Page 83 of Just My Luck

“I can’t say. But it’s fine. In the meantime, we’ll just relax and catch some waves. You’ll love it.”

41

Zara always kept some beach gear in the trunk of the Kumquat, which was under the front hood. She didn’t bother to stop by the house and grab a board, though. She didn’t plan to surf, since she couldn’t take a chance on leaving Maureen to her own devices.

They drove to Banyans Beach. Fortunately, the gentle southwest swell wasn’t exciting enough to tempt her. Maureen had changed into a swimsuit before they left, but Zara ducked behind a clump of dune grasses to change into her bikini. She spread out the beach blanket on the sand and offered Maureen some sunscreen.

Then, they waited.

A kid came by selling young coconuts. Zara introduced Maureen to the joy of sipping fresh juice from a coconut through a straw. Maureen spent some time speculating on the cost of the oceanfront condos that lined the beach. She’d never seen a banyan tree, so she took many photos of the enormous banyan that the beach was named after. At some point, Maureen waded into the water and nearly got knocked over by a wave. Odessa appeared and plopped herself onto the blanket to update Zara on her legal case.

Time flowed, carrying them like a wave. Merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream, Zara thought as the sun slid across the sky. This was her happy place. The fact that she’d brought Maureen here, this uptight, prickly, wary, judgmental woman…well, that just proved that she really cared about Lincoln.

And then…there he was. She’d placed the blanket at a good vantage point to monitor the spot where they’d hidden the good luck charm, but not close enough for someone to spot them unless they were deliberately searching for them. From there, she and Maureen were just two babes in bikinis soaking up some sunshine.

She lifted her binoculars, which she always kept in her beach tote in case of whale sightings. Lincoln stepped barefoot across the sand, limping a bit. He wore swim trunks that looked like they’d come from a gift shop, and his shirt was open over his bare chest. With his sunglasses and mussed hair, he looked so beautiful to her that tears came to her eyes.

She hadn’t been sure she’d ever see him again. Her theory had been that Lincoln really had only one thing to offer during a negotiation—the trigger chip. That was why she’d parked herself here.

But an equal possibility was that he’d disappear forever.

Now that he was here, she wanted to run to him and leap into his arms and kiss every inch of him.

He’d made a deal, just as Rory had said he would. Zara understood why. He was trying to protect everyone, including her. Just as she’d expected, he’d come to Banyans to dig up the good luck charm and hand it over to Tanaka. She had no idea what exactly they’d negotiated. According to Rory, Lincoln was an expert negotiator.

But he wasn’t an expert at everything. He’d left out something big, so she was pretty sure she could make him a better offer.

“Come on, Maureen. Let’s go.”

She leaped to her feet and ran across the beach toward Lincoln.

42

Goddamn it. He should have known that Zara wouldn’t just keep out of the way.

Even though Lincoln went rigid with fear at the thought of all the ways Zara could be putting herself at risk, he couldn’t stop the wave of joy that flooded his heart at the sight of her. Her hair flew behind her like the flag of a bikini-wearing warrior queen riding into battle. Her natural curls were coming back, and without the expensive clothes she looked like herself, not Zaharina. God, she was sexy. And amazing. The one and only.

He opened his arms to her, but she stopped short of the headlong embrace he longed for.

“We have to talk,” she said sternly, her hands on her hips. “You can’t make a deal with Tanaka.”

“Zara.” His heart ached. She was going to hate the agreement he’d made. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“So you’re about to hand over Mia’s lucky charm to that man so he can make a weapon?”

“No, of course not. I’m going to hand it over to some weapons experts so they can know what we’re dealing with.”

“We? Who’s we? You and Tanaka?”

The look of betrayal in her eyes wrenched at his heart. “No. Yes. I mean, no. Tanaka doesn’t know we have the chip. He didn’t mention it and neither did I. But…” He hesitated, not wanting to tell her anything that would put her in danger. But he couldn’t lie to her, not ever again. “If I work with him, I can make sure he doesn’t get far with that weapon of his. I need to be on the inside to do that.”

Her honey eyes grew shadowed, and she drew back. “How could you? You said he was some kind of crime lord.”

“To be fair, many of the folks I work with ought to be in jail.” He meant it as a joke, but it fell a little flat.

“Come on, Lincoln. You know that’s not what you want. You want to develop the CHUM as an energy source, and I don’t even think it’s about the profit for you anymore. You’re entranced by it. You said it was magical. You want to offer it to the world, don’t you?”

He pressed his lips together. He wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she was right. That understanding had been building for some time, maybe ever since he’d crashed in the jungle. His dreams had been sending him messages about the lonely little boy he’d been. He’d built a fortune to feel like someone who mattered. But he didn’t need that anymore. He wanted something more, something different.