Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
A mysterious billionaire saved my life.
Now, I owe him.
My team’s Save Isla from certain danger.
My Convince her she’s mine.
Isla
They can laugh at me all they want.
But treasure hunting is my passion.
Could I find the last piece of the puzzle at Danger Bluff?
If only my gorgeous scuba guide didn’t ooze Daddy vibes.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Could a day get any better than this?
Caesar glanced over at the beautiful woman swimming effortlessly next to him as they explored the depths. She had chosen this spot for their scuba adventure today. He didn’t know how she’d luckily pointed at such a great location on the map. He’d assured her they’d get to see so many different sea creatures on the dive.
He touched her arm to point out a patch of rocks to the left, silently suggesting that they go look there. Mindy immediately shook her head and pointed up ahead. As they moved forward, Caesar noticed that she checked her watch several times. Was she watching her oxygen level? Was it something else?
Caesar had been on several dates with Mindy. He’d met her when another scuba instructor had introduced them. So far, she’d been fun to hang out with, but as he watched her swimming with such intent toward an unknown destination, he wondered how well he really knew her.
His inner radar went off. With several years in the Coast Guard under his belt, he’d honed a fine-tuned radar. He’d also learned long ago to trust that warning voice when it talked to him. Caesar tested his theory. Scanning the area, he spotted what looked like a series of wooden ribs pointing up from the seabed. Again, he touched her arm and pointed before waving for her to come with him. Mindy again shook her head and continued her path. That refusal went directly against her avowed passion to explore the unusual on the seabed.
Following her, Caesar shifted to swim on her other side. She appeared to be zeroing in on a specific location. Mindy certainly had not chosen to share that she’d had a target in mind. It explained why she’d insisted on selecting the area for today’s explorations. He hadn’t picked up on her intent as she’d giggled and seemed to ponder where to go.
He scanned the area, on full alert. Mindy stopped and immediately began waving her hands over the sand to disperse the particles. When the top of a box appeared, she motioned him over to help her dig it out. Her eyes gleamed with excitement even through the diving mask.
A shadow fell over the area where they worked, making Caesar look up. A large boat stopped just to the right of their location. Mindy hit his arm and dug furiously. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Something in the way they hovered over them alerted him that these weren’t tourists. He wrapped one hand around Mindy’s bicep and tried to pull her away. Perhaps they could make it back to the boat safely.
She shook her arm out of his hold and continued to work to free the box. Mindy obviously wasn’t going to leave without the object she was trying to get. As a handle appeared, he watched her grab it and attempt to drag it from the sand. It moved only a fraction of an inch.
Splashes from above made them both look up to see five figures in black wetsuits dropping into the water. Mindy frantically signaled him to pull the container out. Caesar moved her out of the way and heaved on the handle. It shifted in the sand. Bracing himself as much as possible in the water, he tugged with all his strength.
The case popped out of its sandy lodging. The driving force behind it propelled Caesar and the box backward. Mindy swam after them, frantically motioning Caesar to haul it up to the boat. She grabbed the handle on the opposite side and struggled to carry the heavy load to the surface.
Gathering his feet underneath himself, Caesar kicked himself away from the bottom and joined her efforts. Because the weight held them back, it felt like they were swimming against a strong current. A dive float would have saved this exertion, but without knowing Mindy had a recovery dive planned, Caesar had not brought one with them.
He glanced over his shoulder to see the divers getting closer. They could move ten times faster than he and Mindy with their burden. Pushing his body to its limit, he kicked quickly to propel himself forward.
Finally, Caesar’s head breached the water’s surface beside his boat. He dragged the mouthpiece from his lips. “What the fuck is going on?”
Before she could answer, a jolt of pain lanced through his thigh, drawing a shout from his lips. Caesar looked down to see blood streaming through the water. Damn it! They had shot him with a spear gun.
“I’ll get on board and pull the case up,” Mindy yelled and released her end of the case.
Dragged down by the weight and weakened by the pole spear now jutting through his thigh muscles, Caesar forced himself to use the last of his strength to drive his burden back to the surface. Mindy reached down from the deck of his boat for the handle his fingers were clamped around. Pulling over and over as he pushed, she heaved it out of the water.