Captivated (17 page)

I called Zeke’s name in hopes that he would come running to me in obedience. Silly me. That was probably why the original owner got rid of him. Then, out of nowhere, he jumped out in front of me wagging his tail. This time he stayed in my view and waited until I caught up until leading me deeper into the forest. I swear the dog was teasing me. Purposely taunting me.

Zeke ran over a hill and out of my sight. When I heard the crisp stream of water, I realized that I had never come out this far before. I didn’t even know there was a river here. What sounded like water splashing had me curiously wandering towards the noise. I hurried my pace and when I reached the top of the hill, I saw nothing but trees, bundles of them huddled together like a wall. Zeke peeked his head through one of the small gaps in between the trees then just as quickly disappeared. I followed him through and came into view of the water, it was a small river with a steady stream. Birds were singing a melody that brought happiness and serenity to whoever and whatever surrounded them. In the small distance, a rabbit was drinking out of the clean water. And it was in no way bothered by my presence, as if this was a locked away place of harmony.

I felt something cold and wet on my hand, Zeke was licking it. But as I reached down to pet him, he took off again, quickly stepping along the riverside. Then he stopped and looked back to me, waiting. Without hesitation, I followed, wanting to see more. He slowly climbed down a rocky hill along the water and when I got there, I panicked. Beside me was a waterfall that cascaded down to a small pool of water. It wasn’t a crazy rush of water like you see in movies, it was calm. I took a deep breath and carefully walked down the hill trying not to fall in the water, even though I was only ten feet away. When I reached the bottom, I stood in front of the water in amazement. At the top of the waterfall, there was a long tree laid across, the small amount of water able to get through formed a veil that stretched to the bottom, ending in a faint cloud of foam. The waterfall looked to be only a little over twenty feet tall. On both sides of it, the ground made a circle around the pool of water that led down to the lower level, almost like two staircases. I pictured a mansion... one of those that when you walk in, there are stairs on either side of you.

A small bark captured my attention. I saw Zeke sitting next to a beautiful sight–Dean. He was in bright blue swimming trunks and a black muscle shirt. My mouth watered uncontrollably and I took a big gulp just before my jaw dropped to the ground.

Zeke turned to me and barked. If dogs could bark hello, then he sure just did. Dean slowly turned to me with a sexy grin. It was as if he was expecting me to come. The glistening water reflected off of his eyes. They were magnificent and bright, no dark circles.

That’s when I realized that I hadn’t moved since I spotted him. My mouth was still opened and I hadn’t blinked. I immediately straightened myself up and walked towards the mirage before me, sitting in front of the water.

He was an unbelievable masterpiece.

Shaking, I sat next to him. I kept my distance though. I wasn’t ready to be close to him again. Not just yet… even though my heart and body scolded me for it.

We sat there in silence for I didn’t know how long, but I very much enjoyed the scenery of the small waterfall and everything surrounding. It looked like there was a small cave behind it, too. I had always wanted to stand behind a waterfall, but my fear of deep waters got in the way of that happening.

Dean had his feet in the pool. It looked refreshing. He looked refreshing. So I took off my sandals and set them behind me and rolled my pants up to my knees. I stuck my feet inside the water and splashed around. I felt Dean’s heavy gaze at my feet. I wasn’t sure if I was bothering him, so I stopped.

“So… are you sick or something? Why didn’t you go to school today?” I asked, trying to make conversation as if this whole confrontation was normal.

He said nothing. Instead, he tilted his head and gazed in gratification at me. I turned away, only because I didn’t want to make a dumb noise with my mouth. Leaning forward, I stared into the water. It was so clean that I was able to see straight to the bottom.

His eyes were still on me.

My heart was pounding so hard that I was afraid it was going to burst out of my chest and splash into the water to cool itself down.

“Did you know I would come today? I know it’s a strange question. It’s just that…how is it that Zeke came to you?” I asked puzzled.

