Crosley chuckled a little, but his eyes, too, looked moist. “I promise that to you, my friend, but only if you promise to look after Rabine in my absence.”
“You can count on that.”
“As for you, my dear one…” Crosley hesitated as he looked up at the ceiling for moment. He looked down and directly into Rabine’s eyes. “I will miss you more than I can say and more than you will ever know.”
Rabine didn’t even try to hide her tears, and they streamed freely down her face. Cliff slipped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. “Oh, Crosley, I think I know something about how much you will miss me, because I’ll miss you and Leilend just as much.”
The Captain cleared her throat behind them. “Mr. Salas, Mr. Rochester…I am sorry, but we have a schedule to keep.”
Cliff nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.” He looked at the screen. “This isn’t really good-bye. It’s just a case of ‘until next time.’” As Cliff spoke, he led her to stand very close to the view screen. He reached out with his hand to touch the surface of the display.
Rabine moved to place her hand beside Cliff’s. She smiled through the tears. “As our man said, this is just a so long.”
Leilend and Crosley lifted their hands to touch the image of the hands of their lovers. Crosley smiled as well. “For now, so long and stay happy.” The screen faded to black.
Captain Davis sat quietly for a minute, just staring at Rabine and Cliff. She finally took a deep breath. “Helm, execute your course.”
* * * *
Being on restriction, Cliff and Rabine sat together in their cabin. He thought that being all alone with her would be a wonderful way to spend the next thirty days. He wondered if he should send Davis a thank you card.
Rabine took a sip of her wine. “Well, I guess now we need to keep after Alexa so she doesn’t get distracted.”
But only on the first day of their punishment, Cliff still had doubts about things. At first, he was puzzled over his feelings—emotions might be a better word—about not only Leilend and Crosley, but about Rabine as well. He couldn’t help but wonder if the forced separation from the pair of aliens he fell for would impact the love he felt for Rabine, or, for that matter, how Rabine would react. He knew it was entirely possible that she would lose interest in him while pining away for Crosley and Leilend.
He wanted to talk about that, but he really didn’t know how to go about it. “I guess we do.” He paused, looking for a way to broach the subject, but he came up dry. “How long do you think it will take?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. Alexa is much brighter than I am, but I can’t see any solution at all.”
Cliff took a deep breath. “And if she never finds an answer, that’s the end of us, too.”
Rabine stopped with her wineglass halfway to her mouth. “What?”
He shrugged. “We are both so in love with Leilend and Crosley that I have this feeling in my gut that if we can’t have them, then there will be no use in you keeping me around.” Shit…he didn’t mean to say that, but it was too late now.
She set her glass down on the coffee table and turned a little on the sofa to face him more. Rabine put her hand on his arm, and it felt as warm as it ever had. “No, Cliff, you know that’s not true.” She smiled. “I love you, and I always will.”
“But you love them, too.” He thought for a moment. “And so do I.”
“I know you do, but not having them in our lives has no impact on us as a couple.” She nodded. “Of course I want the four of us together, but that’s not going to happen right now. But that means we can also focus totally on each other.”
“Yeah…” What she said made sense. Maybe depression set in from having the other half of their four-way love affair ripped away, but it was also very possible that he was seeing things that just didn’t exist. He turned to face Rabine fully, and he took her hands in his. “So, are we going to be all right through this?”
She smiled, and he heard the birds from the boxing ring singing again. “Of course we are.”
He leaned in to kiss her.
* * * *
Rabine knew that Cliff had doubts about their own love affair since losing Crosley and Leilend. She knew this because she, too, had wondered how things would be for them after the loss. What she didn’t expect was the tremble in his hands and the fear she could see in his eyes. She answered his direct question about if they—just the two of them—were OK with an equally direct statement. She opened her heart and told him that they—just the two of them—would be just fine.
He leaned to kiss her, and her arms moved up to encircle his neck, pulling their faces together. As his mouth moved over hers and their tongues played a maddened game of tag, Rabine felt her body responding to the man she loved…Heat spread through her body, her nipples hardened, and moisture spread through her pussy.
Just before her mind went into a total fog of love, passion, and desire, it occurred to Rabine that this was going to be a fun thirty days.
THE END
WWW.MELODEEAARON.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melodee was born in 1971 in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Anyone who has ever watched The Beverly Hillbillies will know that the Ozarks are absolutely awash in storytellers. One of Melodee’s earliest memories is sitting on the front porch of her great-grandma’s house as the old woman told stories about the old days.
“Fanny” by name, Great-grandma could remember the days before airplanes. And she talked about men landing on the moon. The stories blended modern technology and society with old values and down-home common sense. The blend didn’t always coexist perfectly.
Be that as it may, coming from a long line of storytellers, Melodee soon tried her hand at the craft. Writing stories in grade and high school that often invoked the ire of her teachers, she was never able to fit into the mainstream of “proper” literary attitude. Even nonfiction work drew the attention, all negative, of her teachers and school administrators. A paper she wrote in seventh grade supporting the death penalty by means of public hangings for sex offenders gained her three days off from school.
Attending SEMO University, Melodee soon came to the attention of several frat houses for her habit of reading Penthouse Forum in the school cafeteria. She also came to the attention of the dean and, eventually, the chancellor. After three years of study, a year off to work at Steak ’n Shake waiting tables, and another year of school, Melodee finally received her degree in liberal arts.
Sometime around 1987, Melodee discovered that she could actually make money telling stories. She took a job at a local library reading to kids after school. Oh, and sorting books on the shelves. Sadly, the job lasted less than a year because Melodee usually ignored the books she was reading and told her own stories.
In 2005, Melodee turned her attention to erotic romance. This seemed a logical step since all of the stories she writes have a romantic element in the plot. The addition of erotica to the mix simply leaves the bedroom door open.
For all titles by Melodee Aaron, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/melodee-aaron
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Aaron, Melodee - As Darkness Falls [Flights of Fancy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 15
