“No clue. But she didn’t waste any time moving in on him, that’s for sure.”
“Gross.”
“Yeah, but she wasn’t all bad.”
“Swimming.” I hold his hands tightly around my waist.
“Yeah, swimming. And you know, she loves Christmas. Every inch of the house was filled with decorations the year after my mom died. I don’t think you could add another bow to the place if you tried. And then when we moved to Miami, she hired a company to do the lights. Our house was its own nighttime spectacular. But I still liked my mom’s homemade decorations better. Emily insisted we put them up. She was little and capable of throwing an amazing tantrum when she tried. By the time we were in high school, Susan had a tree placed in Emily’s room for all the ‘crafty decorations,’ as she called them.”
“We should make some.” I roll in his arms, my forehead inches from his lips until I stand on my tiptoes.
Easton smiles. “We should.”
“I’d like to make some gifts. I’m working on some ideas. There’s one I need some help with, though. Could I borrow you?”
“You can’t borrow what you already own.”
My stomach warms. I know it’s corny, but I don’t care. I take his lips in mine. He deepens the kiss and I’m moaning into his mouth. My core’s on fire.
He pulls back. The sun pokes out from behind the jungle above his head, making me squint into the sun. I haven’t seen my sunglasses in a few days. “Now, Firefly, what do you need? I’m at your service.”
Shoot, I didn’t think about the state of his arm before I asked him. I suck on my lips and run my hands down the sides of his arms. “No, it’s okay. I’ll ask?—”
“Whatever it is, I can do it.” His tone has dropped.
I’m not sure he can with his arm, but then it’s not fair of me to ask and then rescind. It’s not hard to pick out that he’s having problems with his arm, but more so it hurts his ego that he can’t do what he’s used to doing. “Down by the waterfall, I saw?—”
“All you have to say is waterfall and I’m there.” He laughs.
I playfully slap at his firm abs. “Not waterfall time.” Although it doesn’t sound like a bad idea right now. “No, I saw a flat rock that looks like something chalk might work on. I thought I could make Zane a chalkboard to work out the code on.”
“That’s perfect. What are you going to do for chalk?”
“I... I hadn’t gotten that far? Burnt charcoal?”
“Crushed shells might work.”
When we get to the waterfall and I’m staring down at the rock that I saw a few weeks ago, I realize it’s a lot bigger than I thought it was. It’s sticking half in the water and half out. And the memory of the chest in the cave floods into my head. I never mentioned it to any of the guys.
The excitement clogs my throat. “Cave—there’s a box in the cave!”
Chapter 29
Lost Cargo
Haley
“What?” Easton’s staring at the rock.
I take a deep breath and slow down. “In the cave where we tied the WaveRunner up, there’s a box covered in seaweed and barnacles. I completely forgot about it. I was too worked up about the knots in the vests and you and Calvin being missing.”
Easton sinks to the big flat rock, his feet dangling over into the water. His neck twists up at me, then back to the spot where we buried the Phoenix diamond. “Like buried treasure?”
“Maybe. I didn’t exactly get a good look at it.”
“That sounds like a fun mission. But we’ll need to group it with a trip over to the pomelo beach.” He pats the rock. “This is the one?” He pats the smaller rock, which isn’t small at all.
“Yeah, never mind, it’s too big.”
