Page 50

Thirty-Eight

Stella

It’s one p.m., during a brief window before some weather I’ve been tracking to the southeast is likely going to hit us, when we discover the treasure debris field.

I find a coin first, and then an uncut emerald the size of a child’s fist. By three, Teddy pulls up what looks like several large uncut rubies and a full-size bar of gold, Gus’s count is up to almost thirty coins, Huck has found another emerald and two coins, and my mesh bag is nearly full.

No Heart yet. We are racing the clock before the squall line comes.

We’d been careful that the others didn’t see us sneak back on deck, holding hands; they missed us kissing on the deck; they weren’t there to witness Huck leading me back to his room and securing the door behind us, or me racing back to my bunk in the early morning, clutching the tiny sheep he’d given me in one hand and my gold dress in the other.

Now everyone’s too focused on salvaging as much as we possibly can before the storm to notice me and Huck.

It’s nice to enjoy stolen moments with each other while our friends focus on other happy things.

This feels like something that belongs solely to me and him.

It almost feels too good to be true, pulling up priceless finds beside someone that I’m falling for…again.

Almost.

Gus calls me over the radio. “Ted and I are heading up.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m going to need a fresh tank in a few,” Ted says. “Perfect time for some water and a protein bar.”

“I’m going to start cataloging what we’ve found so far,” Gus says.

“Can you set up the dredge?” I ask. “It might speed things up given we don’t have a ton of time before the storm gets here.”

“Sure thing. Zoe already had the compressor out, so I just need to make a few connections and then I can send the dredge pipe down to you.”

“Awesome. Huck, how’s your air? Do you need to change out your tank too?”

“Nope, I’m good for a while longer. How about you?”

“I’m set, so I guess we’ll continue to search down here.”

Teddy and Gus slowly ascend, and I turn to Huck. I point to my face mask and then hold up three fingers, telling him to switch to channel three so we can talk in private.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.”

“Pretty slick with the hand signals,” he tells me.

“If this treasure thing doesn’t work out, I might have a future as a spy.”

“Just a hunch, but I think the treasure thing might work out for you. Based on today.”

I grin. “Do you know how a dredge works?”

“No, this will be my first time.”

I laugh. “Interesting…So, basically the dredge is just a giant hose. Honestly, it’s easy once you get the hang of controlling the hose. It will do most of the work. Just make sure to get a good grip.”

“Stella. I’m trying extremely hard to take this seriously and be on my good behavior, but if I’m going to be able to do that, I’m going to need you to stop saying the word hose so provocatively.”

“You’re shameless,” I say.

Gus lets me know that he’s sending the dredge down. I show Huck how to wrangle it. “You’re pretty good with that, ah, hose.”

“Later,” I tell him, giving him a playful tap on his wetsuit. “For now, get to work.”

We continue until sundown, surfacing only once to change out our tanks and have a quick make-out session against the hull where we are pretty sure no one will see us.

We are back into this so naturally. I don’t stop to worry—I only obsess over the next time I can kiss him, the next opportunity for him to put his hands on me, the next question he’ll ask.

The winds pick up late afternoon, and the weather for the next day doesn’t look promising. We make the decision to head back to the harbor before the storm comes in. Huck finds a hotel with vacancies and books a set of rooms for us, and Teddy guides us into the mooring.

“I’ll square us away here,” Ted says. “Where are we booked?”

“Pier House,” Huck says. “It’s at number one Duval Street.”

“Posh,” Zoe says. “I like it.”

It’s a short walk to the resort, and I can tell before we even step inside to check in that this is the fanciest place I’ve ever stayed.

“They have room service and glass balconies,” Zoe says. “Well done, Huck. Fully support your choice. This is the way to handle weather.”

Gus turns in a circle in the lobby. “Riding out the weather in style.” He holds out an arm to Zoe. “Shall we, my dear?”

“We shall.” She turns back to us. “Enjoy! I’m going to go and have a nice hot shower and then order an embarrassing number of dishes from that room service menu.”

The woman at the front desk slides two room keys to me and Huck. He slides one back to her. “Actually, we still have one more member of our party coming. We’re together.”

We’re together. Why do I love the sound of this?

