Page 49 of Cheyenne

“I know. So where does that leave us?”

He searched her gaze. “Where do you want that to leave us?”

“I guess the adult thing to do is to just move on with our lives.” She let out a long breath. “After you’re done being a SEAL,you can look me up if I’m around. Right? Maybe I’ll be done with school and I’ll be a bigshot attorney.”

Determination pulsed through him as he kissed her and then pulled back. “Forget the adult thing. I want you in my life, Cheyenne. I don’t know what that means, but if doing the adult thing means that you’re not in my life, I won’t do it.”

She laughed again and kissed him. “I want you in my life too.”

He was elated to hear that. “We have one more day together before we face the music with our families. Then we’ll decide how to have each other in our lives.”

“I’ll take one more day.” She blushed. “And a lifetime after that.”

CHAPTER 25

Cheyenne

The next morning, Cheyenne couldn’t wait for her surfing lesson.

When Micah stopped by to pick her up, he pulled up with a motorcycle instead of the truck. His eyebrows waggled as he walked her to it. “It’s my uncle Marshall’s, but he doesn’t care if I drive it. Should we go for a little ride before the surf lesson?”

Cheyenne laughed, feeling young and free. Micah got on, and she hopped up to sit behind him. They put their helmets on.

As they were taking off, she saw Eli come out of his condo and glare at them, his arms crossed. She ignored him, too busy having fun to deal with his drama.

She wasn’t sure where Micah was headed, but he drove her down a winding road that led to a mountain and some caves. South Port was beautiful. She was surprised at how much she loved it here.

It was warm this morning. She clung to Micah’s waist but tipped her head back to feel the sun on her face and the wind rustling her hair. She never wanted this day to end. If this was the only day they had before the righteous indignation of their families rained down upon them, they had to make it count.

Micah brought them to a stop in a parking lot. He turned off the engine, and they left their helmets on the bike.

She looked around in wonder. “Where are we?”

Micah grabbed her hand and had a big grin on his face. “There are hieroglyphs in this cave. Have you heard the whole story about the hieroglyphs and Mr. Banks and my uncles and father cutting the hieroglyphs out of these cave walls to protect them from being damaged?”

Cheyenne racked her brain until she remembered what he was talking about. “I have heard that story. I mean, it seems a bit like lore at this point. If I wasn’t part of this family, I wouldn’t believe half of the stories.”

Micah laughed. “Me neither.”

After a short walk along a path, they entered the cave. She was blown away by the hieroglyphs. It looked like they were telling a story, but she didn’t know what that story was about. She could barely make out the edges where they had been cut away; it seemed like they’d been put back perfectly. “I seriously can’t believe there’s actually treasure. I mean, our families have handled gold.”

“Right?” Micah laughed. “We still have one gold bar that my grandparents left the family. Of course, it’s protected in some top-secret FBI place at the moment.”

Cheyenne kept searching the walls, trying to envision the conquistadors who’d left these markings. “It sounds weird, but I’m not sure I want the gold to be found. I mean, we know it exists—it’s been melted down—but there’s a whole lot of it out there. In some ways, I think it will be sad to find it, because then the mystery will be gone.”

Micah put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I know what you mean. It’s like the story will be over.”

She looked up at him, her heart racing. “Micah, I don’t want our story to be over after today.”

Micah focused on her. Then he took her by the hand and led her out the other side of the cave. “Let’s keep walking. I want to take you to a lighthouse.”

Cheyenne was fascinated by the geography around them. It was strange that only twenty minutes ago they had been on the beach, and now it felt like they were in the mountains.

They continued along the trail for a while, and then another beach area opened up. A lighthouse towered nearby.

“My uncle Marshall got married there,” Micah told her. “It was a cool wedding.”

She wanted to get closer to the lighthouse and found herself skipping along the beach.

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