by Mila McClung
“Oh, but I don’t know if I can! I only started doing this last night!”
“Well, I only started today. I can help you read it properly … if Dio is willing?”
“Toby, I won’t blame you if you say no.”
“But you want to be free. If I can make that a reality … yes, Stephan, I’ll read it!”
He began to coach her with a tender voice, helping her pronounce each syllable exactly as it should be. They spent an hour going over it – until Stephan was hoarse from whispering and Toby was shaking with fear and anxiety.
“Enough!” Dio said. “This can’t go on! Try it now, Toby. If it fails, we will still be together. That’s all I really want!”
She nodded, cleared her throat. Then she recited the spell in a lyrical tone that charmed and soothed him. A glowing blue light swirled about the room, enveloping their sight. Toby continued the spell until the last line then stood waiting, searching the blue haze for a certain pair of emerald eyes.
“Dio? Are you still there?”
He didn’t answer. She moved through the haze, reaching her hands out for him.
“Wait, Toby,” Stephan said quietly. “Something is coming towards us.”
They saw a tall shadow drifting through the blue. A face appeared. It was the crone in Toby’s dream – Hera!
“Dio, you are free at last!” she announced with a regal air. “Thank you, child. When you set him free you saved me as well. I have suffered for cursing him. But now I can go to my grave, gladly. Thank you a million times over!”
She vanished like a puff of black smoke in the wind.
“Her grave?” Toby cried. “Is that where he has gone, too? Oh, Dio? Where are you?”
“I’m here!” he called. She could barely make out his form in the haze, ran towards it, afraid of what he might have become. But when the haze cleared he was more beautiful than he’d been before – the miserable sorrow no longer haunting his emerald eyes.
They flew together, drew kisses upon each other’s cheeks and lips.
“You’re real! You didn’t turn to dust, or vanish like smoke! Do you feel different?”
“I feel happy, truly happy! But let’s see if it is real!”
He let her go, took the steps three at a time, bounded through the apartment and the temple chamber and jumped across the doorway into the hedges beyond. Then he sprinted like a giddy child around the olive grove and up the hills, scaring the goats into terrors and laughing till he ached. Toby and Stephan watched him from the olive grove; his laughter was contagious. They joined in, creating a harmony of sounds that filtered the air, rising up to the house. Aella and Kosmas heard them, came hurrying through the grass. Lauren Styles stirred from her nap, peered out the window, and smiled.
Dio grabbed Toby, slung her up in the sky like a feather and caught her as she squealed.
“It is real! I’m free! And all thanks to you, Toby!”
He kissed her, left her breathless and hungry for more. But that would have to wait.
Dinner that night was a glorious, thankful feast. Aella made all Dio’s favorite dishes, like Fasolada, which was a delicious bean soup, stuffed cabbage rolls, and fried meatballs with mint, and for dessert – Loukoumades, Greek doughnuts dipped in honey and showered with cinnamon.
“I feel like it’s my birthday!” Dio announced to the gathering.
“It will be, from now on!” Toby decided.
“I wish someone would tell me what all the celebration is about.” Lauren Styles sighed.
“It’s Dio’s birthday, Mom!” Toby giggled, the others followed suit, leaving Lauren more confused. She glanced at Stephan, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the lovely red-haired woman. She was a fortyish version of Toby – which meant he was smitten immediately. She, however, was too sore from losing the two loves of her life to be interested in a dandy of a Greek lawyer, though the attention he was giving her made her blush.
“I’m going to be staying at the temple for a long while,” he told her. “I’m cataloging some rare documents we found there. When I’m not working I can show you the island. It’s a beautiful place.”
“Yes, I know. But I don’t think I’m up to sight-seeing just yet. I’m a widow, you know.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. Or should I say losses? Gregory was my friend.”
“Really? Then you can tell me all about him?”
“Of course.”
“Maybe I will take you up on that sight-seeing trip.”
He smiled and bowed his head a bit. Toby was watching them, gave Dio a knowing look. He nodded.
She pulled him away from the crowd after dinner for a stroll in the brilliant moonlight. The island glowed under its spell – the whole world seemed to glisten like gemstones.
“I can’t wait until everyone goes to bed,” Toby whispered as she clasped his hand. “We can make love in my room.”
“I don’t want to wait. Come with me to my apartment.”
“But … aren’t you afraid to go back in there now?”
“No, it’s home to me. I guess it’ll take me awhile to get used to my freedom. But I don’t ever want to forget where I came from. Let’s go!”
He took off, still holding her hand. They scurried over the hills, and raced through the olive grove. Once they reached the temple door Toby hesitated. Dio shook his head, tossed her over his shoulder and plopped her down on his bed.
He carefully removed her jeans and a blue buttoned-up shirt, fiddled with her white bra, wondering out loud why women bothered with such things, and yanked her pink polka dot panties off so hard they ripped. Then he worshipped every inch of her skin with hot, licking kisses, dipped his tongue into her and sent her reeling with excitement. She reciprocated by pulling down his slacks and manipulating him until he was desperate for release. He shed his clothes, rose up above her like the moon itself, shining a pale blue light over her that seemed as real as he was. It caressed her and incited her and invaded her with a sizzling white heat.
“Then it was really you, touching me in my room that night? You are the moonlight, Dio? Just like in the carving on the front doors of Moonsea!”
