“Come on. It will be fun.” She pulled a little harder.
“How would we even find it?” But he gave in and allowed her to guide him farther down the shore.
“Because I bet you know exactly where it is,” Mattie said.
“And why would you think that?” he asked.
“Alfred always said you had the instincts of a homing pigeon.”
He barked out a surprised laugh. “You certainly know how to flatter a man, comparing him to a pigeon.”
“Well, they might not be the most noble of birds, but it is certainly a useful trait.”
Leo turned, walking backward so he could face her, their fingers now laced. “Is this more about me being a steady sort of a fellow?”
Mattie leaned forward and pretended to knock on his bicep. “Yup. Rock solid, I tell you. Rock solid.”
He stopped short. She could have done the same, but she chose to crash gently into his chest. His arms swept around her as he dipped her. The gesture made her so giddy that she gave an uncharacteristic giggle.
His warm mouth closed over her laughing one. Mattie gasped at the intense jolt of pleasure that surged through her. His strong hand cradled her spine, supporting her as her knees turned into gelatin again. Sensations like iridescent sparks from a roman candle cascaded through her. Her whole being seemed to tingle as his lips brushed against hers.
When Leo finally gave her a moment to breathe, she beamed up at him. “I take it you liked that description.”
He tucked his chin in slightly, the gesture at once shy and adorable. “Yes, and, well, we’re here.”
“Here?”
Leo jerked his head in the direction of a small heap of sand. Tiny mounds rose a little taller than the rest where their turrets had stood. Bits of driftwood and other pieces she’d used for decoration littered the ground.
“Our château!”
“What remains of it, at least.”
Mattie laughed and leaned against Leo’s arm, squeezing it against her. “It’s amazing how there can be something right in front of us, and we don’t notice.”
Leo’s voice was gruff. “I always saw you.”
She lifted her lips to his, and when their mouths touched, she swore her body fairly buzzed with electricity at the connection. Whenthey pulled apart, she reached up and cupped his dear face—familiar yet suddenly new. “I don’t know how I could have overlooked such powerful currents.”
“Interference?” Leo suggested, his voice light again. She’d never heard him sound so...so bright as he did this evening.
“Maybe,” Mattie said, but she didn’t want to think right now of all the old pain between them. Instead, she walked them over to what was left of their castle’s foundation. Bending down, she started scooping sand, and he quickly joined her in the rebuilding.
“Perhaps it is more like a radio signal.” Mattie started mounding more material onto an old, mostly worn-down tower.
“In what way?” Leo asked, pausing to look up from the main section of their château.
“In the way that a loop antenna doesn’t pick up a signal when it is pointing directly toward the source.”
Leo chuckled. “I love how your mind works, Mattie. Only you can go from kissing and building a sandcastle to talking about—”
Mattie gripped Leo’s shoulders as an idea bolted through her. “That’s it, Leo! That’s it!”
“What’sit?” Leo asked, his voice confused but reflecting her excitement.
“How I can use radio to improve navigation!” Mattie planted an emphatic kiss on Leo’s cheek. Their talk of night flying and of radios had mixed in her brain to produce a most glorious, wonderful solution. “You know how the government just began parceling out specific frequencies to different radio stations so they don’t have to share just one?”
“Yeah,” Leo said. “The switchover just happened in the last two months.”
