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I’m not ready for him, but I plaster on a blank, cheerful expression. He’s changed into sweats and a t-shirt, his feet still bare, his hair mussed. Judging by the visible outline in his sweatpants, he didn’t put on underwear.
“Eyes up here,” he says, tone sharp.
Caught again, I don’t fight the heat on my cheeks. “I’m sorry.” I peek up at him from under my lashes.
He snorts. “You expect me to buy that act now?”
I whip my head up, unable to contain my teeth-gritted snarl. Not like a wild animal. More like an annoyed house cat. A tiny snarl that I should have suppressed.
I hate getting called out.
Clearly, I’ve lost my persuasive touch.
“That’s much more believable.” He crosses his arms over his chest and rocks back on his heels, all smug superiority. “I’ve seen the way you handle a fully grown cow who’s picking a fight with a pig. You’re no shrinking violet.”
Actually, the pig was picking the fight with the cow and I was just trying to get the cow out of the line of fire, but he doesn’t need to know that. I doubt he cares. What matters is that I’m going to have to change tactics.
A more emotionally and mentally healthy person might just ask for the favor outright, but that’s not how the world works. At least not for me.
Asking for help makes me vulnerable, letting him think it was his idea to help me puts me back in control.
I swallow and look away, fighting the urge to blink until my eyes sting and grow damp. When I look back at him, I know they’re glistening. “This was a stupid idea.”
I brush past him and march through the gate and around to the front of the house. I’m almost to my car and about to accept defeat when he says my name.
“Honey, wait.”
I spin and swipe at my eyes like I’ve been crying, even though they’re totally dry. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Sorry to interrupt your nap.”
The bastard has Barley curled up in his arms, absentmindedly petting his head. They both look damn adorable. “I’m sorry for teasing you, but you don’t need to play any games with me. Clover is my friend and I’m happy to help her sister.”
I barely manage not to roll my eyes. No one ever does anything for free. No one.
If he’s going to help me, he has to think he’s getting something out of it, even if it’s just feeling like he’s a hero. “If we do this, you can’t tell Clover or any of my sisters.”
His brow crinkles over the prettiest cerulean eyes I’ve ever seen. “Is it a surprise for them?”
I nod, but I don’t bother with a smile. “Yep. Think you can keep a secret?”
“What do you need from me?”
Straight to the point, I can work with that. “I found a treasure map at our house. My grandfather buried something in these woods and my father spent ten years trying to find it. It would mean so much to my sisters if I found this piece of our history, but I don’t know my way around these woods and you’ve been spotted in some of the areas I think are most likely to have the treasure.”
“Spotted?” He groans and drops his head back. “Clover told you?”
“Of course not.” I keep my voice calm, not revealing the offense I’m definitely taking on my sister’s behalf. “But she was acting weird whenever anyone talked about Bigfoot and then my sister Daisy ran into Bigfoot in the woods and heard him talk while he was carrying Barley under one arm. It all added up.”
He tilts his head to the side, lips pursed. He’s not buying my story. “So Clover knows you’re here?”
“Clover doesn’t even know I know you’re Bigfoot, and I’d like to keep it that way.” That came out sharper than I intended. This guy has me all the way off my game. The way he looks at me like he actually sees me makes me want to stop playing and to run away at the same time. I don’t want to find out what he sees in me. “I don’t want them to have any clue what I’m up to.”
Daisy was with me when I found our grandfather’s treasure map and her immediate reaction was to destroy it. She hated our father, who passed almost a year ago. He spent several years trying to find his father’s treasure, the stolen loot from his own thieving and conning life, and Daisy is certain there is no treasure. She thinks hunting for it is a dangerous wild goose chase.
Our other sisters, Dani, Goldy, and Clover, hate our father possibly more than Daisy, and I can’t risk them agreeing with her and destroying the map.
I need to find this treasure. It’s a part of our family legacy and a way to learn more about our grandfather. To find out if lying, stealing, and cheating are bred in my blood or if I can overcome it. The treasure map is the only link I have to my grandfather and that part of my family.
There’s more to the treasure map, though, a shady, certain feeling I have that if I can find the treasure and bring my sisters out into the woods with me to recover it, we’ll all get closer.
