by Blue Davis
Her forehead puckered. “We’re not declaring it, James.”
Informing the authorities was the last thing on his mind. Why go through the hassle of digging for treasure if it’s going to be stuck in a museum somewhere? “Agreed. I meant that I like to know who I’m working with, so I know if I can trust them. I hand-pick my people.”
“Understood, but this is my hunt. My hunt, my rules.” She pouted her lips.
She had all these rules, but very little plan. It was bullshit. And she was force-feeding it to me. He raised his hands and forced a smile. “You’re the boss.”
Her mouth curved into a smile. “Good. Glad we got that settled. Let’s get going because we need to find that treasure before dark.”
He swallowed. “We still doing that?”
She pretended not to hear as she shook water off her pack. “Hmm? What?”
“We need to get off the beach, like to that mountain over there.” He pointed to a forested hill in the distance. “Those thugs might be on their way and I don’t want them catching a whiff of us.”
Her face bunched up around the eyes. “Are you out of your mind? We need to get the gold and get back on the boat so we can get out of here.”
His gut told him that doing it her way was trouble. “What if they roll up and hunt us? We can’t assume they got lost at sea. Did you not see them chasing us?”
She squinted her eyes and shook her head. “They’re nowhere to be found now. They were probably out for a joyride. You know, James… as thugs do.” She had this ‘I’m-smarter-than-you’ expression on her face that drove him wild. He wanted to take that lip of hers and bite it. Hard.
His wet shirt and khakis were already dry. Heat rose to his neck. He brushed coils of hair off his sweating forehead. “Crooks hide. They don’t hang in plain view yelling, ‘hey, look at me! I’m here to take everything you got!’. They creep up in the middle of the night when you least expect them. They’re pirates. They sneak up.”
She fidgeted with the wet map. “I doubt they were pirates, James. They were probably kids cruising around. This is the Caribbean, not Madagascar.”
He scratched his head and blew out quick air. Is she for real? She brings me here, says there’s unknown pirates stashing secret treasure, and now she refuses to believe in them? “You don’t believe pirates exist in the Caribbean? They invented pirates!”
She curled her lip and crossed her arms over her heaving chest.
Why wouldn’t she let him protect her? It bothered him. “You think you’re the only one who knows Black Caesar buried his treasure?”
She rolled her eyes and looked away.
He continued. Listen, dammit. She was irritating him now. She didn’t know the first thing about keeping herself safe. “When you come down here, you need to keep aware. You may have dark skin, but you’re not Haitian. Don’t you think they want to see what you’re up to? And what about me? Do I look like a guy who’s broke?”
She sighed and closed her eyes. She threw her hands in the air. “So what do you want to do?”
“Scale that mountain, get to the top, and see if there’s any other ships. That’ll give us time to regroup and plan.”
Her eyes darkened. “Is my plan not good enough?”
“Did your plan include what to do if there were a group of wild bandit sailors on our tail?”
She shielded her eyes from the sun. “No, but it’ll be late by the time we scale that mountain. That means we have to camp out and wait until morning and that adds an extra day on to the journey. We don't have that kind of time.”
He resisted surrendering. “Would you rather have ten thousand shiny golden coins or stay alive?”
She didn’t answer. “What about Bernardo?”
“He’s not going anywhere.” He patted his wallet through his khakis. “I got the other half of the money. He may get irritated, but he’s not going to leave.”
“Okay,” she said, pointing at him. “We’ll do it your way. You better be right or there’ll be hell to pay.”
He started out on the hike. “Right about what? Pirates on our tail? I hope to God I’m wrong.”
They trekked to the base of the mountain. He peeked over his shoulder constantly to make sure she followed close behind. Should he be behind her to make sure nobody came and snatched her? No, he didn’t want her stepping her delicate foot into anything dangerous. Besides that, the place was an absolute jungle. Leaves and branches intertwined everywhere and overgrown shrubbery covered the path. There’s no way she could follow it and push or chop everything if she were in front. He worked fast to move every branch out of their way. Well, it was mainly out of her way.
