Devon led her across the patio and toward the beach through the dunes. The tide was out, so they had to trudge another twenty yards before the firmer sand along the shoreline provided them with a cooler surface and more solid footing for a leisurely walk. They were able to continue walking hand-in-hand on the firmer sand without the surf reaching their feet.They had to dodge or pause in their walk to avoid running into oblivious people looking for seashells or sharks' teeth as well as the occasional child running haphazardly to or from the water, but they were able to continue holding hands as they did so.They walked silently for several hundred yards before Devon spoke, "You said that you knew the psychologist that Athena was seeing when she was younger. Can you get her contact information? I know that we learned a lot from the documents, but there are still several questions, at least in my mind.""Mine too," Aphrodite agreed. "In particular, I need to know what caused her to act
"Make progress with?" Devon interrupted."Exactly!" Aphrodite exclaimed. She placed her arms around Devon's neck as she said, "I want to make progress with you, I really do. Being with you makes me excited to find out what happens next. I just need you to realize that I am in unfamiliar territory..."He whispered to her, "The beach is getting more crowded in this direction. Let's head back toward the house."His response, and the silence between them on the walk back to Devon's house didn't concern Aphrodite. With his strong arm draped around her shoulders as they walked side-by-side, she remained confident that he was merely contemplating what they had discussed and was not bothered by it."See, I told you it wasn't far.""I believed you," Aphrodite replied. "I'm just surprised how fast the trip was. The wait at the guard booth was the longest point in the trip."Aphrodite had been surprised when Lana had been unable to track down Dr. Vinson through her office in Greenville on Monday
"How is Mr. Vinson?" Aphrodite asked."His last name isn't Vinson. I use my maiden name professionally but my legal name is hyphenated with his. To answer your question, he is doing remarkably well. There are very few residual effects evident from his stroke and those are expected to improve within the next few months through his therapies. Our friends, Dru and Randy McLean have taken him to lunch so that we three would have the house free for our discussion. Please follow me. We'll use his office."She led them through a set of double doors into a large office that looked like it was a converted living room space due to its size and location within the house. There was an L-shaped desk with a computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse on its surface. Along the wall, under a large picture window was a sitting area comprised of a large leather sofa with a coffee table between it and two over-stuffed leather chairs. The walls were adorned with framed pictures of a handsome man standing besid
Confirming that she still had their full attention, she explained, "Athena's endocrine system was extremely hyperactive from the age of around seven. You were two years younger than your sister, but do you remember her starting her period right after she turned ten?""Vaguely," Aphrodite admitted. "I do remember my mom discussing the possibility that my period could start early also, but it didn't. I was actually later than most of the girls I knew, almost thirteen when my first period came. How did getting her period early cause Athena problems?""It didn't. It was just one of the first visible signs that her body's endocrine system might be abnormal. It wasn't until she came back to see me at the age of eighteen that we started looking into other, less obvious signs of a systemic issue.""Like what?" Devon asked, finally joining the conversation."Athena met you during the summer between her freshman and sophomore years at Clemson. With a carefully maintained diet, exercise, and ple
His expression calmed, and he asked, "What about you? How do you feel about Athena's actions as you're hearing about them?""I still have a couple of questions," Aphrodite said. "I certainly understand her medical problems better, but I remain confused over several of her actions. I guess that I'm hoping for some validation of my belief that Athena would approve of my wanting to bring you and Alex together as father and son. I think I may have misinterpreted her wishes for years, and I'm hoping that Dr. Vinson has some information that will confirm that for me.""For us..."Leaning over to kiss Devon on the cheek, Aphrodite caught movement outside the window in her peripheral vision. "Who's that?"Turning on the sofa to glance out the window behind it, Devon saw two men on the back patio, getting situated in chairs under the pergola. He recognized one of them as the man in the pictures on the wall of the office, so Devon naturally assumed that he was Dr. Vinson's husband."Dr. Vinson'
"How did we go to sleep at the beach and wake up at a farm?" a groggy Aphrodite softly moaned.Devon's chuckling caused the slumbering head on his chest to bounce slightly."You have a problem with 'Roosters of the Sea'? You better get used to it. The gulls always get noisy and take flight to celebrate sunrise.""Used to it, schmoosed to it," Aphrodite said as she extricated herself from Devon. "I need to go powder my nose.""I heard the coffee maker signaling the brewing had stopped. Would you like me to get us some coffee while you powder your nose?""No, I'll wait until we're on the road for mine," Aphrodite said over her shoulder. "You go ahead though if you want some."Admiring her beautifully bare backside, Devon replied, "I think I'll wait too. I'm going to head into another bathroom though."When he returned to his room, he found Aphrodite propped up with pillows against the headboard of the bed. Her smile melted his heart and convinced Devon that this was the picture that he
