Lydia was amazed by how much one lousy phone call could change everything. Instead of a sexy picnic with Galen, she bundled her laundry bag into the back seat of her compact car. Things had been going along so well, then kaboom!It wasn't that she didn't understand Galen's decision, not really. She understood that he couldn't go dashing off on a picnic when his son was about to show up any minute. Of course he needed to be home when Jason arrived. They hadn't seen each other in months, and Jason had a fairly short time to visit before his summer program in Europe. And, in all honesty, she could understand Galen's reluctance to have her present when his son arrived. He'd said he wanted to talk to Jason that evening. He was going to tell his son that he was seeing someone, but he didn't want to make it quite so clear that she'd just spent the night. So it appeared she was doing laundry on Saturday after all. She'd never even gotten to try out his amazing bathtub.This was good, she re
"You like your stepfather, right? You never had a problem with your mother remarrying, did you?""What? You're kidding right? Mom and Chuck have been married since I was what - six? I can't really remember her being single and I sure as hell can't remember you two together. Chuck is a great guy. I never thought my being close to him bothered you. Is that what this is about?""God, no." Of course he'd been jealous from time to time but he'd never confess. Besides he owed the guy big time and he wasn't ashamed to admit that. "I'm grateful every day that your mom found someone who treated you like his own. I'd like to give the guy a medal.""Then what?""Did it ever occur to you that in all the time since your mother and I split, I've never really gotten serious about anyone?"Jason nodded. "Yeah. I was never sure if you were just hiding it, or if you really needed to get out more." He turned to Galen and his eyes narrowed. "Is that what this is about? You've got a girlfriend, finall
"Gina!" Lydia's exasperation came out as more of a moan that a scold."Hey, you two. What's up?" Ben Montoya, who'd finished his PhD in European folklore strolled around the corner, with his gorgeous girlfriend, a biology professor, on his arm. "Lydia, Gina, you two know Wesley, don't you?""We do," Lydia confirmed. She leaned up to hug Ben and Wes over the table fronting her booth. "Actually, Ben, I have a question for you, if you don't mind. A professional one?""Shoot," A former Special Forces soldier, Ben was one of the nicest and most handsome men Lydia had ever known. But he wasn't Galen, and he was madly in love with Wesley, so Lydia was glad to be just a friend."I have a scroll I'm trying to identify," she said. "It's nowhere in the records, not even in Kroner's private journals.""Cool. You want me to drop by your office tomorrow? I've got this week off, between summer mini-sessions." Ben taught at the local community college. He had a keen eye for detail and interpretat
Galen still couldn't believe his son had called Lydia a gold-digger to her face. Had any other man said that, Galen would have slugged him. "She's not like that.""Sure. So she's only what - fifteen years younger than you?" Jason shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll go apologize if you want."Galen gave him a curt nod. "I'd appreciate it."They walked back to the booth and found Lydia gone. Galen turned to the palm reader set up at the next table and discovered that Lydia's friend had taken her home. Apparently she'd gotten sick. Tendrils of worry snaked around his gut."It looks like she dropped one of her cards." Jason pointed to a white cardboard square poking out from the grass beneath the table cloth."Damn, those were her grandmother's. She'd be devastated if she lost any of them." Galen reached down and picked up the card, pleased when Jason dropped to his knees to check for others under the table."That was the only one. Good thing we found it then."Galen nodded, g
Lydia paused as if taking stock, then nodded cautiously, replying to Galen's question. "I feel much better. Like I said, maybe I was just overtired. Or upset.""Jason." Galen bit his lower lip then continued. "I have no idea why he decided to be such a jerk to you, honey but he asked me to tell you that he's sorry.""It's okay." Her eyes told him she was lying. Jason's words had hurt her and his own inept handling of the situation had made it worse."No, it's not. But hopefully it will be, eventually. You're both important to me and I'd like it if you two could get along. I think once he figures out that what we have is real, he'll be okay."She gave him a shaky smile. "I hope you're right. I don't want to come between you and your son, Galen.""You won't. He's a good kid, for the most part. He'll come around."Galen heated up a can of soup and made some sandwiches after installing her on the couch. She seemed all right but she was still pale and shaky, not at all her normal exub
On Wednesday night, Lydia changed her outfit four different times before deciding on a black denim mini and silver camisole. Flat black sandals and a pair of silver hoop earrings completed the outfit. She was thirty now. Not a huge deal in cosmic terms perhaps but a big enough one for her. It made her relationship with Galen sound a little better, she thought, if he could just tell people "oh, she's in her thirties."He'd sent flowers to her office again today and her heart had sung when she'd seen the card signed 'Galen' instead of his initials. It was another baby step but he was taking those with increasing regularity. He did have some sort of committee meeting tonight but he'd promised to meet her at the pub as soon as it was over.Her headache was still a nagging worry. Most days it just sat there at the back of her skull, annoying but not debilitating but sometimes especially if she was working, it came back with a vengeance. She was probably going to have to go to the doctor a
