Surrender The Booty (13 page)

He followed an overgrown path to the rocky side of the island, avoiding the garden and its sweet air. In the grasses ahead, something moved. Something big. He slowed his pace and then froze completely. The python’s pattern was dark against the pale vegetation. It was easily the biggest snake he’d ever seen. Too big to be handled by one man and too wild to trust for even a minute.

The serpent lifted its broad head. Its forked tongue fluttered in front of its snout. An animal this magnificent commanded respect, but this one more than most. The treasure map Delgado had drawn had a long reptile curled around the phallic-shaped island just above the
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widest part, the part that looked like balls. The serpent in the drawing was wound tight, like a cock ring, delaying the pleasure, and making every moment more intense than the last. This snake was as much a part of this land as the garden, even though it couldn’t be the one in Delgado’s drawing. It was here for a reason.

The pattern on the snake’s back stood out against its paler skin. Its scales shimmered in the sunlight, as if it had just taken a swim. This one could probably hunt in the water almost as easily as it could on land. There were animals on the island, but a reptile this size had to have a healthy appetite.

Jose hesitated. The snake lowered its head and slithered another two feet forward, blocking the trail in front of him. He could circle around, but his curiosity got the better of him. Had this been a pet?

Now that there were people on the island again, was it looking for a handout? Chances were, if this was a pet, it had been allowed to roam free by the couple who’d lived here before. It probably helped control the rodents and kept the rabbits from destroying the vegetables and herbs that grew in the garden.

A memory tickled the back of his mind. A story his grandmother used to tell about a snake and a man. A pirate. He searched deeper for the memory, but the details escaped him. It could have been an old family tale or maybe one the whole world knew. His childhood had been filled with stories, but now they all ran together. The only ones he could remember in detail were the ones about Delgado. He’d always been fascinated by his notorious ancestor. And now he was standing on the very land he’d heard about in the stories. And in just a couple of weeks it would be his. Back in the family where it belonged.

The snake lowered its head again and slid its long body toward the low-growing vegetation. Jose watched as it disappeared as silently as it had lain there watching him. A predator had never been more stealthy. A guardian had never been more protective.

104

Carmie L’Rae

Gray smoke curled toward the navy sky. Flames leapt over the stack of driftwood in the fire pit and licked the filleted fish on the spits. The aroma was earthy and primitive. Bella’s stomach growled as she sliced fruit for the tropical salsa she was preparing. The scent of cilantro rose above the others. Chopped banana, tomato and green onions filled the bottom of a carved wooden bowl and fresh limes sat on the table ready to be squeezed over the rest when all the chopping was done.

“Bananas in salsa?” Trevor asked, his breath warm on her shoulder.

“You don’t trust my cooking?”

His laugh was low in his chest, sexier by firelight.

She tossed the cilantro into the bowl. “Just wait, Cowboy. I might surprise you yet.”

He kissed her shoulder and gave her waist a squeeze. “You’ve already taken care of that, sweetheart.”

Warmth spread through her chest and swirled in her womb. She had fallen hard for him, and she didn’t care. It had been years since she’d felt the thrill of emotions as strong as these. Sure, she’d dated, but her evenings with men tended to be more like job interviews.

With J.P. to care for she couldn’t fill the requirements they were looking for in a relationship and they couldn’t give her anything her dildo couldn’t. Except maybe a nice kiss now and then or a warm body in her bed. She shook off the regret that sat like a cold void in her soul. The problem with kisses and warm bodies was once wasn’t
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enough. Her bed always felt emptier after they left than before they came. It would be a tomb without Trevor and Jose.

Trevor moved her hair and kissed her neck. Letting her guard down with him and Jose was the most fulfillment she’d ever had, and if she could only have it for a few days, she was ready to jump in with both feet. Nothing would be worse than the regret she would face if she didn’t take this moment by the horns and ride it for everything it was worth.

“I’ve got an idea.” His lips brushed her ear.

“What’s that?”

