“Dobby the house elf from the Harry Potter movies,” she said confidently. “It’s his ears. They’re huge and stick out from his head at ninety-degree angles.”
“He’s…uh…”
Dana ripped the phone away from him and pretended affront. “The handsomest dog you’ve ever seen,” she finished with a sniff.
John’s eyes glinted in the low glow of the candlelight. “So it’s you and Rocko rulin’ the world, huh?”
“Absolutely. Which means I guess I’m sort of like you.” When a line appeared between his eyebrows, she clarified. “Happy. And not willing to settle. It would take a special man indeed to be better than no man at all.”
She nodded and the move caused one of her curls to fall into her face. She lifted a hand to brush it behind her ear—something she did a hundred times a day because her hair was the bane of her existence—but he beat her to it. With gentle fingers, he slowly tucked the recalcitrant curl back into her mess of springy ringlets.
She would swear he’d done it on purpose when his knuckles lightly brushed against her jaw. The little gasp that escaped her lips surprised her as much as the electricity of his touch. It was like she’d come into contact with a tiny bolt of lightning. The hair all over her body stood on end.
Her open mouth drew his eyes, and when she licked her lips, his gaze followed the movement of her tongue. She suddenly felt like a rabbit who’d caught the eye of a hungry wolf.
And maybe most surprisingly of all, shelikedthe sensation.
Is he leaning closer?she wondered a little giddily.
He is!
Is he going to kiss me?
Oh, cheese and rice, hewasand—
A loud crash followed by a bloodcurdling scream popped their protective bubble.
Chapter 7
4:07 PM...
The hurricane was inside the house.
Or at least that’s what it felt like to Cami when she was jerked from a drug-induced sleep by the sound of a window breaking.
An instinctive scream burst from her throat. Confusion had her glancing around wild-eyed to see bits of palm leaves and paper flying across the room. The candles had been snuffed out, but the dim light streaming in through the shattered glass showed Doc wrestling with one of the shutters as he squinted against the rain that pelted his face.
“What the hell happened!” a deep voice sounded above the hellish moan of the sustained winds.
Cami found Uncle John had thrown open the bedroom door. Dana peered over his shoulder, and not only were the FMC employees’ cheeks chalk white but also her eyes were the size of the apple crumb pies Cami’s mom used to pick up from Holtermann’s Bakery on Arthur Kill Road on Staten Island.
Cami regretted offering Dana this gig. Regretted putting the woman in harm’s way, because it was quite obviously the end of the world. Of course, when she’d approached Dana about the job, she hadn’t known there would be a freakin’hurricaneinvolved in bringing up theSanta Cristina’streasure!
“The downspout gutter ripped off the side of the house and knocked the lock off the shutter!” Doc yelled over his shoulder.
“Leave it!” John bellowed just as LT and Olivia crowded into the doorway.
Judging by LT’s sweaty cheeks and Olivia’s rat’s nest hair, Cami thought it was a safe bettheyhadn’t been sleeping their way through the storm.
“You’ll never get it relocked!” LT yelled. “Just let it go! It’s time to relocate!”
“Damnit!” Doc cursed but took LT’s advice and released the shutter. The wind caught the wooden slat, slapped it against the side of the house a few times, and then ripped it from its hinges.
Tossing back the covers, Cami readied herself to run to a more secure room. But before she could do more than set her feet on the floor, cannonballs began slamming into the house. No, not cannonballs.Coconuts!
Boom! Boom!Boom!
It sounded like war.