Galen handed Lydia her present and she ripped into the package like a five-year-old at Christmas. When she opened it and saw the Tarot card necklace she squealed and threw her arms around his neck. "The Hierophant. It's you. You remembered. Oh, Galen, it's perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I was wrong before. This is the best birthday present I've ever had!" She punctuated each sentence with a kiss on his cheek, nose or chin, anywhere she could reach. Then she spun on her stool to face away from him and handed the box back over her shoulder. "Help me put it on."Obediently he fastened the chain around her neck, his fingers lingering to caress the sensitive skin at her nape. When he was done he bent his head and kissed her neck just below her ear. Damn, he couldn't wait to take her home tonight. He'd already told Jason not to expect him back. He wasn't about to abandon her on her birthday. He'd reluctantly accepted the fact that his son was mature enough to handle the idea of h
Lydia dropped her hands to Galen's belt. "Now," she echoed, fumbling with the fly of his chinos as he pinched and rolled her nipples in his hands. "Oh yeah. Right now."She got his pants undone and pushed them down, boxers and all, then circled his erection with her hand. Velvet covered steel, he was so thick her fingers didn't meet in back and she dragged her hand up and down the shaft determined to make sure he was in as much of a frenzy as she."Not going to make it to the bedroom." One hand left her breast and Lydia nearly cried at the loss until she felt it slide up her bare thigh and under her skirt."No." She leaned over and licked the head of his cock, tasting the thick drop that had already beaded up just since she'd removed his pants. "Here. Now."He pulled her up by the armpits. "Not in your mouth." He fastened his lips to hers again as his hands tugged her skirt up around her waist and he backed them over to the sofa. Instead of laying her down though, he spun her and p
Back at her apartment a little later Galen found Anissa in the bedroom while Jason carried a load of boxes out to the truck. She held up her Tarot deck, the Hierophant card on top. "Now do you believe the cards can tell us things?"He tipped his head and grinned. "I don't know. Didn't you say that one is the teacher and it's supposed to represent me?"She nodded. "Why, what's wrong with that?"He took the cards from her hands and set them carefully aside, then pulled her close for a kiss. "Because you're the one who taught me," he murmured. "You've taught me the most important lessons of all. How to laugh. How to love. How to live."She picked up her cards again, avoiding eye contact. "That works both ways. But my love, there's something I need to tell you. I wanted to wait until the scroll was gone. Plucking up my nerve, I guess.""Sweetheart, we cast a spell that vanquished an evil demon. We met a Djinni who is an interior designer. I think my belief threshold has been raised to
Two days later, a small group of individuals gathered in Galen's back yard. Lydia had spent most of the previous day in bed, recovering from the soreness and fatigue but today she felt fine and everyone wanted to get this last chore over with.Jason used a hand trowel to stir the mixture of water and cement in the plastic bucket one last time."We're sure we shouldn't just destroy the ring?" Galen asked Ben Montoya, who had returned in time to help."We went over all that on the phone yesterday," Ben reminded them. "Breaking the ring could set the demon free. And nobody wants that.""Right." Galen and Lydia spoke as one. Jason laughed and shook his head at Ben. "They do that all the time.""So we're ready?" Galen asked the others.Jason nodded. "We've added the additional instructions inside the scroll case. And I jammed the mechanism where the ring is to make it that much more difficult for anyone to ever find it.""And we sealed the whole thing in a thick layer of wax," Lydi
"Anything you want." Galen stripped out of his shirt, trousers, and boxers in record time, then kicked his shoes and socks into the hallway. Then he grabbed a condom from a drawer and rolled it on before he finally stepped into the tub and settled across from Lydia, his long muscular legs resting against her own. She wasn't ready yet to tell him it was too late for precautions."You're still too far away." She shifted onto her knees then crawled over him to straddle his lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips, long and hard. "Mmm. Much better, don't you think?""Infinitely better." He gripped her waist between his hands and pulled her against his chest. His lips came down and claimed hers for another deep, drugging kiss.She opened for him, eagerly sucking his tongue into the hot recesses of her mouth. His erection prodded her ass and she wiggled against it, teasing them both. Then she moaned into his mouth when he gathered a few shampoo bubbles his hands
