Page 144 of Enticing Her Love

“I do.” He tapped his phone screen, and Noah’s animated voice rang out.

“Congrats on another clue, Flynn. Hey, Sutton. Now that you know about my brother’s checkered past, hit me up. I’ve got a clean slate.” Flynn cursed under his breath, just as Noah’s message continued. “Did you just curse? You did, didn’t you?” Flynn gritted his teeth, and as if Noah were in the same room, his younger brother laughed and said, “Okay, listen up, Flynn. Go to a place like the one where we both got stomachaches and pooped blue for two days.”

Sutton and Ryan laughed.

Flynn scrubbed a hand down his face. “Thanks, Ryan. Let’s go, Sut. We’ve got to hit up that ice cream shop in town.”

As they left the police station, she said, “Too much cotton candy ice cream?”

“Blue raspberry. Noah bet me five bucks he could eat more than me. I won. I ate five scoops. He got sick after four.”

“That skill should definitely go on your résumé,” she teased.

He backed her up against the car, boxing her in with his big body. “You know what should go on yours?”

“Knowing you…that I’m good with my mouth?”

“Yes, but I was going to say, best treasure-hunt coordinator ever.” He lowered his mouth to hers, taking her in a deep, passionate kiss that had her thinking she should have put a make-out spot on the treasure hunt.

A police siren startled them apart. They turned and found Ryan standing beside a police car with a big-ass grin on his face as he said, “Don’t make me arrest you for lewd and lascivious conduct.”

“Shit.” Flynn laughed and waved him off as he opened the door for Sutton. As she got in, he said, “How funny would it be if we got arrested for that and your parents had to come bail us out?”

“It would definitely be a first for me.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car. “Did you get the whole community in on this treasure hunt?”

“Not everyone.”

He drove out of the lot. “How did you get my family to make the messages?”

“A lady never tells,” she said coyly.

At the ice cream shop, there was a red-haired teenage boy behind the counter. “Can I help you?”

Flynn looked at Sutton, and she shrugged. He looked the kid over. “Ah, yeah, maybe. Do you have a message for Flynn Braden?”

“No,” the kid said. “But I have a message for the wildest Thornberry.”

Sutton laughed.

“That would be me,” Flynn said. “Vic hasn’t called me that since I was a kid.”

The kid took out his phone and said, “Listen carefully, Thornberry. I can only play this once.” Victory’s voice sounded. “Hey, Flynn. Congratulations on finding so many clues. While you’re here, why don’t you get some blue pie in the sky ice cream? I hear it’s delish.” The kid said, “Dude, it’s the bomb,” as Victory said, “Listen carefully, Thorny. This homonym can’t keep my bad dreams away, but it can bring you answers.”

“Thanks, kid.” Flynn shoved a few bucks in the tip jar, and they headed out of the ice cream shop. “What’s a homonym again?”

Sutton shrugged. “You’re the know-it-all, Thorny.”

He gave her a wry smile and pulled out his phone to look it up. “Words that have the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins. It can’t keep her bad dreams away but can bring me answers. She’s obviously referencing her dream fairy. Fairy. Ferry? Ferry! It’s the ferry! That’s it. Let’s go!”

They drove to the marina, and when they headed up to the ferry dock, cold air whipped off the water, and the ferry was on its way out of the harbor. “Damn it. How often does the ferry run?”

“Every couple of hours.”

“Do we need to be on it to find the next clue?”

“No.” Her eyes danced with mischief. “The next clue is practically staring you in the face.”