“I can speak to animals. I asked him to come.” he said.

“Really?” I gullibly asked, believing every word.

Dean’s sexy chuckle almost made me float over to him. “I was sitting in front of your house for about an hour before you came. I was blowing in this.” He pulled a whistle out of his pocket. “It’s a dog whistle. Only they can hear it. I kept blowing it and it was driving your dog crazy inside the house. That’s why as soon as you opened the door he came running out to search for the noise.”

“You planned this out? You wanted me here?” I whimpered out in amazement. I tried to sit still to keep my composure.

Dean stood up and stretched his arms. The tattoos on his forearm were sexy! It made me feel like I was with a bad boy… that had great taste in tattoos. I tried not to stare, but from the corner of my eye, I could see him pulling off his shirt. I turned a little more towards him to get a better peek.

With every movement he made, he looked like a carved statue. Like an artist worked very carefully on his body so that he would come out flawless. Every muscle group was in well-proportioned to the other. The sun shone through the cracks the leaves made in the trees, brightening his skin to a glow. Then, he leaped into the pool. When his head popped back up out of the water, he gestured with his hand for me to come join him. I exaggerated the shake of my head. There was no way I was jumping in the water without a life jacket and some floaters. But I wasn’t about to tell
him
that.

He tilted himself back and floated on his back. The water that was clinging to his skin glistened against the sunlight. I’m sure it felt good for the water to have him there. The water must have felt more than honored to have him choose this particular spot.

“Join me?” he suggested with a smooth pleading voice.

Once again, I shook my head. Besides, I was enjoying myself too much. Watching him was extremely fulfilling.

At this moment, if I were thirsty, hungry, hurting, it wouldn’t matter. Just the sight of him eased everything away into nothingness.

This had to be a dream.

This wasn’t real.

I probably just plopped myself on the couch after Markus had dropped me off and fell asleep, I had to be dreaming.

Slowly, he swam towards me, eyes focused. He looked like a shark coming at me, and I was his prey. Only his eyes and the top of his head were visible above the water. How I wanted this shark to catch me and do with me what he wanted.

Dean came until only inches away from me and slowly rose up. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it slowly or if everything slowed down as it usually did with him. He rose up until the water met his stomach. The crystal liquid ran down his skin and dropped back into the water, leaving behind a gloss that only intensified his stunning body. He looked incredibly inviting. Raising his hand out of the water, he held it out for me to grab while looking up at me through his wet lashes.

I hesitated.

Dean then took his other hand out as if to grab me, to help me in. My God! I screamed inside my mind. I wanted to leap into those strong arms. His smile was cocky, as if he knew I was falling for every trick. The magnetic hold he had on me made me lean just a little forward. He took that as a ‘yes’ and immediately grabbed my sides and picked me up. Next, I found myself up above his head with water up to my knees. He held me like it was nothing, I was as light as a bag of feathers for him. Since this was all a dream though, I didn’t protest. Carefully, he lowered me down. A formation of goose bumps took over my skin as my face came closer and closer towards his. He gazed up at me as he lowered me down inch by torturous inch until he set me down in the water. He let go of me and I began to sink in. The water rose higher and higher. I was moving my arms and legs as I should be, but I kept sinking.

That’s when fear took over and I realized that I wasn’t in a dream. I frantically kicked and waved my arms around only making the sinking worse. I felt his arms wrap around my waist, pulling me back up, so I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

“You still can’t swim?” he asked in concern.

“Yeah, I can.” I said, still trying to present some coolness in front of him.

“Then why did you sink?” He asked with a smirk.

There was no denying it. I might as well have told him.

“I can swim, but I can’t float, so when the water hits my face, that’s when I start to panic.” I shamefully admitted.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded, gripping me firmly but at the same time gently.

“I don’t know. It’s not something I go telling everyone.” I said. “Besides, it’s not like we’ve kept in touch.”

He ignored that comment. “What if I teach you how to float?” he asked.

