CHAPTER ONE This dream stunk. It literally stunk. I couldn't recall ever smelling anything in a dream before, and I hoped to God this wasn't a permanent change. Or if it was, that my future dreams would be a lot more fragrant than this one. I was striding through an encampment of soldiers who obviously hadn't bathed in the last two months. That alone, the...
Kyla felt a rush of relief as the plane touched down on the tarmac. Even after several years of taking flights between her parents' homes on opposite sides of the U.S., she still had not gotten over her fear of flying. Fortunately, this stop would be her last for at least the next six months as she prepared for her new position as a claims adjuster. In jus...
Good things happen when you least expect them. Take last Wednesday for example. Nothing good usually happens on a Wednesday, it's the middle of the week, and most people are working their asses off. Lucky me, I was off. Of course, I had worked forty-one days straight before I got a week off; Wednesday was just the third day I had been home. It started out...
She was dancing in the dark, twisting and turning on the sweat-soaked sheets. The glowing hands on the clock read twelve, but it was not midnight, for the curtains suppressed the light from the midday sun. Apparently, the woman had cooked up a delicious fantasy in the cauldron of her mind. But a shrink peering into her head would have seen a host of sly hand...
It was raining cats and dogs and it had been the same thing for two weeks. The rivers nearby Kyrhan's palace were flooding and many refugees had found shelter in the palace park which was ten feet higher than the rest of the plain. Kyrhan being the former local Maharajah had felt obliged to let them in. Few tourists visited the region during the monsoon usua...
She had run the length of the beach up and back five times with Milton following closely at her bare heels when she finally broke focus and noticed the jeep parked at the gate. She saw him sitting in the driver's seat, watching her, giving a little wave, and she stopped running. "How long have you been sitting there?" she shouted, working to catch her breat...
I wondered what this story could possibly have to do with the Tea Room, until she continued. 'Aameenah was already instilled in the Sultan's harem in 1153 when Eleanor of Aquitane followed her husband Phillip, King of France, on his crusade to the Holy Land. Eleanor was a rare woman. She had money, titles and land of her own. She was bright, strong willed an...
I kicked off the slingbacks and threw my shaking body on the bed. Oh my God, I had kissed a total stranger, and only my very Victorian upbringing had stopped me from begging him to come in and take more than my mouth. This was never supposed to happen. I didn't want to have an affair. I wanted to be faithful to Alex. Oh God, Alex! I hadn't called him all day...
6th Day The Game I woke up early in a very good mood, I must admit. I shaved myself, tied up my room and started working. Being very careful not to make any noise, I went to Madame's bathroom to prepare everything for her. I made sure that the tab was full of hot water, dry towels were at hand, foam bath, conditioners and beauty things that might be require...
I first discovered that I had the weakness while dating my first real girlfriend. I didn't call it the weakness then, nor was I even aware that I had it at first, but I was always aware there was something different about me where girls, dating and relationships were concerned. Most guys wouldn't tolerate their girlfriends even flirting with another guy let...