Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
EPILOGUE
Our Capers
Ruby
The silvery stingray swam right over to me that afternoon. I beamed and brushed a kiss onto its slick body and then smiled as Jake took my picture with a disposable waterproof camera. He went next, dropping a lip-lock on the creature. Then, the hat trick, where we snapped a selfie of a joint stingray smooch.
We’d left Monica and Andrew to sort out the paperwork and red tape a few hours ago. That was just one reason I told Jake, “I already feel pretty lucky.”
“Me too. But just in case, I’d better kiss you.”
“You’d better.”
We kissed in the shallow blue waters, in no hurry to go anywhere.
Later that afternoon, we snagged a beer with Devon at The Pink Pelican.
“Good to see you again,” Devon said, shaking Jake’s hand. “I’m glad you two sorted things out between you.”
“You told him about me?” Jake asked, a cheeky light in his eyes.
I laughed. Devon had heard the good and the bad, the job of a good friend.
He clapped Jake on the shoulder. “She did, and let me just say this. I love her like a sister and you better treat her well.”
Jake nodded, as starkly serious as if he’d been given an order from a commanding officer. “You have my promise.”
My heart somersaulted.
I loved sarcastic Jake, protective Jake, dirty Jake, clever Jake, rugged Jake, but I think I loved serious Jake most of all.
Because that was when he spoke from the heart. From the soul. From the place that had called to a matching place inside me from the moment we’d met. It hadn’t seemed possible, so we’d doubted our instincts. But not anymore.
Even after only ten days, I believed Jake’s promise completely.
I believed in him.
And I believed in us.
Jake left before I did and I stayed to do the new tours I’d picked up from referrals. Monica had been true to her word—she only wanted information, which, along with other evidence, would be used to file charges against Eli Thompson. That made me sad, but he’d made his choice.
In the days that followed, the SEC investigator worked with Andrew to convert the diamonds back into cash and then return the money to the rightful owners.
A most successful recovery of stolen assets, she’d deemed it.
The SEC moved quickly and Eli’s string of luck finally ran out. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for securities fraud, and Willow received a shorter sentence.
I regretted that he’d chosen that path and never turned around, but I’d realized there’d never been a thing I could do to change it.
Once I’d returned home to Miami, I promptly found a buyer for the Vacheron. A small morsel of guilt had stuck in my craw—for about five seconds. Mostly, I felt satisfaction and then utter delight when I paid the lease on Mom’s new jewelry shop.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Mom said as we settled in for mocktails on South Beach one fine afternoon one month after that fateful trip.
“I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Now, let’s people watch.”
We made up stories about a Miami Vice–style man in a white suit and a pink shirt, then two women in fluorescent green bikinis riding skateboards, and then a handsome man wearing trim shorts that hugged his strong thighs and a T-shirt that showed off his firm biceps, plus a grin just for me as he walked in my direction.
“That guy is heading our way to find the love of his life,” Mom declared.
I beamed, my heart somersaulting at the sight of the man who’d become my big love.
A mere month ago I’d simply wanted him to do bad things to me in bed. Well, that hadn’t changed. Every night I saw him, and he did very bad things to me indeed.
I guessed that made him a real good bad thing.
He whipped off his shades, and I smiled.
My mom did too. “Have I ever mentioned your boyfriend is the best?”
“You have,” I said, “but say it again.”
“You two are such a cute couple.”
Jake joined us in time to hear that and grinned. “You’re not the only one who’s said that, Shelly.”
He told her about Maris and her prediction way back when, and Mom nodded sagely and said, “Smart woman.”
This was our new thing. I still joined Mom for mocktails, just the two of us, but Jake joined us occasionally. He was part of my life, and he got along swimmingly with Mom and Cole. I’d met his family too. I’d taken Mason snorkeling in Key Largo many times. Occasionally, Brandt would come along too.
Kylie wasn’t keen on diving, but I’d helped her with her studies whenever I could. As for Kate, we teamed up to tease Jake mercilessly whenever we got together for family dinners.
Family.
It was so wonderful to be a part of his family now and to see him as part of mine. I was still amazed that a chance encounter over darts, a few hot nights under the tropical sun, and a twisty-turny diamond hunt had turned into this big romance.