Hydromancist (Seven Forbidden Arts 4)

“You’re mine, Maya.”

Tim. Her body responded instantly, flooding with hot, liquid pleasure. She turned, but there were nothing but the dunes and the dry grass polls moving with the breeze.

The beat of her heart was heavy. She had to find him. “Tim?”

“Don’t let him in, Maya,” a different voice called from the side of the mountain.

Darren. She flung around to look at the bay.

There he was.

He stood in the water, his head cocked and his black eyes laughing as his lips tilted. His black pants were wet from the salty water, but he didn’t seem to mind. Her gaze went to his chest, but the fabric of his T-shirt was intact. Nothing was torn. Nothing was broken.

She reached out with a longing so deeply imbedded in her, it had long since become a part of her being. She reached out, but her hand moved through him. His brown leather jacket dispersed into fog. Please! He had to come back.

It was too hot. Her feet burned, but she was stuck in the sand. The water she needed so badly retreated, the ocean sucked away like a glass emptied by a straw.

“Tim!” She looked around frantically. The sun was gone. A thick cloud of mist obscured her view.

“Don’t let him in.”

“You’re mine.”

He called her. Her legs wanted to obey, but she couldn’t move. She looked down and gasped in horror. A pair of hands had broken through the sand and were locked around her ankles.

Chapter 7

Maya woke from her nightmare with a gasp. She yanked the sheet off her legs, wrapped it around her body, and walked out onto the balcony. She needed air and sun. Leaning on the rail, she breathed in the salty ocean scent. Cesar stood in the garden below. When their eyes met, he saluted her. She went back inside, put on her bikini, and grabbed a towel. He was still standing on the same spot when she came downstairs.

“I hope you didn’t stand here all night.”

“Tim’s fetching you for lunch.”

“Do I have a choice?” she replied in a snappy tone.

She should be happy for another opportunity to visit his condo, to get her hands on new info, but she was edgy because of the dream.

Instead of acting insulted, Cesar lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, studying her as if she were a painting in an art gallery.

She took a step back. “What?”

He straightened. “Nothing.” He saluted her again and took off in the direction of the condo.

A swim somewhat calmed her, but didn’t take her agitation away. She decided to blow off steam with a long jog. This time, she didn’t choose the direction of Tim’s condo, but went the opposite way. She passed Elvin and Jake who were snorkeling by the reef. Elvin froze when he saw her. His mouth fell open, and his eyes turned large in his mask. He punched Jake in the ribs. They waved in unison. Maya returned the greeting and turned back toward the resort.

By the time she got home, she was exhausted and hot. Her skin was tight from the sun and the salt water. She stepped under the cold, outdoor shower, and when she turned off the water, she found a towel was being held out at her.

She moved her gaze from the hand to the golden hair that glistened in the sun on the muscled forearm. Before seeing his face, she already knew who was standing in her garden, offering her a towel from her own closet.

“Tim.” His name slipped out like a breathless gasp.

“Maya.” He draped the towel around her and used the edges to pull her to him. “Good afternoon.” He kissed her lips lightly, but it was enough to detonate an explosion in her body.

“Sleep well?”

She bit her lip. “You?”

“I see. That bad, mm?” He held her to him for a while in a strange, tender gesture. When he let go, his eyes were guarded. “Shall we go?”

“I’ll get some clothes.”

Tim waited downstairs while she pulled a yellow chamois dress on over her bikini. He took her hand when she came back and walked her down the path toward the beach. Lee stood a short ways up the trail. When they neared, he nodded at Maya, waited until they’d passed, and followed at a distance.

She didn’t speak. She was trying to place her irritability. She never suffered from PMS, and anyway, her period wasn’t due. As if sensing her mood, Tim kept quiet. He only squeezed her hand from time to time in a reassuring gesture. Once at the beach entrance to Tim’s condo, Cesar came down the path to meet them.

“Tim,” he said, standing wide-legged over the gravel, his arms crossed over his chest, “you have visitors.”

Maya glanced around Cesar toward the house. Felicity waited on the front veranda, clutching the hand of a boy and pulling with her free hand at the hem of her short dress. She looked nervous.