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“Well … you can stop looking at me like that,” she blurts, her cheeks reddening.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m being … adorable right now, with all my rules.”
I try not to grin. “Sorry, but you are.”
“You do realize, no woman wants to be thought of as adorable?” Ivy shoots back, scowling. “Kittens are adorable. Babies are adorable. Lambs frolicking in the spring meadow are fucking adorable.”
“So what would you prefer?” I ask, amused. Early morning Ivy is spiky as hell – and I love it. “To be devastatingly sexy and ruinously beautiful?”
“Well, yes.”
I laugh. “Don’t worry, I find you devastatingly sexy, too,” I reassure her.Understatement of the year. “But right now, you’re also being fucking adorable. Don’t worry,” I add lightly, enjoying her scowl. “I’m also fully aware you’re the one all the experience in historical research and treasure hunting, so you’re the one giving orders – today, at least.”
I didn’t mean for that last part to hang in the air with such smoldering implication, but what can I say? It’s way too early, and I stayed up way too late replaying that rooftop, and the chaise, and the way Ivy’s body tightened and arched in my hands right before she came.
Her cheeks get redder. She clears her throat. “Well,” she says, flicking her blinker on with more force than seems really necessary. “Good to know. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. You’ve got to admit, though,” I tell her, getting settled, “it may not be a movie plot, but this whole thing is a fantastic story. Famed bank robber’s great-great-granddaughter finds the missing treasure after all these years?”
Ivy breaks a smile. “Easy there, cowboy,” she says. “Even if this address is still standing, and hasn’t been torn down to build condos, there’s no way the treasure is actually there. Earl couldn’t have travelled that far in time.”
“No, but there could be another clue,” I insist.
“More likely, it was just a romantic rendezvous for the two of them, and this is all a wild goose chase that has nothing to do with the gold,” Ivy insists, but I’m not buying it.
“Sure. Because you dragged yourself out of bed at dawn to drive three hours for nothing,” I tease. “Admit it, you’re excited. This cluecouldbe something big.”
Ivy pauses. “Okay, maybe a little excited.”
I grin. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I sit back, and set about pouring us two mugs of steaming coffee from the Thermos into the to-go cups Ivy has ready. When I take a gulp, I find it’s rich and strong, and could give Starbucks a run for its money.
This woman is nothing if not prepared.
“Here,” I pass one over carefully.
“Thanks,” she replies, and I can see her relax, too, as she takes a sip. “There’s food in the cooler,” she adds, jerking her head towards the backseat, where I find an insulated picnic bag, full of foil-wrapped packages and Tupperware.
“You made breakfast sandwiches?” I exclaim with a ravenous groan, unwrapping one of the packages to find bacon and eggs sandwiched in a soft, fluffy roll. “Oh my God,” I mumble, sinking my teeth into the food. “When did you even find the time?”
Ivy clears her throat. “I couldn’t sleep. You know, with the storm.”
“Right. Me neither.”
I stuff my mouth full before I can admit that I was laying awake, thinking about marching back there through the rain and stripping her out of that damn fuzzy sweater and making her moan.
“Any guesses on what it is?” I ask, quickly changing the subject. “The treasure, I mean.”
Ivy looks thoughtful. “There are a bunch of different theories floating around, but gold bars are the best bet. The bank had just had a big delivery, the gang’s source passed it along. But they also emptied out a bunch of safe deposit boxes from the bank’s wealthy clients, and they could have held anything.”
“Cash. Jewels. State secrets …” I suggest, my mind racing.
Ivy grins. “Sure. There are a ton of state secrets floating around in a North Carolina bank vault circa 1923.”
“I told you, we need to work on your sense of romance and adventure,” I playfully scold her.