“Do you think that you would have been happier if you had been with your own mother?”“I don’t know. I thought about it last night and then I realised that I could never understand what she went through in the first place. The horror, the getting away from home and then staying with someone else, taking help from strangers and then giving them such a precious priceless gift it is not something that a person of faint heart could do. They never told me how brave she was, but now that I look at you I know that she must have been awfully brave. To begin life in a new country with a new profession and everything out there is not an easy task at all.”“She never spoke about you to us. The first time that she told about you was when she was on her deathbed and I never realised why.”“Now you do?”“After meeting with you and spending time with you, getting to know you I can see how much you have her in you. You don’t realise that. But I do. You have her eyes. And every single time that I see
"Well, I don't have a fancy car for you to drive to demonstrate my love for you, so I guess you'll have to settle for my undying concern for you and copious amounts of carnal pleasure. That's it! I can drive your Bentley and you get to drive me wild like you did last night."Laughing, Devon said, "That sounds like a win-win. We better get up and start getting ready if we intend to meet your parents on time."Aphrodite didn't move her body from on top of Devon as she reached over to the nightstand and retrieved her cell phone."What are you doing?" Devon asked."I'm texting my mom to let her know to meet us an hour later than we had planned.""Why? Traffic shouldn't be a problem for any of us on a Saturday morning."Finishing her text and returning the cell phone to the table, Aphrodite smiled down and said, "You haven't taken any of my hints, so I'll just have to make my intentions perfectly clear, my love. I intend to verify a suspicion that I have had since waking next to you...""W
Cara pursed her lips and then said,” You really think that I am going to tell you anything?”“No I don’t. But I am not above hurting you and you don’t mean anything to me so hurting you is going to be easier and probably be even fun.”“You think you are a man and that is why you are stronger than me?”“There is nothing to question about that. It is a known fact. You are the one who has been kidnapped and not me, so there is actually no point in arguing with me. I can do a lot of things to you, querida and make sure that no one ever finds you again but I am a good man with a good heart. Help me with what I require and I shall make sure you are sent back to Australia safe and sound.”“I know that you are lying. And nothing you say is going to make me believe that..” Cara spat at him as she said the words. Diego wiped his face with the back of his hand and sighed and then back handed her again. Cara knew it was coming and she had already swerved away and his hand did not hit her.She mov
Clubbing is a place for a type of people. Firstly, they had to be rich. Clubbing wasn't a poor man's activity. The cheapest booze inside would be worth twice the expensive brands outside. Everything was outrageously overpriced—not that he cared anyway.Second of all, they had to be a crowd person. Being in an enclosed room full of drunk people isn't exactly a paradise for introverted people. Sure, there wouldn't be much talking. Half of the experience was having conversations you'd barely hear over the booming music, or even remember the next morning because you're wasted as fuck, but there are still people who'd come up to you and talk.So when Xavier saw her, standing awkwardly with her outgoing friend dancing wildly by her side, he knew she didn't belong to this kind of scene. The complete opposite of him; as someone who basically grew up here, Xavier loved everything about the place. It felt like home, more so than any of his mansions, actually.He watched the two women as they he
“I know who you are, Diego. You made the mistake of speaking to me. And now I know that you are the one who is torturing me and has kidnapped me.”There was silence for a while and then all of a sudden the blindfold was taken off from her eyes and Diego was standing there before her in his shirt and trousers. He looked quite normal almost as if nothing had happened and was smirking at Cara.“I am sure you enjoyed that, querida.”“Don’t call me that you freaking bastard. You are nothing else but a vile manipulative..” said Cara as suddenly she was slapped and she could feel her lips split and she was bleeding and she could only feel helpless because her hands were still bound.“Don’t call me names, querida…your mouth was made for far better purposes and not this. You are a lot more important to me that you are ever going to be to my bastard cousin.”“And you are never going to be half the man that Xavier is.”“Whatever you say is not going to make me angry. You are a beautiful woman Ca