“Got it,” the woman said, giving us a sly smile. “Can I assist you with anything else?”

“Could we get a bottle of champagne sent up to us?” Huck asks.

“Of course.”

I grin at her and weave my fingers between Huck’s. “We’re celebrating.”

···

Huck’s gotten us the penthouse. From the chairs on the balcony, there’s a perfect view of the sun dipping into the sea and the moon rising into the sky before it’s occluded by cloud cover of the impending storm.

Teddy texts that all’s well with the boat and he’s all checked in.

Do we want to go out and hit some of the bars down on Duval with him? We don’t.

Instead, I nestle into Huck on the bed and we drink champagne and watch television.

“What are you going to do with your share?” he asks.

“Actually, I have no idea. I guess I never really thought it would happen.”

“Never mentally spent the money?”

“Nope. It was never really about money for me, but you know that.”

He nods and kisses me gently on the crown of my head. “I do. What about the next treasure? Do you have another one? Blackbeard, maybe?”

“I hadn’t thought that far either. Right now I’m just trying to live in the moment.”

“Me too,” he admits. “I guess I also don’t want to think about what happens after this when we both go home.”

I turn my head from its resting place on his chest to face him. We’ve only just gotten back to a good place. I’m not ready to leave it. “Let’s not think about that right now.”

“How do you suggest that we shift our focus?” He bites his lip mischievously.

“Well, I could always start talking about dredge hoses again,” I say, undoing the belt on his hotel robe.

He slides his hand under my matching robe, gliding his fingertips along the backs of my thighs to cup the curve of my ass, and drags me on top of him.

I smile down at him, my hair falling over my shoulders, and we lock eyes.

No matter how many times I’ve looked at him, I can never really get over the color of his eyes.

I’ve never seen anyone else with eyes like Huck’s.

Actually, I’ve never met anyone else like him full stop.

He carefully tucks the loose strands behind my ears and then I lower my face to his and our lips meet.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve slept together.

We had sex on the beach in Iceland, and that was magical before it ended.

This is different. I wouldn’t call it magic.

I’m not under Huck’s spell. There’s a realism to it.

Teeth that occasionally bump when we kiss because we’re smiling or we get too carried away.

We’re not performing or trying to be perfect.

We’re learning each other, mapping each other’s bodies, what we like, and what we really like, the sounds we make, the way a little adjustment changes everything.

We don’t rush this. I take him in my hands, study the way he responds, how he gets even harder when I hold on to him; he groans and his muscles tense when I bring him to me.

“You don’t have to,” he says, barely holding himself together.

I glance up at him, and then at his hand where it’s gripping the duvet cover like he’s hanging on for his life. “I’m in charge,” I say.

“I totally support that,” he manages.

Then I keep going. Afterward, he does the same for me, kissing his way southward from my neck to navel, tracing the soft skin where he’d used his fingers last night to push me over the edge.

“I love that sound you make,” he says, “the little gasp. I want to make you do that again and again.” I close my eyes.

When he produces a condom, he says, “I hope you don’t think I was being presumptuous.”

“I like a man who thinks ahead,” I say, taking it from him.

He lets me run things, lowering myself down on him, finding the right rhythm, but then somehow even though I’m above him, he takes control when I want him to, pushing deeper, gripping my hips, matching me with long powerful strokes.

His thumb slips between my legs and increases the sensation until I can barely think, barely exist. It feels so good like this, so good with him, and I… Oh my god.

Oh my god.

The fingertips of his other hand press into my ass, grinding me into him, and it’s rough and exquisite and freaking amazing.

His skin grows slick with sweat and we kiss, messily, our tongues tangling together as we both rocket higher and higher and then, well, when we finish together, I nearly black out.

My vision goes sparkly and I let out a loud moan, and he groans against my skin before wrapping me tightly against him.

It has never been this good for me.

Ever.

He kisses me slowly, running his fingertips over my back, while we let our breathing slow and match each other. I curl in beside him, fitting my head in the crook of his arm, watching his chest rise and fall.

“Wow,” he says.

I smile. “The author is speechless,” I say. “Must’ve been pretty great for you too.”

He laughs. “That’s the understatement of the century.”