“Awww, bummer; you might be the new rich girl and don’t even know it,” Vicki said, playing along. “Those crazy kids will probably call you later demanding a ransom of chocolate chip cookies.”
“I know, right? I’m sure it’s empty anyway or filled to the top with worthless crap. It wasn’t even a pretty crate, so I may just refuse their demands,” Becki joked as her cell phone rang.
“Hi, Natie, where are you guys? I’m at the dive shop. Go left at the next intersection, and it’s on the left. Ok, see you in a sec.”
“My sister and her boyfriend are in town,” she explained to Vicki. “We wanted to go back out in the boat today, but the water is starting to get a little rough. I think we’ll walk around The Battery downtown instead.”
A bell over the door chimed as Natie breezed in. Becki immediately noticed her puffy eyes, and the way Jonah slunk around the shop wearing sour expression. They had obviously been fighting again. What a vacation. Poor Natie should have left his sorry ass at home. Come to think of it, she should have left him period.
“Hi, Natie,” Becki said giving her sister a hug and totally ignoring Jonah. “I thought we could go to White Point Gardens today. Since the wind is starting to pick up a little, the water is starting to get rough. The tropical storm is moving a little slower than expected, but I don’t think we should go out in the boat today.”
“That’s fine with me,” Natie said, looking through the rack of new swim suits. Holding up a blue bikini studded with Swarovski Crystals around the neck and waist she said, “This one is pretty.”
Leave it to Natie to pick out the most expensive suit in the store. An addiction to bling was one thing the sisters had in common.
“I love it! Vicki has the gray and black put back for me,” Becki said with a flash of her dimple. The suit might not be something she would want to wear diving, but it was killer beach wear.
Natie laughed. “I should have known,” she said, hanging the bikini back on the rack.
“OK guys, let’s head out,” Becki called to Natie and Jonah.
“It was nice to meet you, Vicki,” Natie said as she followed Jonah out the door.
“See ya, Vic,” Becki said, adding in a whisper, “I’ll take the blue one, too.”
Vicki gave her a “thumbs-up”, whispering back, “You’re a good sister.”
Retail therapy did help, but Becki still could not stop thinking about Royce. She longed to go home, turn the air-conditioner down to sixtyfive degrees, wrap-up in a blanket, sip hot sweet-tea, watch movies, and indulge in a well-deserved pity party. She could finish the evening by consuming about a gallon of ice cream. What part of the universe decided who attracted whom? And, what part of the universe made it ok for one person to feel the attraction all the way to the depth of their soul, while the other person evidently felt nothing?
Becki’s pity party would have to be put on hold. Natie and Jonah were waiting for her, and Uncle Kurt had made it pretty clear that he expected her for dinner tonight. She text him a reminder that Natie and Jonah would be there, too.
A few minutes later, Kurt responded that he was expecting them all for dinner. Frogmore Stew was on the menu, and she was in charge of dessert. Smiling, Becki decided that ice cream sundaes would be perfect.
# Since Natie and Jonah were evidently not speaking to each other, Becki couldn’t wait to get the heck out of the car. Parking was always tricky, but walking downtown remained one of her favorite things to do. History positively oozed from each building, street, and alley with a life of its own. Beautiful colors, blooming flowers, cobble stone streets, and moss covered trees provided more color and depth than it was possible to absorb. An ocean breeze whispered through the moss, swinging it gently in the trees. Today it whispered more loudly than usual, thanks to the approaching storm.
The buildings downtown had survived centuries of weather, war, fire, even an earthquake or two. Cannons gleamed in the bright sun, a solemn reminder of those who had lost their lives on this very ground.
“If only these walls could talk,” Becki had heard her grandfather say many times, “just think of the stories they could tell.”
She imagined all kinds of stories; stories of ill-fated lovers, pirates, artists and thieves; stories of grand balls and elegant gowns; stories of wives and mistresses pacing the “widows’ walk” while watching, hoping , and praying this might be the tide that would bring their loved ones home safe and sound.
