Moontide

Isle of Gades

Ronan stepped through the Tides with Cindy in his arms. The water wall immediately closed behind them and vanished. They’d been transported to a small grotto. Cindy blinked. She thought her ears must still be ringing from the Tides, but then she saw that the noise was coming from a cascade that spilled over the rocky ceiling they were standing under. Crystal clear, it fell in sheets. They’d landed on the back side of a waterfall.

The pounding of the water mimicked the feel of Ronan’s heartbeat. She tried to clear away the intoxicating affects of being held by him and focus on the magnitude of where she was and how she’d come to be there. In his arms, however, she found it hard to concentrate on anything other than the way he felt.

“Umm, you can put me down now,” she said over the roar of the waterfall. He bent his head to hers.

“I like where you are,” he said. The words resonated to every part of her.

“Your arms must be getting tired though.”

He shook his head slowly, his dark hair wet against his skin.

“I could hold you forever,” he said, but he set her down in front of him, keeping his hands on her waist.

“Where are we?” Cindy looked around the cave.

“The Isle of Gades. Welcome to my home, cara.”

His voice sounded deeper in the confines of the cave and that vibrate-y thing it did to her was even more pronounced. With so many impossible things spinning through her mind, she needed one believable truth to put it all in focus. Right then all she could come up with was how badly she wanted him. All on their own, her hips canted back and his fingers lowered, sinking into her flesh there. When she looked at him over her shoulder, he caught her mouth in a kiss. She leaned against him, her back to his front as his arms snaked around and held her to him. He grew hard behind her and she arched her lower back even more, wringing a growl from his throat. He squeezed her tighter right before he pulled his mouth away.

“Shhh,” he said when she started to protest, giving her one last soft kiss on the lips. Then he took her hand and tugged her toward the entrance of the cave.

“Come, I’ll show you the island.”

He picked now to be a tease? She started to scowl, but he was already pulling her behind him, leading her beyond the waterfall to a path that led down the side of it. Sunshine warmed her skin as soon as they stepped out from behind the water and Cindy halted as her eyes beheld the sight before her.

“Wow,” she let out.

It was beautiful, a tropical paradise that took her breath away. It put every landscape picture she’d ever seen to shame. This was the kind of place you’d have to dream to visit.

The sun shone down on a crystal pool at the base of the waterfall where tropical plant life abounded. Huge, brightly colored flowers grew in bushes along the water’s edge and a silvery mist rose up to create a hazy rainbow. Ronan led her down the path around the water.

“It’s amazing,” she murmured.

“Yes,” Ronan said. “Poseidon created Atlantis to appeal to the senses as well as to house his powers.”

“This is Atlantis?” Cindy asked. Was he serious? “It’s real?”

He laughed at her reaction.

“Very real.”

Freaking Atlantis—she couldn’t believe it! She could have stayed there all day in that one spot, marveling, but Ronan tugged her into motion again. She followed him under a canopy of trees and sat beside him when he pulled her down onto the soft grass there.

“It’s safe to rest here,” he said. “Nothing undesirable ever enters this place.”

“Thank god,” she said letting out a deep breath.

He laughed again, then stretched out and rolled to his side facing her. He looked so good relaxed. Another shock wave raced through her body.

“This island is only a fragment of what it once was, so I’ve been told,” he said. “Atlantis was a giant nation before the gods destroyed it.”

The story was fascinating. Cindy wasn’t looking at the land though. Her eyes were entirely on him. Not only did he look good leaning back in the grass, but it was obvious that this was his place. Even though a god had created it, Ronan Garring was master of this island and that was so very hot.

She couldn’t hide her distraction and she could tell he knew. He grinned as his look changed from regal captain to handsome devil in the blink of an eye. It made her want to tackle him.

“So what do you think cara?” He asked ambiguously.

What did she think? She thought she’d like the taste of his skin on her tongue!

His eyes twinkled. She swore he could read her mind.

“Of the island,” he prodded.

“Oh,” Cindy said shaking her head to clear it, “right, it’s incredible.”

Her eyes wandered to his pecs, hard and bare where his shirt gaped open, then back up to his face. She cleared her throat.

“I-is it like this all over, the whole place I mean?”

Ronan shook his head, keeping his gaze on her.

“No, it has many different terrains, many lovely spots, and many dangerous ones as well,” he reached up to stroke the side of her cheek. She got the feeling they weren’t just talking about the island. “This is one of my favorite places. I come here to be alone.”

She swallowed.

“I can see how this would make a nice little hide out.”

The tight area buzzed with desire. It made every cell in Cindy’s body strain with anticipation, waiting for his touch. A bird called out, startling her as it flew overhead and she looked up. Without warning, Ronan pulled her to him, claiming her lips again. Her mouth met his eagerly, hungrily… finally!

She’d been tense with waiting, had wanted him ever since they’d kissed in the cave behind the waterfall… and back in Miami on the beach, and in her hotel room, and at the lighthouse. She figured she was pretty much a powder keg of lust by now.

She pushed both of her hands against his chest and a low sound came from deep within him. Then he lifted himself up and brought her underneath him all in one movement. Cindy shivered.

He’d been throwing kinks in all of her best laid plans since the moment she’d first set eyes on him. She’d had no control over anything since he’d stalked out of that rock wall two nights ago, not even in her dreams.

As they kissed, something warm and liquid flowed through her. His tongue plunged into the recesses of her mouth, bringing on a flood of need that made every part of her thrum with heightened sensitivity. The rough pads of his fingers caressed her neck then her chest and she shivered again.

He pulled up just enough to focus on her face.

“Are you cold, cara?”

He didn’t wait for her answer before covering her body with his own …

*Fade to black. If you’re thinking, “Hey, wait a minute, Amanda, totally unfair and not cool at all!” and you’d like to turn the lights back on to this open door (or open air, actually. Gah! Romantic, island waterfall - what a fricken setting, amiright?) love scene, join the paid section of our readers’ lair. I’ll be posting it there very soon.

**Thank you for sticking with me as I slowly get these scenes out, story lovers! Now, that we’re, finally, in Atlantis, things get super fun. Don’t miss a chapter!

And because I haven’t said it in a while…

Till next time, Monsters,

Stay in the Magic! ✨

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