“I’ll still be afraid. I have water phobia; I’m afraid of deep water. I guess I’m afraid of drowning. Something takes over me and I have a panic attack.” I admitted.

“Is this you having a panic attack?” he asked.

I looked down at myself. Usually, the rare times I was in the water, I would be reaching for the edge and scrambling out. This time, I was still. Calm. I hung onto Dean, but it wasn’t from fear, it was just an excuse to cling on. For some reason, he was doing this to me. His touch was calming me from my natural reaction to fear. I couldn’t believe it.

“I want to show you something.” he said shyly, while looking down and away.

I nodded my head in surrender. I didn’t care if it was a twig he was going to show me, I was all for whatever!

Dean effortlessly helped me out of the water, putting his shirt back on as I wrung my hair and clothes out. As I followed him, I rubbed my fingers just below my lower eyelids, to check if my makeup was smeared. Lucky for me, it was intact. I just had to worry about my hair frizzing like I was hit by lightning.

“Ever been behind a waterfall?” he asked me.

I froze.

Was he serious? Was
that
what he was going to show me? I couldn’t believe it. I had always wanted to do that! It was as if he read my mind when I was staring at the spilling water earlier. Funny how a person with water phobia had standing behind a waterfall on her bucket list.

“No! Are we going to?” I asked in excitement. A wide smile spread across my face. I felt like skipping behind him, but of course I resisted.

The climb looked pretty easy; the boulders were slightly slanted, but they could be climbed on still. Dean held my hand as we climbed the rocky stairway side by side. The rocks were slippery because of the mist and every time I was about to slip, he would pull me up. And he would do it just before I slipped as if he knew it was coming. Dean stayed behind me as I prepared myself to climb into the cave. My heart was racing with fear as I looked down at the water below us. I imagined myself falling in and I froze. I took more deep breaths to regain some composure.

“You okay?” Dean asked.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. All I could do was look down at the terrifying water below me. It promised me death.

“I’m going to climb over you. Just stay where you are and don’t let go,” he said.

Not two seconds later, he was already in the cave and had a grip on both of my arms. He pulled me up effortlessly and before I knew it, I was sitting in the cave!

It wasn’t as big as I had imagined one would be. The ceiling wasn’t high enough for us to stand in, so we had to sit down to admire the view of the water. Below us, Zeke slept under a tree.
Pshhh…
now he stayed put!

Dean turned to me. “You didn’t even get your face wet.” he pointed out.

“Oh. Yeah. I didn’t want my make up to wash off.” I informed him.

“I wonder how you look without it.” Dean studied my face and hummed as if picturing me. Then he gave me a crooked smile… one with a mischievous meaning behind it.

Dean scooted back to get some space and began pulling up the bottom of his shirt…slowly. Very, very slowly. I gulped. After removing it, he dipped the balled-up shirt into the falling water, soaking it completely. My stunned state from the sight of him without his shirt took me off guard and I realized too late what he was about to do. Dean crawled towards me with the soaking shirt clenched in one hand. I had nowhere to go. The cave was too small for me to run and I wouldn’t dare jump out. So I was trapped. I crawled back as far as I could before I hit the wall behind me. He crouched closer to me, so close, in fact, that I could feel his skin lingering extremely close to mine. Water beads were dripping from his hair onto my legs and feet. I tried pushing him away with my hands but it was like trying to push boulders-his muscles were so hard and he didn’t even budge.

Gently, he placed my hands down by my sides and rubbed the soaked shirt against my eyes. I hated that I did not wear my waterproof makeup today. How was I to know
this
would happen? Droplets of water poured from the shirt down my face. And I knew he succeeded in rubbing my makeup all off. Pulling back a little, he examined me. Then he came up close to me again and rubbed here and there with the soaked shirt. Only this time, he didn’t pull himself back. His eyes were penetrating mine. I could feel the warmth of his breath against the droplets of water on my face. The contact made me shiver.