Page 31 of Bound to You

“Hey.” Caio leans against the door frame. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I wave my phone in front of me. “Just got text bombed by my ex, that’s all.”

“Ah.”

I gesture to the couch across from me and he wanders in, sitting with his arm on the back of the couch. He’s doing that thing where he searches my eyes for answers to questions that he hasn’t asked.

“Recent?” he asks.

“What?”

“The breakup.”

“Oh, yeah, but a long time coming. It just took me a while to realize that I deserved a hell of a lot better.”

“I’m sorry that you ever had to realize that.”

I look away. “Yeah…” he doesn’t push me for more and I’m glad for it, I don’t really feel like bringing down the mood today. It’s gracious of him considering I basically forced him to talk about his family the other night. But today I’m just not in the mood for it.

“So, is this your boat?”

He scrubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah, is that weird?”

“Not weird just…intense,” I laugh. “It’s pretty cool really, how often do you guys come out on the water? A ton I bet.”

“Not as much as we should.” A small smile forms as he looks around the boat as if recognizing it for what it is for the first time in a while. “I try not to throw my money around too much?—“

“Oh, says the guy who I met while he was driving a Ferrari.”

He blurts out a laugh. “Okay, well, I don’t have an excuse for that one, but in a town like this we kind of needed a boat, no?”

“Sure, but this isn’t a boat it’s a fucking monstrosity.” He laughs again and it lights up his whole face.

He isn’t cocky with his money though, talking to him, being around him, he doesn’t make you feel like he’s better off for it like some people do. He doesn’t flash it in your face just because he can.

“Hey guys,” Marina pops her head in the door. “We’re here.”

We walk out onto the deck where the others are stripping off into their swimsuits. We’ve stopped in what seems to be in the middle of nowhere, it’s blue for miles, but to our right is a chunk of tall rocky land.

May and Marina are the first to jump in, screaming as they fly off the edge of the boat. I take my shorts and T-shirt off stripping down to the lavender bikini I put on this morning. I stand over the edge looking down at the girls, it’s a bit of a jump from here.

“Afraid of heights?” Caio’s gaze quickly rakes down my body.

Glancing down at the water I’m thinking twice about my original answer. “Nope.”

“Good.” He wraps his arms around my waist pulling me with him as he jumps.

“Caio!” I can’t help but scream on the way down.

My flailing arms cling to him in the quick descent. My screams muffled as we hit the water, lucky for me it’s not too cold. It’s the perfect temperature to be a refreshing contrast to the thick heat of the day. Caio grins like a little kid as we break the surface. I shake my head, unable to hold back my own smile.

Water sprays us as Heath bombs into the water, any closer and he would’ve landed on top of us. I can only imagine what a rat I look like right now with my hair plastered to my head. I try to smooth it back, but I can’t tell if I’m making it better or worse.

“Come on,” Marina yells out as she begins swimming towards a cave opening in the land that I didn’t even notice. Caio raises his eyebrows in challenge following her. May and I exchange a curious look before following them all towards the opening.

We swim through the mouth of the cave and are immediately transported. The cave is deep, it’s like a canal, with the only light coming from the opening we just swam through, creating a dark and cool atmosphere. The water is like nothing I’ve ever seenbefore. It’s almost glowing and moving like it’s got a mind of its own.

Fluorescent blue surrounds us. It’s so clear I can see my hands and my body floating around beneath me, it doesn’t feel like I should be able to. I swirl my hands around beneath the surface in disbelief before looking up to see Caio smiling at me, like he’s enjoying watching me more than the view around us.

---