Page 21

Harper

Five days left to find buried treasure and, uh, hope that Eve forgets that I called her a hot lady lumberjack…

It was like snapping out of a trance.

I yelped in surprise, tumbling off Eve and hitting the ground for the third time that day. Wrapped up in Eve’s strong, tattooed arms and woodsy scent, I hadn’t noticed how steadily the rain had soaked us through. Or that the dirt coating our bodies was slowly turning to mud.

Or that everything hurt .

I sent a cautious glance toward Eve. She was grimacing, slowly sitting up. When our eyes met, she blushed and looked away.

Oh god oh god oh god .

I’d just pinned Eve Bardot to the ground and smelled her . Because I wanted to—desperately. Because I could—and she obliged. Because I’d been filled with a wild and almost feral desire to inhale her .

It had to be this random hole in the ground we’d fallen into. The two of us were all alone, in an abandoned town, literally four feet below the dirt. It was like every need and craving I usually suppressed rose to the surface here. Hungrily. Ferociously .

No rules, no stress, no deadlines.

She was just so fucking gorgeous. Somehow even more so now, rain-slicked and streaked with dirt, like she’d crawled for miles to get to me. And I was straddling her hips, and her hands were tugging on my hair, and her mouth on my neck made me feel positively starved with lust.

Had I really told Eve that she smelled like she’d build me a house ?

A cringe-y embarrassment scorched through me just as Eve pushed up to stand.

“Are y’all dead or what?” the voice asked again.

“Not dead,” I called up, aiming for cheerful. “We are in need of rescue, though.”

The flashlight traced a path up to Eve’s face. She frowned, shielding her eyes. “Tammy…is that you?”

“Eve Bardot, as I live and breathe!” Tammy said. “You wouldn’t happen to have your aunt with you down there, would you?”

Eve stiffened. “No, she’s… She’s off the grid again. Can you help us get out of here?”

Tammy unfurled an honest-to-god rope ladder. I heaved myself to stand next to Eve—gingerly rolling out my wrists and ankles to feel for sprains. My body felt bruised, but not broken, and my glasses had withstood the impact.

“I saw you two fall as I drove up,” Tammy was saying. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

Eve nodded over at the rope. “Do you need any help?”

“Not at all,” I said brightly, brushing past her. “I’m all good thanks to Tammy here.”

The rope was slick beneath my hands as I climbed, but I still managed to hoist myself out of the hole.

Eve followed gracefully behind me, letting Tammy pull her up by the hand the last couple feet.

The storm had worsened while I was down there shamelessly smelling Eve’s neck—lightning crashed in the distance, and the wind whipped dregs of dirt past our ankles.

Tammy opened a large umbrella, and the three of us huddled beneath it. I couldn’t quite make out her appearance beneath her many rain layers, but I caught glimpses of wiry purple hair and wrinkles around her eyes.

“It’s good to see ya, Tam,” Eve said, pulling the other woman in for a hug. “Not sure what we would have done if you hadn’t come by. What are you doing all the way out here anyway?”

She shot Eve a devious grin. “Same thing you are, I suspect. But I checked X Marks the Spot as I pulled up and saw some chatter. Someone spotted Jensen’s crew out near Haven’s Bluff. So I’m thinkin’ this spot might be a bust after all.”

Eve’s friendly smile collapsed into a scowl. “Well, shit. I’m not ruling out this site at all since it’s filled with untapped potential, and we’ll need to come back. In the meantime, though, we should go after Jensen. What do you think, Hendrix?”

But Tammy grabbed Eve’s wrist before I could answer. “You’re not working with Monty on this? Is she all right? With everything that happened with Ruby, we’re all just…”

Eve shrugged. “You know how she gets. I told her my plans, but she wasn’t interested.”

I noted the rigid line of Eve’s spine. Felt another whisper of guilt for all that the media had done to her aunt.

I didn’t have all the details yet, but I understood Monty to be the most important person in Eve’s life.

Knew that she’d saved Eve from a terrible environment with her parents, had brought her out here to heal.

The media—people like me —had chased Monty into the shadows, forced her into hiding.

I shifted on my feet, remembering the two missed calls I had from Greg on my phone and at least one snarky text message. I’d been feigning confidence before hopping into Eve’s car this morning, boldly declaring that I’d changed the angle of my story, from Monty to Priscilla.

