Chapter 28
“My brothers are assholes.” ~ Rhett
Rhett
“W here are we going?” Dakota asks as I drive away from the Mermaid Motel.
I drum my fingers on the steering wheel as I contemplate how to answer. Will she go running back to the motel screaming if I tell her the truth before we arrive?
“You have camping gear in the backseat. Are we going camping?”
Damn. I should have put the gear in the rear. “Kind of.”
“Rhett Raider, tell me where we’re going this minute.”
“Uh oh. The last name treatment. I’m in trouble now.” I pause and decide to take a chance. “Have you heard of the Smuggler’s Grotto?”
“No. Tell me. Smuggler’s Hideaway is fascinating.” She tucks her right ankle under her left knee and settles in to listen.
I’m glad she enjoys Smuggler’s Hideaway, because if I have it my way, she won’t be leaving the island anytime soon.
“Smuggler’s Grotto is a hidden cave system beneath the island. According to legend, it was used by pirates and later by Prohibition-era rumrunners.”
“Really? Sounds cool. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it. The motel guests are always asking about touristy things to visit.”
I squirm in my seat. “There’s a catch.”
“A catch? What kind of catch? Is it part of a magical system and you need a wand to enter?”
I chuckle. “A wand to enter?”
She shrugs. “I fell asleep watching Harry Potter last night.”
“No magical system, although.” I pause. This next part may freak her out. “It’s supposedly haunted by ghosts of betrayed smugglers who still guard their stolen treasure.”
“Haunted? I’m surprised there weren’t organized tours during the Ghost Tide Festival. ”
“The area isn’t safe enough for tours.”
She lifts a brow. “And yet we’re going there?”
I frown. “Because I don’t have a choice.”
“You don’t have a choice? Is someone holding a gun to your head?” She checks the backseat for any stragglers. “Unless they’re invisible, I don’t see anyone.”
“Since my asshole brothers managed to sneak Viking into my house, I’m losing the prank war,” I mutter.
“And your punishment is visiting the Smuggler’s Grotto.”
“My punishment is spending the night in the grotto,” I correct.
Her eyes widen. “We’re going to spend the night in a haunted grotto?”
“Yes?” I hold my breath as I wait for her response. Most women don’t want to spend the night sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of a damp and dreary cave.
She shivers. Damnit. She’s scared. What am I doing? Dragging her into this prank war with my brothers? I should have left her alone for her night off. But she gets so few nights off. I didn’t want to miss one with her.
“Okay.” She blows out a breath. “I can’t lie and say I’m excited to spend the night in a grotto, but I trust you.”
Warmth fills my stomach. Dakota trusts me. I know how hard it is for her to trust after what her asshole dead husband did to her. But she trusts me.
Dakota is not like other women. She’s unique. She’s the woman I want to spend my life with.
Whoa. Where did that thought come from? I never planned to spend my life with a woman. Because I didn’t think I could trust one. I never thought I could trust a woman enough to want to spend my life with her.
But I trust Dakota. She’s poured her heart out to me. She’s the strongest woman I know.
And she trusts me. A feeling of contentment settles over me. As if all the pieces of a puzzle are falling into place.
“Wait until you find out about the lover’s curse,” I say as I park my SUV at the parking lot for a small beach on the Southern side of the island.
I exit the vehicle and walk around the front to Dakota’s door. She’s already out and gathering the camping equipment. I snatch one sleeping bag, the cooler, and the lantern from her hands.
“You can carry one sleeping bag.”
She rolls her eyes. “Mr. Control strikes again.”
I press a hard kiss to her lips. “You enjoy it when I’m in control.”
Her eyes flare, but she plants a hand on her hip. “Not all the time,” she sasses.
“I guess I need to work harder then.”
She bites her bottom lip and I groan. “Do not get me hard.”
She bats her eyelashes. “Why not? Don’t you want me?”
“Minx,” I groan. “I want you. I always want you. I’m going to be old and grey and unable to get a hard-on and want you.”
