9. Lucky
Lucky
Antonio caught him about the waist, swinging him around with a rumbling laugh that sank beneath his skin. Warmth spread through him. He was wrapped up in the sweet scent of magnolias and oranges, and he tried not to think of the night they spent together.
“You tempt me so, carino.” Antonio sighed in his ear. Shivers shot down his spine as Antonio’s breath ghosted over his skin.
“I didn’t know our beloved SAR captain was so easily seduced.” Lucky teased.
A kiss was pressed to his temple. “Only by omegas that look crafted by sunlight and that are filled with animal facts.”
Such silly flirting shouldn’t make him smile so much. It was strange to have his habit be described as a boon rather than a flaw. Even the alphas he thought genuinely liked him for other reasons grew tired of his endless animal talk.
“You’ve got strange taste.” He pushed Antonio away with a laugh.
“Anyone who would call finding you fascinating and attractive ‘strange’ needs a little more curiosity in their lives. And their eyes checked.” Antonio shrugged, linking their fingers as he released Lucky.
Lucky liked the way Antonio talked about him. He felt desirable… “Come on, the next camera is up in the dunes here.”
The sun burned hot against his skin. Jack was going to scold him for leaving his hat behind, but in the morning rush, he forgot.
Now, he was paying the price. Sweat gathered on his scalp as the humidity made his curls fray and frizz.
Despite the heat, even as their palms grew sticky, Lucky held Antonio’s hand as they hiked into the dune grass.
“Is that it?” Antonio pointed, brows furrowed.
Following where he was pointing, Lucky sighed at the broken pole sticking out. “Yeah…”
“Vandalism?” Antonio’s question made Lucky laugh.
“Not by a person.” He released the alpha’s hand to crouch beside the pole. It was bent and the camera was knocked off. “See how the grass here is flattened? And these scratch marks? This was done by a resident iguana.”
It certainly wasn’t the first time the large green lizards had taken out one of his cameras. They liked trying to climb, even when they shouldn’t.
Antonio laughed, raising a hand to his face as if to stifle it.
The man’s smile was wide and toothy. “When I was a kid, I used to chase iguanas with my friend, Mateo. One time, a particularly big one tried to charge through the chain-link fence in Mateo’s yard, but it got stuck.
We cried to his dad and uncle who came out to free the chunky guy. ”
“Jack and I used to chase them too!” Lucky shook his head, breaking down the damaged pole. “Jack was great at catching anoles; he has fast fingers.” He wiggled his fingers at Antonio, “We used to show them off to our parents and pretend we were on one of dad’s shows.”
“That sounds adorable.” Antonio opened up the bag, helping him fit the pieces in.
He sat crosslegged in the sand to fiddle with the camera. “I don’t know how much data this thing got but better to take it home and make sure the lens isn’t cracked.”
Sealing the SD card away, he made space in the bags for the camera. It took a bit of adjustment and no small amount of wishing he’d just brought a duffle bag instead of the battery bag, but he got it sorted. Lucky dusted sand from his thighs.
“How many cameras are left?” Antonio picked up the bag without him even asking.
“Just one more. I hope I’m not boring you…” Insecurity was his worst enemy. It didn’t come consistently, but when it did rise up, it was like standing in wet sand slowly sinking deeper with every lick of the tide.
“Not at all!” Antonio’s genuine surprise banished the sticky feeling. The alpha placed a hand over his head, hovering above his forehead, “Your face is getting a bit red, your shoulders too… I don’t want you to get burned.”
“The tragedy of being a red head.” Lucky huffed, smiling. “But you’re right, we should get moving before I turn into a lobster. Jackie’s gonna kill me if I go peely.”
Antonio shook his head with a laugh. “I’d hate to have him thinking I let you fry out here. At least let me make a good impression before that.”
“Oh? Already making plans to meet my family?” Lucky placed a hand on his hip, looking up at the alpha. Antonio gave him another wide smile; this one pushed his sunglasses askew on the slightly crooked line of his nose.
“Too fast?” His earlier nervous worry echoed in Antonio’s question.
Lucky raised up on tiptoe, placing his hands on Antonio’s shoulders to press a kiss to the corner of the man’s mouth. “Maybe fast works for us.”