“We almost there?”
Her question made him laugh. His belly grumbled. He wiped sweat from his forehead and turned around. “Don’t you have the map? I need food.”
“Oh, I brought that.” She fished through her sack and brought out the same pack of crackers she had this morning. “Here you go.”
“What else you got?”
“Uh…well I brought a can of sardines, but we should save those for later.”
“Crackers and a can of sardines? Is that all?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Do you think a man can survive off of that?”
Things had grown tense between them. He didn’t like it, but he had felt his body going into survival mode the minute he saw the other boat following them. The hunt had lost its shimmer and being alone on the island had become creepy. Even if it was with hot little Lexi. He stopped caring about the gold long ago. Now the major goal was to protect her and make it off the island in one piece.
The corners of her mouth turned downward. “Well I didn’t know we would be out here all week.”
“We’re out in the wilderness. When I told you to prepare yesterday, that meant get supplies ready. This is the wild, not the shopping district.”
She gave him a frosty look.
He had gone too far. Survival mode was turning him into a jerk--hardly the type of man he strived to be. “I’m sorry. I’m a grouch when I don’t get enough food. Please forgive me.” The hunt was rough and they had just started. Light airiness took over his skull. He took the crackers from her and shoved two in his mouth, then he took the key from the can of sardines and twisted the thin metal top open. He took two sardines out for himself and handed the can to her. “Eat.”
She lifted her chin and pouted her mouth. “I’m not hungry.”
Chapter 7
Lexi
He frustrated her, but he had a couple of good points and she appreciated his assistance on the trip. That fisherman was impossible to work with. Talk about unprofessional. Thank goodness James had been there to deal with him. Old Bernardo wouldn’t take her seriously if she were the last human alive. James listened to her though, at least sometimes. The other part of the time he’s flirting like crazy, trying to impress me. She let out a dry chuckle. Help me find the damn gold. That will impress me.
They traveled along the trail until they came to a wooden sign with a picture of a volcano and an arrow.
James tilted his head to the side and looked ahead at the trail. “Looks like we’re going the right way.”
She tried to swallow, but her throat was as dry as a desert. The hike proved to be more difficult than she first thought. She rubbed her weary eyes to create moisture. “Yeah.” What was the point in elaborating? Yeah, the picture says the peak of the volcano is straight ahead. That’s the peak of the damn mountain. It’s your idea, not mine.
James through his pack in the dirt and leaned against the sign. He stretched his neck backward until it cracked. “What is the chance that this volcano erupts while we’re here?”
The base of her neck throbbed. “Hmm. I would have thought you would’ve asked that question before coming up here.”
He put on a lopsided grin. “Come on girl. Show me love.”
How dare he even mention the word love? Carl use to say that crap and he was cute unt
il she’d walked in one day to their two-story house in New Orleans to find him massaging the breasts of another girl.
She vowed it would be the last time she’d ever get involved with anyone from the business again. It wasn’t worth the risk. If he loves you, you do well. When he turns on you, you’re out of a man and a job. When they had first broken up, he broadcasted her life along with a bunch of scathing lies on Facebook. Both friends and business contacts found themselves in the awkward position of having to choose sides. Some remained in contact, others silenced. And he was the one who cheated! It took her a long time to regain their trust.
But James was a different story. They had known each other for years and he was cute and sweet, but love? Yeah, right. Her mind juggled responses to his hilarious statement and came up with too many. He doesn’t even know what love is. How could he? He never kept a woman over three days.
But whatever. She didn’t seek love, and it didn’t seek her. Love was for whimsical fools who didn’t have their heads on straight.