“If I don’t like the salsa, I get to take the rest of that banana and eat it off you.”

Her clit sang and goose bumps scampering across her skin. “How about I save a whole banana, and you can eat it off me whether you like my salsa or not?”

“You got a deal.”

Jose lifted one of the spits and examined the fish he’d caught.

“Are you two making plans without me?”

“One for all.” Bella laughed.

“And all for one,” Jose finished. “What are you going to eat off me?”

“Me?” She raised her brows and let her eyes trail over his bare chest.

“Both of you,” Jose said with his lips pushed into a smirk.

Trevor ran his hands around Bella’s waist and rested his palms on her belly. “I might fuck you up the ass, but I don’t think I’m gonna be eating off you.”

Jose put the fish back over the fire and grinned. “Only if I get to fuck you first. We got company.” Jose pointed toward the sea grapes that edged up to the clearing in front of the cabin.

Bella strained her eyes. At first she couldn’t see anything but the shadowy outline of the plants and the uneven drift of the sand. Then her breath caught in her throat and her muscles froze. The snake.

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“Why is he watching us,” she whispered.

“It’s used to people,” Trevor told her.

Jose nodded. “I ran into it earlier today and it did the same thing.”

Bella leaned into Trevor’s arms. “Can we make it go away?”

Jose grunted. “A snake that size is going to do what it wants. I don’t want to tangle with it again if we don’t have to.” He pulled the fish off the fire and laid the spits on the long wooden platter they’d found inside the cabin. Dishes were scarce, the cupboards almost empty. The couple of bowls and handful of serving pieces she’d found were hand-carved and well-worn. The forks and cutlery were high-quality silver, bulkier than any that would be sold today and appeared to be old. Really old. So old they might have belonged to Delgado. Perhaps Jose was right and the old couple had found the treasure, but surely a treasure that required a map would consist of more than silverware.

Jose worked the fish off the spits and Bella spooned her banana salsa over the top. She added avocado slices and filled silver goblets with water she’d collected from the waterfall. The goblets were heavy and the same aged quality as the silverware. But it was impossible to tell if they’d once belonged to Delgado or if the couple had bought them because they fit the aura of their island home.

Jose raised his glass in a toast. “To the three of us, this island, and the taste of banana-soaked skin.”

Bella laughed and raised her glass. Trevor joined the toast, but his mind seemed to have drifted off.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

Bella perked her ears. At first she couldn’t hear anything but the rub of the ocean against the shore and the breeze rattling the trees. At night, the birds grew quiet and the sea grew loud. Plants rustled as the snake slithered away quickly. The music of the island.

The couple who had lived here had everything they needed, but nothing more. There weren’t any extravagances aside from the homemade lotions and oils. But what more did they need, especially if
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they were in love. Everything about the place was romantic, and if they spent any time in the garden at all, they’d go through plenty of the oil.

“I translated the message on the map,” Jose said. “I believe it translates to: ‘Seek and ye may find. Beware ye lust. Mine be mine.

’Til eternity turns it to dust.’”

“Ominous isn’t it?” Bella shivered and snuggled closer to Trevor.

“What the hell do you make of it?” Trevor asked.

“Delgado doesn’t share. Even if we find the treasure, he’s not going to make it easy for us to just walk off with it,” Jose said. “But I already knew that.”

“Does it say anything else?” Bella peered over at the map. There were a lot of squiggles and markings. Some were letters. Others appeared to be ornate doodles.

“Not in words,” Jose said. “But I think there’s a message somewhere in these pictures. Delgado was crafty. He liked to hide things in plain sight.”

“You figured out anything else, yet?” Trevor asked.

Jose placed the tip of his finger at the base of the penis-shaped island. “Here’s a snake. A big snake.”

Bella leaned away from the map. “You mean there’s always been a snake on this island? They don’t live that long do they?”

