He gave her a scrutinizing look. “That’s a nervous good. I’m supposed to meet Jack, but I can put it off if you want to talk.”
“No, don’t be silly. I’m fine.”
“Okay.” He kissed her and said, “I’ll see you around noon at the inn?”
“Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”
As she watched him walk out the door, she realized she’d needed to share her feelings with Birdie first in order to see things more clearly. Zev was here, and he was saying and doing all the right things. If she wanted their relationship to work out, she couldn’t keep holding back. He wanted her to color outside the lines, and she wanted to. Desperately. But before she could do that, she needed to be able to see beyond those lines, to see what their future might look like. She’d been waiting for the answer to become clear, but how could they find any answers if she wasn’t telling him the questions?
Chapter Seventeen
THE BUZZ OF the tools in Zev’s and Carly’s hands did nothing to quiet his thoughts. He’d spoken to his dive team and his attorney. His team was itching to get back on the water, and his attorney had hit a snag with another case but was going to court tomorrow for Zev. Zev focused on clearing concretion away from the artifacts he’d been working to expose instead of the million worries zipping through his mind about the legal process and the aftermath. When the area was fairly clear, he set down his tools and glanced at Carly working diligently beside him. She’d shown up half an hour early at the inn, bursting with excitement to work on the concretions. He couldn’t wait to surprise her. He wanted to give her everything she’d missed out on and so much more. But he wasn’t sure how to do that, because those experiences would mean nothing if she had to give up any of the things she’d worked so hard for.
Carly glanced over, and a smile curved her beautiful lips, sending his emotions spinning. He pointed to her tool and said, “Turn it off.”
She set the tool down, anticipation brimming in her eyes. “Did you find something?”
This was the reason he hadn’t told her how close he’d come to exposing the artifacts yesterday. He wanted to experience this moment and not take away from yesterday’s discovery and the excitement that had come with it.
“Come over here and take a look,” he said, pushing to his feet.
She leaned over his workstation and peered at the concretion. “Holy crap, Zev! That’s gold! You uncovered the coins!”
“That’s right, and you’re going to extract them.” He pulled out the chair for her.
“What? No! This is your discovery.”
“It’s our discovery, and it would mean more to me if you would finish extracting them.”
Her eyes filled with disbelief. “Zevy…? You can’t mean that. You’ve worked so hard for so many years to find them.”
“Do it for me, Carly. You’re the reason I was so focused on the Pride in the first place. Two treasure hunters, one ship, remember?”
She looked longingly at him. “Are you sure? This is such a huge moment for you to give up.”
He wanted to take off their protective masks, take her in his arms, and kiss her until she agreed. But that would delay the extraction and her excitement. Instead, he took her gloved hands in his, gazed into her eyes through their clear protective face shields, and said, “I’m not giving it up, babe. I’m making it even more memorable. This is what I’ve been hoping for since we first heard about the ship. This is your time to shine, babe.” He guided her into the chair, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s do this.”
“Thank you!” She shook out her hands and said, “I’m so nervous.”
She got to work, and Zev sat at her workstation, taking over where she’d left off on the other concretion. Witnessing her excitement over the next several hours as she extracted each of five Peruvian gold cobs—hand-hammered coins—made the discovery even more memorable. He’d never forget the sight of her mile-wide smile and the sound of her thrilling Look! Look! Look! as she’d freed each one.
“I don’t see any more,” she said, poking at the concretion with the tip of a pick. “But we can keep going! The X-ray shows two more, and they don’t look that much deeper.” She stretched her neck from side to side and arched