Enchanted Dreams Part 18

Steve brushed her hair aside and looked into her face. His expression was strangely serious. After a long moment, he said, "No more jokes tonight." And he kissed her.

They rested together in each other's arms, but neither one slept. Georgia pushed Fast-Forward, scanning the screen for activity. She stopped when she saw Steve get up. There was an alarm beeping quietly.

"It's time," he said with a sigh. "You still up for it?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? If I say I'm going to do something I do it," she said, but it was kindly.

"We all agreed ahead of time that if you had a hard time going through with it, you know, we just wanted you to know it wasn't written in stone."

"I do appreciate that," she said.

"We care about you," he said quietly. "You know, we want you to be okay."

Ca.s.sie looked at him and Georgia saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Me, too," she whispered. "I want you to be okay."

Steve nodded.

She grabbed her overnight bag and went in Steve's bathroom to get cleaned up again. Georgia wondered how Peter was going to top this.

Peter was stretched out on his bed, fast asleep. Ca.s.sie slipped into his room quietly and stood watching him for a moment. She approached his bed cautiously. There was an open book resting on his chest. Curious, Ca.s.sie reached for the book and carefully slipped it out of his grasp. He suddenly started, waking.

"Ca.s.sie!"

"You don't have to get up," she told him. She sat on the bed. "How are you?"

"Great!" He looked around. "I must have dozed off."

"Reading always makes me sleepy, too," Ca.s.sie said. "What were you reading?"

"A cla.s.sic," he said. "From 2062."

"Wow!" Ca.s.sie said.

"Oh, I have books dating much further back than that. And now with all the reprints and comebacks, I'm always finding new, older stuff. It's great. I just picked one up yesterday for you."

"Really? For me?"

He got up and fished through some items on a nearby desk. "Here it is," he said, handing it to her.

"'Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women,'" she read. "Hmm..." She looked up at him with a wry smile.

"Remember the other day when we were talking about books and you mentioned fairy tales?"

"This doesn't look like the fairy tales I was talking about," she remarked, but she was still smiling.

"That's because these tales are for grown-ups," he informed her. He sat on the bed next to her. "When you told me your favorite childhood memory was being read bedtime stories, I couldn't resist getting this book to read to you one night. And then, when tonight happened...I guess I figured by the time you got around to me you'd need a bedtime story to help you relax." He looked at her shyly. "I could read you Byron instead."

"No!" she cried, laughing. But then she grew serious. She perched herself back on one of the pillows on his bed. "Okay, I'm ready," she said with a little smile.

Peter settled in the bed next to her. He began flipping through the pages. He cleared his throat. "Okay," he began. "I don't know what any of your s.e.xual fantasies are..." He looked at her and added, "Yet." Then he resumed perusing the book. "But we can just work our way through the stories and see what happens."

Ca.s.sie touched his arm. "Thank you," she whispered. "It was a wonderfully thoughtful idea to read to me."

"You're welcome," he replied, distracted by her eyes for several moments before turning back to the book.

He cleared his throat again. "'Beauty and the Beast,'" he announced, giving her one more quick glance before delving into the story with enthusiasm. His voice was rich and expressive, and he read well. Ca.s.sie leaned back and watched him while he read the bedtime story to her. Georgia couldn't resist watching, too, as Peter brought the cla.s.sic tale to life. Even the sensual parts he read with a grave seriousness that made Ca.s.sie's eyes glow.

"So she preferred the beast!" sighed Ca.s.sie, wide-awake by the time he finished.

"Of course," replied Peter. "That's who she fell in love with."

"Mmm. Interesting," reflected Ca.s.sie. "In the original tale, the beast changes into a prince in the end, as a kind of reward to Beauty, for seeing more than just the beast's appearance."

"But if she truly loved the beast, why should he have to change?" wondered Peter.

"True." Ca.s.sie thought for a moment. "I wonder..." she began.

"Hmm?"

"The fairy tales...they're extremely old-fas.h.i.+oned, and yet...it's almost as if they've really captured the ideals of people for all time."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"Well, for instance, the idea that if you fall in love with someone they'll change for you...that hope, or belief, or whatever it is has stuck to this day. People seem to really expect it!"

"Do you think that those really are people's ideals, or just how we're taught to think?"

"I don't know what I think. That story got me feeling all fuzzy inside."

They laughed.

"I was hoping for that effect," Peter admitted. He leaned in close and took her in his arms. "You know that I want you," he said huskily, and his desire was obvious in his face and manner. He positively trembled with his need and his eyes burned so hot that Georgia wondered at his control. "But I want you to know also that I would be perfectly happy to just hold you in my arms if you've had enough of being mauled for one night."

Ca.s.sie stared back at him in openmouthed wonder, but her desire was clear to see, as well, and her eyes burned just as hot as his. She reached out a hand and lightly touched his face. "That, right there, is why I have decided that I don't want the 'choice' any longer. From now on, I'm pa.s.sing that responsibility over to you boys. I think I want to stay in the room you've prepared for me and let the three of you decide who comes to me. I don't care how you do it. You can pull names out of a hat, for all it matters to me. All I know is that I can't choose between you. I want all of you equally, I truly do. I don't even know how that's possible but it's how I feel. It's like, in my heart, you're each parts of one love."

"You decided all that just now?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I was suddenly glad that I wasn't the one who put you last tonight. And in that moment, I realized that I didn't want to ever put any one of you last."

"But I'm glad I got to go last," he told her. "It means I get to wake up with you."

It was suddenly too much for Ca.s.sie, and tears spilled from her eyes onto her cheeks. Peter kissed the tears away. And all of a sudden there was nothing but their desire for each other; it consumed all of their thought and energy.

Georgia stood up abruptly, but she couldn't quite pull her gaze from the screen. Ca.s.sie's robe had fallen open and Peter was ravis.h.i.+ng her. Georgia's mind was racing with ideas. With effort, she turned away from Ca.s.sie and Peter to find the information Donald left. Glancing around, she became aware that it was dark outside. Another day had pa.s.sed and she had done nothing but watch, obsessed with a future that didn't even exist. But it might exist! She searched more eagerly for the papers.

This time, Georgia sat down and carefully read over every word. Time travel was possible! And if she had anything to do with it, it could be achieved in her lifetime. For the first time in her life, her interest in science came second to her interest in her own life. She finally saw science for what it was-a means to an end. She wanted to learn how to travel into the future because she wanted to travel into the future. There was someplace out there that she wanted to go As she closed the office for the night and drove home, for once Georgia thought about something other than Ca.s.sie. She thought about what might happen-to her! She thought about the new time-travel project she had been offered and the many opportunities that came with it. But there was only one program that interested her now. It was what captured her interest the most since the first hint of it had been introduced into her consciousness. It was the only thing that made sense to her anymore. And no matter how many projects it took to get her there, she knew she would always be working toward that one final goal. It was something she would spend the rest of her life trying to achieve if she had to. She would find the Incentive Program.

ENCHANTED DREAMS EROTIC TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-3881-1.

Copyright 2009 by Nancy Madore.

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