For a long time after Jason and Ben's friends left, Galen and Lydia simply lay on the bed and held each other while they cried. Both of them, to Lydia's amazement. Galen engulfed her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. When her sobs finally abated, she looked up at him to see a river of tears pouring down his face."I thought I'd lost you," he murmured, kissing the tear tracks on her cheeks. "I've never been so scared in my life.""Me either." She tried to chuckle but it came out as a sniffle instead. "You are my hero, you know. You suspended your disbelief. You never gave up. I love you so much, Galen.""I love you too, Lydia." Then his lips came down on hers and there was no more time for words. There was just a frantic need to reassure one another that they were both alive and still together. His hands slid under her open blouse to glide along the skin of her waist and up to cup the sides of her breasts as their mouths fused and tongues dueled."Ouch!"She broke the se
Anissa arranged them all in a circle with Lydia at the twelve o'clock position. Galen was on Lydia's right, Jason on her left. Next to him was Lori, a short, bubbly woman with medium brown hair, and then her husband Eric, who could have been Galen's younger brother. They were about the same height and blond, but the younger man was slimmer and wore glasses. Then Wesley took David's hand, while the shorter, frizzy haired man, held hands with Wes and his Djinni wife. Galen and Jason sat on the mattress on either side of Lydia and each grasped one of her hands, which were still chained to the bed above her head."Ready?" Jason asked."You good, sweeting?" Galen asked Lydia."Hurry." She nodded and tightened her grip on Galen's hand."One last thing." The kiss was long slow and sweet. He tried to infuse it with all the love he had in his heart. "Fight for us.""I will."Jason coughed and kept his eyes focused on the photocopy he held."If this doesn't work, we're not giving up," Gal
"The drawing around the first letter of the scroll..." Lori began."Illumination," both Galen and Lydia chimed in."Will you two stop that?" Jason shook his head. "Go ahead, Ms. Gordon."Call me Lori. And yes, the rest of us are just humans. Now listen. The drawing shows a woman sort of superimposed on a snake, or maybe the other way around. She has one red jewel on her forehead - sort of Asian for a medieval European art, don't you think? She has another on her chest - like over her heart - and another on her stomach. What do you want to bet that's an instruction manual?""Sort of like chakras," David said. "The three bonds. Mind, heart and body. The magic has to go in through those points.""Of course!" Galen punched a fist in the air, while Lydia cried, "Yes!" Then they kissed again"Would you two get a room?" Jason rolled his eyes.Galen actually managed a chuckle as he pulled away from Lydia's lips. "So we lay these on the appropriate spots. Then what?""Then we read the s
Instantly everyone in the room began murmuring. "Show me the scroll, the newer one," Lydia gasped."Sure, no problem." Galen told her. "Jason, hand me one of the copies. Don't want to get the original within kicking distance in case we miscalculate."Lydia and Galen translated together. His Middle English was good but she corrected a couple of his French pronunciations. Jason shook his head. "You two have got to be the biggest geeks ever. This is a match made in heaven." It was almost a direct match to what Anissa had read aloud. "That has to be it, Galen said. He looked down at Lydia. "Who should say the spell? You?""Probably Anissa," Lori said. "Since she's actually magic. The rest of us just have a trace.""Or none at all." Wesley shrugged. "Now that Dave has powers, I'm the only mundane in the group."Tuning them out, Jason picked up the scroll tube and started inspecting the carvings and gems on the ends. Galen watched him. He knew that look. His son was onto something.A
"Hey, there, demon bitch. I need to talk to Lydia for a minute." He glared down into the crimson eyes. "Fine. We'll do this the hard way again. I have to say, you've ruined me of enjoying handcuffs for life. When I get around to it I'm going to be really pissed off about that."He straddled her body again and removed the gag to force a kiss on her lips. It nearly killed him to do this to Lydia but under the circumstances he was pretty sure she'd forgive him. When he felt her lips soften under his, he looked into her brown eyes."I love you. We have an idea. Will you marry me Lydia?""What? Because of this? No!" She turned her face into the pillow away from him.Galen took her face between her hands and turned it to his. "No. Not because of this. Because I love you. Because I'm terrified of the idea of spending the rest of my life without you.""I love you, Galen. Of course I'll marry you. But can you ask me again when I'm not chained to the bed?"He kissed her. "It's a deal. As l
Lydia writhed on the bed, trying to hold off the demon. Galen knew she was fighting as hard as she could. "Alcineath is getting stronger. But love is a powerful magic. You're pissing her off because she expected it to be all over by now. She's going to kill you if she can, Galen. You first, then Jason." Her voice was weak and thready, her breathing shallow."She isn't going to get the chance."Before he could say anything else the eyes changed again and she gave a vile, oily laugh. "Tied to a bed, hmm? We could have some fun with this. You, me and the boy. This body has two holes, no waiting. I bet the girl would love being fucked by two strong men at once. Unchain me and I'll show you both more pleasure than you've ever dreamed of.""I never thought I'd use this word but eeeewww." Jason walked in with the laptop in his hand. "A threesome with my father is so-oo not on my list of things to do before I die. Jeez, Dad, put the gag back on, why don't you?" He dropped to sit cross legge