King's Treasure (Oil Kings Book 3) by Marie Johnston (spanish books to read txt) 📕

Beckett. “How it’s a shitload of money, but once you start doing stuff with it, it’s like a tub drain is pulled out.”

“It goes fast?”

I nodded. “She told me how they’re investing it and how they’ve divvied it up to try and get the most use out of it, but the biggest takeaway was—it goes fast. Even that many millions.”

“What do you think we should do?”

I reclined against his shoulder and stared at the sky. The sun was sinking in the west and it wasn’t even dinnertime. “I’d like to pay it forward. I’d like to work from the ground up, literally when it comes to the environment. I want to create places where people come to visit and learn and experience and go back home and try to do better. Even if they’re avid recyclers, they maybe also try to . . . I dunno, make their own taco seasoning?”

“Taco seasoning?” He laughed and the sound wasn’t as pleasant as before.

My face burned and I turned more on my back and fiddled with the ends of my hair. My mother’s voice drifted through my mind. Frizz and split ends never solved a problem, Sapphire. Perhaps you should try talking it out or writing.

“You know what I mean,” I mumbled.

He rolled to his side and propped his head up. His fingertips touched my cheek and he added enough pressure to get me to look at him. “It’s not silly. I get what you mean. I know what it’s like to know what you want to do, but have no clue how to carry it out.”

“But you can do so much more with pictures and words. I just want to grow a few more lavender plants and send guests home with natural sachets.”

His lips quirked. “They’d actually get use out of the sachets. My written words suck.” He dropped his gaze and let out a long breath. “It’s why I haven’t finished that article.”

“But Xander, your pictures are gorgeous.” I wished he took more. I wished he used that camera and captured the beauty around us and shoved it in people’s faces.

“They’re all right. But by themselves, and by myself they won’t sell a lot.”

Admittedly, that sounded boring. The thought of writing long articles and doing all that research propelled me back to college. If I had to do it for a living, it needed to be fun. “Maybe don’t sell them at first. Just put them up somewhere with some interesting facts. Gather a following.”

He sat up next to me and propped his arms over his raised knees. “A website?”

“You could blog.” Ideas that I’d been wanting to ask him about piled into my brain so quickly, I could recite them. “Vlogs, podcasts, YouTube, social media—you could do anything.” I twisted onto my knees to face him. “Everything’s so visual nowadays. Look at what your photos did for Hector’s business. You could pick and choose topics to educate viewers—subscribers—patrons?—whatever. I could help come up with the topics and do the posts and you could take the pictures.”

I’d loved working for Saving Sunsets right out of college, but their reach had been limited. Doing this, Xander could reach all corners of the world. Well, those that had Wi-Fi, but it was a start and appealed to a bigger audience than Saving Sunsets had.

Xander’s enthusiasm wasn’t growing with mine. His brows were drawn, but at least he was thinking. “The pictures would be used for social media?”

He was so attached to doing something “momentous” with his work that he’d closed himself off from the possibilities.

“You wouldn’t have to work to be published. You’d make our own damn publication.” A gasp escaped. Excitement piled on top of endless possibilities. “With the money coming, you could reach far and wide. You could lift the voices of others trying to communicate similar topics.”

“Make my own publication?” His brows drew further together, but his brown gaze swirled now too.

I waited, squeezing the breath in my lungs, to hear his opinion. We were a couple, but something like this had to be his decision, not just mine. Photography was his passion, one that he wanted to make more than a hobby.

A slow smile spread across his face. “Make my own damn publication.”

“Hell, yes. You don’t need anyone’s approval.”

His grin dimmed. “I’m not an old man, but I am turning thirty soon. They didn’t really teach us about this in college, and it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d stayed.”

“I used to listen to some podcasts on the commute to Saving Sunsets’ office.” Which had been with Davis, our driver. I regretted that time that could have been spent learning my way around the city, being among the hub of people going about their day, and learning what was important to them for survival.

I’d had a fun experience learning public transit with Xander, but no one was dictating my life ever again.

“Brady was into it more. He has friends from school that have YouTube channels, and of course there’ll always be a new social media outlet to master. We can call him and brainstorm.” I peered into his eyes, the fading sun reflected back at me from the amber depths. “You think it’s something you can get into?”

“I think so.” He reached over and dug out his camera. “I feel like taking pictures again, so that’s a good start.”

I eased out of his way, though he would’ve taken a shot with me in it, and he focused on the sinking sun. Clouds were scattered across it, but the brilliant yellow-orange glow was a stark contrast to the land with its browns and greens.

The evening was silent besides the clicks of his camera. Then he focused on the horses. Their tails swished and swayed as they grazed in the new location Xander had moved them to after we’d finished fooling around.

Xander got lost in taking pictures and I got lost in watching him do it. We’d been married for months, but it felt like our life together was finally beginning.

Xander

I was