Tuck's Treasure

by Kimber Davis

  She’d thought the plan had been for them to get up early and check things out. That way they could decide what their next move should be. But he was nowhere to be seen.

  “Jerk.” She pushed back the light blanket she’d used to cover herself while she slept. He’d been right about one thing. Sleeping out under the stars was a wonderful thing to do. The light wind had caressed her cheek and she’d slept like a baby.

  She’d taken one long pillow, and Dylan had taken the other. At first she’d been a little weirded out about sleeping across from a man she’d only known for two days. Then she decided it was fine. After all she’d be sleeping on the boat with him no matter whether she slept here or down below. And she wanted the experience of sleeping under the stars on a sailboat.

  “Dylan?” He didn’t answer her call and she frowned and called out his name again. The words were met with silence and she wondered exactly where he was, and what he was doing.

  She carefully went down the steps into the galley and called out his name, wondering if he’d gone to the bathroom, or the head, as he called it. Once again she received no answer.

  “Fine, I’ll go to the island by myself.”

  She started back up the ladder, angry with herself for believing that he’d wait for her. When his face appeared in the hold opening and he grinned and said, “Boo,” she lost her footing and fell back. At least she’d only taken one step up on the ladder.

  “Where have you been?”

  “I went for a swim while you were snoozing, Sleeping Beauty. I was going to wake you up in a few minutes. It’s time for us to go and play and see what’s what before our escorts get here.”

  “Do you think they’ll get her that fast?” She took his hand as he helped her step onto the deck.

  “I think they just might, unfortunately. I’m sure when they arrived last night they realized they’d been duped, and they knew the general direction we were coming in. Something tells me they left fairly early and should be here in the next few hours.”

  She went to the side railing and gazed out at the island before them. She was never very good at judging sizes, but this one seemed to be pretty small. There weren’t very many trees, and the largest one seemed to be in the center of the island.

  “I think that’s probably it,” she said, pointing. “You didn’t already go and dig out the treasure, did you?”

  “Ow!” His heavy-handed smack landed in the center of her bottom, then he grabbed her arm and placed another one to match it on the other cheek.

  She cried out as his hand came down several more times. No matter how hard she fought against him she couldn’t break his hold, however, and by the time he’d given her seven swats on each cheek she was cussing and screaming at him to let her go.

  “Keep your hands off me you…creep!”

  He pulled her close, his face right in front of hers. “Then don’t call me a thief. Understand?”

  He didn’t seem angry, but then again he wasn’t very happy with her, either. She nodded, then gasped when he leaned over and kissed her, his lips claiming hers in a gentle press that seeped all the way down to her toes.

  She should have pushed him away, should have yelled at him and told him to keep his lips to himself, or to find someone else to kiss, that she wasn’t interested. But her mind thought one thing and her body another.

  While she screamed no inside her head she pressed back, savoring the fell of his warm, full lips on hers.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that since yesterday,” he said, keeping his lips right next to hers. “You taste wonderful.”

  “I haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.” She pulled back enough to put her hand in front of her mouth. Then she realized that she should be railing at him, screaming that he didn’t have the right to kiss her. Not yet, anyway. Maybe in a few more days.

  She moved her hand and opened her mouth to tell him just that but before any words left her mouth he kissed her again. This time his tongue darted inside, licking at the top of her mouth and making the tingling feeling spread to her arms and hands.

  “Stop that,” she whispered when he was done. “We’re not here to kiss. We’re here to find treasure.”

  “Maybe this is treasure,” he said softly. “Have you ever thought of that?”

  Oh how she wanted to say yes, that she’d thought that kissing him was like discovering treasure. But she didn’t want him to know that. She wasn’t here for a boyfriend; she was here to find that which her uncle had left for her.

  She glanced back at the island, happy that he’d parked behind it and not in the area where the boat would be spotted by anyone approaching by way of Florida.

  “We need to get busy,” she said, turning her head when he tried to kiss her again.

  “You’re right, we do. We’ll find the treasure, and later we’ll talk about kissing. Let’s go. I’ll take the shovel. Is there anything else on the map besides the words under the largest tree?”

  “No.” She shook her head to emphasize her point. “It’s not really a map, it’s more of a hand written direction. Would you like to see it?”

  “Yes, I would.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the envelope the lawyer had given her. Then she handed the whole thing to Dylan. Better that he could see she wasn’t picking and choosing what she was showing here. There were four sheets of paper inside.

  A two-page letter from the lawyer informing her of her uncle’s death and telling her of her “inheritance.” Then there was the actual map, which she had shown him earlier, and the written directions to look under the largest tree.

  She watched him examine all four pieces of paper, and then put them back into the envelope and hand it to her.

  “Looks good. Let’s go dig up some treasure.”

  * * *

  They swam to shore, and when they arrived and were brushing water off their skin, Dylan couldn’t help but notice how absolutely gorgeous Charlene was. He wanted nothing more at this moment than to lay her down in the sand and make love to her.