Cara struggled desperately, trying to free her hands from the heavy ropes that bound them together behind her back. She couldn’t see anything, thanks to the blindfold which covered most of her face. The ball gag shoved into her mouth prevented her from making much noise at all. When at last she realized the futility of her movements, she lay still and listened.Abruptly she felt the car begin to slow down. Cara’s heart fluttered in fear, wondering where she would be taken. She didn’t have long to wait. Moments later the car rolled to a stop, and a door opened. She was grabbed and hauled roughly out of the car, where she stumbled a bit on unsteady feet. Two hands gripped her shoulders, forcing her to walk quickly and unsteadily forward.She heard a door open. As she stepped through it, her footsteps echoed on what she wagered were hard tile floors. She and her captor proceeded through the room, then stopped suddenly. She heard a bell, followed by the sliding of a door that she realized
Some say, 'From pain comes wisdom,' but Jean had endured a lot over the past weeks and felt no wiser. Her boyfriend left her and it had hollowed out her soul. When she pushed through the door and rang the bell at Trader Dan's, she was hoping to put a bullet in her old life and thumb her nose at the jackass who left her behind.And Trader Dan's is just such a place; where souls are bared, pain will be endured, and whatever healing occurs will be everlasting.As she settled into the proprietor's chair with the tools of the trade laid out neatly on a small table nearby, Trader Dan's resonant voice filled her ears with a tale from another age. It seemed charming but odd to her. Perhaps it was just his effort to entertain his clients or calm frazzled nerves. Regardless, Jean found herself drifting back in time while the man gave her 'wisdom,' prick by prick."Meijuan sang like an angel, and from a very young age her voice would echo in the cavernous St. Ignatius Cathedral in Shanghai. Alth
“Love is really that important for me, Xavier. I know it sounds really stupid to you and you think that if I would just not think about it, things would be better but I cannot imagine spending my life in this way…”“All the time that we spent together, was it that difficult for you? Did you think that I did not care for you one whit? That I don’t wish to make you happy? If this is not all that there is to love then what is it that you want from me?”“Want from you? Xavier, from the moment that I have come here and have stepped into your world I have never wanted anything from. I have just wished for you to know the woman who was my mother and who was your mother as well and you never had the chance to. I never asked you for anything. You showered me with gifts, but those aren’t important to me. Do you know what is?”Xavier remained silent and looked at her darkly.“What is more important to me is the time that you spent with me…not just the love making but all the moments that you wer
Seeing that the stands were filling as the start of the game approached, Ulysses headed toward them to grab and save seats for the rest of the family that would be watching the game while Devon headed for the outfield to call his team into their dugout. At six feet, Alex stood a good head taller than any other player on the team. He looked like an adult being followed by children when the rest of the team fell in behind him as he led them to the dugout.Alex's team would be the visiting team for today's game, so Devon explained the planned batting order to the players before taking his lineup card out to the umpire at home plate. He saw that Aphrodite, Athena, his mother, and mother-in-law had all joined Ulysses in the stands. He heard his daughter squeal when she saw him and paused to wave to her. Athena looked as much like a junior version of her mother as Alex did his father.As had been the trend all season, Alex and his teammates batted around their first at-bat with Alex hitting
She was hopelessly in love.And nothing anyone would say could change the fact ever.Cara stared at Xavier who was sleeping on the bed with his back towards her. Sometime during the night he had woken her up by kissing her and pulling her nipples and then entering her again and again in deep and long strokes and Cara could not do anything but moan and cry out in pleasure.“Come for me, querida…make all those noises for me. You will always know that I was the one who made you cry out of pleasure!”It was so ardently male and so egoistic in nature that Cara thought how could a man be so full of himself, be so arrogant that he was the reason for a woman’s smile or tears. Even though he wasn’t wrong but still, the inherent feministic tendency in her tried saying that this was something that she should let go so easily but looking at him sleeping peacefully after such a night was not something she could agree to. She wished for him to sleep. They had the food that she had cooked and Xavier
"Well, I don't have a fancy car for you to drive to demonstrate my love for you, so I guess you'll have to settle for my undying concern for you and copious amounts of carnal pleasure. That's it! I can drive your Bentley and you get to drive me wild like you did last night."Laughing, Devon said, "That sounds like a win-win. We better get up and start getting ready if we intend to meet your parents on time."Aphrodite didn't move her body from on top of Devon as she reached over to the nightstand and retrieved her cell phone."What are you doing?" Devon asked."I'm texting my mom to let her know to meet us an hour later than we had planned.""Why? Traffic shouldn't be a problem for any of us on a Saturday morning."Finishing her text and returning the cell phone to the table, Aphrodite smiled down and said, "You haven't taken any of my hints, so I'll just have to make my intentions perfectly clear, my love. I intend to verify a suspicion that I have had since waking next to you...""W