Page 92 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

Landon

Saltwater crusted hair, tanned skin, and librarian glasses perched on the tip of her nose, Margot Davis leans closer to the camera on her laptop, and her face fills my zoom screen. “Show me the crest again.”

I hold up the bottle withSCpressed into the red wax seal. “Have you ever seen anything like it?”

Margot is my family’s go-to for nautical archeological discoveries. With degrees from Berkeley, Oxford, and Harvard, she’s a savant who has never met an artifact she couldn’t authenticate or debunk.

“I need to get my hands on the pieces. I’m in Portugal for the next three months. I’ll send you the address.”

“I’m not shipping anything. I need you here. There’s more. This is big.”

Her manicured eyebrow lifts. “Everyone thinks their discovery is the most important, the next big, earthshattering find of the century. TL; DR, it’s not. It’s likely a bunch of bottles grandpa hid from grandma.”

“You know I’ll pay you well.”

“Never a doubt, but I’m also a woman of my word. I gave my word I’d salvage and authenticate this schooner, so either you wait, or you send me a bottle. Your choice, Landon.”

“One bottle?”

She bobbles her shoulders. “Three would be better…and the manifest. You said you found them in a cave under your new house?”

“We think they’re linked to a shipwreck from the 1920s. Bootleggers who crossed paths with the wrong people.”

She squints. “Why does the find matter? What’s so urgent?”

“The family who owned the ship needs answers. Their dad and sister are missing and we think it’s related.” Part of Zoe’s plan to revitalize Rainwater Bay hinges on the truth of the Reeves legacy.

“You think the bottles will lead you to the shipwreck? That’s unlikely.”

“It’s what we have.”

She harrumphs. “You always did like long odds.”

“So you’re in?”

“I am. Send me what you’re comfortable with, and I’ll be there when I’m done in Portugal.”

We end the call, and Zoe slips out of her kitchen. Sleep rumpled, wearing my button-down shirt, she’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. I pull her into my lap and nuzzle my nose into her neck. “You smell delicious.”

“ I smell like sex.” She snuggles into me. “Why are you up so early?” She turns my wrist. “Two a.m.?”

“Margot’s an early riser. I needed to get to her before she was on the water all day.”

“She’s coming, then?”

“Eventually, as long as Collin and Archer are okay with me shipping her some of the artifacts.”

“We promised we’d find their sister and dad.”

“I called my security team. They’re starting an investigation as well.”

“Thank you for doing all of this. You don’t have to. They aren’t your friends.”

I shrug. “I’m growing on them, so I doubt they still want to run me out of town.”

“No, I mean…” She braces her forehead against mine. “Thank you for everything you’re doing, but I’ll do this on my own if you don’t want to help. You have a million other business projects to attend to. If this is too much of a distraction, please don’t sacrifice your other responsibilities.”

“You are my priority. That’s what love means. I put you first. Always. You need to get used to me taking care of you. If that means bringing you coffee in bed or finding your friends’ missing sister, everything I am, everything I have is yours. Can you get used to that? Let me love you, Comet.”