It was technically the truth.

Greg just wasn’t aware of the changes. Yet. I’d never begged for forgiveness over permission before, and my nervous system couldn’t decide if this was a thrilling adventure or a terrifying mistake I’d regret immediately.

“Here, take this,” Tammy said, passing us the umbrella.

“I’ve got another in my bag. And I might or might not have cut a hole in the fence back there, so if you crawl through it, please remember that I definitely did not do that.

Another very hot and beautiful older woman did.

I am gonna hang around here a bit, just to be sure, but I’m rooting for you and Monty. Always have been, always will.”

Eve hugged her again. “Thank you for saying that. I miss you.”

“Miss you, too, baby. Come by the show sometime and bring that stubborn pain-in-the-ass with ya.”

There was a pause. I pointed a thumb at my chest and said, “Wait, is she talking about me?”

Eve shook her head with a grin. “Not you, Hendrix. Monty. But if the shoe fits…”

I yanked the umbrella from her with a glare. Tammy let out a laugh that could only be described as a hoot .

“Don’t let Eve get too cocky now,” Tammy said. “She’s also about as stubborn as they come. And half the good-lookin’ people in this town would call her a pain-in-the-ass.”

When I gave Eve a smug, wide-eyed look, her response was to kick a rock down the path and take the umbrella back.

“Oh, is that so?” I said triumphantly. “Sounds like real heartbreaker behavior to me.”

Tammy peered over at Eve with an expression I couldn’t read. Whatever it was, Eve ducked her head with flushed cheeks. “I’ll tell you about it later, Tammy. Anyway, we gotta go. We’re wasting time. Come on.”

She strode past me, umbrella in hand, and I managed a hasty and incredibly grateful goodbye to our surprise rescuer before rushing off to catch up to her. Our shoulders brushed together, and we quickly jumped apart.

The embarrassment came crawling back. Not only had I smelled this woman, but I’d also demanded she smell me, too .

You smell like vacation .

I’d been startled by the fantasy that had stormed through my imagination at those words. The two of us sprawled out somewhere pretty and warm. My head in her lap while I read, her fingers scratching my scalp.

“Tammy runs a dive bar in town called The Rogue Cat,” Eve said, breaking the silence between us. “Once a month, she stars as a Dolly Parton impersonator in a show called 9 to 5 that Monty used to take me to when she hung around more. Tammy’s big in the treasure-hunting scene, too.”

I blinked. “A purple-haired Dolly Parton impersonator rescued us?”

“Sure did.”

“I like her even more now.”

We reached the cut part of the fence. Eve reached down, pulling the metal back until I could slip beneath it.

We jogged to the car, both of us sliding inside with dripping-wet hair and mud-caked boots.

Eve cranked the heat up, turning around to rustle through the bags in her backseat.

She tossed me a fluffy, clean towel and grabbed one for herself.

“Where in Haven’s Bluff are we heading?” I asked, rubbing my hair dry.

“A place called Diablo’s Canyon,” she said, drying her hair with one hand while pulling out a map with the other. She flicked on the car light, illuminating Monty’s scrawled notes and tiny symbols I couldn’t parse. “We’ll take the metal detectors, shovels, and our head lamps to a spot right here.”

Her finger tapped at the location.

I glanced out at the rivers of water pooling down the windshield. “And if the storm doesn’t let up by then?”

Eve winced. “The good news is that I doubt Jensen’s digging in this. The bad news is that it seems like he’s still got a head start.”

“And why there?” I asked, trying to ignore the anxiety thrumming beneath Eve’s words.

“Diablo’s Canyon is the site of the original train station in Haven’s Bluff,” she said.

“It was torn down about fifty years ago, but back in 1900, the town was comprised of just Harry’s general store, a saloon, a post office, and this station.

Monty and Ruby had a working theory that Priscilla and Adeline buried the diamonds somewhere around here.

And therefore lost the locket in this area, too, leading Harry to take ownership of it for reasons we still don’t know. ”

Eve paused to scrub at her wet hair. “This is all just theorizing, but Monty thought they stashed the diamonds for safekeeping—either because they were being followed or because something scared them. They were unaccompanied, traveling through the frontier. Anything could have happened.”

