I tossed my purse in and poked my head inside, but then stopped. After this, my white dress was a goner. There was no way to clean the crap that was about to get on it. I groaned inwardly.
“Don’t follow me until I tell you. I don’t want you to turn into a peeping Tom. And you’re buying me a new dress.”
Andrew’s laugh was short and deep. “If we find Augustine’s treasure, I’ll buy you hundreds of dresses.”
I moved the flashlight around to ensure there weren’t any tarantulas or rats. “I thought you didn’t do this job for money.”
“Octavian Global pays me a small percentage of the total value of the find.”
It must have been nice to live a life where you get paid for afunadventure, and my guess, it was a nice payment too. But this type of life wasn’t for me. With my old job I traveled a lot, but after doing it for ten years it got tiring to never be in the same place, never having a chance to make my home feel like an actual home, decorate it with more than just the novels I’d picked up at airport bookstores over the years. Maybe even get a pet. I’d always wanted a cat, but it would’ve been unfair for it to be left alone for days or weeks.
I pushed my shoulders deep into the cool space, holding the flashlight in one hand and moving cobwebs with another. A musty and damp soil smell replaced the fragrant church one. I crawled farther, my hands and legs spread over the skeleton, my knees painfully pressed into small rocks. I hit my head on the ceiling a couple of times before I faced Jorge’s shocked expression, his mouth agape.
“Yeah, buddy,” I mumbled. “I’m just as surprised as you are to find myself on top of you. Don’t get a boner. Okay?”
“Who are you talking to?” Andrew’s voice sounded way too close. I glanced over my shoulder. Andrew was staring at me.
“Andrew!” I snapped. “I told you not to look.”
His face disappeared out of my view. “Sorry.”
I reached the end of the crypt, now the skull happily faced up my skirt between my spread legs. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined myself in this odd and sickening position. Whatever was at the end of this tunnel had better have all the treasure. I was done with this adventure. Of course, the end of the journey meant the end of the payments. But how much more of thisoutlawishbehavior could I take? It was always fun and games until someone had to go to prison. Was my business worth going to jail? In Colombia?
I waved the flashlight in the darkness, the light running over a curved stone-walled tunnel that disappeared into shadow.
“What do you see?” Andrew asked.
“An arched passage leading somewhere, but I can’t see exactly what’s there.”
“I’m coming. Move.”
I shone the light down to check how far the ground was. I was about five feet off the floor and couldn’t go forward without completely nosediving.Literally.
“Give me a minute,” I said.
Like a cat in an empty tight box, I twisted to the side, accidentally pushing on the skull. It made a crunching sound. “Oops.”
I pulled my knees close to my body, shifted to my left, turned, and finally pointed my ass in the right direction. Andrew’s face was on the same level with mine, our noses practically touching.
“Hi, you,” he said, not letting go of my gaze.
“Hi.”
His gaze did a slow sweep over my face again, stopping a second too long on my lips, and then finally went up to my eyes. My heart skipped a beat. Stupid heart.
“You’re in my way,” he said teasingly, his breath mingled with mine.
I moved backward with the speed of light, carefully finding the floor with my feet, then finally getting out of the crypt. I shook my arms and head, trying to shake off the creepy feeling that I was in a tomb and the buzzing feeling that Andrew awoke in me when he stared at my lips. I pushed my hair off my face, along with several nasty cobwebs.
Somehow Andrew had no problem reaching the floor with his long arms and walking out on his hands until he’d completely pulled his body out.
“I can’t believe I crawled over a skeleton,” I said. “You should be ashamed of damaging the crypt’s wall and ruining a piece of history.”
“I’ll send them an anonymous donation as an apology.” Andrew rose to his feet and gestured for me to pass him his flashlight. He neared where the tunnel turned and stopped. “There’s a staircase.”
“Of course, there is.” I groaned, pulling the strap of my purse onto my shoulder.
ChapterSeven
