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
"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
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
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
In the Tarot, the Hierophant is sometimes known as the High Priest or the Pope and generally appears in the form of a teacher or mentor. He's always knowledgeable and wise but he can run the risk of being too hidebound and dogmatic. He can be the beloved mentor who is always there with the perfect bit of advice or that nasty teacher who still tries to teach that the earth is flat. He is calm, rational and ethical but he can also lack balance and be stubborn to the point of disaster, especially if his beliefs are called into question."You may begin."Galen Forsythe looked out over the sea of bent heads as his latest crop of graduate students hunched over their desks, furiously reading through the questions on the exam he had just passed out. A few began scribbling furiously while others perused the questions more carefully. One particular walnut-colored head was missing and Galen couldn't help but worry. Lydia Curry had a perfect attendance record and a damn fine grade - almost a per
Crap! Being alone with Galen Forsythe in his small, cozy office was something Lydia had hoped to avoid. Her defenses were so low she wasn't sure she could keep up the pretense of indifference she'd so carefully cultivated. She was humiliated enough that her brain had flat-lined during the exam. She didn't need him to know that the mere sight of him made her want him. He was so bloody handsome with his golden brown hair just starting to go silver at the temples and his piercing blue eyes. He was tall, with the build of someone who'd played football in high school or even college and who'd worked hard to stay in shape ever since.And oh, gods, his scent! She walked beside him down the hallway and up the stairs to his office trying not to notice the aroma of male musk and sandalwood. She'd never figured out if it was soap or shampoo or cologne but the fragrance of sandalwood clung to the man more consistently than even his favorite camel-hair blazer. And that fit like it was custom-made.
"Go on." She could feel the puff of his breath by her ear and now that she wasn't crying any more, the nearness to all that gorgeous masculinity was making it hard to focus on talking."So my lease was up this weekend and I didn't want to commit to another full year. My landlord had agreed to extending my lease on a month-to-month basis but..." She heaved a shuddering sigh."But what?""But it turned out he expected certain - considerations in return.""You mean sex." It wasn't a question. She'd never heard Dr. Forsythe's voice quite so harsh and cold before.She nodded into his chest. "Yeah. And he's just a bit too creepy for that to even have been a possibility. So I loaded all my stuff in my car last night and slept on my friend Gina's couch. It will be fine for a couple of days but she's leaving town at the end of next month when her lease ends, so I'll have to find something pretty fast.""And the job situation?""Well, I guess you can tell I'd been waiting tables at Bubba'
Galen reluctantly pulled back and ran his hand through the silky strands of her hair, carefully disentangling the now useless rubber band that had bound it into a tail.A ponytail. Oh, gods, she was so young. Young enough to be his daughter! What the hell had he just done?"You're thinking too much." Her voice was still soft and sweet but the wry humor he'd been so drawn to in class was back, even though her eyes were still closed."Lydia - I - this..." He had no earthly idea what to say."Don't. Please don't ruin this." Her voice cracked.Not the tears again. He could handle anything but those. If she cried again, he'd end up taking her home and locking her up in his house where no one else would ever have the chance to hurt her again. And he couldn't, just couldn't do that. It wouldn't be fair to her.He pulled her to her feet, to stand in the vee between his legs, then he hugged her close to his chest."Nothing could ruin this. What just happened will always be one of the mos