  Of course he knew she wouldn’t go for that idea. Or would she? She’d kissed him back, despite her protests that he needed to stop and they needed to get to work, she’d definitely kissed him back.

  Would she be open to a relationship? As much as the idea appealed to him he was pretty sure that it wouldn’t work out. After all, she lived in Atlanta and he lived in Florida. Most of the time, anyway. Sometimes life took him to many different places. As a teacher, she wouldn’t be able to travel around and work different ports for tourist expeditions.

  She wouldn’t know anything about the areas, not the way that he did. Of course he could teach her. That would be great fun, for both of them. And it wouldn’t be a chore. Having her around him 24/7 would be a pleasure.

  But how would he convince her of that? He was pretty sure that, if he said he wanted to initiate a long-term relationship with her she would come up with all sorts of reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.

  And, what would happen if they started one and she was right? Right now he was very attracted to her, and what red-blooded male wouldn’t be? She was very pretty, with her bright red hair and gorgeous green eyes; and the way she’d reacted when he’d smacked her bottom had been absolutely wonderful.

  She wasn’t thrilled about it, or so she said. If she’d really been pissed she would have turned around and slapped him. Part of him wondered if, secretly, she’d been shocked, but also just a little bit tantalized by the swats. They hadn’t been that hard, that was for sure.

  If he gave her a real, nice erotic spanking what would happen? Would she scream and tell him to keep his hands to himself? Or would she moan and let him spank her until they were both highly aroused? Something told him it would be the latter. But he needed to find out. And that meant he needed to seduce her. Tonight.

  Of course the first thing they needed to do was find the treasure. If there even was one. For many years, he’d listened to Tuck tell the story of how he’d found the treasur
e. He’d never offered to show proof, or been able to produce it when people had challenged him over it.

  Tuck’s standard answer had been, “It’s mine, I know where it is, and I know what I’m going to do with it.”

  Dylan figured that his friend really did know what he was going to do with it. He was going to leave it buried on this island for his nice, and his loyal employee, to dig up after his death.

  Dylan wasn’t really sure how he felt about that. In his mind, Tuck should have used the treasure for himself. He was pretty sure that’s what he would have done if he’d been the one to find it.

  Of course he wasn’t nearly as generous as Tuck. He has always been the model of generosity, always willing to help someone, whether they be stranger or friend. Unless that someone was Max Ives. The two of them had always fought, and Dylan had never really discovered why. He wished Tuck would appear to him in another dream and let him know what had happened. That would answer a lot of questions as far as he was concerned.

  But he was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Are you going to stand there all day?” He looked up to find Charlene studying him, excitement gleaming in her eyes. “Let’s get to digging and find ourselves some treasure.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He moved toward the center part of the island, where the largest tree stood. There was no X to mark the spot, but even if there had been years of wind would have erased anything from the soil.

  They were both walking around the tree, looking down and examining the sand and the tree itself, trying to figure out where to start. On his third trip around Dylan stopped and knelt down. At the bottom, maybe six inches from the sand, were the initials C.T.

  “Charlene!” He motioned her over and pointed. “Look.”

  “C.T.,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Charlene Tucker.” He gave her a broad smile. She returned it, then laughed.

  “Well, don’t just sit there, Dylan. Start digging.”

  “If you insist.” He took up the shovel and placed it in the soft dirt, wondering exactly what they would find, and praying they would get to it before Ives’ men showed up. And he had no doubt that they would.

  He didn’t start digging immediately. Instead he looked at her and gave her a sheepish grin.

  “What if we don’t find anything?”

  “We will,” she said, her voice sounding melancholy.

  “You don’t sound like you believe we will.”

  “I think there’s something under the sand,” she said. “But standing here, waiting for it to be dug up, reminds me that I never knew the man who carved my initials into that tree.”

  She took a deep sigh and for a minute he thought she would cry. “He thought enough of me to do this, and I never saw him, not once, in the last fifteen years. I’d send him Christmas cards, and a card on his birthday. But other than that…it makes me very sad.”

  “I have the cards,” he said, staring at her as she stared down at the sand. “Do you want them?”

  “No, you keep them. What I want is to see what’s under this sand, so I’ll say it again. Start digging.”

  “Got it.” He put his shovel into the sand and started to dig.

  * * *

  It didn’t take long to find the small tin cigar box that was buried in the sand. And when they pulled it out they were both disappointed. At first, anyway. It was wrapped in plastic and they carefully unwrapped it.

  Charlene wanted to tell Dylan to hurry up, that she was too excited to wait any longer to see what was inside the box. But then again there couldn’t be much. It was a small box.

  That shouldn’t matter to her, though. She should just be thrilled that her uncle thought of her at all. And she was. But she also had her hopes up about finding treasure. Real treasure. Like the types shown in pirate movies.

  “If there’s another map in here I vote we have a séance, contact Tuck and kick him in the butt,” Dylan said, looking up at her. “Do you agree?”

