better than I can.”
“Ten thousand,” Berto huffed, growing impatient.
“Do you know exactly where it is?” the captain sighed, unable to turn down the hefty chunk of money.
“Yes,” Juan stated as Berto handed the man a small piece of paper with latitude and longitude numbers written on it.
EIGHTEEN
Nadia tried to ignore the steady hum of the pump motor as Reid and Louie used the suction hose to dig in the sandy bottom, forty feet below the waterline. She’d tried doing a little yoga to stretch out her sore muscles, but it was nearly impossible to balance with the boat bobbing back and forth.
Nadia had all but given up on doing anything other than sunbathing for the rest of the day, when she noticed a boat coming towards her. She hadn’t heard the roar of the yellow speedboat until it was practically on top of her because of the noise from the pump.
She pulled her cut off shorts on over her bikini bottoms as she watched the boat swing a large circle around the Lady Pearl before coming up alongside. The captain cut the engine as another man reached out, tying the line in his hand to one of the portside cleats.
Nadia backed up towards the opposite side of the boat. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“You have something that belongs to us,” Berto said, hefting himself over the side of the speedboat and onto the deck of the Lady Pearl. He removed a pistol from the waistband of his pants as he walked over to her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, as the second Hispanic man stepped aboard. She was up against the gunwale with nowhere to go, except into the water.
“Where the fuck is Seamus?” Berto growled, pointing the gun at her.
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Where’s our shit?” he bellowed, stepping closer.
Nadia tried not to look at the gun.
“I don’t know,” she cried.
“Watch her,” Berto said as he tucked the gun away and went into the wheelhouse, snatching everything out of each draw and cubby. “Check the storage compartments out there and the motor box,” he yelled through the open doorway as he moved to the cabin, where he continued to ransack the boat.
“What are you looking for? Maybe I can help you,” Nadia said, trying not to show her fear.
“Our drugs or our money,” Juan said.
“Drugs! There are no drugs on this boat!” she exclaimed.
“If the drugs aren’t here, then you must have our money. This will go a lot easier if you just tell us where it is,” Juan said, holding his gun towards her as he opened each compartment on the stern deck.
“Look, the owner of the boat is diving on the bottom. She might know what’s going on.”
“She?”
“Yes.”
Juan stopped what he was doing and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “What is she looking for, buried treasure?”
“I don’t know.” Nadia shrugged.
“Don’t lie to me, bitch!”
“A ship or something,” she mumbled.
“What kind of ship?”
“The pirate kind,” Nadia huffed.
“Where is Seamus?” Juan asked through gritted teeth as he peered over the side.
“I don’t know. I don’t even know who that is,” Nadia’s voice cracked.
Berto stormed out of the wheelhouse, kicking things aside that he’d thrown out of the drawers. “Where’s our fucking drugs, bitch?” he sneered, pulling his pistol and aiming at her head as he moved closer.
“I don’t know what either of you are talking about. Reid Cavanaugh owns this boat and she’s down there diving.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to be here a while,” Berto replied.
*
Forty-feet below the surface, Reid and Louie worked together using the suction vacuum to move the sand around as they continued to search for whatever the tow-fish had picked up on when they scanned the area.
They’d been at it a half hour, moving nearly a foot of silt, when something metal appeared. It was jagged and pitted with holes. She vacuumed the sand around the long, thin object and shook her head. It was part of a tail rudder from an airplane. From the looks of it, the part had been there a long time. She began suctioning more sand from around it and found a metal frame-like structure next to it. She quickly started looking for any kind of markings or serial numbers that would help her identify the plane, when Louie tapped her shoulder.
Figuring it was another shark, she ignored him and began pulling the metal fragment from the sandy bottom.
Unable to get her attention, Louie shoved her. Reid turned around to smack him and noticed the shadow above them. A large boat was next to theirs. Fearing Nadia may be in trouble, Reid dropped the nozzle for the vacuum and began swimming as fast as possible. Her head broke the surface first, a few yards off the stern and Louie popped up right next to her.
NINETEEN
“Get on the boat,” Berto called out, pointing his gun at them.
“What the hell?” Reid whispered as she maneuvered over to the swim platform. “Can I help you?” she asked, climbing up the ladder. “We don’t want any trouble,” she added, noticing the disarray in the open wheelhouse.
Louie followed her, removing his mask and tank when he stepped onto the stern.
“Where the fuck is Seamus?” Juan said.
“Seamus?” Reid questioned, then it hit her. “I’m the new owner of the boat. Here, I’ll show you my papers.” She took off her mask and tank.
“That won’t be necessary,” Berto replied. “He had something of ours and we want it back.”
“They’re looking for drugs,” Nadia said.
“I honestly don’t know anything about any drugs,” Reid explained. “I bought the boat a few days ago. The guy I bought it from was named Seamus. All he said was that he was headed overseas to work on a cargo ship or something.”
Berto pursed his lips and shook his head. “Seamus fucked over The Dom and left you with the bill. Someone has to pay up.”
“I don’t know anything about any drugs or money. I’m telling you, I bought the boat just like you see it.” Reid threw her arms up.
Juan put his gun to the side of Nadia’s head.
“Wait!” Reid shouted. “I don’t have any money, but I will. I need a few days. I’m looking for a Spanish galleon worth millions.”
“Where is it?” Berto asked, pointing his gun at Louie.
Louie put his hands up. “I don’t know. We’re looking for it now.”
“You have three days to find that treasure,” Berto growled.
“We’ll take her with us. She’ll keep our minds off killing the two of you,” Juan sneered as he grabbed Nadia’s arm, roughly snatching her towards the yellow speedboat.
“Reid!” Nadia called out, grasping for her.
“Wait! Take me instead,” Reid said, rushing over.
Juan shoved Nadia down into the seat and turned his gun towards Reid, firing a warning shot into the water before pointing the gun at her. “Don’t move another inch. We’re taking this bitch with us and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll find that fucking gold! The Dom has waited long enough for his money.”
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