Jose shook his head. “No. But I’m guessing at one time there was more than one. Delgado must have brought them here. Maybe to keep other pirates off what he’d claimed as his own. No doubt there were plenty of men in his crew and other ship’s crews that didn’t like snakes any more than you do. It wouldn’t take long for the island to get a reputation for being overrun by giant reptiles and uninhabitable.

And consequently avoided.”

“Listen!” Trevor said. He stared hard at the darkness, in the same direction the snake had slithered off in. “Something’s out there.”

108

Carmie L’Rae

Trevor grabbed the lantern from the corner of the porch and started for the dark hillside. Bella hurried after him. Jose ducked into the cabin and pulled the handgun from the satchel he’d hidden behind the old trunk.

He followed the dancing light of the lantern and caught up quickly. The back side of the hill angled in a steep slope toward the sea. The three picked their way down carefully, following the sound of a ruckus near the bottom. Twigs snapped. Pebbles rolled down in an unsteady rain.

Jose gripped the gun, praying it still worked. He’d cleaned it as best he could, but he’d been careful not to let Trevor or Bella know he had it. He didn’t have any intention of ever letting them know they could’ve both died at the end of its barrel.

“Shit!” Trevor held the lantern high and hurried down toward the craggy drop-off at the edge of the sea.

“Oh, God!” Bella stopped dead in her tracks.

Jose hurried around her. The massive serpent’s coils were wrapped around the man who had captained their water taxi, the one who wanted him dead.

The lantern went flying and Trevor hit the ground hard. He swore and scrambled to his feet, but not before Jose saw the long tail of the python whip back.

Trevor went for the snake.

“I’ve got a gun,” Jose said. “Move out of the way.”

Trevor backed off and picked up the lantern. “Shoot! What in the hell are you waiting for?”

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Jose leveled the gun on the captain’s head. Then dropped his arm.

The giant snake had the man’s neck in its mouth. Its body wrapped around the squirming victim, pinning his arms and legs, constricting the life out of him.

Trevor went for the snake again.

“Don’t,” Bella yelled.

The snake twisted. Rocks sprayed. An instant later they were gone, over the cliff. A splash sounded in the rough sea below.

The gun hung loose in Jose’s hand.

“You couldn’t get a shot?” Trevor asked. “You should’ve thrown me the damn gun!”

“Was that the captain?” Bella sobbed.

Jose walked passed her. “He was my stalker,” he said. “He’s been threatening me for the past year. When I found his bag and the gun, but no trace of him I thought he was dead. I don’t know how he found out I was coming here, or managed to be the one who escorted us to the island. But that storm saved our lives. He would’ve killed us all.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say something?” Trevor asked.

“I thought he was dead. And a crazed stalker isn’t exactly something I go around bragging about.”

Twice now, their lives had been saved since coming to this island.

Delgado looked out for his own. Centuries wouldn’t change that.

110

Carmie L’Rae

At the top of the hill Trevor liked so much, Bella was more than happy to let him ease her mind the way he did best. The orgasm he’d just given her still sent off aftershocks and heated her skin. This morning, she hadn’t been the only one still shaken from the night before. Jose had taken a walk alone, probably coming to terms with witnessing the death of the man who wanted to kill him.

She studied the silver flecks in Trevor’s gray-blue eyes. He was so tender for a man built to be so rough, but he held back. Even in the moments of their most intimate connections, she was aware the distance he kept between them. The gap seemed to be closing, but she felt certain there was a piece of him that he would never share, a part of his life that she would never be privy to.

She ran her fingers through his hair. Holding himself on his elbows above her, their bodies still joined, he drifted to that place he never let her go. “You can relax. I’m not going to tell you I love you.”

He blinked and a frown deepened the lines of his face. He made a noise low in his throat, but didn’t answer. His fiancée’s suicide had taught him not to trust in his emotions, and had shoved the lesson so deep in his face he probably never would love another woman.

She hooked her hands behind his neck and raised herself to press a kiss to his lips, a tender kiss that she hoped would convey how much she’d grown to care for him. How big a place he’d taken up in her heart. Even if what they had was only temporary, it didn’t make it any less real.