Everything they did felt fast. From the moment he decided to go home with Antonio, to texting, and to this date, they progressed quickly. But it wasn’t scary. It felt shockingly easy to think about introducing Antonio to his family.
“Good… Because I’m enjoying this immensely.” Strong hands squeezed his waist as warm lips pressed to his forehead.
The moment was broken by his stomach growling. “Come on, let’s find the third camera and get on with eating. This one’s a hike to the end of the beach.”
“Lead the way.” Antonio lightly smacked his ass, sending Lucky into another laughing fit.
“So, what other turtle questions do you have for me?” Lucky prompted. He swung their linked hands, feeling that same buzzy joy from their first meeting.
“Hm, let me think…” Antonio scratched his chin, “I know we’re looking for nests, but how long does it take for the turtles to start breeding?”
“That’s a great question! We released a group of hatchlings here twelve years ago.
Sexual maturity is between ten and fifteen years for the Paradise Leatherback, so we’re really hoping to see some new hatchlings soon.
We’ve spotted a handful of turtles around Sirena Reef over the years but whether they are the ones that used to hatch in Tesoro or not, we’ll only know if we find eggs.
” Lucky was so engrossed in his explanation, he didn’t realize Antonio stopped walking until he was tugged backwards. “What—?”
Following Antonio’s line of sight, Lucky was surprised to see people wearing fluorescent vests moving through the dunes. Three white trucks were parked along the side of the road.
“They don’t look like tourists.” Playa del Tesoro might seem idyllic but with its distance from the popular shops and the fact you had to drive through a residential block built around the twin rivers, tourists generally avoided it.
The adventurous kind still visited. But adventurous tourists didn’t wear work vests and uniforms.
“Well unless it’s the SAR team ambushing you, I need to find out why there are people combing the dunes.” Lucky sighed. “Good thing I wore the marine center shirt.”
Antonio huffed a laugh and squeezed his hand, but the sweet mood was lost. Lucky’s feeling soured as he stared down the men in the vests. They were interrupting his date and his work. He was hungry, hot, and not in the mood.
Especially when he realized exactly who was standing on his beach. “Evan Jones, you’d better have a good reason for being on my beach!” Lucky dropped Antonio’s hands, marching through the dune grass.
“It’s not your beach, Wilde. It’s the government’s beach and we’re surveying the land…
as is our job.” The older alpha sighed but his brows rose towards where his hairline used to be when Antonio joined them.
“Captain Saavedra, how rare to see you out of uniform. The Lyrica Beach representative was grateful to your team for finding that child a few days ago. Your quick response time reflected well on Paradise and the Melody resort.”
“We’re always happy to help.” He wasn’t sure why Antonio sounded displeased.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Lucky snapped, arms crossed. “Why are you surveying here? We haven’t reported any erosion or damage.”
“The Marine center doesn’t need to report damage, but that’s not why we’re here.
” Evan heaved a sigh, “Tesoro is being surveyed for potential sale. Some new resort they’re thinking of building.
Apparently this is the spot they want. I was asked to see if that’s even feasible before discussion can proceed. ”
“Land sale—?” Lucky practically choked on the words, “You’ve got to be kidding me! We logged this land as protective status twelve years ago when we released the turtle hatchlings. Mom filed the paperwork!”
“If you have concerns or need to check the status of the land, you’re going to need to take it up with the proper departments. I don’t know anything about it other than it came up as a potential sale lot.” Evan held his hands up, practically begging Lucky to turn his ire elsewhere.
“I absolutely will!” Lucky snarled, “But you need to leave, we are also surveying for turtles and you’re disturbing the beach.”
“If we spot anything that looks even vaguely like a turtle nest, we’ll flag it. You know that. But we’re going to finish our work.” Evan wasn’t yielding.
The worst part of this was knowing when he was beat. Tesoro wasn’t a true preserve; it held a temporary status. Without knowing the parameters of that status or holding the paperwork in his hands, there was nothing he could do. “Fine. But this isn’t over, Evan…”
“I wouldn’t dare to think you’d drop your bone.” Evan tried to smooth things over with a little humor, but Lucky only responded with a grimace.
Lucky dragged Antonio away, determined to get his camera and go. The good mood from earlier was well and truly destroyed.