Page 66 of A Real Good Bad Thing

Ruby

I wedged a fake ruby into the treasure chest, right next to a gleaming emerald.

That jewel was fake too.

Fake like Jake’s feelings for me.

I was still fuming over his deception later that morning at Devon’s snorkel shop as I arranged the gaudy gems inside a plastic underwater treasure chest. I couldn’t believe Jake had stolen so brazenly from me.

He’d told me he was a “recovery expert” as soon as we’d met, and he’d been bragging for days about his ability to crack open a safe. He’d even given me a demonstration. The show-off.

I placed one more bauble in the chest and stood back to look at the faux pirate treasure that I would place in the sea for Devon’s tour group to find. I’d tackled the project to distract myself from the cocktail of hurt and frustration filling my heart and head.

It hadn’t worked.

Devon joined me in the corner of the store. “Ah, but that’s a beauty right there. Worth several thousand doubloons,” he said in a pirate voice.

Despite the anger simmering in my veins, I managed a small laugh. “Arr. I’ll just go bury it in the sea now.”

I grabbed the box and pushed open the door of his shop. I walked along the dock, set the treasure chest on the worn wood, then jumped into the shallow blue waters.

The ocean’s caress felt good. But even it wasn’t enough to numb the pain.

Carefully, I tugged the chest off the dock, into the water, and under the placid surface of the sea.

These phony gems were worth more than the contents of my hotel safe now that Jake had pilfered my very real diamond. Handsome, charming, no-good Jake. He had used me after all. Used his charms to get me to let down my guard. Drugged me up on multiple orgasms so he could make off with my big rock.

I hauled the chest beneath the dock, then popped open the cover. The ten-cent fake gems glittered like a pirate’s booty. The customers would surely get a kick out of discovering this pretend treasure after they smooched the nearby stingrays.

Stingrays. Turtles. Fish.

I’d be wise to focus on the water, rather than the deception of men.

For a few peaceful seconds, I let the water calm my red-hot anger.

Then, I popped up, slicked back my wet hair, and climbed onto the dock. I threw my shoulders back and decided to put on a good face as I headed to Devon’s snorkel shop and yanked open the screen door. It banged against the outside of the building when it closed.

Oops.

I guessed I hadn’t calmed down. The teeny bit of Zen I’d managed to achieve in the water had evaporated.

“Careful there,” Devon warned.

“Sorry,” I said with genuine remorse. He’d been my friend for ages and hadn’t done anything to deserve having his shop damaged by my anger and frustration. I called up my best chipper tone. “Everything’s ready. The underwater treasure is now underwater.”

And chipper I would be because it was business time. I would make sure every single customer had fun in the water with the stingrays. I wasn’t letting a man get in the way. Not even a man I wanted as much as I wanted Jake.

Hadwanted. I couldn’t want someone I didn’t trust. Couldn’t fall asleep cuddled up beside him. Couldn’t wake contentedly in his arms.

My sentimental heart didn’t want to believe Jake could do those things and then rob me. If I really dug down deep, I’d have to admit Iwantedto trust him.

My brain, though, said, “Trust fish, not men.”

I loved my work at least, and when two women, smiling and holding hands, and their kids arrived for a private stingray tour, I greeted them with an upbeat, “Who wants to kiss a stingray and get lucky?”

Devon and I escorted the family into the shallow waters.

If only luck were that easy. I’d thought I’d gotten lucky with a guy I wanted and who wanted me. But it had come with a price this morning.

---