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. “Let’s just see what’s inside the box, first.”

  He’d just started to peel away the layers of plastic when the distant, but unmistakable, sounds of a motor reached their ears.

  “Shit,” Dylan said, standing up. “It’s Ives. Or his goons. Scram back to the boat.” He pushed the box in her hand. “Hide this somewhere on board.”

  Charlene didn’t argue. She made sure the plastic was secured then took off at a run. It wasn’t a long swim to where the boat was moored, and with any luck they’d spend a lot of time on the other side of the island, looking around. She hit the water at a run, taking care not to drop the box as she swam. She’d just pulled herself up and dropped the box on deck when the boat rounded the island. She looked back to see that Dylan was in the water now, swimming toward the boat quickly.

  She picked up the box and headed below deck just as Ives’ boat pulled up alongside them.

  “Hey,” someone yelled at her. “Don’t run away. We just want to talk.”

  “Like hell,” she muttered as she hurried to the galley, wondering where a good place to hide the box would be. An idea came to her and she smiled, remembering a not so good memory.

  Once, about five years ago, her apartment had been broken into. The thieves had searched every room in the house, but the one place they hadn’t touched was the freezer. She hurried to the unit and pulled it open. There was quite a bit food inside. Apparently Dylan had wanted to make sure they were well stocked for their trip.

  She moved the boxes and bags around as sounds of someone coming aboard reached her ears. Would it be Dylan, or would it be Ives’ men? She took the box out of the plastic and set it at the bottom of the freezer, then stacked the food around it.

  There were raised voices upstairs and she was sure that they couldn’t hear her as she finished her task, then shut the door. She went into the master berth, hoping that if someone came downstairs it would throw them off guard.

  When no one came down she went to the stairs and headed up. Dylan stood at the edge, exchanging heated words with a man she’d never seen before. There were two others standing behind the man.

  They were threatening to come above the ship and search, and in a flash, Dylan took out a cell phone and she watched as he snapped a picture, then hit a few buttons.

  “What the hell?” The man stared at Dylan, who just smiled.

  “Insurance,” Dylan said. “I just sent your picture to a friend of mine. That way if something happens they know you were out here, with us. It will give the cops something to go on.”

  Charlene was pretty sure he was bluffing, but she didn’t want to find out for certain. Not until the threat was gone. She could see by the look on the intruder’s face that he thought the same thing, but he wasn’t really sure, either.

  She was thrilled when the man took a step back and held up his hands.

  “Fine, go right ahead. She didn’t have anything on her when she came out anyway, and you haven’t had time to uncover anything really big. I’ll just tell Mr. Ives it was a wild goose chase.”

  “You do that,” Charlene said, coming to stand next to Dylan. “And while you’re at it, tell him he can kiss my ass, too.”

  Dylan’s attempt at hiding a laugh made her smile. She put her hand on his arm and leaned over to kiss him.

  “You promised me an early morning swim. Am I going to get it?”

  “Of course you are, darling.” He kissed her back. “And I’m thinking right now’s the perfect time for it, don’t you?”

  She nodded, then laughed as the men turned back to their controls and motored a little way off. A few minutes later two of them splashed into the water and headed toward the island.

  “Let them search,” Dylan said. “We already have what Tuck left, and I’m pretty sure it leads to where the real treasure is buried.”

  “Me too,” she said. “Shall we leave, or stay?”

  “Let’s stay, just so we can see them all pisse
d off when they don’t find anything.”

  “It sounds like a perfect plan,” she replied. “Absolutely perfect.”

  Chapter Five

  Watching the one watcher watch them was comical. The man stood at the edge of the boat, his eyes fixed on Dylan, who lay back a chair, grinning. Drifting back from the island you could hear the grunts and groans of his friends as they searched.

  “Do you guys need to borrow a shovel?” Dylan yelled at the watcher. “I have one, if you need it.”

  Charlene hid her face in her hands and laughed. He really was incorrigible. “Don’t make them angry,” she whispered to him. “

  “At least we have pictures of them if something happens,” Charlene said, coming to sit next to them. “Did you tell the person you sent them to that they should take them to the cops?”

  “Sent them to? Sweetie, do you see a cell tower out here? Check your phone, because I’m pretty sure it will say the same thing as mine. No service.”

  “What?” She pulled out her phone and checked the display. Sure enough the words ‘No Service’ blinked back at her. “You bluffed?”

  “It worked, didn’t it? I really think they would have come aboard if they hadn’t thought we’d sent something to the authorities. With any luck they’re nervous enough to think the Coast Guard could show up at any time.

  “Shouldn’t we go? Now?” She’d been fine when she thought they’d had insurance, in the form of a photo that would help catch the crooks of something happened to them. But now that she knew there was nothing, her nerves shot back up.

  When that happened she wondered why she’d felt safe when she’d thought there was a photo out there. It wasn’t as if it would keep them from shooting them if they wanted to.

  “Let’s go. Now. If we have to come back we can.”