She giggles. “How can you want me if you can’t get a hard-on?”
“It’s called a little blue pill.”
“Do you need a little blue pill now?”
I glare down at her. “I’ll show you I don’t need a little blue pill.”
“Yea!”
“But not tonight.”
She curls her bottom lip in a pout. “But it’s my night off.”
“It’s also the night of my punishment for losing in the prank war.” I nod toward the beach. “Follow me.”
“What does sleeping in the grotto for punishment have to do with anything?”
“My brothers aren’t going to leave us alone tonight,” I explain as we walk through the sand toward the cave. “And I don’t want to have to kill one of them for watching you when you come.”
She grimaces. “I hate to agree with you.”
“But I’m right.”
She growls. It’s adorable. “Don’t let it get to your head, Mr. High and Mighty.”
“I thought I was Mr. Control.”
“You can be both.”
We reach a rocky outcrop, and I stop. “You have to crawl to get inside the cave.”
She motions to the rocks. “Lead the way.”
I grab the sleeping bag from her and crouch down. I place the sleeping bags on the cooler and push it in front of me as I make my way through the rock formations, hiding the cave from the naked eye. As soon as I reach the entrance, I whirl around and pull Dakota into the cave.
“Wow.” She scans the area. “It’s huge.”
She shivers and I nudge her toward the center of the cave where a fire pit is. I wipe off one of the logs and help her to sit before unrolling the sleeping bag and placing it over her shoulders.
“Tell me about the lover’s curse.”
I switch on the lantern and set it next to us. While I get a fire in the pit going, I explain the curse to her.
“Legend has it, the pirate Black Jack was in love with Margaret Hale, the daughter of the lighthouse keeper. When her father discovered their secret affair, he arranged for her to marry a wealthy man instead. On the night of her wedding, Black Jack kidnapped her, intending to escape the island by boat. But a violent storm rolled in, trapping them inside the grotto. The next morning, only Margaret’s body was found – Black Jack had vanished. Some believe he drowned, while others whisper that Margaret’s ghost keeps him trapped in the cave, forever doomed to roam.”
Dakota sighs. “How romantic.”
I groan. “No, you can’t be into ghosts.”
“Why not?”
“Because between you and my brothers, I’ll never win another prank war.”
“You need to try harder. I can think of a bunch of pranks.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “No more pranking me by messing with my keyboard.”
She wags her finger at me. “As long as you behave.”
I launch myself at her and tickle her ribs. She giggles and I allow the sound of her happiness to fill up all the empty spaces inside me.
“Don’t touch her!” someone shouts, and I jump to my feet.
I scan the cave, but I don’t see anyone. “Knock it off, Raider brothers!”
“Who are the Raider brothers?” a voice calls back.
“My asshole brothers.”
Dakota slaps me. “Don’t call them assholes.”
“Leave the woman and go,” a voice says from behind me.
I whirl around. “I’m not leaving my woman in your clutches.”
A spooky laughter rebounds off the cave walls as the area fills with smoke. The distant echo of boots on the rock comes next. It’s supposed to sound as if smugglers are moving cargo in the dark. In reality, it’s my brothers messing with me.
Dakota giggles, and I glare down at her. She holds up her hands. “Sorry. But this is hilarious.”
“What’s hilarious about my brothers being assholes?”
“They’re not assholes. They’re your brothers.”
And now I feel like an asshole. Dakota has no family, and here I am complaining about mine. I should be more mindful. I should apologize. Let her know my family is now her family.
“We like her,” a voice I happen to know is Miles says.
“We’re going to keep her,” another voice, I suspect is Zane, says.
Despite how annoying they’re being, I smile. My family likes Dakota. She fits right in.
She’s mine. There’s no denying it anymore. I love this woman. I would do anything to make her happy. Including spending a night in a cave with my brothers pranking us.
“I like your family,” Dakota says.
I’m glad because she’s stuck with them since I’m not letting her go. I should probably tell her how I feel. But we have time. We have all the time in the world.