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"You did great. Such a good girl."
She squeezed his arm, her jaw dropping as he looked at her with that calculating blue stare. She felt her face heat and she looked away, squirming on her seat.
He cupped her face with his palm, forcing her to look back up at him with his gentle touch. "I love your smile," he said. "So beautiful, so innocent. It makes me want to corrupt you a little."
She grinned. "I think you already have."
He grinned and kissed her on the cheek. She'd never been treated so well by anyone before, not man or woman. It made her dizzy but in a giddy, let's do more of it kind of way.
He grabbed her shopping bags and said, "Ready when you are."
She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the next event as they stood. He cleared his throat as they walked out of the alley, his hand once again taking hers and linking their fingers.
He looked around as they stepped onto the street, his eyes scanning the crowd as he asked, "So where to next?"
"Scavenger hunt. In about five minutes, the first clue will be texted to my phone, and it'll officially begin. First one to bring the correct secret code to the Event Coordinator at the festival's entrance gets a prize."
He let her hand go and popped his knuckles. "Oh, it is on. Let's do this."
She laughed, and they walked along the beach while they waited for the text. The silence was comfortable, but a random thought crossed her mind.
"Why did you say I was going to get a spanking earlier?"
He stiffened beside her and adjusted the bags. He looked around as they walked through the sand, weaving through the crowd. "I'll tell you later. It's not safe enough to talk about it now."
She frowned, but before she could ask more questions, her phone dinged. She sighed and read out the first word puzzle.
For the next hour, she laughed more and more at Mason's competitive attitude. They began to see other couples both ahead of them when they would find a clue and racing after them when they left to go to the next clue. One wife was dragging her clearly reluctant husband around while she harped on him.
Mason and Lucy kept giving each other side eyes and chuckling every time they heard her yell at him. But they just made him more competitive. The more competitive he became, the funnier it was. It got to where she was pretty sure he was doing it just to make her smile.
An hour later, they finally raced up to the Event Coordinator at the festival entrance booth.
Lucy was breathless as she asked, "Has anyone won the scavenger hunt yet?"
The woman shook her head, and Lucy blurted out the completed secret clues they'd gathered. "Under Lokahi, we learn the value of teamwork. No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed. Dare to dance, for love gives life within. With Imi ola, we seek our best life together, and say Mahalo for all we have learned."
The coordinator grinned and clapped. "Congratulations, you're the first to collect all five clues and arrange them in the right order. Your prize is any excursion to Hilo, redeemable anytime this year, and includes lunch and dinner."
Lucy clapped as Mason pumped his arm in the air and yelled, "Yes."
She laughed and threw herself into Mason's arms. His meaty hands immediately settled on her waist as she gasped, "We won. We did it."
He picked her up and spun her around as he chuckled. "I know, Luce. I know."
She squeezed his biceps and pulled back as he set her back onto the ground. She looked up into his blue eyes. They made her melt inside, and she needed to press her knees together as need flooded her. She started to release him, but he growled again, glanced at her lips, and then dipped his head.
Before they could kiss, the coordinator cleared her throat. The couple with the annoying wife stood a few feet away as she said, "I'm sorry, but this couple just beat you to it."
Mason grinned and gave the couple finger guns. "Yeah, suckers. We won."
Lucy elbowed him, and he hunched his shoulders sheepishly, his grin not even slipping. The wife smacked her husband on the arm and began to berate him as they walked away.
The coordinator cleared her throat. "Sir? Ma'am? I need your phone number and details to make sure we get the Hilo excursion information correct."
Mason's voice rumbled as he gave their information to the woman, the sound vibrating through his chest to where her cheek lay.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mason Novak..." His voice continued to rattle off details, but Lucy's brain stuttered at his words. She didn't correct him, but her stomach twisted.