“Look, there is a wedding going on,” Natie said as they strolled on the pathway winding through White Point Gardens.
“Do you want to crash the party?” Becki asked with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.
A few years ago, their parents had decided everyone should meet in Tennessee over the Christmas holiday. After a large, rather fancy, family Christmas celebration, Natie decided they needed some girl-time, and a “refreshing beverage”.
Still clad in their festive Christmas attire, they had meandered through the atrium on their way to one of the hotel bars, enjoying the fountains and foliage. A bride, groom, and complete wedding entourage had practically run them over rushing to get to the reception on time. As the sisters backed quickly away from the main walkway in an attempt at self-preservation, they bumped into one of the many elaborately decorated Christmas trees gracing the common areas of the hotel. After getting an up-close and personal look at the groomsmen, Natie had grabbed two fake gifts out from under the Christmas tree, handed one to Becki with a wink, and joined the stream of wedding guests on their way to the reception.
After depositing their “wedding gift” on the appropriate table, they had enjoyed cocktails, danced with the groomsmen, and flirted shamelessly all evening. As the party began to wind down, the bride’s father had strolled over to the bar where they were seated, and ordered three shots of whisky. After handing them each a shot glass, he said, “I don’t know who you gals are, but thanks for livening up this party.” He tossed back his shot and then added, “I can’t wait to see them open up that gift tomorrow.” He chuckled, winked, and then kissed them each on the cheek.
Becki and Natie ordered another shot as they watched him collect his wife, kiss his daughter, and glide to the door, pausing to tip his hat to them before he left. Natie and Becki had collapsed with laughter, and when they could breathe again, had decided it was the best wedding reception they had never been invited to.
Glancing toward the happy couple currently pledging to “love, honor, and cherish” one another, Becki shook her head.
“I don’t know about this one, Natie; they seem a little stuffy,” Becki grinned.
“Well, then, it’s a good thing we’re here to save the day,” Natie announced as she locked arms with Becki preparing to drag her toward the festivities. It was fun to see Natie enjoying herself.
Immediately upon arriving at the gardens, Jonah had decided to walk back to their hotel to “take a nap”. Right. Whatever his true plans were, Becki was glad to have Natie all to herself for a few hours.
“Ok, let’s liven this place up,” Becki said, enjoying the moment.
As she and Natie moved toward the gazebo, the ceremony was winding down. “You may kiss your bride,” announced the minister.
As the newlyweds kissed, their guests whistled and cheered. Becki smiled as she absorbed the joy of the couple’s special moment. Suddenly, she caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning to investigate, she spied a familiar figure. The joy of the moment evaporated immediately.
“What the--” Natie began, as she felt her sister’s body tense and stiffen.
“Shhh, that’s him,” Becki said in a whisper, her eyes watching Royce with avid curiosity. What is he looking for? He seemed to be deep in thought, talking to himself and retracing his steps.
“Him- who?” Natie whispered back, ogling Royce. “Do you know that guy? Damn. He’s gorgeous--, and has a nice ass,” she observed as he bent to look under the branches of a small shrub. “Maybe we could help him find w
hatever he is looking for.
“Shut up, Natie,” Becki whispered, through clinched teeth.
“What are you so uptight about?” Natie asked, taking her eyes off Royce for a moment but only for a moment. “Seriously, do you know him?” Natie pressured, turning to watch him intently, again. “What is he looking for anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Becki hissed and simultaneously jerked Natie quickly behind a big oak tree.
“Oh my God, you have lost it,” Natie observed, swallowing the urge to laugh. “Look, is he dangerous? Should we be running? Do I need to go punch him in the nose?”
Natie sometimes forgot she was every bit of five feet tall. When they had been sophomores in high school, Natie had actually punched one of Becki’s boyfriends and bloodied his nose because he was saying mean things to Becki.
His mother had actually called their mother to tell on Natie for punching her son in the nose. Of course, the fact that he was six feet six inches tall made the story even funnier. Natie had actually jumped up as she swung her fist to hit him in the nose.