Maybe she was being too difficult in terms of their business relationship though. He was proving to be valuable. The trip would have been a disaster if it hadn’t of been for him, and his money. Eleven thousand for a boat rental? Geez, she would’ve never been able to handle that kind of bill. The whole trip would have been a waste. She’d pay the money back soon after selling her share of the gold because she wasn’t eager to be indebted to anyone in the business. She straightened her shoulders and pretended to ignore the “show me love” comment. “The volcano’s been extinct for centuries.”
James lifted his chin. His pupils looked dilated. “That’s what I thought.”
“Let’s get going. It’ll be dark soon and we still need a good spot to camp.”
His eyes traced her body. “We sleepin’ in the same bed?”
See, it’s stuff like that. Can’t he talk straight for once? Every time he says something intelligent, it’s always backed up by playboy antics. She chose not to answer and instead walked up the first few yards of the trail. He followed too close. She stopped and motioned him forward with an open palm.
He walked in front of her, his lips pressed into a nonchalant grin.
They continued walking for three more hours until they came to a flat, grassy plane.
Relief washed over her shoulders. “Oh thank god. I can’t think straight.”
He swayed in his stance. “I know. I’ve been delirious for the last few hours.”
She gave him a once-over. “This whole hike was a few hours.”
He nodded, the corners of his eye crinkling. “I was tired from the get-go. You’re a tough woman. I prefer the leisurely route when I’m out. Do you not like to stop and breathe?”
“When I’m out scavenging in the scorching heat, I like to get it done. I rest when I have what I want.”
James was her competition and she couldn’t help but compare herself to him. Silly, considering they were now on the same team. She argued with him even though she didn’t believe he was tired. He had to be pretending. His massive Spartan physique looked as though he could survive a hundred more days like these. Who was he fooling?
He raised an eyebrow. “You and me have different philosophies about hunting. The prize is the same either way though. Gold is gold. You can have a good time while you look for it, or you can have a miserable time. Either way, you’re getting the treasure chest.”
Did he really think she was unhappy? She drew in a deep breath and tried to relax her tense shoulders. “I’m not having a miserable time. I’m determined to get it and there’s nothing that will get in my way.”
“That’s not what you said a couple days ago when you needed help to get that boat.” He winked and studied her.
True. “Well I got it, didn’t I?”
His eyes glinted with affection. “We got it.”
She resolved to stop competing with him and relax. “We work well as a team.”
She didn’t want him to think otherwise and why was there so much banter anyway? It should be about the gold.
He was hot. Blazing hot. But she wasn’t going to let that get in her way. There was no way she was letting herself fall into one of his little bed traps that he put up for his prey. If there was any bamboozling to be done, it’d be done by her. She refused to let years of built-up know-how fall by the wayside just because the guy was hot. And charming. And thoughtful. And protective. No chance in hell.
“Wow, come see this.”
It was a 360-degree view of the surrounding water. Everything was visible, the rocky coves, the sand, even the boat they arrived on.
The open view meant there was nobody following them. She felt his need to protect her, but there was nothing to protect her from. It was a deserted island. “There’s no one else out here.”
He narrowed his eyes on to her. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to be safe. You don’t know what these people are capable of. I hear the Haitian underworld is ruthless.”
“You can even see Haiti from here. The coast is clear.” She took a moment to rub her righteousness in his face.
His pupils flared as he watched her. “Well, it’s not as if we wanted someone to be out there. I’m glad you were right. You’re a smart girl.”
Stop. He was always giving her awkward compliments. Any more of this and it’d be difficult to continue being snarky toward him. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves. Is he trying to be kind to get in my panties or is he sincere? Is his playboy reputation true? She gnawed the side of her cheek. Of course it’s true. It’s how he gets girls into his bed--by being nice to them at first. Like he was being to her at this very moment.
He stepped around on the moist earth as if he was measuring the area. Then he gathered roughage from the ground and pulled it to one big heap. “Seems as good a spot as any.”
“What are you doing?”
He shoved more leaves into a rectangular shape. “Building beds.”
