Page 76 of Bound

Sounds she was not expecting to hear in caverns right below the palais. A resounding rush of water. A bright, foamy fizz. A soft howl of wind.

And all of it smelling like saltwater.

What. On. Earth?

She spurted it aloud, each word punctuated by a couple of her gloppy steps. But after three more turns in the tunnel, nothing changed about her view. So why did the oceanic symphony go on?

Louder.

Louder.

Until it was such a clamor, it drowned out even her stunned gasp. Which, to be honest, was probably more of an outcry. Which, to be more honest, nobody in their right mind would have denied her. Not if they were beholding the same sight that overwhelmed her now.

Jamie Bond, indeed.

This surprise was definitely shaken, not stirred.

And one of the most breathtaking vistas her island home had ever gifted to her.

In theory, she was still in the palais. Just not in the palais.

She was still under it—though she now stood at the edge of a small underground lake. Its sparkling swells were fed by the tides that flowed in from a small cave about thirty meters away. The full moon was high enough in the sky to illuminate the colliding waters, turning them into a liquid swirl of blue, green, silver, and gold.

That was only the beginning of the glory.

While nature had carved out this cavern to begin with, its existence was obviously ordained by the original palais designers. The support pillars built into the rock walls matched the soaring drama of the architecture upstairs, making the grotto look more like a preserved temple of Atlantis.

The effect was enhanced as she took another few steps, triggering the motion-activated lights that were rigged to the top of each column. The lamps pointed down, creating luminescent circles at their bases. Between those rings and the moon’s glow, there was only one spot, directly in the lagoon’s center, that was still immersed in darkness.

Naturally, her gaze was not tempted to spend a great deal of time in those shadows—until she had no choice about the matter.

When those black waters began to surge most abnormally.

When they began to rise—most alarmingly.

When they began to take shape, with heavy rivers cascading down a large form. An obelisk made of bronze, growing by every second. The ticks of time that sucked away more of her terrified breaths, until her chest pumped hard and tiny whimpers accompanied each exhalation…

Up to the moment her lungs refused to cooperate at all.

The instant that she recognized a jolting truth.

The tall, steely form was no manmade obelisk. But it was all man, surely carved by the Creator’s own hand. Magnificent and muscled. Glorious and godlike.

A force of nature.

Her force of nature.

Chapter Thirteen

Holy shit.

Was he dreaming?

Brick scrambled to validate the conjecture by ruling out the other theories assaulting his mind. He hadn’t swum low enough to be getting the bends, and he absolutely wasn’t high. If he was having a hallucination, it was a damn good one.

A dream still made the most sense. This incredible fantasy pool deserved an equally entrancing siren on its curved rock shore.

That had to be his answer. Fantasizing was the logical coping mechanism for being carried into the cavern by an unanticipated high tide. But it wasn’t like he had planned to take the swim at all, let alone check the tide charts beforehand. Dunking himself in the Mediterranean had simply seemed a better idea than getting drowned in a fresh wave of dejection. All the feelings that refused to set him free, even now.