“No,” Becki whispered furiously, “just shut the hell up for a hot minute.” She stretched on her tiptoes, peeking out from behind the tree.
“You’re going to think hot minute,” Natie growled. She had just about had all the fun she could have, hiding behind a tree.
“He was at my house this morning, but he said he had to leave. I thought he was leaving town, but I guess not.”
“He was at your house this morning!” Natie forgot to whisper.
Like a laser beam locking onto a target, Royce turned his head in their direction; his eyes zeroed in on the pair.
“Oh, hell no,” Royce muttered before clinching his teeth. He saw not one but two sets of eyes peeking out from behind one of the large oak trees scattered in the garden. He would know those chocolate eyes anywhere; they were eyes a man could get lost in.
This should have been a simple assignment, a simple search and seizure operation: grab the first coin, return it to the council, move on to the next. It was, in fact, turning out to be anything but simple, more like the-mission-that-never-ends.
Of course, no one had mentioned Witches in the initial briefing; obviously there were questions that he would now demand answers to. Why were Witches interested in the coins? Royce had instructed Joanna to stay completely away from the coins at all costs. One detail that had been shared by the council was the fact that the coins could be deadly to any Witch who came into direct contact with them.
He had contacted Arimus, the Council leader, and requested a video conference first thing in the morning. Until he had answers to all of his questions and felt assured that nothing had been overlooked, he had to stay especially alert. He was dealing with unknown danger at this point.
Eyes locked onto his prey, Royce stalked toward the oak tree with angry strides. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was making a huge mistake. He, however, was unable to stop himself.
“Shit,” Becki muttered, knowing she was in big trouble without having been told. It was time to make a hasty exit.
“What’s up boss? Did you find it?” Sean asked as he loped over and fell in behind Royce.
Royce did not slow his pace, did not acknowledge Sean, but kept moving forward with one purpose in mind. When he was finished with her, Becki would understand. She simply had to stay away from him.
Sean had arrived a few hours ago, insisting that he could track the coin more easily if he were on location. He had continued to tweak the software each time a signal was received from one of the coins. Unfortunately, the signals were still very random and infrequent. They had set up base camp in the condo at Fort Sumter House. The last known coordinates of this particular coin were somewhere east of the gazebo. Royce had been searching the area in hopes of finding a clue to what might have happened to the coin after the Witches “zapped” him.
He felt a “zap” of an entirely different kind when saw Becki. He hadn’t planned on seeing her again-- ever. If his life had been “normal” he could have--, make that would have, acted on these feelings, and found out where they would have taken him. Unfortunately, his life was far from normal. His life was downright complicated, and so were the lives of his team. They dealt with forces of good and evil, the stuff of dreams and nightmares. His world did not have room for an innocent, and her world was far too innocent to have room for him.
Royce might have mumbled, but Becki had heard him loud and clear; “hell no”. Grabbing Natie’s arm, she started walking in the opposite direction as quickly as her long legs would carry her. Becki was not up to being publicly rejected. This day just kept getting better and better.
“You’re hurting my arm,” Natie complained.
“The only thing hurting is your nibby nose,” Becki said, calling her out on the lie. “Hurry up! I promise I will explain it all, but we have to get out of here.”
“Becki,” Royce roared.
“Keep moving,” Becki urged Natie.
“Becki, I’m calling Uncle Kurt. This guy is pissed, and he could be crazy as well,” Natie said reaching for the cell phone in the back pocket of her jeans.
“He’s not crazy, but I think he is pissed,” Becki acknowledged. “Please don’t call Kurt. They’ve already met, and I don’t think they like each other.”
“Becki, damn it--” Royce had caught up with the two girls without ever altering his pace or stride.
Becki had no intention of acknowledging him; her heart was pounding with humiliation and rage. Royce reached out to catch her arm in his grasp; she jerked away from him while continuing to charge ahead, forgetting that she was still dragging Natie along behind her.
Sean caught up with Royce just in time to see one of the two stunningly beautiful women actually wrench her arm away from him. Apparently Royce had lost his touch, literally.
