He chuckled and they slogged through the water. Little fish darted past, flashing pale silver in the clear water.
When they reached the small beach, he turned back to look at her, but said nothing.
“You okay?” She knew his memories had to be coming in a steady stream.
He nodded, glancing down. “Haven’t been here for a while.”
“If you don’t want to—”
“No, I do. This is…good, I guess.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if good is the right word, but you know what I mean.”
“I do. Therapeutic, maybe. Or cathartic. One of those.”
“Definitely.” He pointed to the barely discernible path that wound through the trees and undergrowth. “Couple-minute trek through there and we’ll be at the ruins.”
She stayed where she was. “Are there snakes?”
“Not that I’m aware of. There might be a few spiders.” He grinned. “You want me to go first?”
She laughed. “Is it awful of me to say yes?”
He took a few steps up the slight embankment then bent and picked up a long stick. “Here you go. In case you have to defend yourself against a rogue banana spider.”
“Banana spiders? Hold on a second.” She took the stick. He started toward the path. She stayed where she was. Spiders were not one of her most favorite creatures. “Do they bite? Why arethey called banana spiders? Do they just like bananas or are they as big as one? Mitch, I need details.”
“They’re more scared of you than you are of them, I promise.” Laughing, he kept walking, moving brush aside as he went. “Just stay close.”
Stick in hand, she caught up to him quickly. If he wanted her close, she could do that.
Chapter Seventeen
Frankie held Lucas’s phone as he prepared for his live feed.
“Is this all right?” he asked. “Or should I move back more?”
“I think this is good. I like you in front of the wall. It’s a nice backdrop, especially with the vines on it.” Bleached to a pale terracotta by the sun, the crumbling brick and green foliage was a perfect backdrop for Lucas’s dark good looks. He’d put his T-shirt back on and the pale turquoise was a great color on him. She took a few candid pictures of him, just because she thought they’d come out nice.
“I trust your aesthetic eye,” he said. “Hair’s good?”
“Hair’s great,” she answered. “Do you want your sunglasses on, though? It’s kind of impersonal not to be able to see your eyes.” And what gorgeous eyes they were.
“Good point.” He pushed them onto his head.
Archie and Scout, off their leashes, were sniffing around out of view of the camera.
Lucas nodded at her. “I’m ready. Just give me a countdown and then hit the button to start.”
“All right, here goes. Three…two…one…” She switched to the right screen for the live feed, tapped the button on the screen, and gave him a thumbs-up.
He smiled his megawatt smile. “Hey, Lucas Prime here. Where is here? A little river island known as Thieves’ Island. I have it on good authority that during Prohibition, this island was home to a productive moonshine distillery.”
His brows shot up. “Have you ever tried moonshine? Confession time, I haven’t. Honestly, I think it’s probably a little too strong for me. Drop a comment if you’ve tried it and tell me what that experience was like.”
He put a hand on the wall behind him. “Here you can see some of the ruins of that distillery. We’re about to do a little exploring. Who knows what we’ll find.”
Scout and Archie trotted into view. Scout went right up to Lucas for pets. He obliged her with a smile and some head rubs. “Scout and her friend, Archie, have already done some exploring. Not sure they found anything we’d think was interesting, though.”
He gestured toward Frankie. “Behind the camera today is the creative genius who designed my new logo, the one and only Frankie Vaughn. That logo is now available on T-shirts in the merch shop, so check it out. And if you need a logo or an illustration, check out Frankie’s site. You can’t do better when it comes to creativity.” He rattled off her website.