She bit her cheek more. “It’s too close to that hole over there. Aren’t little creatures crawling around here?”
He dropped his hands at his sides. “We live in Florida. Aren’t you used to little creatures by now?”
His spreading leaves might not be a bad idea. It beat sleeping on the hard ground. “Go ahead. You’re fine,” she remarked. She didn’t like the words coming from her mouth. Who would? The more he tried to show off in front of her, the wearier she became. Why couldn’t he be sincere? He was half-charming and half a smart-ass gigolo.
She set down her pack and opened her toiletry bag. Or maybe it was just her. She was exhausted and she was sure she looked and smelled horrific. She sniffed her underarms. He hadn’t complained, but she quietly excused herself and walked behind a tall rock. She freshened up and came back out.
“We’re up on top of the volcano, lookin’ down on you, Bernardo, my man,” he called out to the sea.
The old fisherman was far away now. She only hoped he would not lose patience on waiting for them to return.
“Everything looks fine. Not a ripple on the water. We must’ve lost those guys. They had to have gone home or somewhere else.” He raised his eyebrows. “Cause there’s nobody up here. And that’s the way we like it, right? Whole island to ourselves.” He lowered his eyes to her shoulders and continued to her breasts. “What do you want to do?”
She lowered her eyes mockingly to his chest while rocking her head to the side and darted back up to his eyes. “Get the gold.”
He stood back on his heels. “Ah yes. Of course.” His mouth formed a dumb, dreamy smile. “Gold. We’ll get up tomorrow when it’s daylight and review the course. Let’s get some shut eye for now, huh?”
Lexi reached in her bag and brought out her notes and map and laid them on the leaves. She took out her small waterproof flashlight from her pack. “I didn’t come here to sleep.”
The map crinkled in her fingers as she unraveled it. The seawater had made the pages crisp, and the words hard to read. She spra
wled over the blurred writing. The glow was dim, but it was enough to see the squiggles and lines. If she could only get her head on straight to make tomorrow’s plan.
“What? You need your rest. Don’t overdo it today. We’re here for three days. We’ll wake up bright and early tomorrow and—” he stopped.
Her eyelids weighed her down as her mind fought to stay awake.
He looked worried. “Lexi?”
His face blurred. He leaned in to her and spoke, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Her heartbeat slowed. A dizzy spell washed her into darkness.
James hovered over her, fanning a large palm leaf.
A blurry film covered her eyes, but she felt fine. She sat up straight. “Mmm. What happened?”
He stroked her cheek and moved threads of hair away from her face.
“You face-planted into the map. That hike was debilitating. You need to get some rest.”
Heat radiated throughout her chest. Is he seriously standing over me taking care of me? This side of him was unusual. Had she pegged him wrong? “I’m sorry. Sometimes I get too excited.”
“Were you really going to come out here by yourself?” His eyebrows drew in while he fidgeted with the threads of the leaf.
Her stomach fluttered. Had she ever seen him like this? He always had a witty comeback, or was right on the brink of teasing. But he wasn’t teasing now. He had grown serious.
“Yeah, it’s dumb. I’m glad you’re here,” she cooed.
“I think we should get a bite to eat and then call it a day. Want to share another can of sardines?”
“Yep. Sounds good.” Truth be told, she couldn’t stand the smell or the sight of another can of sardines. All they’d eaten today was canned fish. But she had grown tired of being so disagreeable and she was the one who had packed nothing but peanut butter, sardines, and tuna.
James was right. She should be having fun. What sense did it make to be on a secluded island with a hot guy and not take advantage? He was, after all, a sheer piece of eye candy. She studied his dreamy blue eyes. His blond hair hung tousled over his eyes. His squared shoulders contributed to his rugged handsomeness. It was the first time she didn’t write off his attractiveness. Maybe he was born with it, but surely his muscular build came from hard work and dedication at the gym.