“Boss? Do I need to do something?” Sean asked hesitantly. Women did not generally walk away from the boss. Normally it was quite the opposite scenario, women going out of their way to attract his attention.
Royce didn’t bother to respond. He stalked with great determination, closely following the retreating women.
“Do you know them?” Sean asked, keeping pace with Royce.
Natie could not believe they were walking away, correction running away, from not one but two of the best looking men she had seen in-well, ever. Obviously, Becki knew these men. She said one of them had been at her house this morning? Becki didn’t do mornings, period. Whatever was playing out here, had Becki on the run, and that too was out of character for her sister.
“Becki, I’m warning you--” the man with dark hair said ominously.
“They are still following us,” Natie needlessly pointed out, curiosity killing her. This mystery needed to be solved, right now; enough was enough. Taking a deep breath, Natie planted her feet, refusing to budge another inch.
Becki stumbled, and would have fallen if the Adonis with green eyes, raven hair, and a perfect ass, hadn’t caught her in his arms.
“Are you alright?” Royce asked Becki as he steadied her on her feet.
Becki glared at him with narrowed eyes, which seriously lost their hateful effect as soon as they filled with tears, “As if you give a flying fu-”
Natie watched as, in the next instant, he grabbed Becki, jerked her tightly against his body, and planted a lip-lock on her sister like she had only seen in the movies. And then, wonder of wonders, Becki was kissing him right back. Natie grinned. Something had been skipped over during their girl-talk earlier today; something along the lines of, ‘Natie, I’ve met the most gorgeous guy. He was at my house this morning, and man-o-man is he a good kisser.’ Oh, yes, something had definitely been left out of their earlier conversation.
“Hi, I’m Sean. Are you ok?” the tall one with blue eyes asked. He had accidently bumped into her when she stopped so abruptly and was now bending down to look at her as if she were a little china doll. Tingles zipped over her skin where he tou
ched her arm.
“I’m Natie, Becki’s sister.” Nodding toward Becki and her mystery man, Natie asked, “Who is kissing her?”
“That is my boss, Royce. They, uh, met earlier,” Sean said with a grin.
“I guess so,” Natie smiled up, way up, at him. He stood over six feet tall, a giant compared to her. “So,” she ventured, “do you want to grab a latte? It looks like they may be a while.”
* * * *
CHAPTER THREE Royce’s arms wrapped around her like steal bands. His hands trailed softly down her back, following the line of her spine. “Don’t cry,” he lifted his lips long enough to whisper, and then his lips were firmly planted on hers once again. Instinctively she burrowed closer, her arms finding their way around his waist. Momentarily forgetting that they were in a public garden, he allowed one hand to venture lower as he pressed her more tightly against him.
Becki gradually surfaced. Her anger pushing its way past the pleasure of being wrapped in Royce’s arms gave her the strength to wrench her lips from his.
“Stop manhandling me,” she snarled. “I thought you were leaving town? Gee, I must have misunderstood what you said,” she mocked, grabbing his hands to move them from her ass. “I must admit though, I was somewhat surprised to see you here. I thought for a minute that--” she stopped abruptly.
Royce had allowed her to reposition his hands more appropriately at her waist, but he was not willing to let her go entirely. Not until-- well-at least not right now.
“You thought--” he prompted, continuing to nibble at her neck; trailing kisses from her ear, to her shoulder, and back. Trying to keep his hands respectably wrapped around her waist was not easy, but after all, they were standing in a public park.
“I stopped thinking at ‘hell no’.” Royce abruptly stopped his assault, and lifted his head to make eye contact with Becki. He immediately felt like a heel. This was the second time today he had been responsible for her tear-filled eyes.
“I’m sor--” Royce began.
“I’ve got to say,” Becki jumped in, unwilling to listen to his apology, “it cleared things up pretty quickly for me.” Swiping a hand quickly across the corner of her eye, she brushed away the single tear that had dared to escape before continuing, “So now, if you will get your hands off of me, I’ll be on my way,” she concluded, trying to wiggle her way out of his arms.
Treasure Tides (The Coins) Page 6