I chewed on my lower lip, pulling the map into my lap to study it further. Tiny X ’s dotted the illustration, along with the word “BUST” written across a few places. The sight of Monty’s notes squeezed my heart, something about the cheery hopefulness in the slant of her letters.

“Waylon didn’t mention it, but Harry could have come into possession of the locket because he’s the one who stole the diamonds from them in the first place,” I said, feeling my stomach fall.

“And just…gambled them away or spent them all. Or, thinking more optimistically, Priscilla and Adeline made it safely to their destination, diamonds in hand, and that’s why they’ve never been found.

But I’m sure they’ve considered every angle? ”

Eve’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Every angle in as many ways as possible. Both of those theories have kept me up at night before. I know it has for Monty, too, though we obviously would love it if your second theory were true.” Her eyes rose, finally meeting mine and sending a zap of awareness through me.

“Monty was never satisfied with this stage of the search. Things were bad between her and Ruby at the time. I get the impression she wasn’t as focused or as diligent. ”

I swallowed. “Monty Montana doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who takes failure lightly.”

Eve tipped her head in agreement and carefully re-folded the map. Then she must have seen something in the dim light of the car. She caught my chin, tilting me toward the light with a pinched brow.

“It’s just dirt, not bruises,” I said gently. “I’ll be sore tomorrow, but I’m running on adrenaline right now. I feel just fine.”

She took the end of one of the towels and carefully brushed the dust from my cheeks. “Yeah, but I put you in harm’s way. Something I specifically promised not to do. If we’re gonna trust each other…”

She trailed off, dropped her gaze. She moved the towel to my neck, cleaning a spot below my ear. My heart skipped at the thought that Eve, too, was concerned that we didn’t trust each other yet.

“You couldn’t have predicted us falling through a wooden floor,” I said.

“I should have been more careful,” was her response.

I placed my hands over hers, stilling them. Thought about what she’d admitted to me back in that room—nervously, like she didn’t share it often. Her panic attacks, the anxiety, the intense urge to please parents who sounded like they demanded perfection from their daughter.

“Here,” I said, tugging the towel free. “Let me dry your hair. It’s still soaked.”

She sighed. “The curls have a life of their own.”

“Well, they’re lovely. I’m sure people tell you that all the time,” I said, touching her head and tipping it down. I began working the towel through the curls, letting my nails scratch against her scalp.

“I like hearing you say it,” she murmured, sounding drowsy. “It’s different when you say it.”

You have been unbearably captivating from the moment we met.

“How so?” I asked, voice shaky.

There was a long pause. Then Eve said, “I can tell you really mean it.”

The rain hammered against the top of the car. My fingers moved through Eve’s short hair, until she was staring at me through soft, heavy-lidded eyes. The smile that appeared was less wicked than her usual. It was sweeter, warmer.

Hopeful.

It pierced right through my chest, so swiftly my brain could only say, Uh-oh .

“Did your parents care about what you went through?” I asked, needing to fill the silence. “The panic attacks, being in the hospital… What was their reaction?”

“Oh, um…” She rolled her lips together. “They thought I was being over-dramatic. Making it up to get attention.”

My hands went still in her hair. “Oh, Eve. I’m…I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”

She took the towel from my hands, folding it and placing it in the backseat again. “Suffering is the price we pay for hard work,” she said. “That’s what they told me.”

“Suffering isn’t love,” I said softly.

“No, it isn’t.” Her throat worked as she swallowed.

“It’s okay, though. I’ve got Monty. I’ve got my friends, Cleo, The Wreckage, a whole queer community out here who’ve shown me what true love looks like.

And it’s not the kind that demands I sacrifice my health and well-being. It’s reciprocal, joyful, abundant.”

I felt it then, this sharp yearning to be held and cared for by a community like that.

To be held and cared for by someone like Eve.

By Eve, specifically.

Thunder rolled in the distance, reminding me of the present danger sitting right in front of me. Something was happening out here, some buried thread was being yanked out into the open, unraveling everything I thought I knew about life in the process.

Eve was part of that, whether she knew it or not. Whatever was brewing between us would last only until the moment I got on that plane and flew back to my real life.

She’d already made that much clear.

Which meant it didn’t matter how tempted I was to throw caution to the wind and leap —into sensation, into chaos, into the hot mess that would be casual sex with Eve Bardot.

I needed to avoid getting too close to her at all costs.