Page 29 of Cheyenne

“Yeah, I’m just out of sorts. But I can’t have any kind of serious relationship. I’m getting ready to be a SEAL.”

“I think you’ve mentioned it, like, twenty times.”

He grinned. “Sorry.”

Feeling awkward, she looked away from him. “Eli and I met two years ago at Montana State. He’s from Billings, Montana. We dated on and off, and then when he was graduating last year, he asked me to marry him … and I told him no.”

CHAPTER 15

Micah

If an earthquake happened at that moment—or more logically a tsunami, since they were by the ocean—Micah wouldn’t have been more surprised. “What? He asked you to marry him?”

Cheyenne didn’t meet his eyes. “Yes.”

Every part of Micah felt like it was vibrating with this new information. “And you’ve been to dinner with him twice?”

Cheyenne said nothing. She moved over to the rail, looking out at the ocean.

Micah followed her, feeling something akin to betrayal, though he had no reason to. “I guess it’s none of my business,” he said, trying to shake the feeling. “I mean, it seems you are betrothed. That would have been nice information to know.”

She finally turned to him, her gaze steady. “I’m not … betrothed. And what kind of word is that?”

Micah moved closer to her. “Two dates with an old boyfriend is on your way to being betrothed.”

“Oh my gosh, would you stop?”

He put his hands in the air, feeling defeated. “Never mind.” He turned away from her. “Not my business.”

But if he had to tell the truth, he felt pretty annoyed by this whole situation.

For a long time, she didn’t say anything. Then she sighed. “What would you say if I wanted it to be your business?”

Micah turned back to face her.

“But it doesn’t even matter. Twenty times over, you’ve told me your future life plan doesn’t include dating, because you’re becoming a SEAL.”

“True.” He couldn’t help but smile, feeling his cheeks grow warm. He peered into her aqua-green eyes, the ocean reflected in them. He felt like a man about to fight, but he had his hands tied behind his back.

Cheyenne leaned in and gently put her hand on his shoulder. Dang, her touch did all kinds of things to him. Her smile turned wistful. “So, I guess we are just friends, looking for gold together.”

Micah wanted to argue that they could be more, but she was right. “Okay, friends looking for gold. I like it.”

She pulled her hand back and stared into the water. “When Samantha told me she couldn’t come, I decided to use my time digging into my theories about this gold. The ones I’ve shared with you.” She turned to him again. “I wasn’t expecting Eli to show up, but it doesn’t matter that he’s here. I don’t want a relationship with him.”

Taking a chance, Micah reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. “I’m glad. Because like you said, we are friends looking for gold. And we’d better get it done before your family or my family finds out about it.”

“Agreed.”

Micah wanted to lean in all the way and kiss her, to feel the softness of her lips against his, but he stopped himself.

“What?” she asked, her lips so close to his.

He pulled back slightly, giving both of them some distance. “Why didn’t you want to marry Eli?”

A long pause. “We wanted different things. It would never have worked with us.”

Micah wanted to dig deeper into that statement, to understand every nuance. “What different things did you want?”

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