Marcus felt his face warm at the sweet action but continued to lead until the rocks were very large and all over the beach. “Watch your step around here. There's a lot of tidal pools and I've seen more than a couple crabs who live nearby.” he warned gently.
She nodded her head heeding his warning walking carefully still holding his hand her grip tightening to ensure she wouldn't fall
Almost intuitively, he ran his thumb across her knuckles in response, assuring her that he wouldn't let her fall. He carefully wove around a couple of large rocks until he seemed to disappear.
Her heart nearly skipped a beat at his action and she felt her cheeks get warm as she followed behind him "so what exactly are you showing me? "
He chuckled a little. “You'll see. Give it a minute so your eyes can adjust. It's pretty dark in here at first.” he said with an audible smile. “Stay close. There's water on the right and it gets deep in places.”
She looked around the dark letting her eyes adjust she found his hand again and gripped it "trust me I'm not one to wander around in the dark alone. " she said with a light chuckle
“That's good.” he smiled, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. The cove was still dark but it soon seemed to sparkle with reflections from the water and little pieces of unique rocks along the walls and ceiling.
Maria noticed the shiny rocks and her face instantly lit as she let out a small sound of excitement
“Beautiful, isn't it? Like a hidden universe.” he smiled at her gasp. “At night is the best time to come here. You don't get quite the same effect during the day.”
"I hope you know I collect rock and I'm going to try and steal half of these. " she said joking of course but if she found a small one she might not hesitate to "borrow" it
“I collect seashells and sea glass.” he laughed, finding it too ironic that she loved rocks and he just took her to a place full of beautiful ones.
"Oh I've seen sea glass but I've never been lucky enough to find any sadly. " her eyes roamed the cavern a slight sparkle in her eyes
He smiled at her. “Hey, who knows. You might get lucky and find some here.” he offered hopefully.
"Oh maybe I will! " she couldn't contain her excitement again acting like a child
He laughed a little, loving her enthusiasm as he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. “And maybe if we’re really lucky, we can find a whole sand dollar.”
Her face gained another shade of red and she smiled"I bought one of those online before I left but it arrived broken… " she said with a chuckle
“Yeah. Those things are extremely delicate.” he admitted. “I’m personally not sure of any safe way to transport them.”
"I really wish I would have known that. " she said laughing
“It's ok.” he assured. “Sometimes they even just show up on the beach in pieces. Finding one whole is a bit like finding a four-leaf clover.”
"Well I'm not very lucky so well see. " she smiled softly
“Well, I found one once that was mostly intact. So maybe we’ll balance out.” he smiled back.
"I hope so but to be honest I'd be happy to find a broken one. " she said chuckling
“Well, we’ll have plenty of time to go to the beach and look.” he grinned. “And if we don't find one… I'm sure we can find a gift shop or something and buy one.”
"Oh my god they have them in gift shops?! "
“Yeah. I just prefer to find them on my own. It's more fun that way.” he explained raising a brow slightly. “Where do you think you ordered from?”