He smiled, knelt down to smother her lips with his. Then he pushed himself inside her and drove her into a fit of screaming so loud and wild she feared the others would come running to see if she was hurt. But if she was it was a blissful pain. Dio held off until he knew she was about to start once more then he pummeled her into the bed. They both let out a primeval wail and collapsed in exquisite exhaustion.
“Don’t ever stop loving me, Dio,” she hissed softly into his ear.
“I won’t. You’re my reward for all those years of misery, and suffering. Can we sleep here tonight? It may be the last time I see this temple for awhile.”
“Why?” She sat up, gazed into his eyes. “Where are you going?”
“To buy a big white boat, remember? So we can go take a look at all those big cities and mountains and oceans that I read about in my books!”
“Oh, of course! I’ve always wanted to do that, too! I’ll take you to Athens first, so you can see how it’s changed, then Italy, France … I want to stand on the Eiffel Tower and shout out to the world just how lucky I am … then we’ll go to England, and Japan … oh, but what will we do for your ID? It’s a crazy world out there. They won’t let you in without papers.”
“I’m sure Stephan can think of something. He’s very resourceful.”
“Ha! You’re right!” Toby paused, a look of concern clouded her eyes. “Dio, do you think you’ll live very long? I want to have a baby with you and raise it with you and grow old and cranky with you …”
He sighed, slid pale, warm arms about her. “We will be together for as long as the Three Fates allow. We’ve trusted them so far, and they haven’t failed us yet.”
“I guess I need to stop thinking about the future. It’ll take care of itself. Let’s just live in each moment, as it’s happening.” She lay back down, turned to face him. �
��Kiss me, Dio. If you kissed me a thousand times a day, it’d never be enough!”
He obliged, eagerly, let the moonlight invade her again and again, until the sun gently urged the moon from the sky.
THE END
I have two more books in the MAN SEASON series. Here are their Amazon pages, descriptions, and an excerpt from each book. I hope you like them:
A BILLIONAIRE FOR BREAKFAST - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B2C5WMQ When Tess Jenkins impulsively agreed to join Kylie Preston on a hunt for billionaire husbands in the Cayman Islands she had no idea what kind of trouble they’d get into – or that she’d fall head over heels for a gorgeous beach bum named Angel. But is he all he seems to be, or someone completely different?
EXCERPT: There was a screeching noise just to her left. She turned, holding her heart in shock, as she watched a black motorcycle fly over her head and land abruptly in a mound of sand. But where was the driver? She quickly scanned the grassy area beneath the hilltop road. He was there, lying in a ditch.
Tess ran to him; began to examine him for injuries. There weren’t any, but what she saw there disturbed her all the same. He was insanely handsome, with chin length, naturally blue-black hair, and a rugged, tanned body that oozed “Come take me.” from every pore. And his eyes – whoa – when he looked up at her she thought her heart had stopped completely – they were green with strange flecks of blue that made them glitter like jewels.
“Are you okay?”
“Sure, just a skinned elbow and a sore bum. Serves me right for thinking I could make that curve at 100 miles per hour! I’ve never seen you. What’s your name?”
“Tess Jenkins.” She was shy under the heat of his stare. You’d think he had never seen a girl before.
ADDICTED TO HIM - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8EOQ9S Tegan St. Clair works in a florist shop in Burbank, and fantasizes about her dream man, Fleet Westcott, the billionaire film producer who owns the studio across the street, never imagining that she could ever meet him in real life.
Then Fleet steps out of her dreams and into her bed, and she is swept up in a passion so electric it leaves scars. But Fleet is a complicated man, with some dark, dangerous secrets. Can Tegan find the courage to save him, even if it means her own life is on the line?
EXCERPT: He knelt down in the darkness, hiked up her skirt and yanked her panties down. Then he lifted her hips and began to drink at her like a cup. Tegan couldn’t help but gyrate beneath him, the orgasms building in little waves until they burst out of her in a torrent of pleasure. She put her hand to her mouth to keep from screaming.
“This is so not right,” she whispered.
“But it’s so good, hum?” he asked, raising his head to smile at her. “My turn,” he said hoarsely.
Tegan kept her eyes closed tight as she bent to his lap and took him into her mouth. He groaned as if in torment as she explored him with her mouth and tongue. The scent of him was dusky and sweet, arousing her back to a crest of desire. He realized she wasn’t through and eased his hand between her thighs.
“Stroke it, that’s right,” he sighed. Tegan dared open her eyes, watched his silhouette as he flung his head backwards, his chest rising up and down in quick bursts of anguish. “Now, get ready, get ready…”
She moved her lips over him in a dizzying motion, felt his need growing and expanding. His flesh was hot, firm, wonderful.
Finally he came, shooting into her mouth so forcefully she was afraid she’d drown. But she took all of him, and more, until he couldn’t spare a drop. He raised her off of him, zipped his pants.
Without a word he started the Jaguar and steered them away from the curb. Tegan readjusted her clothing, sat looking straight ahead, fearing she’d done something to displease him.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Fine,” he answered curtly.
“Was I horrible at it?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t understand why …”
“Look, it’s over. It was good. Great, in fact. I’ll take you home now, and you can clean up before your mother gets home.”
Email me at [email protected] – or comment on my blog at http://milamcclung.blogspot.com – or like my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/RTWD-Press/174332382699508 - I’d love to hear from you!
