Page 143 of Enticing Her Love

“The clue said to follow the rules. Whenever we went to a place like this, my parents checked in with the local ranger office so we could all meet them, and they would give us the lowdown on the rules. Come on.”

He took her hand, following the signs to the office. Robert looked up from a document he was studying and pushed to his feet. “Sutton, Flynn. Good to see you.”

“You too, man.” Flynn shook his hand. “Do you by any chance know anything about a treasure hunt?”

“I might’ve heard a little something about it.” He glanced at Sutton, who was grinning from ear to ear, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “There’s only one rule in this game. Listen carefully.” He navigated on his phone, and Seth’s voice rang out. “Hey, Flynn. Congratulations on finding your first clue. Ready for your second?”

Flynn’s pulse sped up as he waited for his brother to give him the clue. When Seth said, “Charlie McGregor,” Flynn barked out a laugh.

“Who’s Charlie McGregor?” Robert asked.

“He’s this kid who went to high school with Seth. He got caught at a massage parlor asking for a happy ending.”

Robert and Sutton laughed. “You’re out of luck,” Robert said. “We don’t have those kind of massage parlors here.”

“Right.” Adrenaline had Flynn’s mind going a hundred miles an hour as he studied the map. “But you’ve got the Happy End. Jules’s shop! Thanks, Robert. See you at the dance.”

He snagged Sutton’s hand, and as they headed back to the car, she said, “You’re good at this, Braden.”

“Never underestimate a know-it-all.”

They drove into town and had to park a block away from Jules’s shop because of tourists. They practically ran down the sidewalk. Bells chimed overhead as they walked in. Bellamy waved from behind the register where she was helping a customer, and Jules made a beeline for them. “You made it! Yay!” Her cheeks had gotten fuller with her pregnancy, and she was positively glowing. “Ready for your clue?”

“Absolutely.” He pulled Sutton closer as Clay’s voice rang out from Jules’s phone.

“Hey, bro. Congrats on finding another clue. Listen carefully. I’m only going to say this once. You, me, tequila. Streaking.”

“That’s juicy,” Jules said giddily.

Flynn laughed and mumbled, “Fucking Clay.”

“You never told me a streaking story,” Sutton said.

“It wasn’t my finest moment.”

“It can’t be worse than throwing up with your first kiss,” Sutton said.

“Sutton told us that one,” Bellamy yelled from behind the counter. “That would’ve scarred me for life, although Sutton said you’re a great kisser.”

The customers in the store looked over at Flynn, and he gave them a half wave.

“He’s taken,” Sutton said.

“Thanks, Jules,” Flynn said. “Come on, Sut. We need to go to the police station.”

“See you tonight,” Jules called after them.

On the way to the station, he told Sutton about the streaking incident. “I was fifteen, and I told Clay, who was sixteen, that I wanted to get drunk. To this day I have no recollection of where he got a bottle of tequila, but he did, and we did shots until we were both blitzed. I have no idea why we thought streaking in December, in six inches of snow, was a good idea. But there we were, streaking through the neighborhood with nothing on but our snow boots, our privates practically shriveling up inside us, when the red and blue lights found us. We thought we could outrun them. It was not a good night.”

Sutton was cracking up so hard, she was in tears as they headed into the police station. Ryan Lacroux was waiting for them, arms crossed, chin low. “I was surprised to hear you had experience in a police station, Flynn.”

“Me too,” Sutton said, trying to regain control.

“I learned my lesson,” Flynn said.

“I should hope so. We can’t have Sutton hanging out with a derelict.”

“Yeah, yeah, Lacroux. Do you have a message for me?”